Fiverr.com and supposed SEO services

Fiverr.com is a relatively new website that was started in 2009. If you are not familiar with Fiverr, it is a public forum where you can buy and sell services over the internet. The services available range from the extremely odd like a hand nit sweater for an apple, to graphic design for a website banner or company logo. The great thing about this site is that nothing costs more than $5, hence the name Fiverr. This in itself is not bad, it is an amazing idea and the founders deserve the credit for their work. The problem that is evolving from Fiverr, is the buying and selling of link building services. People from all over the world are touting services that are not only too good to be true, but will most likely hurt the rankings of a website in the long run.

Examples of services promised on Fiverr are:

• I will create 5,000 forum profiles linking to your website for 5 dollars
• I will answer 10 yahoo answers questions with links pointing to your website for 5 dollars
• I will create and submit 1200 articles to article directories and have links back to your website in each.
• I will create a wikia, wetpaint, and squidoo article and submit 5,000 blog comments directed at them.
• I will get your 50 Google +'s
• I will tweet your message to 50,000 followers
• I will get you 300 Facebook likes

Some of these services appear to be better than others, but all of them will have detrimental affects on your website in the long run. For instance, 5,000 backlinks from forum profiles is a lot, but Google, Yahoo and Bing have de-valued their "link juice" to prevent manipulation of this kind. The person offering this service is most likely using a program called xrumer, and is just creating profile links on random forums from around the world. These links most likely have nothing to do with your website content or subject, and are quite possibly in another language. It is hard to see how these backlinks could be of value.

Whenever I see article submissions on Fiverr it makes me laugh. With the recent Panda update a few months back, the value of article links has dropped so drastically that they are almost worthless. Because of software like Article Marketing Robot, and spinning tools, article directories had become full of duplicate content and worthless dribble that offered very little to internet users. Since article directories have no beneficial content for users, the search engines decided to pretty much remove them from the search results. If article directories can purge their data bases of all the useless content, it is possible that in a future update, link value will be restored. But as it stands currently, article marketing is a dead form of SEO and any service offering article submissions on Fiverr should be considered a scam.

Other types of "SEO services" on Fiverr that seem to be very popular, are those that attempt to manipulate social media. I am referring to services that promise Google+'s, and Facebook likes. Making it appear that more people like your company and services on Google + or Facebook is always a good thing, but falsifying that data is just wrong. Not to mention the fact that each "like" or "+" has an IP address attached to it, and most of the people providing these services will have every "like" or "+" emanating from 1 or 2 IP addresses. This is a HUGE red flag for Google or Facebook and will most likely result in your account getting suspended or banned. Do not use these services. The risk is far too great for any possible reward.

I have quickly run down the problems with many of the supposed SEO services provided by Fiverr.com. This is by no means a comprehensive list of what people are offering on the site. If you think you can find something on Fiverr that is worthwhile and won't jeopardize your website's standing in the search results, then go for it. But for my websites I will continue paying for legitimate link building from reputable SEO companies. I have experimented with Fiverr services for SEO and have always been disappointed.

Fiverr.com is not a bad website that promotes bad services, there are plenty of gigs available on the site that have nothing to do with internet marketing. Many of them are just fun and make good gifts for friends. Just stay away from anyone promising first page rankings with there simple Fiverr service. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE, and everything I have used or read about from other SEO's regarding Fiverr SEO services has been negative.

It is much better to use a reputable SEO company. Results will vary between different businesses and keyword niches, but there is much less chance to get penalized from any of the major search engines. If a SEO company is using practices that can get your de-indexed or penalized from Google, Yahoo, and Bing they are probably not a business you should be using in the first place. This article basically reiterates a principle each on of us was taught many years ago. If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Five dollars for SEO services is far too good to be true and should not be taken seriously. Using these services can have severe negative effects on your website that could take months or years to recover from. It is best to avoid any SEO service on Fiverr.com.

Janet Blue

Content Writer & Link Builder

www.seoinfluence.com