"Although your website has a beautiful design and looks great, it isn't showing up in Google or other major search engines.

With your permission I want to send you a Quote showing you a few things to greatly improve your rankings and search results. These things are not difficult, and my Proposal will be very specific. It will show you exactly what needs to be done to move you up in the rankings dramatically.

Your website can be positioned on Google's front page and we can advertise it on sites like Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

I'd love to email you our Proposal and price list if you're interested."

If you have a website (like one built for you by Two Lucky Ducks), chances are you've encountered SEO spam in your inbox. These unsolicited email can be very irritating for many website owners... and perhaps tempting.

BEWARE! Remember that legitimate SEO professionals don't need to resort to mass email campaigns to find clients.

Understanding SEO Spam / The Anatomy of SEO Spam

SEO spam emails can range from obviously fake to surprisingly convincing. However, regardless of their appearance, it's highly unlikely that anyone has actually taken the time to analyze your website. These messages are typically generated by lead generation companies whose primary goal is to collect contact information from potential clients. They often offer SEO services at "affordable" rates (or offer to send a proposal or price list) to improve your site's visibility and search ranking.

However, it's crucial to understand that these emails are indeed spam.

The Reality Behind SEO
SEO is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It involves three main components:

• Technical aspects: This includes factors like site speed, structure, and mobile responsiveness.
  At Two Lucky Ducks, every website we build incorporates sound and informed SEO processes (with regard to all of these aspects) as part of the design and development process... they are all structured well, optimised for speed, and responsive on all device/screen sizes.
  
• Authority: This relates to how credible Google perceives your website based on backlinks.
• Content: The quality and relevance of your website's content play a significant role.

Local SEO Considerations
For local businesses, SEO takes on a different dimension.
What matters most is:

• Clearly stating your 'service + location' keywords in headlines and page titles
• Optimizing your Google Business Profile, which is crucial for local search results.
• Being on Maps and getting online reviews
  Again, at Two Lucky Ducks, every website we build incorporates quality SEO practices into the design, development and content generation for your wesbite. We also make sure you properly are setup with a "Google My Business" / "Google Business Profile", are on google maps (if you want to be) and available to be reviewed by clients, and are setup on "Google Search Console" for indexing.
  

Maintaining Your Website's SEO
Regular website maintenance is essential for SEO. This includes....

• Keeping your website back end software all up to date (Two Lucky Ducks do this for you as part of our paid annual support service) so that the pages functional correctly, content is displayed correctly, and your website is more secure (and hence much less likely to be hacked).
• We also install free Wordfence anti-hacking and monitoring software... as hacked sites get blacklisted for SEO.
• Clearing out broken links (again we can install free plugins to do this for you)
• Potentially updating your site content (for example to include new services you offer, include SEO optimised images, or match market trends/relevant keywords)

The Origins of SEO Spam in Your Inbox

Have you ever wondered how SEO spam artists manage to find you? The answer might surprise you. These unsolicited messages are rarely personal communications, but rather the result of sophisticated automated systems designed to cast a wide net.

The Automation Behind the Scenes

The process of sending out these spam emails is largely automated. Software systems are capable of:

1. Gathering publicly available data on websites and their owners
2. Compiling contact information
3. Generating personalized-looking messages
4. Sending out mass mailings

In some cases, spammers may also purchase lists of contact information to expand their reach.

The old "Bait and Switch"

If you respond to one of these emails, you're likely to be handed off to a different company that offers actual SEO services, though often of questionable quality. These companies typically perform a quick analysis of your site and then try to sell you on short-term contracts that provide little long-term value.

Remember that legitimate SEO professionals don't need to resort to mass email campaigns to find clients. Instead, they often rely on their own SEO expertise to attract potential customers through search engines and referrals.

A solution: Email Client Filters
One approach to immediately send this incoming spam to the JUNK folder is to set up email inbox filters in your email client program (Gmail, Thunderbird, Outlook etc). When active, the filter then checks all incoming messages for specific words, phrases, email addresses etc and if found sends them to the junk/spam folder immediately.

Filtering at the Email Hosting / Server Level
Most good email (and web) hosting companies also try (and do a good job) to filter spam at the server level.... although it may be a paid/add-on service option.

For example many of my clients have sites and email hosted with VentraIP - See: https://ventraip.com.au/support-centre/what-spam-filtering-is-available-on-my-service/

If you use Google Workspace for emails -
See https://workspace.google.com/blog/identity-and-security/an-overview-of-gmails-spam-filters

So, don't be alarmed, don't fall for the spam/unrealistic promises that are likely just phishing - and give me a call if you want to discuss SEO and site rankings !

Kind Regards
Simon (Two Lucky Ducks Web Design)