This is one in a series of posts reviewing and looking at how some of the SEO companies which use bulk emails/spam with ‘we can help your terrible site’ type emails really can (and actually mostly can’t!) help your site.
Read some simple explanations of some of the SEO terms used on this post…
This time the spam came in from a ‘Ian’ who was using a Gmail address which had his full name in it but it was spelt incorrectly…
The subject of the spam was “Whychristmas.com Revamp with great UI/UX” and went:
Hey Whychristmas.com Owner,
I am looking for an opportunity to assist you with all kinds of IT requirements. I was just browsing your website and I came up with a great a plan to revamp it by using most modern technologies to produce supplementary returns and beat your competitors.
We have a range of web design and development packages that are matched to your industry needs and budget. Our easy process allows you to control what you want.
Interested to revamp Whychristmas.com ? Let’s talk over Phone or WhatsApp. Reply to this email, I will send you our portfolio and client testimonials.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
With Warm Regards,
Ian [name removed for privacy even though I’m sure it’s fake!]
Digital Marketing Executive
I replied asking why my site needs a revamp and more about the company. I got this reply from an Amy who was using an @algopage.com email account:
Hello James Cooper
Thanks for your quick response. This is Amy Louise, Business Development Manager from Algopage and I will take care of all your queries on behalf of my executive Ian Vaughan, who has written you the first email.
Let me answer your queries below.
In which company you are working with? Where are you located?
AlgoPage is a Digital Marketing company that provides end to end digital marketing support to more than 400 clients across the globe. We don’t work for any specific business. We work for all the business industries all over the world. We are based out of Richmond, USA, and have representatives in the UK, Australia, and UAE as well. Our backend office is in India. For more information regarding us, you can check our official website:www.algopage.com and company profile attached below.
Why do you think my site needs a revamp?
Below are some major drawbacks for which we suggest to revamp your current website in order to grab more website visitors and increase the engagement.
ü The website home page needs an upgraded and appealing look.
ü As it’s an informative website it needs to be more user friendly and engaging
ü Menu part needs to have a different representation
ü Graphics of the stories and Landing pages can be upgraded in a very much appealing way.
ü You need a professional Logo for the website.
ü The header and footer section of the website needs a fresh look
ü There is no footer section with quick links to the inner page as it’s the last chance to grab the visitors.
ü Multiple sliding banner images and contents are not present in the website
ü Live-chat option isn’t present on the website. It helps you to connect with your website visitors 24/7 hrs.
ü Spacing alignments aren’t perfectly done.
ü The website is not compatible in all the browsers.
ü No sidebar suggestions
ü No website Breadcrumbs
ü Image Alt tag and alt text is missing.
ü The website is not SEO friendly
ü About us section needs to have a fresh contents and eye-catchy
These are the above changes which we recommend for the website and we will also help you in completely upgrading the website in a very much eye-catchy and engaging way.
Please let us know your feedback and we will share more information with you in terms of cost and everything.
Please let us know your honest feedback.
With Warm Regards,
Amy [name removed for privacy even though I’m sure it’s fake!], Business Development Manager
During each December my Christmas site gets millions and millions of visits and is #1 on the whole of Google for a huge number of Christmas searches – so any SEO advice about the site is always ‘interesting’…
Well, looking at all the things they said about my site, I knew it was all a load of rubbish, so I replied saying so!
Hi Amy (although that’s not your real name is it…?)
You asked me for my honest feedback. Well, here you go.
I’ve been a web designer and developer for 20 over years. I like to reply to SEO spammers to see what ‘services’ they offer and the things they say and use to get clients.
My Christmas site www.whychristmas.com has also been on the web for over 20 years. It had well over 20 MILLION pageloads last year – so it’s doing pretty well!
Anyway, let’s look at what you say about my site…
ü The website home page needs an upgraded and appealing look.
Well, design is a matter of taste, but I think the home page is very appealing! The site design primarily designed for children, so it’s colourful and fun.
ü As it’s an informative website it needs to be more user friendly and engaging
Erm, it is. 20 million + pageloads a year means it must be pretty engaging!
ü Menu part needs to have a different representation
I have no idea what this means!
ü Graphics of the stories and Landing pages can be upgraded in a very much appealing way.
There are lots of lovely graphics used throughout the site.
ü You need a professional Logo for the website.
There’s already a logo. He’s called Bruce the Spruce and is a friendly Christmas tree!
ü The header and footer section of the website needs a fresh look
Again, this is a matter or taste, but why? The site is designed to be simple to use. Thus everything on the site is nice and simple.
ü There is no footer section with quick links to the inner page as it’s the last chance to grab the visitors.
This is true, but they’re not needed. The menus are VERY easy to use!
ü Multiple sliding banner images and contents are not present in the website
NO NO NO NO NO. See https://shouldiuseacarousel.com/
ü Live-chat option isn’t present on the website. It helps you to connect with your website visitors 24/7 hrs.
My site doesn’t need this (and 99% of sites don’t need it either).
ü Spacing alignments aren’t perfectly done.
Erm, yes they are (unlike the grammatical structure of that sentence). The site uses a grid/flexbox layout.
ü The website is not compatible in all the browsers.
Yes it is. It REALLY is.
ü No sidebar suggestions
I have no idea what this means!
ü No website Breadcrumbs
No, it doesn’t. Although they can be helpful, most sites don’t need them.
ü Image Alt tag and alt text is missing.
No they’re not. EVERY image on my site has appropriate alts (unlike their site).
ü The website is not SEO friendly
Yes it is – it REALLY is. It scores 93/100 on Google’s Lighthouse for SEO. Your site scores 91, so is my site is not SEO friendly, then your site is even worse…! (But both are fine, this is just rubbish you use to scare people into using your services…)
ü About us section needs to have a fresh contents and eye-catchy
How do you know the contents aren’t fresh? I could have updated it yesterday! The about does what it needs to just fine.
So then, basically all of your points are either completely wrong, or not needed.
Please can you also explain to me why you feel it’s OK as a company to spam people from behind random and fake email accounts and names (so basically lying) in order to get business? Why do you also think it’s OK to break multiple international anti-spam laws in doing this as well?
You claim to be ‘the best’ at SEO and as a digital agency in all of the USA. Well, I’m pretty sure that ‘the best’ wouldn’t need to spam and break the law to get clients! I’m also pretty sure that you’re not actually based in the USA at all. You’re in India – so yet another lie.
Why should I (or anyone) trust a company that lies and breaks the law?
Well, I’ve not heard back after that one…
Looking at Their Site
With SEO spammers, I also like to look at their sites, to see if they practice what they preach (I mean would you trust a plumber who had leaking and rusty pipes all over their own house?!); and also to compare their site with a site they say they can help…
Their site is https://www.algopage.com/
For HTML Validation, my site has no errors. Their site has 8 errors and 28 warnings. Most of their errors are really stupid basic ones that are very easily avoided…
Using the ‘WAVE’ Accessibility Testing Tool, their site has 16 errors and 18 contrast errors. My site has no errors of either kind!
Using the GTMetrix speed test tool their site gets:
Overall Grade: E
Performance 46%
Structure 89%
My site gets:
Overall Grade: A
Performance 100%
Structure 100%
So my site is perfect!!
The code of their site is pretty well optimised, so it really shouldn’t be that bad, but it is!
Their Heading 1 on the home page is “Welcome To The Province Of Digital Core Algopage” erm, OK then!
There is a privacy policy on the site. However, it’s badly written and is fairly meaningless. The site also collects full IP information for Google Analytics and doesn’t tell you that anywhere, which is against several international laws (like GDPR) – and of course they’re also happy to spam people!
In the email, Amy said “We are based out of Richmond, USA, and have representatives in the UK, Australia, and UAE as well. Our backend office is in India.”
And sure enough, on their site, there are addresses in several countries. But they are not all they appear to be.
An address in the USA is for a business/industrial storage area. Not an office block or where you’d think a computer shop would be! (It also happens to be about a mile from one of their clients. So I suspect it’s their storage area and that AlgoPage are using it as a fake/front address – I wonder if their client know this?!)
And address in the UK is a normal residential flat in a leafy suburb on London. (I work from home, but I don’t also claim that it’s part of a major international business!)
A Google search for this address also shows there are several other businesses listed at this address. One of these business seems to be a cheap clothes importer. Another sells Electric scooters. And guess what, BOTH of these company’s site were made by Algopage!!! (And both of the site have loads of basic HTML errors, etc.)
So I’m very sure that there’s no SEO company really using this address and it’s another fake address!
An address in Australia is a house on a new built estate on the outskirts of Melbourne – not an office or anything like that.
There is an address in an office block in Dubai, but the address doesn’t seem to be formatted correctly….
And finally there’s an address in a business and residential area in Bhubaneswar – the home of many an SEO spammer!
Also on their Facebook page and LinkedIn account it says they’re in located Bhubaneswar (no mention of any other countries) and on their Twitter account it says they’re in India. Oh, and their domain was registered in India.
So… AlgoPage are based in India and are using some ‘interesting’ addresses in different countries (so lying…) to try and make themselves look bigger.
Conclusion
AlgoPage’s home page title and meta description both claim that they are the ‘best SEO company in USA’.
But they’re not. I’m 99.9% sure that they’re not even based in the USA.
They are spammers who are happy to use fake names and fake addresses to get business.
So if AlgoPage want to help with your site, the delete button might be your best bet.
But, as ever, the choice is yours…