Yodle Possible Nightmare? Help Please!

[Pixelwik]

Hi there all,

I have a longtime client who got the big sales pitch from Yodle and ended up with a bunch of "marketing magic" items for $1649 a month including but probably not limited to:

1) An SEO package, 2) An Adversite with a keyword stuffed URL (looks like a crappy landing page but it has 3 or 4 pages), 3) a Google Adwords package and 4) a bunch of citation listing management.

We already have a website (currently in the midst of a total overhaul) that has ranked pretty well on Google for our industry and we've been working hard on citation clean up/management all along.  We also already have a Google Adwords account that is actually starting to pay off. Essentially, they sold him on things we didn't need with a bunch of talk about algorithyms and how they are winning so many awards and how they could get his phone ringing with 50-60 leads a month, etc. Blah, blah, blah. They were very loud about their "close relationship" with Google which is what I assume got him the most interested.

Anyway, we got on the phone with them yesterday because I was really concerned about them wanting access to our Google My Business account and hearing that they would be changing the telephone # to their tracking # and the website address would be changed to the new one they made. I hear that kind of thing and I just think nightmare scenario with NAP stuff which is already a bit of a nightmare due to some other reasons (another story altogether). When I started questioning the support guy (who didn't really want to answer any questions directly), they backed off the GMB and citation talk and said that we would be able to customize the packages and they could get rid of that component and concentrate on Adwords and the lead generating "Adversite."

So that's where we are right now. The support guy went on to tell me that Google allows 10 websites as long as you only have one GMB/+ listing but that is antithetical to anything I've ever known. I haven’t given them manager access to GMB or any citation stuff (and won't) and the Adwords campaign they're working on is apparently on they own dashboard as they have yet to ask me about access to our AW account.

I guess the main thing I'm looking for is any guidance on how bad this is going to be for our Google rankings, etc. with the Adversite they created for us using a whole new web address for our company and a whole new telephone. Not to mention this Adwords campaign they're running that will be going to the new telephone and new website as well. It just seems like we're competing against ourselves in this scenario and splitting traffic and/or authority and kind of a recipe for a big setback. Any advice or suggestions here on how worried we need to be and if we should try to cancel before anything else happens (the site is already live and they also said the Adwords they’re doing is now live as well).

Thank you so much in advance for any comments!

[MiriamEllis]

Hey There,

Like Andy said - oh, dear! Just want to confirm:

1. No, you do not want more than 1 website for the business

2. Call tracking numbers, if utilized improperly, can really harm a business

3. Never give GMB access to anyone you don't trust

I have never worked with Yodle, but I do recommended reading and sharing these with your client:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/11/25/guide-to-using-call-tracking-for-local-search/

https://moz.com/community/q/yodel-anyone-have-insights-into-their-process

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Oh dear! That does sound like a bit of a mess.

First of all, don't not let them change your telephone number to a tracking one. If everything about you doesn't match up, then this will work against you. Google is very specific about this.

You also don't want lots of websites about you that all say the same thing. The advise that Google allows 10 websites is absolute trash. If they are duplicating information about you, then they are going against Google's guidelines.

My advice, yes, cancel. There is nothing I have read there that doesn't fill me with dread. These sorts of places that rattle through clients in this manner, don't care about being unethical or going against best practices. There is absolutely no substitution for a sensible SEO campaign where you aren't competing against your own site.

-Andy