Semalt Reviews

350  Average
TrustScore 3 out of 5

2.9

In the SEO Service category

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Invisible backlinks only Google can see

They charged $75/mo for backlinks. But the Google analytics nor any other tool saw any of these links. When I questioned them and asked to see a few websites having a link to my website - they said it's a secret! Also they said these links are not visible to general public, only Google could see them! How stupid you must be to fall for this (or even say it).

Date of experience: February 24, 2023


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

(!!!) Fraud Company - Illegal Practices with Questionable Results (!!!)

I had been on Semalt plans for a year probably, as I did not pay much attention to SEO on my website myself - I cannot say for certain if they helped or not.

One thing I know for certain: They build a lot of low-quality backlinks, on irrelevant websites to your industry, hence why backlink lists are not shared.

Whatever, enough of the SEO service.

Let's delve into their illegal practices.

I was on a paid plan, a 6-month plan that I manually paid, and did not leave my card inputted anywhere else, nor did I "subscribe" to anything.

One morning, my account manager had reached out to me with the request for approval of "the rebill". I have never authorized a rebill, I did not even respond to the message yet, but by 6 PM I noticed that 500 euros were withdrawn from my card. Again, I never authorized a subscription, neither during checkout or with my account manager.

I opened WhatsApp and I saw that a few hours ago (like 4 PM), my account manager had sent me an invoice for the 500 euro payment.

I straight away asked for a refund, I was told:

"Don't you want to continue?
As when we will do refund taxes will be deducted"

Semalt wants to ensure that I pay the Fastspring processing fee. What the fck is this?

I have absolutely 0 fcks about the payment fees you incur when you illegally charge your existing customers.

My account manager charged my card knowingly without my approval and any response from me at all to his initial message.

25th of January - I was assured that a refund would be issued, a full one, so I don't have to pay any fees.

30th of January - No refund yet, I sent a message to my account manager asking if it has been processed yet. I received a response saying "Yes, it's done from our side"

Today, 12th of February - As someone in e-commerce, I know very well that a refund does not take damn near 20 days to process. I had just written another message to my account manager, asking for proof of the refund.

This is A REAL REVIEW amongst many PAID ones.

Paid reviews? Yes.

Look through the reviews, for example, there's this one guy who is from the Netherlands and has left a 5-star review on Semalt's Trustpilot. If you open his Trustpilot profile you will see he has 25 more reviews on Trustpilot, all across different foreign websites, in different foreign languages. Seems like someone is spending his hours writing fake reviews for pennies.

Anyway.

Semalt, I am not looking forward to your response to this. However, be very careful with how you treat this review. I have full documentation, including chat logs with my account manager and I will happily post the link here for everyone to see.

I will get my money back through my bank if I have not received the refund by the 15th of February.

Regardless, this review will stay.

Date of experience: January 25, 2024


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

+++++ BLACK HAT SEO +++++ These guys…

+++++ BLACK HAT SEO +++++ These guys will work wonders for your ranking on Google in the short term, but in the long term when Google's algo realises what your website is doing, it will dissapear from all search results. They are rude and threatening when you cancel your subscription and then they remove all the backlinks from your account. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Date of experience: August 02, 2018

Reply from Semalt

Dear James Watson,

Google’s algorithms change constantly and any way no website is immune to falling in SERP, especially disappearing. It doesn’t depend on the fact that you stopped working with us. Any time some of our clients wants to end cooperation with us, we warn them about such possible variants of scenarios in advance, but not threaten. And at the end, each of our clients before starting working with us agrees with the offered conditions. One of them is that all backlinks are removed, when a client stops paying or terminates cooperation. You were warned.

Best wishes, Semalt.


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

If you lack money on comprehensive SEO…

If you lack money on comprehensive SEO and SEM, AutoSEO might be a solution. This automated optimization tool helped me to become visible on local search. Though I did not get top positions, I still gained some extra traffic and leads. Considering that it cost me less than $300 for three months, I can call it a good experience.

Date of experience: July 27, 2021

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I want to thank Semalt company and in…

I want to thank Semalt company and in particular my manager Lisa Mitchell for their amazing work on my website's SEO. Only thanks to Semalt, my online shop became visible to customers and new suppliers. Semalt team really knows all the means and tricks of bringing websites to the top of search results on Google. And it's particularly important that the budget for which I got successful promotion is quite affordable.
A nice and expensive website is like a luxury car...that just stays in your garage, unused and unseen. The key from the garage is Semalt company. It lets you drive your car and enjoy it.
I wish success and prosperity to Semalt and all its employees.

Date of experience: January 26, 2023

Reply from Semalt

Than you Ролло. We are thrilled to hear that you had a great experience and that our service met your expectations.

Best regards,
Semalt Team


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I struggled to improve my retention…

I struggled to improve my retention rates before I started using their Dedicated SEO Dashboard. Reporting and analytics were my weaknesses, and I lost many clients to rival agencies because of that. Without the DSD, I wouldn’t win them back. It houses so many valuable tools my clients need, and I can now help them analyze their websites without tracking or crawling limitations.

Date of experience: July 04, 2021

Reply from Semalt

Hello Julia,

Thank you for the review of DSD.
We're working now on improving this service and will add more useful features soon.

Regards,
Semalt Team


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

These guys wont leave me alone

These guys wont leave me alone! I regret ever giving them my contact info as they are spamming me and recently they also wrote me on whatsapp. This needs to stop !

UPDATE: Semalt answered my review 6 days ago promising they would stop contacting me - today they sent me another one of their spam emails. Unbelievable.

Date of experience: July 13, 2021

Reply from Semalt

Dear Morten,

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by our sales associate. You have been unsubscribed from our system and we ensure you that you won't be bothered anymore.

UPD As per your request we have unsubscribed morten@******.me from the email newsletters on 14th July. You might have another account with different email. Kindly let us know at admin@semalt.com so that we will be able to solve this issue.

Regards,
Semalt Team


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unsavory Business Practices

Semalt is scraping Facebook and using people's posts and content without their permission. Furthermore; they are posting the content on their website as their own without attribution or permission in an attempt to rank their website higher in the search results. While they may be based in a country where there are no repercussions, this type of practice will get their clients in trouble.

If you value your business, do not work with these people.

Date of experience: July 06, 2018

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My conversions were close to disastrous…

My conversions were close to disastrous but then I added the DSD to my SEO website. Everyone longs for additional value, which is what the DSD brings in spades. It serves as an effective tool to win more customers by showing them exactly how I can help including data-based strategies and pain points.

Date of experience: November 09, 2021


Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Not a great product

I have to write this review because I am annoyed by their marketing tactics..

I monitor my google analytics and these guys or their affiliates use many domains to send traffic..

This happens almost 10 - 20 times a day and the worst past is that they don't realize that its problematic for some people who care about the bounce rate and abhor spammy traffic..

Date of experience: December 06, 2018

Reply from Semalt

Dear Shakim!

You shouldn’t blame anyone for anything without proof. Please provide any proof that it is our company that spreads referral spam. There are a lot of companies in the world that have the same type of crawlers as we do. It seems like you have just pointed your finger randomly at us - like, let it be Semalt.

Let us inform you that our company does not spread referral spam. All we do is use search bots while working with our clients.

You can find more information by following the link below.
https://semalt.com/help/crawler/crawler

We would appreciate if you read it.


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Sent bots to my website that crashed…

Sent bots to my website that crashed it. Ignored email requests to cease these activities.
Semalt reported my previous review for wording I chose to use in the hopes the review would be removed. Unfortunately I am more than happy to re-word it so others can see their black-hat business practices.

Edit: Semalt replied to tell me how to exclude their spam from analytics, conveniently skipping over the fact the bot would still visit and overload my server regardless of whether it showed on my analytics report or not..

Date of experience: July 16, 2018

Reply from Semalt

Dear Aaron R,
Semalt has technical bots that surf all over the Internet. All the visits are automatic and random. They visit websites and gather statistical data for our service simulating real user behavior: unique IP, browser, display resolution, etc. It is easy to block them. So if you really had turned to us, we would have helped you to do this. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795830?hl=en – this can help you do it if it is still needed.
Wish you good luck,
Semalt company.


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Spam Referral Traffic

Not used the company myself, but an SEO company that uses Spam Bot Referral traffic to get traffic to their website? Hidden under the name my-seo-promotion-service.com which redirects to their site. No thanks.

Edit/Reply: Yes, I have checked the link thank you. How else would I have known to leave a review for your company? It redirects to a 'Website Audit/Checker' tool on your company website.

Date of experience: September 27, 2018

Reply from Semalt

Dear Mr Kieran Gibbons,

Not spoken with you in person, but a man who doesn't realize what he is speaking about can't express his opinion on such websites, where people look for proved information about the services from real customers. You should have checked the link before connecting us with it and posting your assumptions!


Edit/Reply: So this is not OUR site. You don't have any right to say such things about our company, if you are not our client, if you have never dealt with us and you make only assumptions about us. We can make an assumption that you are not a decent person. Who paid you?

P.s. If you have any concrete facts or proof, or you want to speak with us about anything, contact our managers directly. Don't confuse our clients with the rumors.

Regards,
Sonya Gutsul, Semalt company.

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I’m a FullSEO person

I’m a FullSEO person. I’ve been using it for over 2 years and appreciate everything Semalt has done for my website. We’re now getting on with several link-building campaigns for low-volume keywords and targeting them with blog content. I don’t even have to think about blogging or connecting with other website owners for links because I know Semalt can get the job done at all levels.

Date of experience: June 21, 2021


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I really spent a lot on developing my…

I really spent a lot on developing my site 3 years ago but didn't get traffic.Almost decided to give up this project and then Semalt came up with the proposal to invest 1000$ per month into promotion. Ha-Ha, thanks not interested.I will not spend any dollar. However the manager convinced me to spend this 1 dollar. I gave it a try and continued after with 100$ plan monthly. Now I see progress and very likely will upgrade my plan when the lockdown will end.

Date of experience: February 05, 2021


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

OMG, I wish I integrated their Dedicated SEO

OMG, I wish I integrated their Dedicated SEO Dashboard since day one. It just does the trick to keep people from leaving when the only thing they need is an analytics report. It’s insightful, easy to use for customers, and easy to launch for freelancers like me. Kudos to everyone involved in creating such a beautiful dashboard!

Date of experience: October 26, 2021


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This must be a joke

This must be a joke. They literally stole my content from a facebook group multiple times, gave no accredidation, CHANGED MY NAME and everyone else involved in the conversation, and claimed it all happened on their website. Just scam, spam, no transparency or credit.

Date of experience: July 05, 2018

Reply from Semalt

Dear Oak,

We review this specific case and want to note that we have never duplicated information or used private information, we come across competitors’ aggressive strategy aimed at ruining our reputation. If you have any proof or facts of spam with the name «Semalt», please contact our manager and we will try to close the issue.

Best wishes,
Semalt Company

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Thank you Kevin Zack.

Thank you Kevin Zack.

I have been using semalt since June 2019. After the update google did back then that shook my website, I decided to switch domain name and register the new one with semalt, and since then my website has gotten google visibility very well and my traffic is increasing rapidly.

Thanks to my patient and encouraging manager Kevin Zack. Semalt is good.

Date of experience: April 28, 2020

Reply from Semalt

Dear Victor,

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
Hoping to have mutually beneficial cooperation.

Regards,
Semalt team


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Scam SEO company

Scam SEO company. Fake backlinks in an alleged private network.

Eastern European Scammers delivering nothing

Only a fool will grant this company access to the work online and access there webfiles, you will hijacked and become part of there bot network.

Check out the website and people working for them lol About US page

Sales Staff use Fake names

The Semalt web app will make you believe they are doing something but in actual fact they do 0, you have no way of authenticating backlinks, which are not permanent, they are allegedly creating each and every day.

Where your site ranks positively for keywords expect to lose rankings but be told its all part of long term strategy.

Apply tax to invoices where they have no jurisdiction to collect taxes, its a computer error.

Lots of computer errors happen in there organisation when you question them.

Sales staff trained to avoid answering questions.

This outfit like 99.9% of SEO companies out there will deliver you zero.

Date of experience: September 04, 2019


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We postponed our website promotion for…

We postponed our website promotion for a year in an attempt to grow organically without any assistance. But the reality turned out to be so different. Now, we have nothing to complain about. We got AutoSEO off the ground with Semalt and still enjoy a great traffic boost to our website.

Date of experience: December 11, 2021