Some SEO firms simply don’t deliver required results. SEO is a complex field; there are many variable and factors that can influence the success of a SEO project. Any website owner can obtain significant impacts from well-executed SEO effort. In most cases you need to work a SEO firm to support your client’s site.
If your SEO campaign is failing for your client or your own site, it’s time to see whether the vendor is underperforming. Here are the signs that you should consider:
- Disconnect between SEO firm and your client
- Inaccurate reports
- Lack of knowledge
- Ineffective strategy
- Unable to compete
1. Disconnect Between SEO Firm and Your Client
This is an easy thing for you to see and feel. Client often lacks the knowledge and experience in SEO. The knowledge gap can be so wide that clients are not aware that SEO firms are not providing decent results. SEO firms may deliver highly technical and automatically generated reports, which appear to be quite cryptic. Clients may not understand even the most basic SEO concepts, such as organic search and link building. The huge disconnect can make the measure of success rather vague from client’s point of view.
Clients may see steady increase of traffic, but it could be obtained from PPC advertising, instead of organic search. Clients should have employees who have enough understanding about SEO, so reliable key performance indicators can be determined and all factors about the project are well aligned. It is also a good idea that you can play this role if you have sufficient knowledge and time. There must be monthly meeting scheduled to review performance indicators and overall progress. Many business owners simply don’t have time to know more about SEO and that’s the reason why they hire SEO professionals. Things can become even more complicated if SEO firms have different perspectives on success, so alignment is essential.
2. Inaccurate Reports
SEO progress can be tricky to describe in reports and some SEO professionals tend to skew their results to make them look better. It is a good idea to use ranking trackers that can show real keyword performances. One of the best indicators is that when many people actually search for our brand and product models when using search engines.
This shows that brand awareness is good enough to allow people to memorize our products. However, it is also important that our product is shown in search result, when people look for generic product name. In order to know about this, clients could check it in Google Search Console and remove any branded keywords from the list. There are different measures of organic searches and all of them should be positive enough.
3. Lack Of Knowledge
Often, there is a huge knowledge gap between clients and SEO professionals. Web developers may often offer SEO service, which is not actually their core expertise. Freelance web developers may only need a laptop and install WordPress CMS in client’s domain name. There’s nothing wrong about using WordPress for casual small business purposes, but these developers may actually have very basic SEO skill. And often does not have advanced skills neither to support WordPress nor to support SEO.
Clients should find out whether SEO is only a complementary service of their web development and design business. Some developers could actually deliver good SEO results, but many of them couldn’t. When performing due diligence, website owners need to make sure that professionals have excellent SEO track record in the past. Things can be worse when they actually outsource SEO task to a different firm, making the project even more difficult to control and track. Clients should avoid paying a premium for things that are outsourced to another company.
4. Ineffective Strategy
SEO is a digital battlefield. Website owners are fighting for the top position in search results for relevant keywords. If their strategies don’t work, they will surely loose the battle. SEO is also a dynamic field and we won’t progress far if we don’t update our strategy.
Old methods, such as overusing meta keywords, will cause us to throw cash down the drain. SEO professionals should know what they are doing and it is a good idea to ask opinion from other SEO professionals. When working with a SEO firm, clients should take their work and words with a pinch of salt.
5. Unable To Compete
SEO is about competition and firms need to produce results by winning the competition. SEO isn’t about leapfrogging our way to the top. It is about fighting for each inch of the ground with hard work and patience. Google’s search result is a highly coveted real estate and no one is willing to give in. For highly competitive keywords, the first 20 results can be quite difficult to achieve and reliable SEO firms are indicated by realistic projections on how to achieve the position.
Due to the intense competition, SEO firms can no longer rely on standard methods and they need to do things outside the box without breaking the rules. It may actually take 2 or 3 years to reach the desired position. SEO is tough and untrustworthy SEO firms can be easily identified by their promises to get clients there in no time.
Wrap Up
Although SEO is a complicated activity, achieving success is not impossible to do. People with success stories actually have failed a few times in the past. By detecting the above signs, we should have much better chance of achieving success.
We strongly recommend not to rely on those firms promising top position in few weeks or even days. Whether it’s your own project or for your client, it is better to set realistic expectations before hiring a SEO firm.
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