Do you remember George Foreman…? Well, I do… well.. actually I don’t remember him as a boxer… but I have seen his fight with Ali, may 100 times. I love the Ali story and I love the story behind Ali and Foreman.

If you see a photo of Ali vs Foreman you will realize one thing: Foreman used to be a BIG guy. Strong . Fast. Powerful. Scary.

But Ali was mmmm Bigger, Stronger, Faster, more Powerful… and Ali won… and became the King while Foreman became the creator of BBQ products.

So thinking of Ali vs Foreman, I recall SEO companies showing amazing testimonials with their clients website, keyword they rank and ranking position.

Mmmm … are you STUPID?

Seriously mister SEO company: Are you stupid?

Because you may think that you are Foreman… but trust me, there are a lot of Ali’s out there…. many SEO professionals and link builders ready to take you on the challenge.

Because once you put the Testimonial and tell the world how amazing you are… then you have people like me, that is going to go to your clients sites, check their backlinks and analyse what you do, how you do it and the strategy you follow to rank your clients sites.

Is this smart?

Well… I don’t think so.

Because as soon as you expose your strategy, you are giving me the data that I need to be able to find your weakness and outrank your clients.

Let’s understand this.

If you (Mister SEO company) are already broadcasting the testimonial I presume the Link Building and SEO work for that client is finished. So now you are giving me the green light to match your links, improve mine and take your ranking away. Great isn’t?

Because what many SEO companies seem to forget is that SEO is like Boxing. You need power, you need strength… but also you need Stamina.

You may win the 1st round.. but If I knock you down in round 9th … I win the fith. I become World Champion and you become a famous runner up.

So what is the answer? Let your own ranking do the talk or offer testimonial and case studies to potential clients in a confidential level. But don’t go out there, telling the world how fantastic your SEO skills, specially when you are using your client’s sites as trophies.

Your SEO success is business between you and your customers. If you are GOOD enough… you don’t need testimonials… your own customers will be so happy with you they will tell everyone and then you will be a busy SEO bee…   don’t you think.

And if you still have doubts… enjoy the this masterpiece.

In the last 5 days I have seen how many Internet Marketing Experts complain, cry, and have tantrums regarding “SEO”.

“I love when I read… being 1st in Google for a keyword means nothing… “

And then I visit the website of this Internet Marketing Experts selling SEO services and surprise surprise… they can’t rank for ANYTHING.

And this my friends is the difference between selling SEO services and making a living from SEO.

In my case, my humble case… I make a living from SEO.

Why I become a SEO consultant? Because after building over 400 websites that I own and manage and ranking them to be in top position for their desired keywords I realized… mmm, I think I know what I’m doing now.. so I started to work with the owners of websites I WAS OUTRANKING.

And That is the difference.

I don’t have an ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY… where I preach about the “latest trends of SEO”… instead I have my own 500 sites that give me the data about what Google Algorithm does, and about what works and what doesn’t work.

So if your company sells SEO services, do me a favor and do a favor to your customers: Show them your rankings. Take pride on your own Ranking.

SEO is about ranking. That’s it.

If you work in Search Engine Optimization and you can’t rank… you are not good enough.

Cruel?

May be… but Ferrari was cruel with me when I applied for a F1 position last year and they wrote back saying … “no thanks Gabriel… may be next year”.

So guess what? I’m not a F1 pilot… because I can’t do it, I can’t get the job done and nobody will hire me to do the job.

So stop bashing SEO… and claim that SEO is not important… because ONLY when you get 1st position and you see your little stats going up .. up.. up… and your inbox going full… full full.. you will realize that may be … being an SEO provider that can ACTUALLY RANK a website is kind of kick-ass-Ninja-cool-thing-to-do.