The current global SEO market value is north of $90 billion, which attracts both experts and opportunists eager to make quick money. And even though 74% of business owners check an agency’s reputation before hiring, many still end up hiring low-quality SEO companies just trying to make a quick dollar.

In this guide, we’ll share the most common red flags that signal a dodgy SEO agency. You’ll also learn to recognise unrealistic promises, detect black hat tactics, and identify agencies that put fast profits over your long-term success.

Ready to protect your business from SEO scammers? Keep reading.

Recognising Bad SEO Agency Signs Upfront

When you first talk to SEO agencies, be wary of three warning signs: unrealistic promises about search rankings, standardised packages that ignore your needs, and not asking about your business goals.

If you can spot these warning signs before you sign anything, trust us, you’ll save thousands of dollars.

We’ll now dig deeper into the three warning signs we just talked about.

Vague Promises About the Search Engine

Some agencies will say anything to get your business. They might promise number-one Google rankings, first-page results in 30 days, or massive traffic boosts.

Here’s the problem with claims like those: Google itself tells businesses to run from SEO providers who guarantee rankings. NOBODY can promise guaranteed rankings. SEO is too competitive and Google’s algorithm is changing all of the time. It’s just not possible to say who will rank #1.

On the flip side, good agencies will discuss with you realistic improvements in organic traffic, keyword positions, and conversion rates. They may also tell you SEO takes three to six months to show results (remember, SEO is not instant noodles).

Honest assessments like the one above may excite you less, but they show one thing clearly: these agencies understand how SEO actually works.

Absence of a Customised SEO Strategy

If you encounter providers who throw around confusing jargon or try to give you standard packages, they don’t know SEO. And they use this templated approach because it’s easier than doing the hard work of analysing your business.

However, professional agencies do their homework first. They study your current website, check out your competitors, and realise your technical needs. Then they propose a strategy dedicated to handling your specific problems instead of following some generic checklist.

A Failure to Discuss Your Business Goals

Business goals are the most important factor in creating an SEO campaign. They define what success looks like and guide every decision in your strategy. Good agencies ask detailed questions about your goals: how you make money, who your customers are, and what you want to achieve from a campaign.

When agencies skip this information-gathering conversation, it shows they’re not interested in your success. That’s a huge red flag.

Based on our experience, agencies that focus only on rankings often neglect that revenue and conversions are more important than search position (Surprise! You can’t spend rankings). Stay away from these SEO providers at any cost.

Pro-Tip: Always ask your SEO agency how they will track and measure success using clear metrics connected to your business goals, like leads, sales, or customer engagement. If they can’t explain this, it’s a sign they are not focused on your real growth.

Identifying Black Hat SEO Tactics to Avoid

The worst technique in SEO is to try to trick search engines without helping people find real information and services. We call these tactics Black Hat SEO, which involve using unethical strategies to manipulate search engine rankings.

The problem with black hat SEO is that it often violates search engine guidelines and puts your website in serious danger. Luckily, when you know what these methods look like, you can avoid agencies that take these shortcuts rather than doing proper work.

Let’s go through some detailed information on those black hat strategies.

Dangerous and Forbidden Link Building

Black hat SEO techniques ruin your website’s links. Those dodgy link schemes might promise fast results, but they end up causing long-term damage to your website’s reputation.

Here are the main tactics to watch out for:

• Private Blog Networks (PBNs): Agencies (sometimes individuals) build groups of fake websites only to create artificial links back to your site. This action violates Google’s policies and may result in a penalty or your site getting de-indexed. 
• Low-Quality Directory Submissions: When you submit your website to hundreds of useless directories, it doesn’t help users at all. Rather, it signals to search engines that you’re trying to spam the system.
• Paid Links: If someone buys links to boost their rankings, Google easily tracks these purchases and punishes websites that use those bought links. That’s why you should immediately deny the offer in case your agency’s plan includes using paid links.

Breaking Core Search Engine Rules

Bad links aren’t your only problem. Various agencies also use sneaky on-page tactics that violate the basic search engines’ rules.

Google now catches these tricks easily. So, these tactics can crash your rankings or wipe you entirely from search results (yeah, Google isn’t dumb anymore).

The three main rule-breaking elements you should know about are:

1. Gateway Pages: These fake pages exist only to rank for certain keywords and then immediately send visitors somewhere else. They usually don’t have any useful information.
2. Doorway Pages: Multiple websites or pages that all target the same keywords to take you to the same place are known as doorway pages. Google has specifically banned the use of these pages since 2015.
3. Keyword Stuffing: When you squeeze so many keywords into a webpage that the content becomes impossible to read, it clearly shows you’re trying to manipulate search results. Keyword stuffing leads your website towards one thing: getting banned!

Now that you understand these dangerous and unlawful tactics, we’ll help you build a proper framework for choosing reliable SEO providers in the next section.

A Framework for Choosing Your SEO Provider

So, how do you find the right agency to partner with that will help you improve your rankings and protect your business at the same time? Well, you need to ask the right series of questions while vetting your agencies and check their previous work before making any decisions.

For one, during the evaluation process, you should focus on how open they are and how well they communicate. Besides, can they prove their results?

We’ll now explain what kind of information you’ll get from asking those questions.

Questions That Reveal White Hat SEO Techniques

Experienced SEO agencies that use legitimate methods love it when you ask tough questions. They appreciate knowledgeable clients who understand the process and are ready to get much better results in the long run (don’t be afraid to keep them on their toes).

Now, the questions you’ll ask the agency will show if they truly know SEO or just sound impressive when they talk. That’s why you must prioritise asking questions that’ll reveal how they operate as well as their commitment to doing things the right way.

Here’s how these questions work.

How Do You Report on Progress and Success?

You can request the agency to provide some real examples of reports they send to their current clients. If your agency is professional, its reports should focus on things like how much more traffic the client is getting, how many visitors become customers, and how many leads they generate.

Most importantly, those reports should also explain what all these numbers mean and how they connect to the client’s business goals.

Pro-Tip: Avoid agencies that only show you ranking improvements without proving that those improvements helped the business grow.

Can You Detail Your Communication Process?

Find out how often the agency will update you and who will be your main point of contact. Expert agencies have clear communication systems that keep you in the loop without bombarding you with unnecessary information.

Also, don’t forget to ask them about their meeting schedule, how often they send reports, and how they handle important strategy discussions. Quality SEO companies usually send monthly reports to their clients and have quarterly strategy meetings to review long-term plans.

Last but not least, the agency should further explain how they’ll keep you involved when they need to make major decisions about your campaign.

Evaluating Past Performance and Potential Risks

Let’s be honest… fancy case studies look good but rarely tell the whole story. If you take a few minutes to check out what an agency has done before, you’ll have a much clearer idea of whether they can do their work.

How about we take a look at the way you should evaluate your agency’s earlier work?

Analysing Client Case Studies and Search Results

In our experience, it’s a good idea to ask for case studies from businesses that are similar to yours in size and industry. Then you can look for specific examples of how they improved those websites’ search visibility and helped companies scale.

Remember one thing here. Good case studies will show you distinct before-and-after numbers with realistic timelines. The numbers should prove improvements in website traffic, how many visitors became customers, and actual revenue increases.

Also, don’t be shy about asking for references from current clients who can give you the truth about what it’s like to work with the agency. You must know the environment before getting involved with them.

Making the Right Choice for Your Business

You have to follow three steps while choosing your SEO partner: evaluating their initial approach, recognising dangerous tactics, and using a thorough vetting process.

In this article, we’ve shown you how to identify unrealistic promises and generic packages from SEO agencies. We also explained some ways to detect black hat tactics like paid links, as well as keyword stuffing. Plus, you’ve learned how to ask your agency the right questions.

If you want to work with an SEO agency that uses white hat strategies, don’t hesitate to contact us at Accuvant Labs today. Let’s discuss how our team can help your business achieve sustainable growth through transparent, ethical SEO practices.