Beware of SEO Scammers

SEO Scam Callers Claiming to Be Google

Beware of spam callers calling your business claiming to be Google (or third-party representatives of Google) saying that you need immediate SEO help or else your site will be shut down or blocked from search engines. This is not Google, but a scam to look out for.

One Click, Inc. has been notified by clients that these calls are sometimes received shortly after launching their new website. This is, in fact, a sign that your new site is being seen on Google, and fly-by-night opportunists are hoping to take advantage of the new launch by asking you about your website and financial information and trying to sell you something that you are already paying for; however, these scammers will not and cannot deliver the services they are promising. They often use jargon, threats, and urgency to attempt to extract money from individuals over the phone.

Some scammers will use tricks that might boost your rankings for a day or two, such as stuffing pages with an unnecessary quantity of key terms; however, Google knows this trick and will quickly push your website to the end of the results when someone tries to run a search for your site or its contents. In some cases, your website will no longer show up in search results at all.

Do not be a victim of this scam. Stick to a professional brick-and-mortar agency that you can reach out to and meet with at any time. At One Click, we are a full-service, brick-and-mortar website company!

Contact Form Spammers

There are also scams in which so-called SEO specialist “spam” your website’s contact form. Do not trust strangers who excessively and aggressively attempt to contact you or your business through your contact form. When it comes to SEO services, you need to know:

  • Who your provider is
  • What they are doing
  • When they are doing it
  • Where they are located
  • How to meet with them
  • The results of their efforts reported monthly to you

These are promises we make to you here at One Click. We use conservative, “white hat” SEO methods that strictly follow Google’s guidelines for search engine ranking. As those guidelines change several times per year, we keep an eye on things and make adjustments as needed to maintain or reclaim your rankings (should one of Google’s updates negatively affect your website’s rankings). As we play by the rules and stay up to date, we have yet to have any of our clients severely negatively impacted, whether by Google’s changes or our own SEO practices. Unlike scammers, One Click will not use tricks that will push your website to the back end of search results, nor will your website ever be banned—not on our watch!

If you receive one of these phone calls or submissions to your website’s contact form, do not provide the sender with any personal or financial information. To protect yourself, One Click recommends that you hang up, or simply don’t respond.