Google Page One Guarantee – A Scam

The Scam

There have been calls from companies that claim to be connected with Google and promising that they will get you to Google page one within the same day. The scam is that they ask you for £100 – £1000 deposit then a monthly payment of £30 – £300.

How do they do it?

Most probably these companies have no roots in SEO or SEM. All they do is setup a Google Adwords campaign, chuck in a few keywords, and bid on some search terms that won’t cost much per click. They’ll have honoured their part of the deal, by having your website listed on page one! They might be paying only a tiny percentage of your monthly payment to Google. They wouldn’t get you to Google page one using Organic Search Engine Optimisation.

While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they “control” other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn’t work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you’re considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.

– from Google’s own SEO guide (Read Google’s SEO Guide)

What they might not do:

I have attended a few Adwords seminars where Google professionals encourage companies to invest more time into research / analysis and little time in creating the ads. Adwords is a very powerful marketing tool. With good research, right budget and focused ads, businesses can convert more sales / enquiries than what organic SEO can deliver. Such are things that the scam companies might not do for you. They merely act as an agent, taking your money and setting up your ads.

Unless the person on the phone supplies you with a verifiable website address with a verifiable phone number and a verifiable portfolio of satisfied clients / businesses, PLEASE DO NOT give them your money / credit card details. All they need are a few businesses that can be tempted by the much desired PAGE ONE listing on Google.