If you own or operate a website - or if your email address merely appears anywhere online in relation to a website - you will certainly be no stranger to frequent spam emails like this:
We have the expertise to get our customer's websites top ranking in Google and other major search engines producing high revenue with top page rank, guaranteed based [sic!] result within 3-4 months. We provide a S.E.O. special offer for the following package:
We provide a S.E.O. special offer for the following package:
- 30 Social Bookmarking Submissions
- 1 Article Submissions (1 article x 1 article directories)
- 1 Blog Submissions (1 blog x 1 blog posting)
- Google Submissions
- 1 unique, 400 word article written
- 1 unique, 300 word blog
- Meta tags changes suggestions
- Keyword research
- Competitor Analysis
- Heading tag changes
- Alt tag changes
- Interlinking wherever required.
- Keyword Density in site content.
- HTML Site Map
- XML site map and Submission in webmaster tool
- Content optimization
We would like to break this down for you and help you understand what value, if any, for you is contained in such an offer. In other words, we would like to identify what they really mean by each item, and what concrete steps they are likely proposing to undertake on your behalf, assuming the offer is even real:
Let's break this down
The email advertises Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services. In general, such services aim to improve a website's visibility on search engines like Google. To this end, a variety of tactics is typically employed--as is already indicated by the long list. However, the tactics mentioned here can vary both in effectiveness as well as in ethical standing. Here's a breakdown of what each item likely means in concrete terms:
"30 Social Bookmarking Submissions"
What They Mean: They will submit your website to 30 social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, or StumbleUpon.
Reality: This is generally considered an outdated SEO tactic. It might generate some backlinks but is unlikely to provide significant long-term value.
"1 Article Submissions (1 article x 1 article directories)
What They Mean: They will write one article and submit it to one article directory.
Reality: Article directories have lost their effectiveness for SEO purposes. Google's algorithm updates have made this tactic less valuable.
"1 Blog Submissions (1 blog x 1 blog posting)"
What They Mean: They will write and post one blog article on your behalf.
Reality: One blog post is unlikely to make a significant impact on your SEO. Quality and consistency over time are key.
"Google Submissions"
What They Mean: They will submit your website to Google for indexing.
Reality: This is something you can easily do yourself through Google Search Console. It's a basic step and doesn't guarantee better rankings.
"1 unique, 400-word article written"
What They Mean: They will write a 400-word article for you.
Reality: A single 400-word article is unlikely to be comprehensive enough to rank well. Google favors in-depth, high-quality content.
"1 unique, 300-word blog"
What They Mean: They will write a 300-word blog post for you.
Reality: Similar to the 400-word article, a 300-word blog post is unlikely to provide much SEO value.
"Meta tags changes suggestions"
What They Mean: They will suggest changes to your meta tags like the title and description.
Reality: While important, meta tags alone won't dramatically improve your SEO. They should be part of a broader strategy.
"Keyword research"
What They Mean: They will identify keywords relevant to your business.
Reality: Keyword research is crucial but should be part of a broader content and SEO strategy, not a standalone service.
"Competitor Analysis"
What They Mean: They will analyze your competitors' online strategies.
Reality: This can be valuable but depends on the depth of the analysis and how the insights are applied. Most likely, they will simply show you the output of a common keyword research tool such as Ahrefs or Moz which lists "competing keywords" by default. These tools are available to anyone online.
"Heading tag changes"
What They Mean: They will modify the HTML heading tags on your site.
Reality: While heading tags are a ranking factor, changing them alone is unlikely to have a significant impact.
"Alt tag changes"
What They Mean: They will change the alt tags for images on your site.
Reality: Alt tags, short for "alternative text," are text descriptions that can be added to images on a website. They serve two main purposes: They help visually impaired users understand the content of an image when using screen readers. Second, they provide context to search engines, helping them index images properly.
The service offered to "change alt tags" likely involves "stuffing" them with keywords to try to improve search engine rankings. However, this approach can be misleading and is not the best practice; alt tags should accurately describe the image to benefit both human users and search engines. Abusing alt tags for SEO by simply stuffing them with keywords is not only ethically questionable, it can also be counterproductive--there is no guarantee that search engines are or will be penalizing such behavior with lower rankings or outright bans.
If you are not sure, contact us; we can check and fill out the alt tags on your web site properly for you.
"Interlinking wherever required"
What They Mean: They will add internal links within your website.
Reality: Internal linking is important but should be done thoughtfully, linking relevant content together.
"Keyword Density in site content"
What They Mean: They will ensure your keywords appear frequently in your site content.
Reality: Keyword density is an outdated concept. Google's algorithms are more sophisticated and look for natural language and topic relevance.
"HTML Site Map"
What They Mean: They will create an HTML sitemap for your website.
Reality: An HTML can be useful for users but is less important for SEO than an XML sitemap. While a sitemap of this kind used to be considered good general practice for professional websites for a while in the 1990s and early 2000's, it has really not been a common sight ever since. Its use for increasing SEO visibility is questionable at best.
"XML site map and Submission in webmaster tool"
What They Mean: They will create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console.
Reality: An XML sitemap helps search engines crawl your site (but doesn't by itself guarantee higher rankings). This is a basic SEO task that you can do yourself. If you use a content management system like WordPress, chances are the CMS will automatically generate the XML sitemap for you. If you are not sure, contact us; we can also do this for you.
"Content optimization"
What They Mean: They will optimize the content on your website for SEO.
Reality: This is vague and could mean anything from adding keywords to improving readability. It's important but should be part of a broader strategy.
A better approach
While some of these services can be part of a legitimate SEO strategy, many are outdated or insufficient on their own. Always exercise caution when considering SEO services, especially from unsolicited emails.
We offer all of the above services as part of our normal website maintenance and enhancement services; they are all included in our standard subscription.
