The Rise of Shady SEO on Fivver

[mrwebwebsites]

So I own a small but steadily growing agency in Toronto. One of the bread and butter components for us is SEO. I have been doing Fivver on the side since Oct for some extra cash flow and have already made it to level 1 with level 2 on the horizon. I have had a lot of people reach out to me for my SEO gig with the same issue. The issue is that they have had 2-5 Fivver “SEO experts” work on their SEO before me without any results.

Every time I take a look it’s the same story. The Fivver seller is charging dirt cheap prices for their service and providing the customer with low-quality backlinks that don’t create any positive results at best and hurt their rankings/penalize them at worst. The thing with top-tier dofollow backlinks is that unless you have some new super high-quality content you won’t get them for free. The common method is that the agency you work with has connections for these links in the form of press releases, blog features but the links aren’t free they cost hundreds of dollars. The agency’s job is to make sure the onsite SEO, and the content being released through press releases, blog features are SEO optimized. This is why legitimate agencies charge anywhere from $600-$5000 a month for SEO services.

On Fivver I market my service by pricing it fair for the work I personally have to do and letting the client know beforehand how press release and blog feature charges work and that they will have to be prepared for those costs if they want to really secure a top ranking. Of course, there’s a lot of deals I don’t close because many people using FIvver simply don’t have the budget for real SEO work but honestly, I’d rather lose a sale than waste someone’s money without providing any results.

I guess the question I have is what will Fivver do to get rid of these sellers that are selling people terrible backlinks and SEO that is really hurting buyers as they are starting to flood the Fivver market? You can’t really penalize the sellers as there is never any level of guarantee with SEO. They also tend to get good reviews because they show a chart showing all these backlinks to their clients upon completion and the novice client usually doesn’t understand that these links have no real value. Some of the work I have seen is stuff one would to do hurt a competitor’s SEO and these sellers are selling it as SEO optimization. I think the only real solution would be for Fivver to somehow educate users on the basics of SEO and how backlinks work. This way users can be more careful when picking out an SEO provider to work with. There are tons of good legitimate SEO providers on Fivver from what I have seen. However, they aren’t the ones typically getting the orders as their pricing seems high to buyers compared to the shady sellers.

Let me know what your thoughts are? Did you have a bad experience with a Fivver SEO seller? Did you have a good experience with a seller?

[looseink]

Let me tackle this one.

I write web content for an agency in the US in addition to work I get here.

I totally understand all you are saying here.

Essentially, Fiverr has become a platform for ANYONE to try to generate a secondary income.

As a result, many so-called “experts” have used YouTube (another platform that is available so ANYONE can generate a secondary income) and so many newcomers to Fiverr arrive with bad advice in their heads and think that they can get rich, quick by faking skills they don’t really have a firm grasp of but are told on YouTube is fine as that’s how to succeed on Fiverr (or pick a freelancing site).

Will Fiverr screen and dump?

Well, they have created categories and Seller Levels that only the best can qualify to be part of.

That, as far as I’m concerned, should be enough.

Look at what the prices are with Top Sellers and the higher level Sellers on Fiverr.

I agree with you 100% that there are skills that cost hundreds of dollars. But you know what? My Dad used to say that if you paid a buck for something and it didn’t last, you got your money’s worth. If you paid $1,000 for something of better quality that lasted a long time, you also got your money’s worth.

As I have spent decades in the Media Marketing Industry I know that there is a lot of truth to the saying, “buyer beware” and in the years I have been part of Fiverr (as both a Buyer and Seller) that saying comes true frequently.

[humanissocial]

@mrwebwebsites

providing the customer with low-quality backlinks that don’t create any positive results at best

Backlink selling isn’t SEO.

These people shouldn’t be in business but you also shouldn’t be buying things that are inherently ineffective and unethical and then expecting results from it.

[mrwebwebsites]

Directly selling a backlink isn’t ethical but backlinks still aren’t free. To distribute content such as press releases there are still hefty fees attached. Even to have a featured blog post about your company usually costs money. Thats just how the industry works. However there is a big difference between charging $19.99 to create 1000 random backlinks that have no relation to your site vs quality content such as press releases and blog features that are related to your sites industry/topic and have relevant backlinks.

The problem is that these people that are buying these backlinks don’t have any idea that what they are purchasing is ineffective or unethical. If they knew better they wouldn’t buy those cheap backlink gigs in the first place.

[humanissocial]

@mrwebwebsites

To distribute content such as press releases there are still hefty fees attached.

Yes. Because it requires publicist and an organic SEO team creating value for prospective websites to post their links. That’s white hat SEO.

You bought black hat SEO but expected white hat outcomes.

@mrwebwebsites

Thats just how the industry works. However there is a big difference between charging $19.99 to create 1000 random backlinks that have no relation to your site vs quality content such as press releases and blog features that are related to your sites industry/topic and have relevant backlinks.

$19 does not suggest you should expect this.

If the seller misrepresented the work they will do that’s not okay, but it’s not sensible to expect (high quality) white hat SEO for $19.

These people own or partner with websites so they can plant your links there. You’re expecting something entirely different: scouting and proposing targeted link opportunities with potential publishers.

You can’t buy white hat links on Fiverr because no seller can’t guarantee links on sites they don’t own and can’t partner with. So it makes no sense to expect that.

Sellers shouldn’t be allowed to sell this, absolutely. It’s very misleading and unethical. But it’s silly to expect anything different from what you’ve received. Legitimate white hat link building can’t work on Fiverr.

Good SEO freelancers on Fiverr wouldn’t sell backlinks. They would sell research, website optimization, keyword ideas, etc.

[mrwebwebsites]

I think you have misunderstood my post. I sell SEO services. These are experiences my customers have had on Fivver with previous SEO providers. I did not purchase these services. I am saying my previous clients on Fivver have all fallen victim to these things when working with previous sellers

[catwriter]

@mrwebwebsites

I guess the question I have is what will Fivver do to get rid of these sellers that are selling people terrible backlinks and SEO that is really hurting buyers as they are starting to flood the Fivver market?

From time to time, they ban some sellers who sell junk backlinks.

@mrwebwebsites

I think the only real solution would be for Fivver to somehow educate users on the basics of SEO and how backlinks work.

They could post some articles and videos about it (if they haven’t done it already), but I’d say it’s on buyers to educate themselves about the services they’re buying (not just SEO, but everything).

[humanissocial]

Oh got it sorry.

Educating buyers is important. A lot of people just don’t understand that you can’t expect results by buying backlinks. There’s way more to it than that.

[w3eraseo]

Very helpful information .