Search Engine Optimization

Choosing which SEO firm, consultant or expert to outsource your website’s SEO campaign to is a big decision. You might look at a dozen potential SEO partners before you decide which one is right for you. But working with an SEO company is not like getting married; you don’t have to tough it out for better or for worse. If six months into the relationship you notice that things aren’t progressing as smoothly as you had imagined, it might be time to ditch your SEO partner.

Here are 3 signs that it’s time to look for greener pastures:

You’re constantly chasing them down.
I take pride in my customer service and do my best to get back to my SEO and consulting clients as quickly as possible. I think that customer service is an important component of the SEO client-provider relationship, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. As an SEO client, you deserve to work with a nice company! Your SEO partner should actually be your partner and you shouldn’t have to spend two weeks, a dozen emails, five phone calls and a smoke signal to get a hold of someone when you have a question.

It’s a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Some SEO companies might be afraid that if they give too much of their process away, a client might decide they don’t really need that SEO company and will leave. While I understand the reason behind the fear, (who will buy the cow when the milk is free?) your SEO provider should not be hesitant to explain their SEO method and process. A good SEO firm is going to understand that having an involved and educated client is going to make for a much stronger partnership and effective SEO campaign in the long run.

A good SEO campaign relies on the client as much as it does the SEO firm! You understand your business better than anyone else, and while a good SEO provider will take the time to learn your business, you need to provide an outline for them to work with. How will they get that direction from you if they aren’t willing to explain what they are doing or why they need your input?

You’re not seeing results.
I’m not trying to say that if you aren’t seeing the results you wanted inside of three months that you should dump your SEO partner. Remember, SEO is an incredibly long term process and depending on your company’s sales cycle, age of site, competition and other factors, it may take 6 months to a year after launching your SEO campaign before you see big results. What I am saying is that you should see a steady upward progression over time. What you don’t want to see when combing through your analytics is huge peaks and valleys with how many visitors your site is getting—this is a good indication that your SEO provider is employing black hat practices. If that is the case, drop them as fast as you can!

After a few months after implementing your link building campaign, a good SEO provider should be able to show you some tangible products from their efforts. What business profiles have they created? How many blog posts have they written and promoted on social networks? Did they send out any online press releases? Even if you aren’t seeing the numbers in your analytics just yet, a good SEO provider should be able to show you exactly what they’ve done for your company.

SEO and SEO professionals are still waiting for a permanent seat at the marketing department’s cafeteria table. While many companies acknowledge the importance of SEO as a significant component of their overall marketing plan, many still do not have in-house SEO employees. This means that they rely on an outside firm to work as their SEO partner. While there is nothing wrong with outsourcing your SEO to a credible, white hat SEO consultant or firm, good SEO has to be integrated with the rest of your marketing efforts. Treating your SEO provider like an outside vendor and not as a partner leaves a lot of room for miscommunication and error.

Businesses have to keep their SEO provider in the loop, just like they would any other employee. In order to do their job effectively, your SEO partner has to fully understand your company, brand, voice and offline and online marketing goals. SEO is meant to support those elements, not run counter to it. If your SEO partner is operating under one plan, but you’ve decided to change things up without telling them, you’re company will be sending out mixed messaging online.

Say you bring in a new VP of Marketing and their goal is to do a complete re-branding campaign of your company. They want to change everything- the messaging, the strategy, even the logo. Basically they are going to overhaul your current marketing platform. While your marketing department is reorganizing itself, have you given a thought to your SEO partner? If they haven’t been kept up to speed on the changes taking place, they are still following through with the old marketing plan.

One of the biggest dangers of not keeping your SEO partner informed is that you could unintentionally void all the work they have done. Let’s say you decide to launch a new website with a new URL. If you don’t inform your SEO partner at the beginning of the process, you’ll lose the links that they’ve accrued for the old URL. There is a way to carry links over to the new site, but it has to be done sooner rather than later. If you’re incorporating new content, deleting olds pages and restructuring the format of your website, you completely negate any on-site optimization your SEO partner did. Basically you force your SEO back to square one. This could mean thousands of links, hours of keyword research and hard-earned search engine ranking positions go up in smoke.

SEO is not a “set it and forget it” practice. Even if you have delegated the day-to-day actions to a third party, you have to treat that company/consultant like a partner. Communication with your SEO partner is essential. They are an extension of your marketing department and need to be enveloped into your corporate culture as such. This doesn’t mean you have to invite them to your office Christmas party, but they at least need to be CCed on important marketing related e-mails.

I firmly believe that companies have to keep a clear line of communication open between themselves and their SEO partner. Bringing in a third party to handle your SEO is a great idea if none of your current in-house employees have the background or the time to handle implementing an SEO plan. But to create the most applicable SEO strategy, your outside SEO partner needs insider knowledge into your company. That’s why it is important you keep them well informed about what is going on with your company and brand, especially anything that deals with the marketing department.

That being said, I feel that sometimes clients go overboard for the sake of communication. I do want to know what is going on at your company, especially if you are thinking about launching a new website or are bringing in a new employee to the marketing department that I will be working with. These scenarios directly affect the job I am trying to do for you. Staying informed is how I know I am on the right track or if I need to change the plan up a bit. But that is what our scheduled meeting times are for!

I take customer service very seriously. When I try to contact someone I’ve hired to do something for me, even if it just a landscaping service, I expect them to get back to me within a reasonable amount of time. Because I expect that of those who I hire, I try to give the same consideration to those who hire me. I’ve responded to emails and voicemails on the weekends, in the middle of the night or incredibly early in the morning. I want my clients to know that I take their business very seriously.

But sometimes clients get a little over-zealous. I’ll get a bunch of emails from one client in one day, or have a quick phone call turn into a full-blown department conference call. I do appreciate the enthusiasm; it is much better than being blind sided with a big change. But in the world of SEO there is nothing so urgent that it can’t wait.

I say it again and again, SEO is a long-term process. It builds upon itself over time and you will rarely, if ever, see your actions have irreversible effects overnight. There are few crises in SEO that can only be solved in a limited time frame. So please, don’t fret over the small details and waste time worrying. There is nothing so pressing that it can’t wait until our next scheduled meeting.