In the last few years in the UK (and certainly in London) there have been a number of factory styled SEO companies cropping up.  They offer services to unsuspecting business owners and have somehow managed to convince many people that their factory approach is good value.

I presume these kind of SEO companies are full of Umpa Lumpas who send out thousands of emails every day, click a few keys and mostly are more concerned at earning the money for potential SEO than actually providing a service that will get anyone ranked.

Presumably they must be so happy with this and are inspired to sing all day while they sit at their desks (complete with telephone head set) with orange faces and green hair (okay I’m not sure about the latter unless it’s ‘fancy dress day’) but in essence they call you up, make false promises, take your payment and then forget all about you.

Somewhere in the building is Veruca Salt, a thoughtless and very greedy business person, who is mostly interested in getting money for nothing so she can feed her sweet habit.  She probably killed Willy Wonka long ago and as for Charlie, he was officially escorted from the building!

Of course I’m being rather light about all this but in short, if you get a telephone call or email from someone offering you cheap SEO for nothing, they probably not an Umpa Lumpa (that would just be weird) but they are working in factories selling services that are sub-standard at best.

So here are a few things you should know about SEO factories:

• They are usually relatively cheap, charging say an upfront cost of £99 and a minimum of £30 a month thereafter.  – However, for financial benefit you’d be just as well to shred your cash instead.
• When they get you ranked it’s usually for really easy keywords with little or no competition.  In short, anyone can get ranked for these kinds of keywords.
• They usually pressure sell and get a commission for every sale made.  This should automatically tell you how dangerous they are.
• They will use clever words and possibly even technical jargon you don’t understand.
• They won’t let you ask questions, preferring to interrupt you with more sales speak so you don’t see just how rubbish their services are.
• They won’t be able to give you tangible examples of companies like yours they’ve got ranked well on the major search engines.
• They’ll tell you that hundreds of companies have found them great, but again won’t be able to specifically name them.
• They’ll waste your money!

There are so many reasons that Willy Wonka like SEO factories are a waste of time and let’s not forget.  Even if you do suddenly realise they’re really ripping you off when you try and contact them?  They’ll conveniently not be available and have another set of ‘excuses’ to deal with you.

So don’t be a plonker and go for Willy Wonka!  SEO should be provided by a professional that will not dangle a carrot in front of you in the hope that you’ll buy it and not ask questions.

Be safe with your SEO!

Paul