Google Salesperson Promises “SEO Benefits”

One of the red flags that we constantly warn people about is trusting their SEO campaigns to anyone who promises to deliver page 1 results or who guarantees that a page will rank first for a particular keyword or phrase.  No one can guarantee that – but what if Google is the one promising?  According to multiple reports, a Google salesperson has been promising merchants who sign up for Google Offers that they will receive “SEO benefits” in return.

Google’s response via spokesperson Nate Tyler:  “Google Offers has no influence whatsoever on the ranking of Google search results.”  Tyler suggested that the confusion was caused by the difference between paid search and organic search.  “Google does offer clients of Google’s advertising products – specifically AdWords sponsored search links – help in optimizing their ad campaigns.  Google does not promise that clients’ listings will become “No. 1 in Google” [as the salesman allegedly promised] but its consultants do help big advertisers figure out how to make their campaigns work better.”

Tyler went on to clarify, however, that members of Offers would not be entitled to that type of consulting help, which is reserved for products like AdWords.  Tyler chalked the salesman’s promise to a “misunderstanding” between the salesperson and client.  Which probably would have ended it if the client had not adamantly responded that the Google rep had indeed promised number 1 ranking with “no code words, no maybes.”

The consensus here is that Google didn’t abuse its position of power, but instead, a salesman simply made a mistake and promised what he couldn’t deliver.  He is reportedly new to the position. Google is looking into the incident, but Offers participants should be aware that they won’t get any special benefits in terms of SEO.  It’s tough to be the new guy at Google, especially this new guy.