SEO red flags
The clearest red flag is a guarantee: Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and tells you to beware of SEOs who claim a “special relationship” with it, advertise a “priority submit”, keep their methods secret or email you out of the blue. The second kind is tactics that break Google’s spam policies, such as buying links or stuffing pages with keywords, which can leave a site ranked lower or out of the results altogether.
General information, not business advice. The current text of Google’s spam policies is on Google Search Central, linked at the foot of this page. Check it there before relying on any summary, including this one.
Promises to strike out
Each line below is the kind of thing a pitch might say. The red note is Google’s answer.
“We guarantee you the top spot.”“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”If an SEO guarantees that their changes will put you first in search results, Google’s advice is to find someone else.“We have a special relationship with Google.”Beware, says Google, of anyone who claims one.The same goes for a “priority submit” to Google. Google doesn’t accept payment to crawl a site more often or to rank it higher, and says that if anyone tells you otherwise, they’re wrong.“You need to pay to be listed on Google.”It costs nothing to appear in Google’s results.Google’s Search Essentials put it bluntly: it doesn’t cost any money to appear in Google Search results, “no matter what anyone tries to tell you.”“Our methods are proprietary and confidential.”Be careful if a company is secretive.Google says to ask for explanations of anything unclear, and warns that if an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index.“I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories...”Google gets these emails too.It suggests treating unsolicited email about search engines with the same scepticism as “burn fat at night” diet pills.“Our package includes a credit link in your footer.”“You should never have to link to an SEO.”Google’s words, from its page on hiring one. Its spam policies also list widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites as an example of link spam.“We’ll submit your site to thousands of search engines.”Typically a useless exercise.Google says the same of link popularity schemes: they don’t affect ranking in the major search engines, at least not in a way you’d likely call positive.“Our tools are approved by Google.”Google doesn’t evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools.Those tools don’t have access to Google’s internal ranking data and can’t guarantee performance.
Tactics that break Google’s spam policies
Google defines spam as techniques used to deceive users or manipulate its Search systems into featuring content prominently. The table sets a few of its named policies beside the way they might be dressed up in a proposal. The proposal wording is invented for illustration.
| Policy | What Google’s spam policies describe | How it might read in a pitch |
|---|---|---|
| Link spam | Creating links to or from a site mainly to manipulate rankings. Examples include buying or selling links for ranking purposes, excessive link exchanges, using automated programs to create links, and low-quality directory or bookmark site links. | |
| Keyword stuffing | Filling a page with keywords or numbers to manipulate rankings, such as blocks of text listing the cities and regions a page is trying to rank for. | |
| Hidden text and link abuse | Placing content on a page solely to manipulate search engines, where visitors can’t easily see it: white text on a white background, text behind an image, text positioned off-screen, or a font size or opacity of zero. | |
| Doorway abuse | Sites or pages made to rank for specific, similar searches that lead people to less useful intermediate pages, including many domain names or pages aimed at regions or cities that funnel visitors to one page. | |
| Cloaking | Showing different content to people and to search engines, with the intent to manipulate rankings and mislead users. | |
| Scaled content abuse | Generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings rather than to help people, for example with generative AI tools, without adding value, however the content is made. |
Paid links aren’t automatically a breach. Google accepts that buying and selling links is a normal part of advertising and sponsorship, as long as those links are marked with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute.
What happens to a site that breaks the rules
Lower, or gone. Sites that break Google’s policies may rank lower in results or not appear at all. Google finds breaches with automated systems and, where needed, human review, which can lead to a manual action.
A manual action means some or all of a site isn’t shown in Google’s results. The site owner is notified in Search Console’s Manual actions report.
The way back is to fix the problem on every affected page, then request a review. Google says most reconsideration reviews can take several days or weeks, and link-related ones may take longer.
This is why the agency’s methods are your business. Google is plain that you are responsible for the actions of any company you hire, so it’s best to know exactly how they intend to help.
The penalty lands on your site, not on the agency’s.
If you think something is wrong
Search Console’s Manual actions report shows whether your site has a manual action against it, with a green tick when it has none. To report another site you believe is breaking the spam policies, Google takes search quality user reports.
If you feel misled by the business you hired, that’s a consumer matter rather than a Google one. business.gov.au explains that state and territory consumer protection agencies manage individual complaints about businesses in their state or territory. Your rights when you buy a service are in SEO contracts and ownership.