Unfortunately, when you mention SEO to a lot of the internet community, the reaction isn’t positive. It seems that people have an overall negative view of search engine optimization, and it isn’t really a mystery as to why. It’s an industry with a lot of scammers. Sure, there are some great SEO companies out there, but there is also a lot more chaff than wheat, and you need to be sure you are keeping yourself safe.
So, the latest spam technique going around involves Google Analytics. If you’re ever used the tool, than you are familiar with the keyword (not provided) problem. Essentially, it shows traffic where people found you through search, but doesn’t specify the query. It’s been happening more and more often lately, and some less than ethical SEO companies are using it to their advantage.
Here’s how:
They promise to deliver more traffic to your site through search, like any SEO would. Then, instead of actually performing any SEO work at all, they create a clickbot that pings the site with keyword (not provided) searches at random intervals, until they’ve hit their desired number. On paper, your traffic is up, and you may not notice the problem because you’re already getting so much keyword (not provided traffic). They get your money, you get meaningless traffic with nothing to show for it. Win/lose.
To add fuel to the tire fire, these companies can afford to advertise all over because their margins are so high. They have literally 0 costs because they do nothing but execute a bot script.
HOW DO YOU FIGHT THIS?
A real SEO company will give you a list of keywords and landing pages they are targeting. You’ll see your positions at the beginning of the campaign, and you’ll see your positions at the end of each month. You’ll see real movement in the search engines, and that’s how you’ll know it’s REAL WORK.
Don’t get scammed, be aware of your SEO company‘s activities.