Not all people basically understand the term “page rank” and why their website should be optimized in order to generate a lot of visitors and hopefully increase their revenues. Thus, their best option is to rely on the expertise of SEO companies.

The downside is that World Wide Web—or SEO, for that matter—isn’t a very secure place. There are a lot of scammers lurking, waiting for their next bait. They normally pose themselves as legitimate professionals, only to wake up one morning realizing they’ve totally drained your account using your basic information. So how do you know which ones are authentic and which are only posers?

Too much advertising. There’s nothing wrong with marketing your services. In fact, it should be considered as your lifeblood if you want to earn lots of cash. But as they say, too much of something is bad. Fake SEO companies resort to mass emailing or cold calling just to get your attention. They bluff on their expertise and how wonderful their services are. This is so, so you’ll avail of their services right away. Successful ones don’t do that. They bank on testimonials of their previous clients or the quality of their services.

Results are hard to find. Well-established SEO companies have proven track record that you basically don’t need to search for any reviews about them. Your fellow website owners can already make attestations. Moreover, their company seems to come up every time you and your friends talk about the best ways in optimizing your websites. Fake ones, however, can’t do that. After all, they basically don’t do any services, so what’s there to speak of in terms of quality in delivering the goods?

You only get to rank in unique names. Supposing you have an online business you call John Doe Teak Furniture Collection. If you’re truly concerned of getting the best results, then you must belong in the first 10 search results of major search engines in generic terms like “furniture” or “teak furniture.” This is the real work of SEO companies. However, scam companies can guarantee you on unique terms, such as “John Doe Teak Furniture.” This is very easy to do since the more unique the keyword is, the better are your chances in ranking effectively with such term.

They bluff—nothing more. There’s a difference between exaggeration and taking pride in what you’ve accomplished. Fake ones do the former. They tend to bluff, even on projects they haven’t actually done. This may come in the form of websites, which they claimed they’ve worked on or on testimonials from clients which are simply created by their staff. So how do you know if their claims are real? You can do your own background check. For example, if it’s a website, then you can right click on its page and choose View Page Source. Try to verify any close association between the website and the company such as digital signatures. You may also use http://www.whois.sc to verify their authenticity of the company: if they have properly registered domain name and who owns it. You may contact the supposed customers, if details such as phone numbers and names are available.

Be forewarned and always on guard. Your money and the success of your business rely on this.