Every week, I hear from businesses who’ve received a mysterious email or direct message on social media telling them they’ve ‘won’ an award or been ‘rated one of the top providers’ in their industry.
It sounds flattering, but here’s the reality: you haven’t entered anything, you haven’t been judged by an expert panel and you haven’t actually won an award.
What you’ve received is a cleverly disguised scam. It’s designed to exploit your website and build someone else’s domain value, and it will damage your brand’s credibility.
How fake award scams work
These websites create what look like lovely award badges or review rankings, often using your business name scraped from public directories. Then they email you a congratulatory message, offering you an HTML badge to place on your website, or even charging you for a ‘winner’s certificate’.
Stop. The badge or image they give you is embedded with a backlink: a hidden bit of code that links your website to theirs.
This means:
- Every time you place that badge on your website, you’re giving their website SEO power, not yours. You might have heard this called giving away ‘link juice’ or ‘link farming’.
- When they repeat this with hundreds or thousands of businesses, their website rapidly gains domain authority.
- Eventually, they can switch that domain to something entirely different, such as gambling, cannabis or adult content, or sell it for thousands. And guess what? Every business that linked to them ends up connected to that site too. Yes, that includes yours.
This is not only deceptive and unethical, it’s dangerous for your SEO.
Google constantly assesses link quality, and if your site links to spammy, irrelevant or low-quality domains, your own search rankings can drop as a result.
How to spot and avoid fake awards
- If you haven’t entered it, you haven’t won it. Reputable awards have a clear, transparent entry process and published judging criteria.
- Do a background check. Look for a proper awards website, named and credible judges, past winners, media coverage and transparency about how entries are judged.
- Don’t put unknown badges on your site. If you’re offered a badge or backlink out of the blue, ask yourself: what’s in it for them?
- Check the backlink. Hover over the badge or link. If it points to a domain you’ve never heard of, or one that’s vague or unrelated to your industry, avoid it. Even if it looks like an awards website, if you didn’t enter it, bin it.
- Protect your reputation and rankings. Every link from your site should serve your audience and support your brand’s credibility.
These aren’t the only awards scams around
There’s also the ‘we want to feature you in our magazine’ scam, which ends in a hefty price for vanity content. At best it costs you money; at worst it costs you significant credibility.
Then there are cloned awards websites. Yes, even the most prestigious awards in the world have suffered from these!
Please check the URL you’re clicking on. If you’re not sure, treat it like a banking scam: go and find the award’s website yourself rather than using a link someone sent you.
Pay to play, but never pay to win
You can expect to pay to play, but you should never pay to win. Awards organisers have operating costs, just as you do. Some awards are free to enter because sponsors or memberships cover the cost, but most charge an entry fee, and finalists usually pay for tickets to the ceremony. Entry fees should be used ethically to run the judging, the event and the business behind it.
What a fee should never buy is the result. If you’re told you’ve won before you’ve entered, or that you’ll win if you buy a package, walk away. I explain the difference in more detail in my book, WIN!
And if an award doesn’t have a live ceremony, that doesn’t mean it’s fake. Many international awards work this way so that entrants from around the world can take part without the time and expense of travel. Still do your due diligence.
So, are business awards legit?
The genuine ones are, and they’re worth it. Real awards offer recognition judged by experts and earned through effort, not gifted for ‘free’ in a cold email. If you want to know what a genuine win can do for your business, read are business awards worth it?, or browse our business awards list for established programmes.
Want to know which awards suit your business? Answer a few questions and you’ll get a free awards list by email. Get your free awards list
I’m working hard to reduce this problem through the work we do at August Recognition, and now through an AI awards platform that I’m building with Daniel Priestley and our incredible team of tech, awards and finance experts, Marcus Quinn, Charlotte Daborn and David B Horne.
Our platform, AwardsApp, will find and recommend the best awards and categories for your business, and contains only approved awards programmes.
Safe, secure and smart. That’s what we’re building, and that’s what you need to be any time you enter an award.
We’d love you to join our presentation and see how it works. Just click here to join the waitlist.
Award scam questions
Is it a scam if I’m told I’ve won an award I didn’t enter?
Almost certainly. If you haven’t entered it, you haven’t won it. These messages usually offer a badge with a hidden backlink, or charge you for a certificate.
How can I check if an award is genuine?
Look for a clear entry process, published judging criteria, named judges, past winners and media coverage. Find the award’s website yourself rather than clicking a link someone sent you.
Is it normal to pay to enter an award?
Yes. Most genuine awards charge an entry fee, and finalists usually pay for ceremony tickets. That’s paying to play. Paying to be told you’ve won is not.
Is an award without a live ceremony fake?
Not necessarily. Many international awards run without a live ceremony so that entrants from around the world can take part. Still check the entry and judging process.
Remember: be proud of the recognition you’ve truly earned, and don’t let a fake badge compromise the trust you’ve built with your customers or damage your SEO.
If you’re ever unsure whether an award is legitimate, feel free to reach out to me. I’ve spent over a decade helping businesses win credible awards that make a real difference to their brand, team and future business.
Please share this article and help us stop the scams. Knowledge is power!
Good luck on your awards journey. Stay safe.
