I was pointed to a Google Webmaster Help thread by a reader (forgot who, sorry, I am on vacation) where Google’s Matt Cutts and JohnMu were forced to out a sketchy SEO company.

It all starts with an individual asking if a company named BetterPlacement is a legit company. The user said they claim (which they do) to offer guaranteed first placement in Google and also claim “the first company authorized to work directly with” Google.

Of course this is an easy rumor to squash and Googler JohnMu did so with his post.

But it didn’t end there! A guy with the user handle, bruben25, came in afterwards to argue with Google’s JohnMu. John replied asking, “Are you affiliated with the company the user has asked about?”

Of course he avoided the question and John asked again, “bruben25, you make a lot of good points, but you did not answer my question 🙂 — are you associated with the company mentioned by the original poster or not?”

The guy denied being associated with the company. So then Google’s largest face behind search spam came in, Matt Cutts and replied:

The guy came out again and denied being part of them saying, “Matt I am not part of Better Placement, nor is my firm even in the same city.”

Seriously? So Matt replies again saying:

SEO 101, do not lie to Google representatives. 🙂 SEO 101 also is know who Matt Cutts is. This guy is calling Matt out as not being a Google rep.

Oh well. So not only was he caught with his pants down. He lied to a Google representative, caused more attention for his company and you better believe Google will take a deeper look at his company.

Lesson learned?

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.