Annzoseo - Keeps Calling, funny SEO Phone Conversation!

[Ben-HPB]

This company annzoseo keeps calling to get me to jump on to their SEO package that would guarantee me top rankings on the keywords I currently bid on with Google Adwords.. I really love these kind of calls because it is so much fun to probe and see how they do things.. I did a basic crawl for the site and sure enough they are ranking for specific keywords they mentioned in their phone call. However if you do a deeper search you will find tons of directory links that are like an never ending loop of links from forums and web site testing tools where it places a URL.

The call was dropped after I spoke to a tech and asked more questions about the process of getting links, etc.

When I reviewed some of their customer testimonials from a normal perspective things look great however when you dig a bit deeper you see the problem for the customers.

Example:

/case/first-rate-plumbing-.html

I took to first company listed .. The keyword they brag about is "emergency plumbing services in colorado springs"

however they are not found on the first page anymore yet they claim it on their site at the same notion. The site firstrateplumbing-heating dot com does not even show up now after the recent updates from Google from what I can imagine based on the low quality and number of outbound links.

Their sales team is contacting anyone who is advertising in the Google Adwords Program claiming that you are only getting 20% of all the traffic on the web.. However before they make these comments they should at least look at the website they are calling to see other things that company is already doing well with.

I was blown away from this call, so I dug deeper and found these types of links for their company.

Not only when you search for this company it has poor results however going to the second page I found a great link from

Complaints, Reviews - Fraud SEO company it has a few companies complaining about the service... I am shocked, as an SEO myself to see companies out on the web taking companies hard earned cash and giving them noting in return but a possibility they may be flagged one day for spammy techniques that don't work anymore.

Ok Ok, I feel like I am writing a novel here but I just wanted to get the word out about these types of slick oil SEO firms that pollute the industry and make the rest of us all look bad.

Oh and I forgot they push they are certified by seocertification.org thats cool because All I have to do is pay some money and I am in... NICE

I can keep going on with this site as a perfect example and examine more however, I would be curious on what the Group could dig up on this company..

IT would be a FUN little Project to help protect and educate other company owners not to get their company in a pickle with people like this...Sorry If I pissed anyone off.

[Ben-HPB]

This has been an on-going topic all over the web and I agree, realistically there are now real qualified SEO Certifications yet other than PPC and such from the engines. However even with a certification that is no reason to choose one or the other it comes down to the work. What did you do and what can you do? I only point out Bruce Clay's because of the difficulty of the test I have taken others and passed however this was like taking my MCSE test but with a twist, plus you are to uphold the standards Bruce has put forth with his certification .. If any of the certified are caught spamming they will loose their certification as well as many other criteria where as other just give you the cert if you pass WOOPY  I like his morals and love the refresher courses to keep up to date with technology. With any certification, you can be a book worm and pass the test but can you really do the work? That is the question!

[Highland]

What certification? I read an article several years ago on "SEO Certification" that made the point that, in order for any SEO cert to have any weight, it would have to be administered by an actual search engine.

How can you certify something that doesn’t have an established right or wrong way to do things? If you are a CPA, or certified public accountant, then there is a right way of doing things, and that right way is often the legal way. The wrong way could land you in financial difficulties, for you or your client (or worst case, prison).

There are definite no-nos in the SEO industry, that’s for sure. There are definite right ways to do things, but even if you happen to agree with other professionals, there are still no guarantees. Every SEO that I speak with has a differing opinion on something that should be done, and it even varies in regards to every search engine.

I don't see any path forward for certification (that would mean something) unless Google decides to start certifying SEOs.

[EGOL]

I get these calls too.  I am so tempted to tell them that we can kick their butts... but just ask them not to call anymore and hang up when they try to continue the pitch.

[Ben-HPB]

Robert, like I said sometimes I enjoy these calls because it helps me know what is out there to help others avoid. As for certifications I think Market Motive is one of the leaders out their currently I prefer my Bruce Clay Cert for many factors, One being Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics. Plus being trained by one of the best in the industry is always a plus with refresher courses.. However it comes down to what we do for our customers in making sure we are doing the best we can do all the time by not taking shortcuts that can harm a company. Certs are great but testimonials of happy clients saying ya such and such has really turned our online business around and we are making $$$ more than we did without the help.

[RobertFisher]

William, it must be the first of the month and everyone had the sales speech! I posted my question on Local directory jerks and yours followed!.

On a serious note though, this is a perfect reason we all need to push forward on the certification bandwagon. I am really considering paying the $3500 and signing up with Market Motive for SEO and then doing the same with Analytics. At this point, that seems to be the only thing that will prevent everyone from being an SEO expert.

Best to you,

[stefanok]

Unfortunately these kind of companies pop up all over the place. We need to be vigilant and educate people about potential fraud tactics like this.