When SEO Clients Won’t Help Themselves!

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

It’s not unheard of for a client to come in with an idea (or full-blown plan) of what they want their SEO to do and how to go about doing it. And while I appreciate the enthusiasm, sometimes clients can get in their own way and actually hinder their the growth of their website.

Case Study One: Microsites
A client decided they wanted to launch several microsites. They truly believed the only way they could rank with keywords in the search engines was by purchasing and launching a keyword rich domain name. You’ve probably seen those before, where the Meta title tag is stuffed with keywords and ends in a … because the phrases go on and on. Creating microsites like this, ones designed solely rank and push visitors through to the main site, actually dilutes your brand. Why not skip the middle man and direct traffic directly to your main website? Having the extra click means losing visitors. Plus, what if your wish comes true and the microsite actually outranks your main website in the search engines?

Case Study Two: “I think that’s good enough”
I had another client who I was working with for a short-term “test” project. They had never done any SEO before and wanted to see how it would work. I had a few months to convince them. At the end of the “trial,” the results were better than I had hoped for. They were ranking incredibly well for their chosen keywords, sales had gone up and their company was getting a lot more attention. What did the client decide to do? Stop. They thought those few months of SEO were enough to carry them onward. The hardest thing to get clients to accept is that SEO is a long-term, ongoing process. Why cut the legs off what has proven to be a very successful SEO campaign?

Case Study Three: Once Bit, Twice Shy
One of the hardest things to do is work with a client who has already used another firm to handle some or all of their SEO and that company employed black hat SEO techniques, effectively scarring the client. Their lack of trust makes it hard to make changes without having a long line of approval to work it through.