Guaranteed SEO services promising "fastest first page rankings" is highly misleading and a red flag for potential scams.
You see, search engine optimization is unpredictable and Google makes thousands of minor and major changes to its search algorithm every year.
These changes might lead to massive ranking changes, which requires further analysis and monitoring to stabilize the lost rankings.
SEO strategies that work today may not be effective tomorrow, making any guarantees about specific ranking outcomes unreliable.
In this article, I will explore different SEO service guarantees and why they don’t exist.
You will also learn how to identify genuine and trusted SEO agencies who focus on long-term strategies and ethical practices, rather than black hat SEO practices that lead to search engine penalties.
Can You Guarantee SEO Services?
No one can guarantee specific SEO results. You should stay away from agencies making claims like ‘guaranteed page one rankings within 30 days.’
Companies that guarantee such results are likely engaging in black hat SEO practices that could harm your business in the long run.
These can include aggressive link acquisition, hidden texts, cloaking, low-quality content, and spamdexing, all of which violate Google’s Search Essentials guidelines.
Engaging in black hat SEO can lead to severe penalties from search engines, ranging from keyword-level penalties to sitewide bans, which can be difficult to recover from.
Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, and others frequently update their ranking algorithms to improve user experience and prevent manipulation.
Because these updates are neither predictable nor transparent, it’s impossible for anyone to guarantee a specific ranking.
Ethical SEO professionals will be open about their methods and realistic about what can be achieved. They should provide a detailed strategy and not be secretive about their techniques.
White-hat SEO services will offer estimates of potential improvements based on detailed site analysis and will focus on sustainable, organic SEO strategies that follow search engine guidelines.
Rather than guaranteeing certain outcomes, they will offer an organic marketing plan to improve your domain’s organic performance.
They will leverage tactics like producing high-quality content, acquiring editorial links, optimizing existing content by following the E-E-A-T guidelines, and similar techniques.
Remember, wrong SEO tactics can not only fail to advance your business but actively damage your online presence and reputation.
Typical SEO Guarantees
SEO guarantees include promises that can be misleading or unrealistic.
Here is a breakdown of some of the most common SEO guarantees you might encounter and why they should be approached with caution:
Instant Rankings within Days or Weeks
An agency offering this guarantee is promising that your website will achieve high search engine rankings in a period of 7-28 days, which is almost immediately after implementing SEO tactics.
If an SEO provider guarantees that they’ll get you to the top of Google in a matter of weeks, that’s a big red flag. SEO is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort, and no one can guarantee overnight success.
Providers making these claims are often using black-hat techniques that could lead to penalties from search engines.
- Rodrigo Cesar, CEO and Founder at SSInvent
Always remember that SEO success is influenced by numerous factors, including content quality, website structure, and external links. Stable SEO rankings take months, not days or weeks.
Instant results tend to be achieved through manipulative tactics that can lead to penalties.
Guaranteed #1 on Google
Some SEO firms claim that their SEO service can place your website at the very top of Google’s search results for selected keywords.
In reality, no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
A major red flag should immediately appear if a provider guarantees #1 rankings on Google—it’s simply not possible for anyone to make such a promise, as search engine rankings depend on complex and constantly changing algorithms.
- Agata Gruszka-Kierczak, International SEO Manager at WhitePress
Claims of a guaranteed top position are misleading and are an indication of non-compliant strategies.
Ranking for Any Keyword
Keyword ranking guarantees is another common SEO service promise that claims high rankings for your chosen search terms.
Achieving high rankings for competitive short-tail keywords is challenging and dependent on many factors like the business’s current reputation, the domain’s link profile, competitor’s SEO activities, etc., which fall outside an SEO provider's control.
Fake promises to rank for any keyword disregards the competition and complexities of SEO.
Even large enterprises that spend millions in SEO annually can’t maintain their SEO rankings for particular key phrases. Hence, you should avoid working with firms that guarantee particular keyword rankings.
Permanent Rankings without Maintenance
Some SEO services claim that once high rankings are achieved, they will remain stable indefinitely without further SEO efforts. This claim is simply not true.
SEO is an ongoing process. Search engines frequently modify their ranking systems, and competitors continually refine their SEO strategies.
SEO maintenance, such as updating content and improving site performance, is crucial to sustaining rankings over time.
Why SEO Guarantees Don’t Exist
No agency can guarantee SEO rankings because they can’t control Google ranking algorithms.
Here are the top factors that prove why there is no such thing as a guarantee in the SEO world:
Search Engine Algorithms are Unpredictable
Nobody outside of Google truly knows everything that goes into its ranking algorithms.
Moreover, search engine algorithms are highly volatile, utilizing over 200 ranking criteria designed to boost search accuracy and relevance.
Emphasizing user experience, these criteria integrate key components such as Core Web Vitals and EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
Various updates, from broad-core to minor tweaks, alongside specific adjustments like the December 2024 Core Update, Site Reputation Abuse (SRA) Update, Explicit Fake Content Update, Helpful Content Update, and Link Spam Update, continuously redefine how search engines present results to their users.
Automated algorithmic revisions improve user experience by leveraging advanced technologies such as MUM (Multitask Unified Model).
They can also lead to unpredictable consequences, affecting websites that don't meet evolving standards in areas like content integrity or site functionality.
Adapting to these changes requires a steadfast focus on delivering a superior, user-centric web experience.
Good Rankings in Google Takes Time
Higher and stable first-page rankings in Google involve multiple factors and take a good time of anywhere between 3-9 months or even more.
The reputation of a website, determined by its domain strength score and the baklink profile it maintains, plays a crucial role in higher and stable organic rankings. With lots of link equity, a site can establish a foundation that supports higher rankings.
Also, the competition for top-ranking pages is huge, and factors such as SEO budget and your competitor’s tactics determine the actual time taken to see impactful results.
Ethical SEO agencies spend a lot of time building the business’s reputation online by creating EEAT-friendly content and acquiring solid editorial inbound links from trusted domains.
Gradually, the rankings begin to improve. Constant work is required to build a domain trust score that surpasses your closest competitors to gain higher rankings.
Rankings can Never be Guaranteed
Rankings in search engines can never be guaranteed due to the inherently unpredictable nature of search algorithms.
Employing black hat SEO techniques, such as building spammy links or publishing over-optimized content, might show some initial gains, but these are not sustainable strategies.
Using outdated SEO methods can do more harm to your site than good, leading to severe penalties from search engines like Google. These penalties can drastically affect your site's visibility and credibility, potentially undoing any previous progress made through legitimate means.
Google and other search engines frequently refine their algorithms to better detect and penalize tactics that try to exploit the system, which means tactics that worked yesterday might no longer be effective today.
For example, in early 2009, high rankings were possible just by making changes in the title and description tag of a page. However, this practice hardly gains results in today's search landscape.
Therefore, it's important to approach SEO with realistic expectations and focus on long-term strategies that adhere to search engine guidelines.
The goal should be to consistently provide valuable, EEAT-friendly content that organically builds your site’s reputation and rankings over time.
Guaranteed SEO Services are Often Low-Quality
Agencies promoting guaranteed SEO results like higher rankings and more organic traffic in a short time span are often low-quality.
Companies offering such guarantees use black hat SEO techniques like private link networks, link schemes, large-scale and low-quality content creation.
Leveraging black hat optimization tactics provides a quick boost to rankings, but is often short-lived. It leads to severe penalties from search engines when detected.
Ethical SEO Avoids Risky Tactics
Ethical or white hat SEO follows the Google Search Essential guidelines and completely avoids black hat tactics.
Your SEO agency should never resort to tactics like large-scale link buying, AI-content generation without human moderation, content scraping, backlinks from link farms, and other techniques.
By following white hat SEO tactics, you can rank in Google without breaking the rules. However, it takes time to see results.
SEO agencies have to work on improving the UX of your website (Core Web Vitals, mobile-first indexing, fast loading times) along with upgrading your content quality to gain higher rankings.
How to Choose Trustworthy SEO Service Providers
Here are the steps to follow while selecting a reputed SEO company:
Check Track Record
Well-known SEO agencies have successful case studies published on their website. Review industry-specific case histories of businesses who took their help to grow their organic leads.
For instance, if you own a law practice, look for case studies on how the SEO agency helped previous clients in the law industry like the one in the below screenshot.
Specifically, look at the improvements in rankings, traffic, and conversions that they have accomplished for their clients.
In addition to that, you should look for customer feedback about their services from previous clients on leading platforms like Google Business, Clutch, G2, DesignRush, Digital Agency Network, and others.
Leading SEO providers also have awards and recognitions that showcase their ability to drive real results. Evaluate different awards they have received to assess their abilities.
They Set Realistic Promises
You should hire SEO agencies that offer realistic promises, like gradual and sustainable improvements rather than instant results.
These agencies should clearly communicate the complexities involved in SEO and set achievable goals, such as enhancements in search rankings, increased site traffic, and a rise in organic conversions.
They should base their strategies on thorough, data-driven insights and provide a balanced approach to keyword optimization, including both short and long-tail keywords.
Too many agencies would jump right into their sales pitch, deliverables and promising the world without understanding your specific business needs, goals and challenges.
It's impossible to guarantee results without even understanding the context in which your business operates in so any agency that shifts the focus of the conversation to how they can guarantee results is a red flag.
- Brad Russell, SEO Expert & Director at Digital Hitmen
Look for agencies that commit to transparency, offering regular, detailed reporting that tracks the progress of your SEO initiatives and explains necessary strategic adjustments.
Ultimately, selecting an agency that emphasizes long-term growth and adheres to ethical SEO practices will ensure that you build a solid foundation for success, avoiding the pitfalls of unrealistic guarantees and the risks associated with them.
They Focus on Business Growth
You should partner with SEO companies that will focus on building your overall business reputation and not just search rankings.
Work with firms that offer custom SEO solutions to meet your campaign needs. They should ensure that the keywords used, the pages created, and the content crafted, all work together to grow your revenue and expand your market presence.
Ranking high in search results means nothing if it doesn’t lead to business growth.
I’ve seen agencies chase rankings without considering user intent or conversions. My focus is always on attracting and converting the right audience, not just moving up the SERPs.
- Jared Tangir Founder and SEO Director at Elevated Audience
You could ask any potential SEO service providers how their optimizations and marketing efforts helped previous clients grow their business.
For instance, this below case study from Smash Digital showcases how they were able to grow revenue for one of their clients.
Opt for agencies that provide comprehensive 360° optimizations, which include both on-page and off-page strategies, to effectively increase organic inbound leads and optimize all aspects of your website for peak performance.
Transparency and Communication
Your selected agency should be 100% transparent in communicating the SEO tactics they will be using for your website.
They should offer regular reporting that informs about the SEO task’s progress. A weekly report is required for larger campaign goals, while a monthly report is probably sufficient for smaller projects.
The biggest red flag I see in SEO providers is a lack of transparency in their strategy, reporting, or results.
If they can’t clearly explain what they’re doing and how it aligns with your business goals, they can’t provide meaningful results.
- Caitlin Huston, VP of Marketing Operations at ZenUp
Wrapping Up
When it comes to SEO, should you really be fixated on whether your website ranks first or tenth for a particular, non-branded search term?
Isn't it more important to ask whether your website is generating enough leads? After all, the real payoff from SEO is the return on investment (ROI).
You should work with SEO services that are a real driver of leads and sales. They should use innovative and data-driven tactics to improve your website and business reputation online.
So no, there's no such thing as guaranteed SEO services, and you should watch out for any SEO provider that promotes this idea.
