Identifying Bad SEO Marketing Companies (Podcast)

There are many SEO scams online in today’s marketplace, and roofing companies can fall victim to their shadiness. On today’s podcast, Nolen and Jason of Roofing Webmasters discuss SEO scams for roofers and how to avoid lousy marketing companies like the plague. Investing marketing dollars wisely can make or break your roofing business, and choosing the wrong agency can ruin your company. Let’s take a look at some surefire scam signs.

Long-Term Contracts

Any roofing marketing agency that locks you into a long-term contract (6 months or more) should be considered a red flag. Roofing companies should only partner with agencies that offer month-to-month agreements so that they can keep them accountable. In addition, once you’re locked into payments, your agency can stop worrying about your website because they get paid either way. 

Black Box Billing

One of the biggest scams in digital marketing is black box billing for PPC. If your agency handles your Google Ads, they should offer transparent billing through Google. You should know how much of your ad spend goes directly to your Google Ad campaigns and how much goes into your agency’s pockets. If they can’t provide detailed billing for your PPC campaigns, you have entered into a bad deal.

Choose Your Keywords

If an SEO agency asks you to choose from a list of keywords, run for the hills. While it might sound like a good idea at face value, the reality is that choosing keywords is a horrible SEO practice. A good SEO agency will optimize your website for every viable keyword in your niche rather than limiting it to select keywords. Worse yet, most of the listed keywords are easy to rank for and require very little expertise from the agency. As a result, they fool you into thinking they accomplished something great when most SEO companies could easily replicate the rankings.

Branding and Big Words

Any highfalutin marketing agency that tries to act superior by using vague terminology that makes them sound smarter is acting in bad faith. If they speak about branding from a conceptual standpoint, they’ve likely hooked you into a bad deal. The actual value of branding is lead generation. So the idea of branding from a theoretical perspective is a waste of time. Unless your agency can show you how their services lead to sales, they are just talking to sound smart.

General Marketing Agencies

Not every generalized marketing firm is terrible, but it certainly helps to choose an agency that focuses on roofing. If your agency handles everything from eCommerce to medical accounts, they may not have the expertise to handle roofing, or they may lose your account in a pile of higher-paying clients. If you choose a general SEO company, make sure they can provide examples of roofing campaigns they’ve helped succeed recently.