Defining Snake Oil SEO Salesmen

Posted by Mihaela Lica as SEO Advice

The funniest story today comes from Submitfrog.com – a company that proclaims itself the “genuine” Google PageRank increaser guru on the market. The company published a press release (no more and no less) through newswire service eMediaWorld. This “press release” – more a ranting article – answers the “one million dollar question”: “how to increase Page Rank?” You’ll never guess!

You can get highly relevant text links for your website from http://www.submitfrog.com at a very competitive price.

Amazing, simply amazing! I am so grateful that I’ve finally learned the secret. But wait! I am obviously wrong, I know nothing, because Submitfrog would never reveal its secrets of the trade:

There are literally thousands of webmasters and online business owners who would love to learn how SubmitFrog.com develops these incredibly desirable, TOP DOG Permanent links. The truth is we won’t tell you our secret tactics, developed over 14 years. Not a chance, so don’t bother asking!

Please note the “top dog” figure of speech that frankly let me speechless, but not enough to forget to tell you that Submitfrog has no PageRank whatsoever. The site is not even listed in Google for that matter, although the copyright states 2002-2009. The header of the site says “established 2004” – is it just me or do you smell a rat too? I was able to find press from these guys, self submitted of course, that dates back to October 2008. Despite their efforts to gain links and get their site listed in Google, the great search engine still ignores them.

Submitfrog.com Footer

Submitfrog.com Header

To make a long story short, here are the questions: would you trust an SEO company that promises to “increase your PageRank” when their own site has no PageRank?

Submitfrog.com PageRank

Would you trust an SEO company to do ANYTHING for you, when their own site is not even listed in Google? (Click on the image below to enlarge):

These are just two of the aspects you should always check when you hire a company to do SEO for you.
If you ever wondered what is a “snake oil SEO salesman” Submitfrog is your answer.

Note: links to Submitfrog.com were purposely left out.

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19 Responses

Grog

February 16th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
1

That’s awesome!
We need to flesh out and shine a light on these scum bags.
Nice work.

Grog’s last blog post..A Closer Look At Alzheimer’s disease
Mihaela Lica

February 16th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
2

It’s sad they populate the web, Grog. They make our name and job a lot more difficult. Although I do not necessarily declare myself an SEO, this is my job many times and it makes me sad to see people who’d stop from nothing to mislead their readers/potential clients. It’s not the first site I “expose” – but none before were so obviously “black hatting.”
Lillie Ammann

February 18th, 2009 at 2:15 am
3

Mig,

We can always count on you to expose the blackhatters.

That’s one reason I have awarded you the Premio Dardos Award. You can read the details on my blog.

Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..The Premio Dardos Award
Mihaela Lica

February 18th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
4

Thank you, Lillie. I responded on your blog.
Josh

February 18th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
5

Got to give them props for trying though. Who knows, maybe a few suckers will fall for it.
Mexabet

February 20th, 2009 at 7:13 am
6

I searched submitfrog.com in Google but it didn’t come out, which tells me the site has been penalized for something. It is difficult for me to trust a site to increase my PR when their own site has none. An SEO company should at least have good search engine ranking to convince prospective clients. Their story is very ironical indeed!
Mihaela Lica

February 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
7

That would be very unfortunate, Josh! People would lose their money and they’ll even have to pay more if Google will penalize their sites. As Mexabet noted, submitfrog is penalized – it doesn’t appear in Google for their own domain. Whatever they did bad for their site they’ll probably do for their clients.
Jeff

February 27th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
8

It does look like their site was penalized by Google for unethical practices (black hat). Otherwise they probably would at least show up when you search for their domain name. They have tens of thousands of backlinks, but mostly from eMediaWorld.

Jeff’s last blog post..Hammer Mills, Sifters, & Grinders at International Poultry Expo
Kobe

March 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
9

I looked listed in Google.

site:submitfrog.com

I used them for my site and got a PR4 already and free webhosting have a look at http://www.loanzonline.com

Highly recommended. Very good english. They have several SEO sites, I think this is just their newest one.
Costa

March 25th, 2009 at 10:09 am
10

Frog oil will be more appropriate maybe? LOL.

Nice call, Mihaela.

Costa’s last blog post..Can Making Money Online Save You From Recession?
John McAngry

March 25th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
11

@ Costa – Frog oil. LMAO

Great post. “Top dog” with no page rank. Yes, I would hope anyone considering their services would use critical thinking skills and avoid them like the plague (of frogs).

John McAngry’s last blog post..Happy Atheist Pride Day
Mihaela Lica

March 28th, 2009 at 12:47 am
12

Well, Google has finally indexed them. Still no page rank, but wait and see.
Steve Rison

August 26th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
13

I received unsolicited email offers from SubmitFrog, and finally agreed to try their service. In mid-July I direct-deposited $1249US into a bank account that they supplied, for their Bronze package SEO at a special reduced price, for my start-up business site. Once they had my money, they never contacted me or responded to any of my email or voice communications to them. I subsequently did what I should have done before giving them my money – tried to verify their legitimacy. Their listed Vancouver business address turns out to be fictitious, and the bank account I was given for the deposit was actually for an infant girl, not a business account at all. I’m filing a fraud complaint with the RCMP – Canadian police. I live in BC.

Their web site makes them look legitimate, but the one link to a customer testimonial on their site proved also to be unreachable. SubmitFrog has the same US business address as Pro Marketing USA, and this company also refuses to reply to my inquiries. I suspect both companies are a complete fraud. Wish I’d known about Pamil-visions and this blog before I got caught in this scam.

Steve
Bernard

October 13th, 2009 at 5:03 am
14

Unfortunately I got taken by these guys, that’s why I am now Googling them – a bit too late I guess. They have my money, they don’t return calls and have never responded to my emails. When you do get someone on the phone, they are totally evasive. I think we should all take steps to put these scam artists out of business.
Adrian Cameron

October 30th, 2009 at 1:50 am
15

OK,

I am sure that there are many dodgy seo individuals out there, but is a poor page rank symptomatic of poor seo or does it merely mean that their site is not optimised at that point in time, or is perhaps new.

I suppose that everyone has to start somewhere and clearly there is advice that can be shared and disseminated and even monetised, without necessarily needing high PR? For example, does obtaining a decent listing on Google Maps require a high PR? I don’t think so. Does advice on a PPC campaign require a high PR. Does advice on keywords, title text, url choice, page structure require a high PR?

Reading Mike Blumenthals blog, he started his interest in local search on the back of experience gained in his family business and then developed his knowledge. I’m pretty certain that within a few months he would have acquired valuable information that someone may well have been prepared to pay him to gain. (There are lots of lazy people out there and lots of people with too much money). Now that Mike is seen as a guru in his field, his advice would attract premium returns. Sometimes I think that people are a bit too pious about seo. The acid test surely is that value that you offer the customer. Provided their net gain is more than their net investment, surely they have gained from the interaction. In fact a bi-product of this interaction will probably be a greater understanding of seo and the value of it to a business.
Richard

November 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 am
16

Bernard,
We know who they are. They also own Pro marketing, Emedia World, Waxwo.com. and a bunch more scam sites.
Are you willing to be part of a police investigation?
John Miller

December 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 am
17

I used these guys and they stole $800 from me. They never did a thing, once they received the money they never contacted me again!

They also operate under eMediaWorld and ProMarketingUSA.
John Miller

December 3rd, 2009 at 1:18 am
18

SubmitFrog, eMediaWorld, and ProMarketingUSA need to be exposed! They stole $800 from me!

http://submitfrog.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/submitfrogFRAUD

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/internet-marketing-and-advertising-forum/193004-submitfrog-also-known-as-submitfraud-more.html
John Miller´s last blog ..SubmitFrog, eMediaWorld, and ProMarketingUSA – ALL FRAUD!
Shav

December 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
19

I was their victim – tried to get Paypal help me get my money back because they never did the job on PR5 reach offer, but stupid Paypal decided in their favor when they didn’t even respond neither to them nor to me. I am going to file a BBB complaint and a Ripoff report against the submitfrog.com scam – this is a fraud website – so everyone stay away! If someone was also scammed by “submit frog” – please file a bbb.org complaint and a ripoff.com report and post about it elsewhere so less people get into their trap. Paypal seem just helping this kind of scam businesses because they are completely useless in getting your money back paid for nothing.