SEO Company Misrepresenting Themselves

[naynay]

I local SEO company I have recently encounterd, employs misleading tactics i.e. they display corporate logos for very large corporations not only on the home page of their web site, but on their client page as well. One corporation in particular (John Deere) stated that they have never contracted the aforementioned company to perform SEO on their web site, upon a representative visiting this SEO firms web site they saw their corporate logos displayed throught the web site. The individual I spoke with stated that John Deere would be contacting this SEO firm immediately, and that their corporate logo better be removed immediately or they would be prosecuted. Sure enough John Deere did contact the SEO firm, and the logo was immediately removed; however, was quickly replaced with Sears corporate logo. This makes my skin crawl. What should happen to this SEO firm...any words of advice. Thanks!

[Connie]

Hi naynay and welcome to IHY forums! :hi:

There are a lot of unethical SEO companies out there.

[Quadrille]

Originally posted by naynay
they display corporate logos for very large corporations not only on the home page of their web site, but on their client page as well. Most corporations will do as John Deere did; get removed, and move on. Hopefully they'll do it to a company that will prosecute or sue them - but that's unlikely.

Chances are the site is based outside the US, and chasing them is just so complex and expensive, few will bother.

But if clients are conned by a simple logo, without any deeper checks, it's hard to be sympathetic!

[st0n3y]

Now that is a real example of an "unethical" seo firm.

[polarmate]

:hi: naynay welcome to IHY!

There are lots of companies / firms / individuals that do that on their web sites. Not just SEOs. There is also this trend of listing 'Partners' - if they have an SBC-Yahoo DSL connection, they will list SBC-Yahoo! as a partner. If they talked to IBM tech support, IBM becomes a partner. If they bought a tire at Sears, Sears is a partner and so on. Not much you or anyone can do about it.

It's gross misrepresentation. In a lot of cases, it's an outright lie. However, it's something that lies outside of your sphere of control. If it bothers you greatly or is affecting your business directly, you could complain to your local BBB and if they are listed in your local Chamber of Commerce, let them know, too. And then move on. Learn from this. Adopt better business practises and place your energies where they will bring positive returns for your business. :)