Every seasoned website owner has seen them: the cookie-cutter SEO sales emails promising the world with vague claims and dubious guarantees. The one below recently landed in my inbox from a supposed Business Development Manager with no real company name, no verifiable credentials, and a free Gmail address.
It is a perfect example of the kind of predatory SEO pitch that can harm unsuspecting site owners more than help them. Let’s dissect this SPAM line by line to show exactly why you should never respond to messages like this—and certainly never hand over your money or your site’s SEO to someone like this.
Let’s break down this email:
From Mark Peterson (maketopseorank@gmail.com). [Gmail? So this guy doesn’t actually work for a company with a domain that I can check out? maketopseorank? really?]
Hello, [Hello who? You don’t know me, do you?]
Hope you are well. As part of our client research [AKA – we bought a list of site owners], we came across your website “Marketingtechblog.com” and noticed your site is not ranking in the most important search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing. [Where aren’t we ranking? We rank #1 on hundreds of terms!] I was wondering if you would be interested in search engine optimization services for your website at a very low cost. [Low cost SEO will get you banned… it spells doom for site owners.]
Proper search engine optimization will increase your brand recognition, web traffic and grow your sales, which is why you have a web site to begin with right? [Yes… and why I would never risk doing business with someone who doesn’t know me, doesn’t know my site, doesn’t know what I rank on, doesn’t know what I’d like to rank on, nor knows what I’m actually selling.]
We can promote your website to 1st page placement on Google, Yahoo, or Bing in three to six months guaranteed with our “National SEO” package. [Guaranteed? 1st page placement? I can write a topic on anything and get 1st place placement on some term.] Three to six months is typical for all our SEO packages!
Let me know if you are interested and we will mail you more details, or we can schedule a call. It’s your option. We would love to work with you!
I look forward to your reply. [Great – I’m sending you a link to this blog post.]
Sincerely,
Mark Peterson,
Business Development Manager
Hey Mark, please remove me from your list and stop trying to take advantage of people.
SEO SPAM Checklist
Here is a clear and practical list of checks a business owner can use to identify these kinds of spammy SEO emails quickly:
- Email address and domain: Always check the sender’s email address. A genuine SEO professional or agency should send emails from a company domain, not a free Gmail or Yahoo address.
- Company transparency: Look for a verifiable company name, website, and professional presence (LinkedIn, reviews, testimonials). If they don’t mention a real company or it’s impossible to trace, that’s a red flag.
- Personalization: Look out for generic greetings like Hello without a name, or vague references to your site that indicate they haven’t conducted thorough research.
- Vague performance claims: If they state your site isn’t ranking without citing specific terms or pages, it’s a blanket statement aimed at scaring you.
- Guaranteed rankings: Be very cautious of anyone promising #1 rankings or first page guarantees. No reputable SEO can promise this across all search engines or terms.
- Pricing that seems too cheap: Offers for very low cost SEO usually mean automated or black-hat tactics that can get your site penalized.
- Overly broad promises: Claims that SEO alone will increase sales or build your brand without any mention of your goals, market, or competition are sales fluff.
- Poor language or professionalism: Sloppy grammar, weird phrasing, and odd formatting often indicate a bulk spam message.
- Lack of opt-out: Legitimate businesses will honor unsubscribe or opt-out requests. Spammy senders will not.
If an email sets off several of these alarms, you are almost certainly dealing with a low-quality—or outright fraudulent—SEO pitch that should go straight to your trash folder.
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