Search and deceive? Fla. company accused of Google threats

When was the last time you went to the second or third page of a Google search? For most people, the answer is “never” or “almost never.”

The typical search, though, yields millions of results.

For example, on the day I searched, typing “Jackson Mississippi blue cars” resulted in 2.2 million hits, with only 11 of those results listed on the first page (and five of those from the same company). Now, a lot of those results would likely not be pertinent to my search for blue cars in Jackson, but it’s still a lot of data.

If you want to sell cars (or anything else) in Mississippi (or anywhere else) and are trying to snag Google users, getting on that first page is key. Human nature being what it is, it’s clear that people really don’t like to go to additional pages. That makes the first page of any Google search as valuable as prime Florida beachfront property. And there’s a lot of competition for that real estate; for many businesses, it’s necessary for survival.

Since the advent of search engines in the 1990s, people have been figuring out how to push certain results higher in searches. Google’s computerized algorithm sends its billions of “web crawlers” over the Internet constantly to look for certain words and phrases, and it “likes” websites that are “Google-friendly.”

The process of making results appear on the first page is more complicated than it looks, but if you can do it successfully, you can make a lot of money. Whole industries have sprung up around the art and science of pushing results higher in searches (called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization).

All this cash potential has (surprise!) attracted the unscrupulous as well as the honest, and regulators have been taking action for several years to challenge and shut down predatory operations. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission charged a Florida-based company with “deceiving small business owners by falsely claiming to represent Google, falsely threatening businesses with removal from Google search results, and falsely promising first-place or first-page placement in Google search results.”

The FTC charged Point Break Media and 12 related defendants (among them the company’s senior officers) with robocalling business owners claiming that Google was about to label their businesses “permanently closed” unless they talked to a “Google specialist” and paid high fees ($300 to $700) to reinstate their business’ presence in Google searches. Once they pay, the businesses get a follow-up call to upsell them with products costing up to $949.99 and up to $169.99 per month.

The FTC also accused the company of taking money from their clients’ checking accounts without their knowledge, consent or authorization “with no apparent reason or justification” when high numbers of disputed transactions by angry customers caused Point Break to lose its ability to accept payments by credit cards.

Clearly, anyone who is in the business of helping businesses raise their profile in Google searches should know their business and should have an established reputation of being able to deliver results with integrity. It’s not easy for businesses, though, to tell which is which, and the potential of falling for a scam is high.

Lahle Wolfe, a marketing specialist writing in a column last month for The Balance (a career and small-business website), gave some sage advice for businesses to keep them from falling for scams and shady operators.

First, Wolfe wrote, avoid any services promising a “30-day trial." 

“Never, ever, (did I say never?) give your password and access information to anyone who offers you free trials,” she advised. “You might as well give them your car keys and ATM password, too.”

Secondly, avoid services that are way under (or over) the prevailing prices charged by others in your market area. Also, it’s important to avoid instant or quick results, without taking the time to understand your company and its website. “We cannot state this strongly enough,” she counseled: “SEO cannot be done quickly unless it is done poorly.”

After listing a dozen tips, Wolfe concludes with this excellent advice: “Until a marketing company actually does look at your site and your competitor's websites, you really should tell them you have nothing to say to them except goodbye. Better yet — put their emails where they belong — in the trash.”

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Contact Bill Moak at moakconsumer@gmail.com.