Anyone with a website wants to be at the top of the Google rankings for search. Business owners know that their best chance of getting new leads is by ranking high. Many companies spend great amounts of time and money to legitimately earn their way to page one of Google. The bad news is that there are always cheaters coming up with scam after scam to steal away that internet business. This is where lead generation companies come in.
The New York Times recently reported a lead generation scam going on in the locksmith business in the Seattle area. A legitimate locksmith company owner trying to rank in the search engines discovered that there were thousands of locksmiths ranking better, most of which did not even have actual business locations in the Seattle area. False addresses are used to help them rank in the coveted local listings area of the search results page. Most of them were simply links to a lead generation company and the addresses listed belonged to totally non-related buildings.
Lead generation companies are phone banks usually set up far away, usually in foreign countries. If you call one of them they will offer to send a representative to provide a service for you. Many of them are overpriced and will do sub-par work often charging much more than the estimate they give. A few of these types of operations have been discovered and even sued.
Google says they are aware of the problem in the locksmith industry within Google search and are continuing to work to combat this problem. If it’s happening in this industry, where else might this be a problem?
The value of good position in the search results is no secret and there will always be someone trying to cheat their way to the top. Enlist the help of a reputable internet marketing firm to help you navigate the tricky waters of internet search the right way.