I get a ton of spam, and for the most part I just ignore it. I happened to notice this one because of the sheer absurdity of the fact that this guy was sending a pitch for SEO services to an SEO firm.
Beyond that, I just hate the whole approach of promising #1 placement. It’s a tactic overused by the bottom-feeders in the industry. In fact, I regularly tell people that if a company promises to get your site to the top of Google/Yahoo/MSN, or promises you’ll be #1 in SERPs to just turn and run.
Typically companies like this Vertical Listings Optimization will use a very specific search term in order to “prove” their results. They’ll use your company name or some long, obscure long-tail term that has no real value.
If you’re considering going with someone who’s promised you top search engine rankings, make sure you ask what terms they’ll measure that with and make sure your payment is tied to their success. You should also ask about their tactics because if they’re using black-hat techniques, you might end up at the top for a week or two, but when you get your domain banned, you’ll be in a whole new world of pain.
Here’s the spam I got from Vertical Listings Optimization:
From: Jason Fitzpatrick <jason@verticalisitngs.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Subject: your website
I can put your site at the top of a search engines listings. This is no joke and I can show proven results from all our past clients. If this is something you might be interested in, send me a reply with the web addresses you want to promote and the best way to contact you with some options.
Thanks in advance,
Jason Fitzpatrick
Vertical Listings Optimization
3636 Gateway Center
San Diego, CA 92101
Right on! I totally agree that any company promising #1 ranking should be approached with extreme caution. Definitely ask about terms and tactics! My recommendation to small business owners is to do a little research about what search engines allow (check out the Google Webmaster Guidelines or other terms of use info) so you can judge for yourself if an SEO company is using black hat tricks to push you to the top (only to have your domain banned) or if you’re getting good value on an SEO campaign that will keep your Web site ranking well long-term.
What SEO compnanes do you guys recommend?
I just got this same lil piece of spam. I wish I could promise number one listings, sure would make life easier lol. One of our clients calls daily asking why our competitors can promise number one listings and we don’t. While we do get top 3s often, I will never commit to it. I tell him because we aren’t liars, and that usually pacifies him for the day.
Mario, we make a habbit of not recommending any particular firms. Our goal is to point out the known “bad-guys” and help you to make your own, informed decisions about the rest. My recent post on how to research companies through Google’s “site:” parameter is an example of that.