“Google Calling” is another Internet marketing scam that is actually working – right now! There are some scams such as this one that are difficult to detect, and, we have to admit, really well done.
It’s Google Calling!
Many of our clients have been approached by people claiming to work for Google. They promise that it’s possible to get a better “organic” search engine positioning. For those not familiar with the terminology, organic search engine positioning is the regular search results offered. it’s not advertising and it’s not Google map results.
What makes this a scam is that people pretend to be Google employees when they are not. There is clearly an intent to deceive from the outset, although I suspect that if these calls were ever recorded they probably are not illegal. We’d probably find that they follow a clever, carefully scripted introduction that implies or suggests that they are Google employees, but stops short of actually making that claim.
Google Cold Calling?
Google cold calling businesses offering better search engine positioning is not true for a number of reasons. Google does not cold call businesses to sell search engine positioning.
If Google ever did begin cold calling businesses, they’d be selling Adwords, not better search engine positioning.
Adwords are the ads that surround what’s known as “organic” search results – the results that have to be earned, not purchased. That’s where Google generates revenue.
Organic Results Are Google’s Most Valuable Asset
Organic search results are not for sale!
It would be ridiculous for Google to tamper with the organic search results. Organic search results are the “goose that lays the golden eggs”, so to speak. The search results are what attract millions of people to Google every day.
Google will do whatever it can to protect the integrity of their search results. If the organic search results become available to the highest bidder, then they will no longer necessarily be accurate or offer the person performing the search the information they are seeking.
If the results are not accurate, or of high quality, then people will turn to another search engine, and Google will quickly become the answer to a trivia question in the near future.
It is possible that you might get a call from someone at Google. That is entirely possible. However, if it’s a Google employee calling, then it’s easy for you to determine if they are a Google employee if you are suspicious.
Express your concern and ask for their Google call back number complete with extension. Tell them that you’ll call them right back, as the Google voicemail you encounter will verify they are a Google employee. If they give you a direct number or any number that is not a Google number, then they are not a Google employee.
If you are really suspicious, just hang up! Do you expect you’d ever do business with a company that claimed to be Google but then was later revealed to not be Google?
Google Partner Program
There is a program initiated by Google called “Google Partner”. This may be a significant source of confusion. There are companies that are legitimately part of the Google Partner program. To be a “Google Partner” those companies must manage Adwords accounts that generate a minimum amount of revenue for Google. Of course, Google Partners have to abide by Google’s ‘Best Practices’ to maintain the Google Partner designation. However, for no other reason but the name – Google Partner – it can (and is) being abused.
A company can qualify to be a Google Partner by way of their volume of Adwords accounts managed. That’s legitimate. Google Partner qualifications are about Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising but when used in a discussion about improving organic search results, that’s intentionally misleading. The Google Partner program is not about organic search results.
Anyone not familiar with the Google Partner program (most people!) would not appreciate the difference. Those people become the targets of any “morally challenged” salespeople.
Please don’t believe any cold caller offering better search engine positioning who claims to work for Google.