[Mike Seddon]

Our market is flooded with people claiming to be SEO experts.

I once again found myself reviewing a website that I was told proudly had been professionally SEO'd.

One very quick test showed that nearly all of the Title Tags were duplicates. I didn't have the heart to ask how much they had paid for the work!

It was nothing fancy, just a simple report provided freely by Google Webmaster. I blogged about it so rather than creating duplicate content here, this is the link

Duplicate Title Tag Finder

Just for the record, some of the SEO advice I see on this forum is fantastic.

[Alvin]

to bloody true cobber.

quick way to check titles

site:www.mysite.com

in google

Earl

[nass]

I especially enjoyed yesterday afternoons's weekly cold call from {insert some seo company I've never heard of}.

them "hello mr customer did you know that we searched telecoms and it came up 1 million times in google and you're not in the top 10"
me "yep, that's because it's not profitable"
me "have you looked for {insert list of 100 phrases I do target and make money on? we're in the top 3 for each!}"
them "ah"
them "ok, but does does your link appear highlighted in the top of google when people search?!!!"
me "yep"
me "of course it depends when, where, what and with which google you search"
them "ah"
me "I'm Google adwords qualified, are you?"
them "no"
me "I see"
them "Sorry for wasting your time"
me "bye"

[Sam (Mr. Mu)]

nass - love it :-)

Mike, too many. I don't claim to be an expert but I do know b***sh*t when I see it. I can think of one lady I recently did a promotion for. Has a pretty site designed by people in my region, well known. Their guff says "Every one of our sites is professionally set up for SEO from the start".

Guess what? Every one of her pages is titled either with her name or her company name, nothing else of SE value.

Each time, I come within a hair's breadth of 'outing' people like this.... Why do we hold back from naming and shaming?

[Dotwhack]

I come across it all the time too - the reason we don't 'name & shame' is because we don't want to rock the boat and declare war on them - especially if they're in our local area.

Word of advice to all people looking for SEO services - please ask for references before hiring someone!

[Sam (Mr. Mu)]

Agree - Dotwhack, your link to keyword guide sense me to a page with "bad request (invalid hostname)" on it.

[Indizine]

whyn name and shame? If they are competition let them get on with making their mistakes.

[Paul Norman]

I guess part of the frustration is that there are quite high profile SEO businesses out there that do not know what they are talking about. One in particular, I checked out this week, had an appalling web site, almost invisible to google.

I guess....that is one of the checks to make. But lots of people do not know what to look for!

My tip would be the simple, oft repeated mantra - get them to demonstrate track record. Ask them about historic ROI - hard cash gains from their work.

[QuikShop]

Originally Posted by Paul Norman

My tip would be the simple, oft repeated mantra - get them to demonstrate track record. Ask them about historic ROI - hard cash gains from their work.

A verifiable track record is vitally important along with some previous clients who are happy to be contacted if they are willing, but we would never reveal financials about clients work or their ROI

Its unreasonable to ask for that type of information, just as its unreasonable to expect an SEO service to document chapter and verse their exact actions in relation to how they will carry out their service for you.

Its like asking a mechanic to list every individual procedure in removing your head gasket

[ARK]

Name and Shame ! save people from getting ripped off !