SEO Tycoon

**jimbob** · 03-11-2008, 07:23 AM

Hi,

Has anyone heard of an SEO Company called First Found at www.firstfound.co.uk (or www.firstfound.co.uk/new which is being launched soon)?

Has anyone had any dealing with them or experience of their their services?

Has anyone heard of any reports (good or bad) about them as a company or of their services?

As a potential buyer of their services what pertinent questions did I ought to be asking them before I make a decision (I already have some of my own)?

Regards

Jimbob

**chrishirst** · 03-11-2008, 07:29 PM

I'll give you a clue

Everything on this page http://www.firstfound.co.uk/submissionservices.htm is wrong.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 03-11-2008, 07:34 PM

I like this question on their "Search Engine Facts" page: "Do businesses really make money from their web sites?"

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-12-2008, 01:22 AM

Okay...for a change, I'm confused.

On the one hand,you're cross-posting this on DP, which is normally the first sign of spam. Even some DPers are calling it spam, which, given their incredible levels of expertise in the industry of unnecessarily annoying people and lying to them, is amazing.

But yet...you actually say something bad about them on the DP thread:

Quote:

They claim they allocate a dedicated SEO technician who manages a portfolio of clients (me being one of them) who reviews my website and its SEO performance 365 days a year and makes the necessary adjustments to keep them on page one of google.com organically.

They claim their objective is client retention and thus the reason why it is important to keep us on page one.

They say that there are no guarantees, however, they report a good success rate and have clients we can speak to and aim to get us on page one for generic keywords within 10 weeks and then page one for almost all of our keywords within 4 to 6 months.

This sounds too good to be true.

Jimbob

And you provided a link to an under construction site, something not even the dumbest SEO would suggest. And you've actually posted non-spam in other threads. So on the one hand, you adopted a typical spammer's tactic, but on the other hand you actually appear to be doing it for legitimate reasons.

I guess my question is...could you provide more information (ideally, more than what's on the DP thread?)

**rolda hayes** · 12:27 PM

We used them back in the day....
Absolutley a waste of time (in our situation anyway...)

Unless you want to rank well for "where can i buy *specific item* in *specific town* in *specific county* that has this exact postcode *insertpostcode* "

**usearchme** · 03-12-2008, 12:22 PM

Hi guys

Theres no prices on their pages and looks like they put a link to their homepage on all their customers websites, which is a bit naughty lol !

Woc

**rolda hayes** · 03-12-2008, 05:10 PM

is there any truth in this? I've never heard it before....

taken from their services page

Quote:

The speed of your connection may have a negative effect on some search engines. Each domain name translates to a numerical address which is the address of the computer on which your web site is hosted. Your host may have numerous web sites on the same computer. If one of the other web sites has been blacklisted by search engines that blacklisting might extend to your site because they reside on the same computer and therefore share the same numerical address as your site.

**vangogh** · 03-12-2008, 05:26 PM

Darren you shouldn't have to worry about other sites getting blacklisted that share your IP unless your site is somehow networked with that other site.

If a site gets blacklisted and it's linking back and forth with other sites on the same IP it's pretty easy for a search engine to know and come to the conclusion the other sites should probably be looked at. But if the blacklisted site just happens to be sharing the same IP you shouldn't worry. Most sites use shared hosting and search engines are smart enough to know that sites on the same IP often have different owners.

**ForrestCroce** · 03-13-2008, 01:29 AM

Ditto what Steve said ... but what does that have to do with "The speed of your connection may have a negative effect on some search engines?"

**chrishirst** · 03-13-2008, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolda hayes

is there any truth in this? I've never heard it before....

taken from their services page

the only bit in there that is factual is:-

Quote:

Each domain name translates to a numerical address which is the address of the computer on which your web site is hosted.

**vangogh** · 03-13-2008, 05:51 PM

I suppose if your hosting is so slow that a search spider can't access your page time and time again then the search engine might conclude your site is no more.

Of course if it's that bad you probably have more to worry about than search engines.

**jimbob** · 03-13-2008, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Okay...for a change, I'm confused.

On the one hand,you're cross-posting this on DP, which is normally the first sign of spam. Even some DPers are calling it spam, which, given their incredible levels of expertise in the industry of unnecessarily annoying people and lying to them, is amazing.

But yet...you actually say something bad about them on the DP thread:

And you provided a link to an under construction site, something not even the dumbest SEO would suggest. And you've actually posted non-spam in other threads. So on the one hand, you adopted a typical spammer's tactic, but on the other hand you actually appear to be doing it for legitimate reasons.

I guess my question is...could you provide more information (ideally, more than what's on the DP thread?)

What?????

**ForrestCroce** · 03-13-2008, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

I suppose if your hosting is so slow that a search spider can't access your page time and time again then the search engine might conclude your site is no more.

That's probably true, although it's probably rare enough not to be worth talking about. And a slow web server is going to be most apparent trying to download media on the page, not the html itself ... Googlebot should be fine. We don't know what timeout value they use, so there's no firm answer.

But my question is how the speed of a web server relates to anything else they're talking about?

Quote:

The speed of your connection may have a negative effect on some search engines. Each domain name translates to a numerical address which is the address of the computer on which your web site is hosted. Your host may have numerous web sites on the same computer. If one of the other web sites has been blacklisted by search engines that blacklisting might extend to your site because they reside on the same computer and therefore share the same numerical address as your site.

They're alluding to being punished by search engines for having a slow server, and then segue into how IP addresses and shared hosting work. There's no connection, and it's liable to confuse readers ... I think that's the point, why it's there.

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-13-2008, 09:16 PM

James...what I mean is, why are you asking this question? How did they contact you? Did you contact them? Are you a thinly veiled forum spammer (which I doubt, but anything's possible)?

In other words, more back story, s'il-vous plait.

**rolda hayes** · 03-14-2008, 04:40 AM

First found ring our office at least once a month trying to get us to sign up for different sites we run.

They probably just cold called him.

Quote:

There's no connection, and it's liable to confuse readers ... I think that's the point, why it's there.

and to get you to sign up with their hosting packages....

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-14-2008, 10:41 AM

Ahhh, the old "you can't be found on search engines although that's exactly how we found you" bit. I had to pull the phone number off my site for precisely that reason.

jimbob: if you were cold-called, then this is precisely the type of marketing firm to avoid. Here's a classic example of a telemarketing SEO spammer type I forced out of the woodwork, and actually got to admit to what he was doing, a few years back. It's the ultimate in bad targeting, yet so-called SEOs keep right on doing it.

Try clicking the hyperlink in his sig. His business is dead. I'm still standing.

**rolda hayes** · 03-14-2008, 12:49 PM

Interesting read Adam.
BTW, is that your real likeness?!
Kinda ruined my mental image of you now...!

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-14-2008, 12:54 PM

The picture's about 5 years old and somewhat distorted (mostly because I had to shrink it down and because cameras and I have had a running war since birth), but yeah, it's pretty close.

**deryk.marl** · 04-11-2008, 07:35 AM

I imagine the OP came here (and DP) for the same reason I did - after being harassed senseless by their sales people and wishing to dig up dirt to see if there's anything you can say to them to get them to take "no I am not interested" for an answer.

Honestly it's the most annoying cold calling I've ever dealt with, they just will not get off the phone (unless you give them a specific date to call back and continue harassing you). Surely if they're this desperate for business, they can't be very good. Furthermore if they're shoving their service down my throat then their optimisation technique probably also involves shoving our website down people's throats and that's not an image we wish to protray (not to mention Google frowns upon that kind of thing).

If anyone knows how to get rid of them other than telling them to bog off and putting the phone down, do let me know. We're wasting each others' time, a lot.

**hellier0898** · 07-11-2008, 09:12 AM

JimBob, if your post was spam to help raise positive awareness of first found, then perhaps I can help to inform those visitors when they get here.

I run a UK ecommerce website, and receive 2 or 3 calls from SEO companies everyday, however, FirstFound have proved themselves to be heads above their competition,

... that is in being the most rediculously persisent cold-calling uneducated untrained ill-informed group of morons mascarading as an SEO company in an attempt to get £295 from some poor suspecting company trying to get good SERPS.

From ridiculous claims of having, get this... 6,000 clients, to talking over me and saying "come on mate, lets get you on board, let's get this going", after I have repeatedly said I am not interested.

... and as mentioned by a previous poster, if you want to be found under searches for "One legged french preist living in Milton Keynes" they cannot be beaten.

Let me hereby invent the "AWARD FOR MOST TRANSPARENTLY DESPERATE SEO-WANNABEES", and gladly hand it over, or leave it on the doorstep of your mail-accommodation address.

FirstFound SEO - You Rock!