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SEO Company

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  • 06-07-2015 10:01am
    #1
    kanky
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭


    Hi guys,

    Bit of a weird one for you. I have engaged the services of a SEO company via Guru.com

    They have been working for 2 months now, from the start I had noticed a couple of mistakes with the reports they were sending me. Some (very few) spelt incorrectly, SEO location lsites as USA rather than Ireland. Etc.

    I have reviewed the links that they built and they all seem pretty spammy. They built some online videos for vimeo and YouTube after checking they had 0 views. The posted some blog articles on WordPress and other blog hosting sites.
    The content was actually ok.

    However my suspicion was aroused last month, when they suggested changing meta titles to pevious titles albeit a word or two different.

    I had a look at their website and there is no team page, or individuals named. I searched for my account manager online to see of linkedin LinkedIn or similar the only presence was on the company website. They do have some progue pics on their website, but no names. I did a Google image search and the only result was an Irish guy who is nothing to do with SEO. He works for a travel company.

    I also had a look at the Facebook page, 4,500 likes, but a total of 5 lime in total since 2013.

    So I suppose my question is (I think I know the answer), do you think these guys are a bunch of cowboys or just have a really bad website and social media sites. They have really really good reviews on guru, but don't want to to pay for a service claiming to be something they are not, especially as it's costing $350 a month.

    Interested in your feedback. Sorry for the long post.

    Thanks

    Kanky


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    #2
    dbran
    Registered Users Posts: 2,094 ✭✭✭dbran


    Hi

    Run away, run away run away... as fast as you can.

    I have had awful problems with SEO people in the past. All they did was set up a whole load of spammy links and content in order to trick google into thinking that your site is great. I thought I was dealing with an reputable Irish company. Turned out that this was just a front and they outsourced the whole lot to India. Indians in general are terrible website and SEO providers. They may be cheap but they need constant supervision and instructions for even the smallest things otherwise they will hand things back to you in a mess. They still expect to be paid though even though your rankings are actually worse then they were before you hired them.

    Problem happens when google cottons onto what they are doing and then if you are lucky it just ignores all of the black hat SEO that has been done and your back to where you statred minus a load of money. If you are not so lucky google will penalise your site. It is quite difficult to remove the links once they have been established on a site that could be on another side of the world. You have to contact google and show that the links are nothing to do with you. A quite involved process.

    Did they ask you to sign a contract for a year or something like that.

    Good luck

    dbran


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    #3
    jimmii
    Registered Users Posts: 14,810 ✭✭✭✭jimmii


    Not so long ago I was talking to a guy who got caught up with a shady SEO company when google found it they got absolutely hammered it took them a good 18 months to get back to where they were links to their site dropped way down to like page 18 or so on searches they were practically invisible.

    Best move here is to get away as quickly as possible.


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    #4
    markiemark2005
    Registered Users Posts: 199 ✭✭markiemark2005


    You will find decent a decent SEO company here https://moz.com/community/recommended. Moz is a great platform.


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    #5
    kanky
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭kanky


    Thanks for the input guys.

    Thankfully I am not tied into any contract. It was done on a rolling month basis.

    I had looked at the Moz community before. I might have another look and get a few quotes.


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    #6
    JMR
    Registered Users Posts: 633 ✭✭✭JMR


    My advice is to hire a local firm.

    When I launched our .co.uk site specifically for the UK market I hired a UK based SEO to do approx 4 to 5 months work.
    I was charged a monthly fee and received monthly reports and updates etc.
    Overall, very happy with the results.

    If I needed work done on a .ie site I would definitely hire an Irish company.


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    #7
    delahuntv
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,532 ✭✭✭delahuntv


    Here's 2 that companies I'm involved with have used in the past with good results.

    www.seocompany.ie - ideal for smaller seo jobs. Smallish operation, but knows what he is doing.

    www.granite.ie - excellent if you are planning to do serious online business. Blue chip client base (Irish and international), but price very reasonable if you are looking for higher end, google analytics and remarketing etc. Don't hold being based in Cork against them :)


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