{"id":2452,"date":"2025-06-03T18:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2452"},"modified":"2025-06-03T15:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:03:53","slug":"how-to-react-to-unsolicited-seo-advice-emails-as-a-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/06\/how-to-react-to-unsolicited-seo-advice-emails-as-a-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to React to Unsolicited SEO Advice Emails as a Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes : <\/span><\/span><h1>How to React to Unsolicited SEO Advice Emails as a Small Business<\/h1>\n<p>If you run a small business and have a website, chances are you&#8217;ve had at least one email telling you your SEO is broken. Or that you\u2019re not ranking high enough on Google. Or that some \u201cexpert\u201d can fix it for a \u201clow cost\u201d (but only if you act right now). Sound familiar?<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t worry \u2013 you\u2019re not alone. These emails are as common as rainy Mondays (there&#8217;s rarely a day goes by that I don&#8217;t get one), and most of the time, they\u2019re not worth your time. This blog is all about what these emails really are, why they pop up in your inbox, and how you should (and shouldn&#8217;t) react.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>What is unsolicited SEO advice?<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s break it down. SEO stands for \u201csearch engine optimisation\u201d. It\u2019s all the stuff you do to help your website show up when people search online. Sounds useful, right? And it is \u2013 but not when it\u2019s coming from random strangers.<\/p>\n<p>Unsolicited SEO advice is when someone you don\u2019t know emails you out of the blue, claiming they\u2019ve \u201creviewed\u201d your website and found all sorts of problems. They might say things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYour site isn\u2019t mobile-friendly.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou\u2019re missing out on traffic because of technical errors.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe can guarantee a top spot on Google.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sometimes, they\u2019ll even include a scary-looking report full of graphs and red warnings. The goal? To make you panic, so you\u2019ll pay them to fix something that might not even be broken.<\/p>\n<h2>Why am I getting these emails?<\/h2>\n<p>Short answer: because you\u2019re a business, and your website is public.<\/p>\n<p>Longer answer: there are bots that crawl the internet looking for contact forms and email addresses on websites. Once your email is found, it gets added to a list. Then you end up in the inbox of someone trying to sell you their SEO \u201cservices\u201d. It\u2019s not personal. They probably didn\u2019t even look at your website properly.<\/p>\n<h2>How can I tell if an SEO email is dodgy?<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some classic signs it\u2019s just spam or a scam:<\/p>\n<h3>1. It\u2019s full of scary warnings<\/h3>\n<p>Lots of red flags, capital letters, and \u201cURGENT\u201d language. They want to scare you into acting fast.<\/p>\n<h3>2. It promises impossible results<\/h3>\n<p>Like \u201cWe\u2019ll get you to number one on Google in 7 days\u201d. No one can promise that \u2013 not even Google.<\/p>\n<h3>3. It\u2019s poorly written<\/h3>\n<p>Loads of spelling mistakes or weird phrasing. If they can\u2019t write a proper email, do you really want them working on your website?<\/p>\n<h3>4. It\u2019s generic<\/h3>\n<p>They might say \u201cWe looked at your site\u201d but then mention nothing specific. If they really reviewed your site, wouldn\u2019t they give proper examples?<\/p>\n<h3>5. They use fake urgency<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cOnly 3 spots left!\u201d or \u201cAct now to avoid Google penalties!\u201d It\u2019s pressure sales, plain and simple.<\/p>\n<h3>6.\u00a0 Sent from a free email address<\/h3>\n<p>Often they come from free email addresses such as a gmail account &#8211; although this isn&#8217;t always a pointer to a dodgy email.<\/p>\n<h2>So&#8230; should I reply?<\/h2>\n<p>In most cases, no. Don\u2019t reply, and definitely don\u2019t click on any links. If you&#8217;re curious, you can do your own checks instead (we&#8217;ll cover that next).<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;re not sure, it\u2019s okay to ask someone you trust. Maybe your web developer, your mate who knows a bit about SEO, or even just post in a business Facebook group and see what others think.<\/p>\n<h2>How to check if your SEO actually needs help<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of trusting a stranger, there are a few free and easy ways to check your own site:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Use Google Search Console<\/h3>\n<p>This is a free tool from Google that shows how your site is doing in search results. You\u2019ll see stuff like what people are searching to find you, if there are errors, and which pages are getting traffic.\u00a0 Although it must be said that the reports only show a sample of the data available.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Try an SEO audit tool<\/h3>\n<p>There are free tools online that will audit your website (some are better than others though so test different ones). They can give you a simple overview of how your site is performing \u2013 without the sales pitch.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Ask your developer or designer<\/h3>\n<p>If someone helped you build your site, they might already have SEO basics covered. Ask them to walk you through it.<\/p>\n<h2>What if I do need SEO help?<\/h2>\n<p>That\u2019s totally fine! Good SEO can really help your business grow. Just make sure you work with someone you trust.<\/p>\n<h3>How to find a proper SEO expert:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask other small business owners for recommendations.<\/li>\n<li>Check reviews and case studies \u2013 do they have proof they\u2019ve helped others?<\/li>\n<li>Look for people who explain things clearly, not just throw jargon at you.<\/li>\n<li>Be wary of anyone who promises fast or guaranteed results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember: SEO is a long game. It takes time, and no one has a secret shortcut (despite what those emails say).<\/p>\n<h2>Can I stop these emails completely?<\/h2>\n<p>Sadly, probably not 100%. But you can cut down on them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use a contact form on your website instead of showing your email address and use a Captcha on it.<\/li>\n<li>Add spam filters to your inbox.<\/li>\n<li>Report dodgy emails as spam so your email provider learns to block them.<\/li>\n<li>Use a separate email for business enquiries that you check less often.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Funny replies (if you\u2019re feeling cheeky)<\/h2>\n<p>Now, we don\u2019t recommend actually replying to spammers. But if you\u2019re in a mood, here are some replies just for a laugh (don\u2019t actually send these \u2013 just enjoy the idea):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThanks for the tip! I\u2019ll pass it on to the SEO team (aka my cat).\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI checked with Google and they said I\u2019m fine. Ta!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDo you also fix bad email marketing?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGreat! I\u2019ll pay you in exposure \u2013 fair\u2019s fair, right?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re running a small business, you&#8217;ve got enough to deal with without worrying over every scary email that lands in your inbox. Most unsolicited SEO advice is just noise \u2013 ignore it. Learn a bit about SEO on your own terms, ask for help from people you trust, and grow your website at your own pace.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re doing great. Keep going \u2013 and don\u2019t let the spam bots get you down!<\/p>\n<h2>Bonus tip: Learn a little SEO yourself<\/h2>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to be an expert, but understanding the basics helps you spot nonsense. Here\u2019s a few things worth Googling (ironically):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is SEO?<\/li>\n<li>How does Google ranking work?<\/li>\n<li>Simple on-page SEO tips<\/li>\n<li>Free SEO tools for small business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can even take a look at our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/category\/seo\/\">SEO related articles<\/a> for general advice, we&#8217;ve been in the &#8220;game&#8221; for over 25 years.\u00a0 There&#8217;s no pressure on you to contact us for advice, and in fact if you did we might turn you down if we don&#8217;t think we could help, or we have clients in the area already.<\/p>\n<p>The more you learn, the less scary those emails will seem.<\/p>\n<h2>Have you had a weird SEO email?<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019d love to hear about it! Share the funniest or most ridiculous one you\u2019ve had in the comments. Let\u2019s laugh at the nonsense together. ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes : <\/span><\/span>How to React to Unsolicited SEO Advice Emails as a Small Business If you run a small business and have a website, chances are you&#8217;ve had at least one email telling you your SEO is broken. Or that you\u2019re not ranking high enough on Google. Or that some \u201cexpert\u201d can fix it for a \u201clow [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-advice","category-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}