Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
SEO for people who don't like SEO. I run an SEO agency. My wife Meredith is a family photographer. Our podcast explains how I got Meredith's website to the top of Google and answers questions from photographers about SEO and website marketing.
Meredith's Husband | SEO for People Who Don't Like SEO
The Email Decision: Spam or Opportunity?
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We examine the world of unsolicited business emails and when they might actually be worth responding to instead of immediately deleting.
• Most "link to us" or "publish our content" emails are spam designed for SEO purposes
• Well-written, personalized emails with legitimate contact info may deserve a second look
• Some seemingly sketchy opportunities (like early Clutch.co) can evolve into valuable platforms
• Consider responding with a counter-request for reciprocal value rather than immediate rejection
• Protect yourself by not clicking suspicious links directly - copy domain names and visit separately
• Ask what they can offer you in return when someone wants to publish on your site
• Even if 99% are garbage, the occasional legitimate opportunity makes selective engagement worthwhile
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I don't think anything is possibly more anxiety-producing than a fidget spitter that doesn't spin , that doesn't move , that doesn't fidget . This episode , brought to you by Brought to you by .
Speaker 2Brought to you by . I can't ever remember the name and I have to remember it .
Speaker 1Hungry Roots .
Speaker 2Hungry Roots , do it again .
Speaker 1This episode is brought to you by Hungry Roots . Hungry
The Shitty Email Problem
Speaker 1Root . Thank you , Hungry .
Speaker 2Root .
Speaker 1Okay , let's talk about shitty emails .
Speaker 2Oh yes .
Speaker 1So you know what I mean I do . You forwarded to me yes , you don't send me shitty emails you forwarded to me an email that you had received .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1And it is one of these like out of the blue I call it spam . Yeah , out of the blue emails asking hey link to . That's not exactly what it does , but hey , link to our site . Or put you won an award . Here's a badge , put it on your site and link back to us . Sure , great , thank you . Okay . So these are .
Speaker 2The only one .
Speaker 1Yeah , my opinion of these is and I'm probably biased but 99.9999999% of the time they are total garbage . Yeah , however , I have changed my views on them a little bit over time . I'm going to tell you how I used to deal with these and then what happened . How I deal with them now .
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 1And what I recommend that you do , or ie I'm probably going to do for you with this email that you have been sent .
Speaker 2Not for those listeners .
Speaker 1Well , but they can do it . It's not difficult , right ? No , no , you're going to show them .
Speaker 2Yeah , exactly , okay .
Speaker 1So you received this email out of the blue . You sent it to me . I'm going to go over it . It's one of these things that ask for it . Let me just I'll't know who . Well , actually there is a name . It came through your contact form , which is a bit of a warning sign that it's kind of spam . But it has a name . There is a phone number , first and last name , and the email is you know , it's well written , it's nice , it sounds authentic and I'm going to read it right now . Okay , and I'll do this as quickly as possible , because I don't read very well . Okay , so here's the email that came through the contact form . Quote .
Speaker 3Teaching kids the importance of self-care is crucial in today's fast-paced world .
Speaker 1My response Okay , check , good enough . The email continues .
Speaker 3By instilling healthy habits early on , we can help them manage stress and build resilience .
Speaker 1Okay , Super healthy habits early on . We can help them manage stress and build resilience .
Speaker 3Okay , super Second paragraph . As someone passionate about this topic , I'd love to share an article with self-care strategies for children , including mindfulness
Understanding SEO Link Building
Speaker 3techniques and creative activity .
Speaker 1Third paragraph .
Speaker 3Please consider publishing this piece on your site . Together , we can equip parents with the tools their children need for a brighter future .
Speaker 1Signs off name website and then .
Speaker 3PS . If you're interested but prefer a different topic , I'm very much open to discussing that with you . However , if you do not wish to receive any further emails , I understand . Please respond and let me know Right .
Speaker 1Okay , you know fair enough . I don't want to say I welcome that kind of email . Right but yeah , okay , and inevitably this went out to hundreds of people , but still it's well written .
Speaker 2Yeah , enough for me to go wait a second For you to send it to me , bam , or is this it ?
Speaker 1was written in . It was very well written in English . Yeah , obviously written by an English speaker , et cetera . So you sent it to me , or an AI , or AI , right , although it seems sincere . It does seem sincere Especially the PS . It seems sincere and that's why it caught my attention Because , like I said , most of these are junk . They are just garbage .
Speaker 2When you say they're garbage . Why are they doing this ?
Speaker 1What's in it for them ? Good question , they are doing their own SEO . I don't know exactly , because an article was not attached to this and they didn't specify what the piece . They didn't say exactly what they wanted to have published , but typically these things are going to be looking to links that you will build to their site one way or another . This looks like he's going to be looking to links that you will build to their site one way or another . This looks like he's going to give you an article . I bet I'll bet money that in that article is going to be a link back to their site . Right , Okay , Sometimes , and like I said , this is a sincere I think it's a sincere email . So you know good , you know fair enough , Good for you . What I really dislike is when emails come through and like , hey , you won this award , You're a top 10 , blah , blah , blah blah blah blah .
Speaker 1Put this badge and then they give you a badge to encode on your site , but in the encoded code , in the code that you embed on your site , is a whole bunch of links . It's very spammy , very shady Right . So it's very spammy , very shady Right .
Speaker 2So , and then the thing is is that clients can't tell the difference . They'll look at somebody who has all these quote badges .
Speaker 1Yeah , but also , you know , if a badge is not recognizable , it doesn't matter .
Speaker 2They wouldn't . Most clients aren't going to recognize it because it says like Well , then it's . Ponce Bank recommends calls you the best photographer right ?
Speaker 1Well , if it's a badge that you think your clients would be like , oh , that's impressive , Then it's a badge . A badge I think you should potentially put on your site .
Speaker 2I just wanted to know because why they would do that yeah it's for it , it's SEO .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's SEO , and I know that because I used to send these .
Speaker 1Oh , no , not like this yeah , oh , years ago , we would send out things and looking and essentially and this is one way you can build links Right , but we've talked about this before the trick is you have to give before you get . You have to give something before you get something Right , and so I used to receive probably a dozen of these per day . Oh , like there was a time in SEO , probably a decade to a decade and a half ago , where , oh my gosh , it was just overwhelming and , like I said , we were sending some of these too . In fact , I remember a client that I had , but not maliciously .
Speaker 1Not maliciously , no , like I actually wrote them .
Speaker 3Right .
Speaker 1I actually sent them out . No , like I actually wrote them , right , I actually sent them out . But I do remember one client I was working for sent something to me and one of the emails I had sent out ,
When Spam Becomes Opportunity
Speaker 1the recipient of that email had a lawyer write a cease and desist letter to my client and the client contacted me . I was like , holy fuck , dude , just mark it as spam If you don't want to just block it , like that seems excessive . That seemed very excessive , but it also caused me to reevaluate what I was doing . So , yeah , anyway , used to send them , used to receive tons of them , probably why I have such a god awful opinion of them . However , occasionally they seem somewhat authentic . And what happens ?
Speaker 2Can you hear Marcel ? Sorry , he's crying because Buster has the chew .
Speaker 1He's so dramatic . If only life were that easy . But nowadays these emails are not as common , not nearly as common , although they still get sent around , and usually I should say a common form of these emails is hey , can you push this or can you link to our site somehow ? Right , and nine times out of ten , it's just not worth it .
Speaker 2It's not in your benefit , it does not behoove you .
Speaker 1It's definitely not in your benefit .
Speaker 1But , even if you were to reply to one of these emails , you would quickly figure out that this might be a well-written email backed by God knows what , and so most of the time it goes straight to garbage . However , occasionally one catches my eye . One of these caught my eye in probably a decade ago . Plus , it was from somebody who was just starting a company , and the company was one of these things that is going to be online reviews . It was called clutch , clutchcom or clutchco , and the guy wrote to me who was starting it . He was just seemed to be starting out . He was doing all this stuff himself .
Speaker 2I get those emails .
Speaker 1Yeah , I wrote . I wrote back to him . Actually , we kind of I don't want to say it was a friendship , but we had a sort of friendly rapport and yeah . So I did whatever he was offering . I don't remember what it was , but there was something I got in return . There definitely was . So at that time when he first contacted me , clutch , it didn't exist , like it was potentially a scam sham , whatever . It was potentially a scam sham , whatever . Every once in a while , those sites end up becoming something where you might like to have been involved early on .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1You got an email from expertisecom . Do you remember that ?
Speaker 2Yes , I do Okay .
Speaker 1And at the time expertisecom was just starting . It was nothing . It looked like garbage . We didn't do anything Since then . It has become something . The links coming from expertisecom are actually valuable ?
Speaker 1Yes , they are , and now I think , oh well , we should have replied . However , I actually did follow up with them . They no longer so . Expertisecom , if you're wondering , is a site that reviews vendors , photographers being one of those types of vendors , and they had a section on children and family and newborn photographers , and if you get into their article or their , I think it was a top 10 list . That link ended up being quite valuable . However , they have since knocked off or they have gotten rid of the newborn children , family photographer category , so that is no longer up and they're focusing on , like digital I don't remember what it was .
Speaker 2Where the money is . Yes , exactly .
Speaker 1And that's kind of what Clutch did . Is they focused on , like digital marketing agencies and professionals ? Yeah , okay , and so it worked out . Expertise , an example where it looked like garbage ended up being something , and so you have to be aware of that . Sometimes , every once in a while , you get an email and their website might be garbage now so how ?
Speaker 1do you know , but it might turn it Well . You don't , you honestly don't . The only thing we have to go on is the email that they sent you Right , somewhat professional . I would like to think that maybe they're going to undertake their other endeavors equally as professional , in a professional manner .
Speaker 2You know what I mean , so how do you find out ?
Speaker 1So well , you reply . My go-to response used to be , for these types of emails , straight to garbage Right , okay . Now I would think okay , well , there's , you know . What do you have to lose ? So this is my approach now and what I kind of recommend that people do . What do you have to lose ? What I would do , and what I probably will do for you , is reply to this email .
Speaker 1And they didn't attach any . They just said consider publishing this
Smart Response Strategies
Speaker 1piece , didn't attach anything , didn't provide a link , and that says PF interest If you're interested . Blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . And at the end it says please respond and let me know . So I feel comfortable responding and I will probably say something along the lines of well , if you can provide a link to my site as well , yeah , I could do that , or something along those lines .
Speaker 1I would start off by asking for something that might even not be realistic , right , like they're probably not going to just provide a link to your site , right , or something else that I might say , but I might not put in the first email . It's like well , for SEO reasons , I don't publish duplicated content , so I don't want to publish a piece that's already published on God knows how many other websites and so . But I bet that would get their attention , yeah , you know . And who knows what they might offer in return ? Maybe nothing Right , chances are pretty good like nothing . But they might come back and say well , we can give you this or we can give you that and then I would evaluate that .
Speaker 2My question is in responding . Does that then put you on some list ? That then goes to other scamming things .
Speaker 1That's a fair question and yes , it could technically , but again , I'm just going by my gut instinct and this seems to be a reasonably well-written email .
Speaker 2If I click on the site it looks also if there's a link , if you know the site , and then I'm afraid to click on links because I think then they'll have my information .
Speaker 1Okay , well , if that's the case , they put this this came through your . This is sort of technical , but this came through your technical . This came through your technical this came through your it came through your contact form , which means that it's just text . Okay , there's nothing embedded . There's no secret links .
Speaker 3Right , so you can click on a link .
Speaker 1You can do that . If there's no , if it's just like you know , abccom , yeah , you can click on that . They can't track that . If it's abccom , slash question mark and then a big string of characters , I would recommend you don't click on those links . Now if somebody sends you this . See , I'm fascinated by this . It's totally boring If somebody sends you an email and there's a link on it , even if the link says abccom , and you click on it inside that link can be tracking .
Speaker 1But when it comes through your contact form , they can't do that . They can't , they cannot .
Speaker 2Because , because it's just text .
Speaker 1They can include links , but it's just text . They can't hide any text . They can't have hidden text In an email . You can do that .
Speaker 2With your contact form . You usually cannot do that , and to me , as the recipient , it's just another email , right , but actually it's a slightly more filtered email .
Speaker 1Yeah , and if you do get an email like that and there is a link in it , personally , what I would do instead of clicking on it look at the link , copy and paste the name of the domain just the domain and then go open it up in a browser that will not include any tracking information .
Speaker 3Okay .
Speaker 1Whereas the links in an email definitely they're almost always going to be tracked .
Speaker 2Terrified of clicking a link and then forever being spammed with yeah and again this .
Speaker 1This wasn't even emailed to you , so it wasn't sent to your email address . It came through your contact form so .
Speaker 2So you could , which was emailed to me , but through a different tunnel .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , it came through , it came through your your the gate on your website .
Speaker 2Let's say that's what the difference is , yeah .
Speaker 1So , yeah , what I'm going to do is I'm going to write back to this person and say , hey , this is sort of a negotiation . So I'm going to start off by not being like , yeah , please , you know I'm not going to go 100% full board in .
Speaker 2Oh my gosh , I've been waiting for this . This is so happy I'm going to grow my business .
Speaker 1I would write back something like yeah , well , maybe .
Speaker 2Show me what you got yeah .
Speaker 1Show me Like what piece . Nothing was attached , nothing was linked . Show me what you're considering . I might . Would , you be willing to . And then I would ask , I would have some sort of probably over-the-top ask . Such
Avoiding Tracking Links and Scams
Speaker 1as yeah if you can provide a link to our site , yeah . And they might come back and say something like oh , we'll do a post on social media .
Speaker 2Well , to me that is less than , but this would be such good exposure Right .
Speaker 1Anyway , that's what I plan to do . I think that's a pretty good approach and I'm still expecting very little . I'm expecting nothing , to be honest , but I'm curious what would they offer ? They've got to offer something in exchange . I'm not just going to publish a piece on your website just for the fun of it , just to help this person . What do they have to offer ? So that's the gist of my response . It's like well , maybe Can you give me something in return . Right Period , that's kind of what I would do .
Speaker 2I can do something for you . What can you do for me ?
Speaker 1Yeah , like I said , you have nothing to lose , except maybe you get spammed in the future If you receive emails like this and your gut just says it's a spammy email . Yeah , you trust your gut on that one . The things I would look for is it well-written , is it seems sincere ? This one has a phone number . I mean you could look up the phone number . Does it go to this company ? That's a pretty good sign . Yeah , you know , has his name . Doesn't have his email address .
Speaker 3Oh , it does have his email address .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , it has his yeah , and it's . Everything looks like legit here . So I would . I am going to write back to this person .
Speaker 2Very exciting . Stay tuned .
Speaker 1Right after we eat our dinner from a hungry root .
Speaker 2Yes , hungry root . Oh my gosh , the ravioli , so yummy .
Speaker 1Today was no today no . Summer , not today . Yesterday we had the heater on . Today we'll probably put the AC on .
Speaker 2Spring happened between 1 am and 3 am . Yeah , we had two hours of it Now , my favorite
How to Negotiate a Fair Exchange
Speaker 2season ever .
