Emails promising top rankings are sent in bulk to addresses copied from directories, and the work behind them often risks a penalty. Judge any offer by its sender, what it says about your site, and what it proposes.

The email in the inbox

The message arrives at the general address on the website. It says the site cannot be found on Google for the searches that matter, and offers to put it at the top of the results this month.

It may attach a short report: a list of phrases, a score out of 100, a few warnings about missing tags. It is signed with a first name and comes from a free webmail account.

Several arrive each week. Most get deleted, but now and then one sounds specific enough to make an owner wonder.

Who sends these, and to whom

These messages go out in bulk to addresses copied from business directories, domain registration records and contact pages. The same text reaches thousands of businesses, with the name and web address swapped in.

The report is produced by software that reads the home page and lists generic findings. It looks personal, but nobody has studied the site or the business.

Google's own help pages on choosing a search consultant warn about unsolicited email of exactly this kind, and mention that Google receives such messages too.

What the work behind them often is

When an offer like this is taken up, the work tends to be cheap and fast, which is how it can be sold at the price quoted:

Google's guidelines treat links bought or arranged to influence rankings as link schemes. In January, Google also warned that guest posts written mainly for links are now a risk.

How a penalty arrives

Google acts on such links in two ways. Its periodic Penguin updates can lower a site that depends on them, and its staff can apply a manual action.

A manual action appears in Webmaster Tools, under Manual Actions, with a short description. Lifting it means removing the links, disavowing those that cannot be removed, and asking for reconsideration.

That clean-up can take months. And the business, not the sender of the email, lives with the consequences.

A worked example

A custom plastics moulder in an industrial park makes parts for other manufacturers: housings, clips, caps and small components, in runs from a few thousand to several hundred thousand.

Its office receives several of these emails a week. One promised the top spot for plastic injection moulding within thirty days, and the sales manager forwarded it to the owner asking whether to reply.

Looked at closely, it said nothing about the business. Its phrases were ones a hobbyist might type, not an engineer looking for a supplier, and the sender's own site gave no company name or address.

Instead, the owner asked the company's web developer to look at how buyers find a moulder. The site had one services page, with nothing on materials, press sizes, tolerances or the industries served.

New pages now describe each process and material, the press range and the quality certification, with a quote request form that accepts drawings. Buyers search for exactly those specifics, and now the pages contain them.

Judge an offer by who sent it

Look at the sender before the message. A real firm has a name, a street address, a phone number and people you can look up, and it writes from its own domain.

Then look at its own website. A company selling search work whose site gives no address and no names is asking for a kind of trust it has not earned.

A firm worth hearing from is happy to be checked: references, examples of work, and a clear account of who would do yours.

Judge it by what it says about your site

A genuine first contact refers to specific things: a particular page, a search your customers really use, a problem someone actually found. Findings that would fit any site are the mark of a template.

Watch for promises about position and timing. Nobody controls Google's results, and Google's own advice says that no one can promise the top spot.

What a sound search proposal contains

A proposal worth considering starts with questions about your business: who buys, what they search for, which products matter most, and where customers come from now.

It describes the work plainly: fixing technical problems on the site, writing pages that answer real searches, tidying the local listing, and earning links by being worth mentioning.

It says how progress will be measured, who will do the work, and that you will own everything produced, including any accounts opened in your name. It makes no promise of a position.

Questions worth asking any firm

Ask which links they would build, and where. A firm doing honest work can name the kinds of sites involved and the reasons those sites would link to yours.

Ask who writes the content, and whether you approve it before it is published under your name.

Ask what happens when the contract ends: whether the work stays, and whether you keep the logins, the reports and the history.

The counter-case

Not every unsolicited approach is a scam. Some legitimate firms do contact businesses they have researched, and a few of those emails deserve a reply.

The difference shows in the details. A genuine approach names the firm and its people, says something true and specific about your site, and suggests a conversation rather than a price for results.

And the volume of spam is no argument against search work itself. Done properly, by someone accountable, it remains well worth doing.

Before replying to the next one

  1. Look at the sender's address and the domain it comes from.
  2. Search for the firm and find a real address and people.
  3. Check what the email says about your site in particular.
  4. Delete any offer that promises a position or a date.
  5. Ask your web developer how buyers actually find you.
  6. Request a written proposal describing the work and how it is measured.
  7. Keep ownership of every account and page in your name.

Step four saves the most trouble. Nobody can deliver a promise about Google's results, so an email that makes one has already told you what you need to know.

Links given to sponsors in return for money fall under the same rule, as thanking sponsors without a wall of logos explains for charities and community events.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I keep getting emails about my Google ranking?

Your address appears in directories, domain records or on your site, and these messages go out in bulk to thousands of businesses with the names swapped in.

Are the reports attached to these emails real?

They are usually produced by software reading your home page, listing generic findings that would fit almost any site. Nobody has studied your business or customers.

What could go wrong if I hire one?

The work is often bought links, mass directory listings or thin articles. Google treats those as link schemes, and a penalty can take months to clean up.

Can anyone promise first place on Google?

No. Nobody controls Google's results, and Google's own advice on hiring help says no one can promise the top position. Treat any such promise as a warning.

What should a real search proposal include?

Questions about your customers, a plain description of the work, how progress is measured, who does it, and your ownership of everything produced, with no promised positions.

Are all unsolicited search offers scams?

Not all. A genuine approach names the firm and its people, says something specific and true about your site, and suggests a conversation rather than a price.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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