Is my SEO guy bad news?
-
Hi All...
I have had an SEO guy doing some work for us (link building etc) over the past few months.
In the last week or two, I have been receiving emails from a few website owners complaining that our SEO guy has been spamming their sites (either through blog comments or forums posts etc).
Now, to clarify, it's not spam as in "come and buy our awesome product" - it is spam as in he makes (for example) blog post comments that are relevant to the topic, that sometimes don't make perfect sense (due to his english skills). So, they do seem perhaps, extra spammy... (it is all hand written... not an automated scripts)
My questions
- Im not out to do the wrong thing, so, is this approach bad news?
- Apart from annoying people, are there are other downsides?
- If I were to pre-write him comments/posts that actually made perfect sense, would that be a better approach?
I don't want to annoy people, and I don't want to do the wrong thing, and I don't want our rankings to be effected, so... what is the consensus?
-
If you were to pre-write him comments and posts that made perfect sense, then you are either a) writing comments that make perfect sense but are so general that the person reading them knows that they could apply to hundreds of posts out there or b) you're reading the post and writing the comments so why are you bothering to hire him?
I agree with the advice that EGOL and Sha have given, and would add that reading through the Beginner's Guide to SEO could also be helpful.
-
Bad english? Did you hire someone from india?, i have been down that road, I finaly found one that understands what a quality link is.
Blog posting is next to useless i believe.I think it was Matt Cutts or Duane Forrester who stated that blog posts were not worth it, but good relevan of local directories were when mixed with a few quaility links. This is the path i am following untill i have evidence that differs
-
Hi blitzna,
It is highly unlikely that any of the comments he is submitting will ever be posted anyway, since most bloggers either hold them for moderation and would delete without approving, or they constantly monitor comments and immediately delete anything spammy.
The very first thing that you should do is share your SEOmoz referral link with your guy so that he can sign up for a PRO Trial. At the very least, he will get exposure to all of the content on SEOmoz (including Q&A) and learn some good things about link building. Even better if he sees the value of the membership and decides to sign up - and earn you $100 Referral!
With regard to your question:
The only time that blog commenting is really effective in link building is when you are able to make real contributions to build your authority and reputation. The prerequisite is always that you have something of value or interest to say and that it is totally relevant to the content of the post. Of course, for this to be effective, the blogs (or forums) you choose to comment on must be high visibility and seen as authoritative.
If you think that the problem is really just his inability to write well in english, then you could try another way of approaching the problem:
- Get him to send you his responses for editing before he posts them (if you feel he has the knowledge to make a valuable contribution on your behalf)
- Get him to identify posts that you might be interested in contributing to.
He could either find the posts and send you the links so that you can drop by the blog and add the comment yourself, or if it is difficult for you to do that - perhaps you are likely to be interrupted, don't want to spend time reading other comments etc - he could send you the content of the post and you could type your comments at a convenient time and return to him for posting.
The value of the links themselves will not have a huge impact for your site, but the fact that you become more visible as an authority in your industry is quite likely to result in people becoming interested in you and your business. The overall outcome is that you will quite possibly gain links naturally through increased visibility of your content, social sharing etc.
In addition, I would point him to the SEOmoz SEO Web Directory List and this post from Cyrus about using SEO Link Directory best practices.
If Local search is important for your business, you could also suggest that he try the free version of Whitespark Local Citation Finder to identify any other local citation sources that might be relevant.
With some good exposure to the resources available here on SEOmoz and a good team approach, it is quite likely that you can improve things for your site as well as for your SEO guy
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
I have competitors in my vertical that comment for rank and I have actually seen a small percentage work. This method is usually done in a way that doesn't but when done effectively to gain ranks they usually get destroyed in branding. People don't like when you comment for rank so I would suggest finding a new tactic with less risk of backlash and damage to your brand.
-
I would hire someone else. This guy is stinking up your brand. He is also defacing other websites.
Your question is intelligently worded, reads easily, perfect spelling and more. I bet you have some really nice sites. So, you would probably be irritated if someone posted illiterate crap all over them.
-
In most cases, blog commenting is not terribly helpful in terms of SEO. I have a few websites that consistently spam my blogs in hopes of me publishing a comment and it is terribly annoying.
Is your SEO building any quality links? If you're paying him for a certain number of links and all you are getting is blog comments and forum sigs then it's time to get a new strategy!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO Questions & Help
I have a woo commerce shop in the firearms industry which makes advertising even more difficult because no FB, IG, or Google campaigns. I do have other sources of advertising but I'm a complete noob when it comes to SEO and the like. I know it exists and its important and that's the extent of it. I was thinking of hiring someone on Upwork to take care of this on my website but what kinds of questions/things I should look out for to keep from getting scammed? Any tips would be appreciated
Content Development | | chrisjordan0i10 -
Free websites that are good for seo
I am looking to create some one phrase specific sites. Are there any free instant sites that are good for seo? I know WP but for speed wanted to go for an instant thing. http://wordpress.com/ ? or something else?
Content Development | | Agentmorris0 -
Are there any tools available for wordpress that can help with SEO?
I'm looking for a wordpress plugin that that keeps current/updates with all the changes that constantly take place on various search engines. Is there such an addon that meets this criteria?
Content Development | | uofmiamiguy0 -
How to craft seo for multiple location business?
Hi Friends, I need to know how to craft seo for business which is located in different locations.
Content Development | | hardik_dangar
i.e. jewelery shop is there which has 3 shops in near by towns and they have one site for all of them. now my question is how i can get good rankings for top SERP's of these three different locations with one site ? any reference article or any clue you can give is welcome. Thanks for reading this much. Have a good day 🙂0 -
How to Handle SEO for Daily and Weekly Market Updates
I have a market news and education site focused on the bond market. Each day we have an end of day market wrapup piece. We also have several weekly pieces as well as pieces that come out once a month. My question is how should I handle these from an SEO standpoint? When someone searches for "bond market update" for example I want my latest piece to show up in the results. Similarly when someone searches for "savings bond interest rate forecast" I would also like the report for that month to be the one that they find. Here are two examples of what I am talking about: http://www.learnbonds.com/us-savings-bond-forecast-3272012/ and http://www.learnbonds.com/bond-market-recap-41712/ Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks Dave
Content Development | | fxtrader19790 -
SEO guide for journalists
I am looking for a white paper or similar focused on helping journalists (online) writing better and more SEO-friendly content. If you know of anything or anyone who might be of help I would love to hear from you.
Content Development | | jpndk0 -
Best Blog Post Format for SEO?
Wondering what the best way is to display blog posts, and organize a blog in general, for maximum SEO benefit. Displaying the entire blog post for the reader to scroll down right on the main page of the blog? With previous posts displayed farther down on the same page. Displaying a snippet/paragraph of the post with a link to continue reading - this way each blog post has it's own dedicated page? And the main blog page can display more topics. Any additional ideas or suggestions to think about would be great. Thank You!
Content Development | | NiallTom0 -
Blog for SEO: embedded in the site or separate
Hello, For both ecommerce and sites that sell services, I've seen a lot of people recommending a blog for SEO. Should this blog be inside or separate from the main website for the most results? I can see how adding one to a site would create more unique content and an opportunity for link bait, but perhaps there is a reason to have a blog separate from the main site Thank you.
Content Development | | BobGW1