A company claiming to have a proprietary software that replicates Google algorithm?

[RickyShockley]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, getting into a bit of a p*ssing match with a company trying to compete for the business of one of our clients and just wanted to some feedback from the community here.

The company competing for the client's business claims to have spent $1 million to replicate Google's algorithm so they create a replica site (not sure I understand this) of the client site, then test and optimize on-page SEO changes in their software to determine whether the on-page changes are ideal. Sounds fishy to me. Thoughts?

[EGOL]

Maybe they come here to Moz and run it through the page grader. 

[TimHolmes]

I think they "Cod" be a bit of a "flounder" in my opinion, but could have the client "Hooked" with these claims

I very much doubt they have replicated anything of Google's at all and are simply using this as a selling technique to entice those whom do not have the required knowledge to dismiss such claims. The clients may lap it up thinking they will be getting the best deal and will shoot up the rankings.

They are like Egol stated probably just using numerous tools and techniques and saying they have insider secrets etc.

You now have to convince the client that you are the best "Captain to steer the Ship" so to speak!

[badgergravling]

There's pretty much no-one at Google who would know every element of the ranking system, so it seems unlikely a third party would successfully replicate it all beyond what is already available via the common SEO tools.

If they really had managed to completely replicate everything to the point it worked perfectly, why wouldn't they just set up their own websites to rank highly and make money without having to do client work?

They may well have built their own internal SEO tool, which could do something similar to the Moz On Page Grader, for example.

But considering how important external SEO factors remain to be, and the fact they'd have a much more limited data set than Moz or other tools, it seems like it would be a bit pointless unless they planned to pivot to selling their own SEO tool.

So either the client ends up being saddled with a company using a tool with very little data. Or they end up being saddled with a company aiming to ditch clients and sell an SEO tool instead in the future...