TopSEOs.com, a site that listed the “top SEO firms” in a list (for a fee) has been banned in Google. TopSEOs is a paid rating system website, that, in my opinion, has used deceptive practices over the years to list what were supposedly the “Top SEOs”. However, that’s just not the case: the companies on the list pay for their spot.
At the Pubcon Conference today in Las Vegas, here’s the TopSEOs.com booth:
A search in Google reveals that TopSEOs.com has been banned in Google:
TopSEOs has been around or a long time, the domain name originally registered in 2002. Back then, over 10 years ago, it was a “secret” that was not typically disclosed. Companies looking to hire an SEO firm would look at the list, thinking that those ranked number one on the list were truly the TOP SEOs in the industry. Saying on the site that there was an “unbiased” review of the SEO firms was completely false. And, in my opinion, deceptive.
At one point, I tried to get on the list on TopSEOs.com, and went through their “sales process”. After a few calls, the salesperson revealed to me that to get listed it would cost $2500 or more per month. That’s deceptive, and just the fact that the site is “TopSEOs” makes unsuspecting companies believe that these are good SEO firms listed on their list.
Believing that it’s totally unprofessional and deceptive to pay to be listed on such as site like TopSEOs.com, I have stayed away from the site. I won’t say anything at all about the companies on their list, as that’s a business decision that those companies made in order to get listed. They decided to pay to be on the list.
But frankly, it just wasn’t for me or any SEO firm that I have ever been associated with.
Mark Jackson, from Vizion Interactive, has been very vocal over the years about what he has deemed to be “deceptive” practices from TopSEOs.com. His posts have always been entertaining, and informative:
April 2007: http://www.vizioninteractive.com/blog/top-seo-companies/
August 2008: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2065006/Top-SEO-Firms-Paid-for-by-the-Following
January 2010: http://www.vizioninteractive.com/blog/top-seos-my-rant-continues/
By the way, I am currently at the Pubcon Las Vegas conference where TopSEOs was a sponsor. They had a booth. But, this morning, the 2nd day of the conference, this is what their booth looked like:
Here is the TopSEOs booth at #pubcon today. They were banned in Google. pic.twitter.com/ikwkmGba5H
— Bill Hartzer (@bhartzer) October 8, 2014
No official word from Google yet why the site was banned. As soon as I hear something, I’ll update this post.