We received a posting from a newcomer who writes “I got a proposal in an email that said an SEO company can guarantee me top placement for $149 per month. Is this a scam?”

Normally one of us would just reply to the thread but it’s such a good topic, I thought it should have a top spot.

In short – I am not able to say whether or not it’s a scam. I will say however that you really need to be careful with proposals like this. First of all, I don’t know how anyone can guarantee top placement on any search engine – unless they own it. And I don’t think the people offering this service own any big search engines. Which brings up a good point… What search engines can they guarantee placement on and for what keywords?

I suggest, that when dealing with any SEO professional – or wannbe – offering such a guarantee, you ask the following questions:

• What search engines will I attain top 10 listings in?
• What keywords will I get top listing for?
• Can I see your references?

If they don’t have good answers - forget it. And if they do have good answers, get it in writing.