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VERIFIED SEO and Charles Preston- An Open Challenge
By Rishi | March 26, 2010
Edward Lewis Has Earned the Right to be Called : SEO Hall Monitor
*Final Update*
Shutting down a site as soon as the community questions is a sign of a scam. The same way search engine submission is a scam, in our industry at the moment, SEO Verification is a scam. There is no real body or authority that is geared to give you that stamp. For a few hours the site was turned to an “April Fool’s” prank, but I dont buy it, and neither did Alan Bleiweiss. In fact the whole proposition was seen as so insane, it managed to bait The Mad Hat to post for the first time in years. Todd Mintz took out a few minutes to point out:
Seriously folks, if you want to verify the quality of a SEO vendor, ask for references. Read their blog posts. Look at their LinkedIn page and see how much a part of the SEO community they are.
SEOAly just labelled the service a Verified Failure, and hit the nail on the head. On the other hand, Kim took a very balanced and mature look at what happened, and where Charles Preston made a mistake – in underestimating the industry which he aimed to “verify”. Geeks on Steroids have now grabbed the original domain that Charles Preston started the first version of this service., and is planning on making it a tribute site to verified SEO.
The site is no longer operational (archive here – thanks Sebastian!) and Charles Preston never responded to my challenge:
I will pay the $99 fee to Verified SEO if they can prove that the site and the verification process is run by “Industry Veterans”.
Binding Contract.
If there are no truths to these claims, wait for a whole host of SEOBullshit Articles.
Clearing The Air on VerifiedSEO.com
Peace out.
****************Previous UPDATES BELOW***************
Dr Pete Gets Unverified for SEO
*Update 1* Get your Own “Say No To Verified SEO” Badge here.
*Update 2* Nick Wilsdon Hits a hard and simple argument:
Nick: It says an awful lot about your claim to be ‘industry veterans’ that you
(a) don’t know who Edward is without Googling his name and
(b) you just called him Ed.We are, however, most certainly qualified to verify an SEM vendor’s past success record.
VerifiedSEO: Actually anybody could do that, it just helps that we have worked in the SEM industry for a long time.
Nick: What absolute BS. So you’re saying you don’t need to be qualified to investigate the work of another professional. So we can grab someone off the street to verify the work of an accountant, lawyer or doctor? The body that certifies professionals has to have some kind of credibility within that profession.
*Update 3* Jill Whalen uncovers some interesting “rankings” that one of the founders boasted about. To quote Jill:
Can’t imagine how Verifed SEO could judge SEO when rankings they got for their clients were for kws nobody searches for #guineapigseo
- consumer debt collection software
- debt collection management system
- online debt collection software
According to Google’s keyword research tool, even now, a few years later when there’s more competition, there are exactly NO searches at Google for those keywords. (via Sphinn)
We are in your Reputation.
*Update* 4: And the Verified SEO Story Hit TweetMeme Home Page
Topics: Business Bullshit, Snake Oil | View Comments
March 26th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
[...] was followed up by a short but sweet challenge made by Rishi over at SEOBullshit.com, and a supporting investigative piece by Tim Nash, who did a [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
[...] The Air on VerifiedSEO.com Peek a Boo I see you! Verified SEO Open Challenge Verified SEO [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
[...] is an opportunity for the owner(s) of the site to come clean and tell us all WHO is behind deciding whether WE are good enough and which set of criteria we have [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
[...] more here. Peek a Boo I see you! Verified SEO Open Challenge Verified SEO Service Is A Scam Run By Charles Preston Verified SEO Scam var addthis_language = [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
ScottPolk raised you and I raised him, then he triple raised and passed back to you. ;-)
March 26th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Hey if the plan is to out the so-called industry veterans of Verified SEO and possibly lynch them, can we give the people at topseos.com a spanking too at the same time :)
March 26th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I have a funny feeling that you will still have your money firmly in your pocket come the end of this exercise
March 26th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I've got issues with topseos as well… maybe we should be doing more to out them too
March 26th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
http://sphinn.com/story/145890/ ongoing thread @sphinn
March 26th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I knew this post will eventually be here.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I left a comment at his site suggesting that he either close down the business or be prepared to have the REAL SEO industry bury his content. Think he'll approve my comment for display on his “Clearing the Air” page? :-)
March 26th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
If I understand correctly this guy gets you to pay him, then gets you to give him a list of your clients and then he contacts your clients through his SEO Company.
Is that correct?
March 26th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Can't comment… laughing too hard at the drama!
March 26th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I am still leaning towards this is an early April Fools joke. I just can't figure that someone with half a brain would have this type of business plan. “Don't poke the Bear” He has picked the wrong industry to try this with. Ever heard of Rhea Drysdale?
March 26th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Yep. Would you hand out your clients details to someone you dont know to judge you?
March 26th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
TopSEOs already make a mint of money doing this. Verified just picked the wrong time and name – we dont like being “verified” by people we dont know…
March 26th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
You not the only one – he hasnt allowed a SINGLE comment, and I know for a fact plenty of people have left them there.
March 26th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Did someone mention TOPSEOs.com? They're next on me radar. They've got some RipoffReport entries going and I'm following along closely. Have also had contact with many others who have filled me on the process over there. If you're reading this TOPSEOs.com, you should prepare yourselves. It's coming, just a matter of time. I promise. Once I make a promise, I'll never break it. Not in this instance anyway. ;)
March 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Thank you for saying that so concisely. Now, it sounds even more ridiculous.
March 26th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I can't believe you shared my secret shame with the world. All these years, I've been doing SEO completely unverified. I can hardly live with myself. Somehow, my clients will have to console themselves with nothing but their increased traffic and higher conversion rates.
March 26th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Good news for everyone who has signed up, they now have a New SEO leads program, were you can bid and try and get your old SEO clients back.
Of course you have to pay for it.
March 26th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Check out this crap article from @CharlesPreston pushing his now defunct SEO Watchdog service http://bit.ly/bJfFci
March 26th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Some people think this was a prank because the douchebag tried to cover his tracks and his whole site is now one big “gotcha”. Well that's bullshit. Read my two updates on why Verified SEO was not a prank http://bit.ly/dDh8pB
March 26th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Here's the thing…if this Preston guy knew ANYTHING about this industry at all, he'd have seen this relentless backlash coming 100 miles away.
There are plenty of search marketers out there that none of us have ever heard of. They go about their business day in and day out doing nothing more than providing their clients with fantastic results. They fly under the radar. They're not attention whores. They don't care if anyone in the industry of SEO celebretards has ever seen or spoken their names. Good for them.
This guy clearly isn't one of those people. He saw an opportunity to cash in on the hoards of bullshit SEOs out there who would be willing to pay $99 a month for a badge that would leave an impression on an unsuspecting site visitor that being “certified” by “VerifiedSEO” actually meant something…something aside from paying $99 a month, that is.
Even if his intentions were good (which I think we can all agree is a LONG SHOT), to launch such an effort when the most vocal members of the industry community have never even heard of you…well, that's reputation suicide. I hope the anonymous members of the industry take note of this. If you ever decide to stop being anonymous, this is NOT – I repeat, NOT – the way to go about it…
March 29th, 2010 at 12:26 am
[...] as well as having shut down the @VerfiedSEO Twitter account. Rishi from SEO Bullshit, issued “An Open Challenge” to SEO Verified to prove that the site and service was being offered by industry veterans. [...]
March 29th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Ok so outside the whole verified seo, how many times do you ask if your web designer or marketing agency is verified? I mean they have actual industry bodies and certifications but still a majority don't worry about it…
So is it too early to expect an easy fix for “verification” if traditional marketing is still laughing about the concept?
March 29th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I was officially verified over the weekend. I had to swear an oath and drink juice from a special cup. They gave me a HUGE ring to wear with a big G on it. When verified SEOs meet we have to perform the 'dancing baby' from ally mcbeal.
To progrees to Master Verified SEO I will need to have sex with a virgin SEO trainee. But I can't find one :(
March 29th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Post some naked photos and we might be able to find you someone.
March 29th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Rishi,
You know I love you mate (vodka-as-water-when-Jane-was-already-tanked trickery aside. Bastard.), but the community takes this stuff way too seriously. Write a few posts so that prospective leads, if they do hear about it, can find out quickly that it's not worth paying attention to, either before or after initial contact with a potential provider.
I scanned the Sphinn threads. Some people's language is really unnecessary, and it's noticeable that various people appear to sit on threads like this all day for the chance to bash the point into the ground harder.
If I were looking to hire someone in any capacity, it would be a person who didn't appear to have spent the past three working days refreshing Twitter or looking for the next fight on Sphinn.
Jane
March 29th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Point taken. I guess sometimes its easy to run with stuff like this. I promise to behave in the future.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
“Behave”, eh? Does this mean I can start trusting that the glass of water you got me from the bar isn't 80 proof?
:p x
March 30th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
[...] VERIFIED SEO – An Open Challenge – SEO Bullshit [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
[...] Verified SEO Challenge by Rishi at SEO Bullshit [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
[...] is an opportunity for the owner(s) of the site to come clean and tell us all WHO is behind deciding whether WE are good enough and which set of criteria we have [...]