Then your SEO consultant is a fraud

In recent months, I’ve come across two—not exactly tiny—SEO agencies that don’t rank first when you search for their own names. There are really no reasonable explanations for this, unless it’s only for a very short time.

SEO is complex. The level of difficulty has even increased somewhat in recent years due to Google’s increasingly common filters. In other ways, the complexity has decreased, for example with their less frequent manual actions. In one sense, this makes life easier for the frauds—the rest of us who work seriously in this industry have had to become more cautious, since one has to work more carefully. In another sense, however, it makes life harder for them.

You can get quite far with basic knowledge of SEO, but not nearly as far as before. In the past, almost anyone who had read a bit could do decent search engine optimization, at least on simpler keywords. That’s not really the case now. This has become clear, as at least two Swedish SEO agencies I’ve come across have failed to rank for their own names.

For a short period, this can happen, due to a technical collapse or an attack in the form of a hacked website or something similar. Over a longer period, however, it is unacceptable for an SEO consultant not to manage this. To rank for your own name, all that’s required is not to completely sabotage your own SEO—anyone can do this.

It’s not my intention to call anyone out as frauds or incompetent here, so I won’t mention which companies are involved. In my eyes, it would be far better if they simply stepped forward and gave a reasonable explanation—something other than admitting they have no idea what they’re doing. That would be a big step forward for an industry that has long suffered from talkers and cheaters. The industry is cleaner and more professional today, so it’s incredibly frustrating that cases like these still exist.