Tonight, I received an email with a familiar question, asking why the top companies providing SEO consulting and development services rarely ever provide guarantees (and virtually never use it as a marketing tactic). Since the subject has been popping up of late, and since we're just emerging from the summer lull, I thought it was as worthy a time as any to address persistent concerns. Here are five solid reasons that compel SEOmoz as well as the many companies we work with/recommend to stay far away from any "guarantee" of search engine rankings.
Reason #1: SEO & Guarantees Have an Abominable History
From 1996 through to today, SEO scams have used "guaranteed rankings and traffic" as a slimy catchphrase to lure in gullible buyers with too-good-to-be-true promises. That association has stained the entire industry and repulsed even businesses that might consider using the "guarantee" label. Just look at some of the questionable messaging used by so-called SEO companies that employ this moniker:
(source) Our search engine optimization software comes with the latest link popularity and web site optimization tools for helping you achieve guaranteed ranking. Here is what the Internet's best search engine optimization software has to offer:
- Link Popularity & Link Exchange Tools
- Website Submission Software
Automated software for link exchanges and website submissions? If you've done ten minutes of due diligence into how SEO is practiced, you're well aware that these claims venture deep into the sort of tactics that haven't been effective in the last half-decade.
(source) $399 annual - Guaranteed fast listing on DMOZ, Netscape, Google, MSN, AltaVista, LYCOS, FAST, ASK/Temoa and 100+ other engines and portals! Trace your traffic and guarantee a higher position!
Not only is the listing and traffic guaranteed, it's guaranteed fast. I'm reminded of Homer Simpson's infamous utterance after a crayon is re-inserted into his brain: "Extended warranty? How can I lose?"
(source)
- We guarantee to keep you on 1st-page results each month, or you don't pay for that month.
- We guarantee to optimize your website for up to 100 different keyword phrases.
- We guarantee to provide monthly reports that document all of your 1st-page positions.
Many of the SEO companies that do still guarantee rankings have taken the clever tack of guaranteeing a certain number of keywords that they themselves choose. In this fashion, they can select primarily non-competitive terms and have a fairly high rate of success. Whether those keyword rankings provide any serious traffic is another matter altogether.
The point doesn't need belaboring. Just as time shares have their "free" weekend getaways and used cars have high pressure salespeople, SEO has its own insidious, stereotyped marketing claims that legitimate providers avoid like the plague.
Reason #2: The Search Engines Expressly Warn Against It
I don't often reference Google's guidelines on search marketing, but since the page ranks so well for a variety of queries related to SEO and guarantees, it's virtually unavoidable if a client is performing research about your offerings. This line in particular stands alone:
No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
Even though the context is meant to put it in a slightly different context ("Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or..."), the messaging comes through very clearly. If your potential clients have read on Google's website that guarantees are bogus, they're likely to carry that bias with them as they peruse what the market has to offer.
Reason #3: Rankings are Inherently Unstable
If I perform a search for "SEO Company" here in Seattle, then drive 3 hours south to Portland (or 3 hours north to Vancouver) and execute the same query, I'm likely to end up with a very different ordering of results; the same goes for if I were to log into my Google account and get personalized results or hit a different datacenter during the course of my querying. Many searchers have even had the odd experience of hitting refresh on a query and finding the results change or re-order.
Given the incongruous nature of ranking fluctuations and the fact that ranking in a particular position on a given machine at a single point in time says very little about the future or even the present, it's no wonder that savvy SEO firms stay away from the guarantee.
Reason #4: Rankings are a Poor Metric for Overall Performance
Rankings do not equal traffic. A great SEO campaign should be measured by the increase in search engine traffic and (if the contract also includes site optimization for conversions) the rate at which that traffic performs the desired actions on your site. Achieving rankings is (almost) always a means to an end and not the end itself (the one exception being reputation management campaigns).
If your patrons are seeking rankings for posterity or to boost their egos, they might not be the best choice of clients. Those clients who have a solid business model and great content or services to back it up want the kinds of qualified, interested visitors that come from search engines because they've expressed a desire that the website can fulfill. Yes - position #1 will generally get you more traffic than any other real estate in the search results, but plenty of campaigns we've seen and even some we've worked on have been sabotaged by an obsession with pure rankings.
The metric should always be traffic - increasing search traffic means the SEO is doing their job. Making the rankings of a few top phrases the priority above and beyond the overall search traffic means that goals are out of whack. Don't forget that 70% of search volume is in the tail of the demand curve - and there's usually a lot more low hanging fruit to be found therein.
Reason #5: Making Guarantees About Something You Cannot Control Carries Inherent Ethical Problems
Politicians constantly fall into the trap of making promises they cannot possibly deliver on. Luckily, since they've let people down since the dawn of government, we've set the bar relatively low. This isn't true, however, in the business world. If FedEx promises to deliver a package by tomorrow, that's a guarantee they can make because they control the means of delivery. On the flipside, if a camera-maker promises that all your pictures will come out beautiful, that's irresponsible - what if you decide to point your lens at Gary Busey?
This same principle applies to SEO.
What search engine optimization companies can & should guarantee is that they'll provide the best advice possible to help your site earn more traffic. They may even guarantee, after reviewing your site, that they can grow your search traffic by at least 10, 20, 30% or more (we've done this in the past, at least verbally, when we've seen sites that had incredible potential and extremely poor SEO practices). But, SEOs cannot control the search results the way FedEx can control shipping packages or Coca Cola can guarantee the taste of their beverage. The search engines alone are responsible for and privy to the rankings' methodologies.
In my personal opinion, there are times when I would be willing to gamble a large amount of money on the fact that we could achieve a certain ranking for a given keyword. However, that's not the same as a guarantee. A guarantee is a promise - a basic contract that necessarily creates an assumption of certainty by the deliverer to the recipient. Anytime you cheat on that logic and make a promise outside your sphere of direct control, you're walking on shaky ethical and business ground.
Thanks to the list above, I shy away from even using the word "guarantee" in relation to our consulting business. In reality, we do guarantee that our clients will be happy with our results (and so far, at least, we've made good on that promise), we do guarantee that if they implement our recommendations, search traffic will rise (but that's often a big "if"), and we do guarantee that our work won't put them at risk of penalties from the search engines. I think that these types of promises are perfectly acceptable to make - just stay away from guaranteed "search engine rankings." It's just asking for trouble.
I think the most important and oft-overlooked issue is that Search Engine Rankings are ultimately a competition; a competition where:
Guaranteeing a client rankings would be like guaranteeing a victory in a pick-up basketball game. Sure, you may have won in past and may be very good at basketball, but you never know who will show up on the court today. It could be the same old folks, or it could be Kobe Bryant.
Very well said. You may be hot stuff on your neighborhood court, but you never know when someone new might move into the neighborhood.
Wow I haven't heard a better analogy to this yet! Thanks Russ.
Also in the ever changing nature of SEO, it is also a game of basketball where each day the rules of play can change on the spot. There is even a saying where the rules change its hard if not impossible to win.
This is why I love SEO, to more victories!
Great post! I have always found that explaining to my clients why I can't guarantee them rankings has always helped build more trust in the services that I provide for them.
very concise Rand. When I first started out we would guarantee ranking up to the first page but as we got better, I found that not guaranteeing the results got us much better clients and made the whole process more enjoyable.
We always focus on increasing business rather than any particular term. I track terms as a benchmark but explain to the client that that's all it is. The real value comes in the overall increase from long tail phrases and great content/site design for better conversion. And in the end, it's the bottom line that matters most and that's how it should always be.
As everyone else has mentioned I am constantly running into people who wants guaranteed rankings or who try and play me against someone else who says they can promise #1 ranking in 24 hours. These are often times the customers that I tell to get lost. If they are already set that this is what they deserve and need, they will never be satisfied with what I can give them. They will only want more. If you hear your customers talk this way, walk away :)
Being from Beanstalk SEO - I guess I'm not allowed to enter into this discussion am I?
To each their own business model I suppose. :)
(and yes, we allow our clients to pick their phrases ;)
Excellent post!
I firmly believe no SEO firm can guarantee top rankings, however it is always possible to achieve rankings if SEO firm/professional apply it's practices by following clean SEO practices.
It is well known among SEO industry, but it's chache which some crook people are using to attract clients who are not much aware about how search engines work.
Guarantee for ranking even before not looking at the keyword statistics and it's competition. Such companies doesn't even know what is SEO. All such companies are simply ruining the image of honest SEO practitioners.
I hope people who are running such companies have lost their moral value and looting honest people. Beware of them!
I agree With you Rand!
"On the flipside, if a camera-maker promises that all your pictures will come out beautiful, that's irresponsible - what if you decide to point your lens at Gary Busey?"
You made my day, Rand. =)
What about guaranteeing local results? I've been guaranteeing these results with my business website for almost 2 years - I add a Google Places listing while also achieving at least Top 5 for 5 specific local searches, generally requested by the customer, and haven't had an unhappy client to date. I'm now also ranking page 1 for 'expert seo' and 'search engine optimisation expert' on Google Ireland, and also 'guaranteed seo' and 'guaranteed search engine optimisation' but this article is among the results which is no doubt affecting my leads through these searches.
I only charge a small fee for local SEO as the final phase in a new website design and if I don't achieve the results, which still hasn't happened, they don't have to pay this instalment. With larger clients targeting competitive national searches I first analyse the website through Screaming Frog and AdWords Keyword Planner, then see where they're currently ranking for specified searches, to gauge scope of the tasks at hand and achievability. On proposal acceptance I then bill for the estimated time implementing my methods, then a bonus when I reach Top 5 and lower bonus for page 1 for each of their specified searches. Their traffic always improves, often up to 20% even if a particular ranking isn't quite achieved.
Guaranteed improvements to a website's SEO can most definitely be achieved, and it's how you structure the rankings bonuses that avoids any ethical issue. If more SEOs took this approach the industry wouldn't be so littered with scammers and those who have a passion for it will receive more work, not having to differentiate themselves from the scammers. Ultimately benefitting the customer.
Rand,
Congratulations! Finally an authoritative confirmation for the battle
that, here in Italy, I try to go ahead with fatigue. Our potential clients
is daily bombarded by offers and services Super-Guaranteed... but they are only numbers!!
An educational approach make a difference and really help business customers...
>>Our best clients are unlikely SEO Agencies :)
Bye... and forgive my english! :)
Good post, absolutely true. I love the spammers who try to get me to sign on for SEO because my site or a client's site is doing poorly for a keyword phrase that would never convert anyone. In one case, a keyword phrase that included a town my client doesn't even service, and then have the gall to say he's losing thousands of dollars because he only ranks 13th (by accident) for that phrase.
I did a food site that I guess my site was showing up #13 for some local auto part thingy. I laughed so hard. These guys are a joke and continue to grow more numerous by the day.
Honestly I got tired a few years back giving my clients meaningless reports in the first few months until we have achieved the first page rankings. I felt I was wasting my time and my clients with useless explanations of why after 3 weeks of work we still didn’t hit that top 10 ranking.
For a few years now we have been offering only guaranteed SEO services on Google specifically, but we are also very selective with our clients. We don’t shy away from tough keywords like “rome apartments” or “quote software” just to name a few, but we also don’t take on clients that just put up an affiliate site yesterday for car insurance or home loans. We take reasonable chances and more risks to achieve top 10 ranking since we know SEO better than our clients, and in return they pay us a premium for taking that risk for them.
In many areas of life we buy tangible and non-tangible goods with or without guarantees. For example a heart surgery may not be guaranteed to give you 20 more years of life, but it would be nice to know your doctor doesn’t get paid if you don’t make it passed the operating room. Although SEO is not as critical to your well being as this morbid example, but I am sure you get my point.
This is a great post, I find it much easier to land a new client with the honesty about placement and gaurentees. It is to bad that there are companies out there that continue to lure people in with false hope. It is easy to get ranked high and on page one but these companies that offer these #1 results are full of it and some of them don't even have their sites optimized right.
I have gotten new clients that were duped by some of these other companies and when I look into the company that gave them the false hope I analyse their sites and find so many flaws, very sad and makes it tougher for us honest search engine optimization companies.
Bravo! Well said Rand. Loved everything you touched on. The guarantees that the competition will usually boast often come with bottom of the barrel pricing, which is very enticing (and wishful thinking) for many prospects. Sure, if it seems too good to be true, it often is, but when the potential savings is exponential, many misinformed prospects will take their chances anyway.
I have found that being up front with your approach and track record typically works wonders, especially when you can point to solid examples and measurable results. I also direct potential customers to Google's pages that discuss such guarantees and ethical practices for some added ammo. Nevertheless, the prospects who try every guaranteed weight loss and hair growth pill on the market are still more likely to take risks with the "guaranteeing" firms.
When they do take this risk, they inevitably call me back months later. Unfortunately, they've blown through most of their budget at that time, and can no longer muster up the fees necessary for real SEO work. Sadly, at this time, they are often budgetless and non-ranking.
SEO, at times, requires deeper pockets than the customer would like, but the informed companies, with actual budgets for SEO are usually aware of this. If they're not educated on SEO/SEM and what they can expect, I find that taking some extra time to educate them can go a long way, and can gain a lot of appreciation points as well. Additionally, they appreciate help reading the fine print spewed out by the guaranteeing company.
In a nutshell: Examples, Track Record, Success Stories, testimonials, references and honesty can land the clients. However, when they disregard your advice, only to come running back months later, be sure to keep the "I told ya so" to yourself!
Looks like a commenter doesn't agree with Rand Fishkin's opinion in this post, regarding SEO guarantees, on a recent SEM Street Cred post. Check out the first comment:
"I’m familiar with Rand Fishkin and the hundreds other SEO outfits that cover their butts by saying, watch out for guarantees, they’re all rip-offs. Total BS"
I especially liked your 4th point. Thank you for writing this!
You shine as always Rand. Great article on why we should not promise rankings to SEO clients.
Other ways to gauge success:- Traffic- Increase in variety of keywords used- Sales/ROI
Continue the great work!
Nice post. Very nice. Covers a lot. The caveat, of course, is that SEO clients are really looking for SEO. Lately, most of my SEO leads are people who have no business with SEO.
I have found that the best SEO clients are ones with established business, have tasted search engine rankings and traffic, and know how to place SEO as part of the solution.
Too many "entrepreneurs" turn to SEO right away as soon as they have a website. The cruddiest, ugliest website that with one look, you know that even if they rank for "candles" or "mortgage", no one would do business with them because the website looks so untrustworthy.
But these are the ones who are most critical about SEO pricing and SEO guarantees - and don't want to be educated. They claim they have done their research - which may very well be true. But there's so much disinformation out there about SEO.
Everyone and their aunt, it seems, does "SEO". Domain name registrars, web hosting companies, web designers, marketing firms, etc. Everyone does "SEO". Probably 90% of them have no clue what they are talking about but they put out information.
And if you are a small business owner or just starting out, reading all that information makes it hard to separate the wheat from the tare - and you end up looking for cheap SEO and SEO guarantees.
I've commented on this post already, but starting to have concerns over how self-righteous we sound!
Thanks for the help on this one Rand, looks like I wasn't the only one to benefit! :D
Many people try different products and they dont even bother about trying products whether guaranteed or not. They just see the product in a site whose ranking is high and the next day they may see the same site down in rankings.
Thanks
Collin paul
Wonderful. I'm bookmarking this as part of a way to explain to clients why I tread so lightly when I talk about what I can do for them in terms of SEO. It's nice to have an authoritative source confirming what I'm already saying.
Particularly liked your point that there is no one top ranking for a term. It's so contingent on who's running the search and the day. I don't know of anything to compare it to.
Also, good call on the companies choosing their own keywords. My personal finance blog ranks very highly for some strange keywords and I do get a little traffic from them (which is how I know how I rank). But it doesn't convert well and it's not what I'm going for. Especially some of the keywords.
Unlike most (all?) people commenting on this article, I am not an SEO guru, I'm that dreaded customer you all don't seem very fond of in many of these posts! :)
My SEO (can I tell everyone it's Beanstalk?) gave me a guarantee and let me pick my keywords, additionally, they consulted me that the keyword I chose as my main keyword, was in fact about the 4th most important one, and the one I chose as 3rd, was about 100x more important. Upon further research (that they told me how to do!), I discovered they were exactly right. How does this give the SEO industry a bad name?
From a customer standpoint, I don't see why prefering a guarantee is that unreasonable. I think a rational customer won't demand that you promise the world - in fact, if they do demand that, they probably don't understand the process and won't be a customer you will enjoy working for anyways. For me, the guarantee I was given was not pie-in-the-sky or direct from some snake-oil salesman. As a potential buyer, I would see through guarantee's like "#1 on Google forever!" but the guarantee I was given was short and sweet, spelled out clearly and it seemed fair to both parties. Put yourself in my spot folks, I'm spending almost 25% of my yearly household income on this SEO company, it feels good to know they are as invested in it as I am. I deal in tangibles and measurable results not "Just trust us that we'll do what we can"
The Guarantee. I've been doing seo consulting for a couple of years now. Wiser than some, newer than most on here.
The guarantee I offer is not of the ranking #1 or any search engine promises. My guarantee is in the work being done and progress being made.
The client has the right to end our contract if progress is not being achieved. IE. There needs to be movement in their Google rankings for the keywords we are working on. That it's a fair stake in the game for both.
Isnet does make a good point from an SEO customer perspective.
An effective seo campaign is in the $1,000s and can eat up a large portion of a company's marketing budget for the year. They have to have some kind of recourse if the 1 year contract is signed with a hack. They need to be able to get out of it somehow.
The other way to know if an SEO company is upstanding is to ask for previous or current client's results.
It seems obvious, but, I've actually had sales persons call me and claim that they had a special relationship with Google and could guarantee top rankings for certain keywords. They would "prove" it by either showing me a top ranking for a very long tail keyword with little competition or claiming that some highly ranked website was there because of them. In the latter case they would never give me a reference to the owner of the website so I could call them and ask if they worked with the SEO company. No mystery why that is. There must be many newbies who don't know enough about the way rankings work to realize they are being taken advantage of.
Spaceman
[link removed]
I own a SEO company in Vancouver and one of the biggest challenges I have is explaining to clients why it is ethically wrong to make sure SEO guarantees. The main thing I try to make clear is that you CAN guarantee the quality of service but you can't guarantee specific positions in the Search Engines... the problem is that so many SEO companies and self-proclaimed gurus ARE making those promises.
I guarantee that I will bring their website up to above average standards in comparison to their competitors' websites, this will ensure they are at least equally eligible, as their competitors, for those top positions.
It is also important to understand that Guarantee Rankings are useless if nobody searches for the long winded keywords.
Here is a link to an article that I posted in regards to selecting the appropriate keywords: Don't Get Guaranteed SEO for the Wrong Keywords
I also wrote another article in an attempt to educate and warn the general public about unethical SEO guarantees: Warnings About Guaranteed SEO Services
I hope this helps.
PS... keep the articles coming.. they are always a good read!
Thanks for making me sure on that WE are on the right track, not many of the competitors.
I keep an eye on a company since 1,5 years. They offer guaranteed SEO services. At that time they were No. 1. for a difficult word with the domain name "A".biz. I analysed their linking strategy and found that they stuffed Digg with their links. (In Hungary Digg is practically not known.) Then came Penguin, and their domain was not in the first 100. Sounds like a fairy tale.
Afterwards they appeared again, exatly the same content but on a different domain - at the top rankings again. The content is relatively poor, nothing special just the keyword stuffing on the Our services pages.
Now they are ranked No. 1 again, on a different domain name, and making a huge mess around their many domains, links and services. It is obvious that they play this "new domain and redirect" game, without adding valuable content to the site.
I cannot believe my eyes since months... And whenever I read articles about content development, I ask "why?" Why should I spend many hours on writing original and good quality content, if SEO is about dirty games?
Rand, as we say in Hungarian, keep the soul in me.:))
And as someone said earlier about #4 in your article, this is one topic many clients get hung up on. They assume that the traffic is there, so the sales will follow. Because of this, many clients are so much less concerned with their content than they need to be. In our contracts, we always have a disclaimer letting the client know that increased rankings does not mean increased sales. Quality content will always be king, and if 500 more people get to a site in a given day, due to better rankings, but still have to stumble their way around a site to find what they want...well.... they'll leave just as quickly as they got there. Invariably, I am told about the "other company" that promised a #1 ranking - to which my only response is "good luck" and then I hit them with just about everything you've mentioned in this article. Most of the time they get it. When they don't, I choose to say goodbye and save myself the headache of the disgruntled client who calls and emails every day because his rankings haven't moved in the past 30 seconds!
....oops. I didn't realize this was an old post recirculated, and it appears I commented on it once before. Well anyway, same stuff different day. I think my comments still hold true - and I'm still hearing the same stuff from new prospects on a daily basis. This article never gets old and never fails to serve as a reminder that we'll always be fighting an uphill battle against the scammers who are quite convincing to customers that merely look at budget and promises vs. the true prospect of real results.
Well said Rand, I completely agree with you. The only way you can guarantee results in search engines is if you:
I've also seen many clients come on board only to review their backlink profile which is full of social bookmarking websites and business directories. This seems to be a very common method that SEO agencies like to use for keyword spamming and to manage guarantees also. I feel this method while it may gain results for now will likely be squashed by google moving forward.
Many believe that SEO is dying but I just believe that it's adapting. Gone are the days where you can just spam your website across the web. Instead it's about creating best available content and then investing far more time into marketing and outreach. The content is just the conversation starter that enables you the opportunity to gain a link in return. This is not to say that there aren't some highly skilled agencies and individuals out there that have a solid history of results and therefore they feel confident to offer guarantees but I hope it's not because they're trying to control Google in some way, shape or form.
I wrote an article on Guaranteed SEO if anybody wants some further reading - https://www.pixelrushstudio.com.au/seo/guaranteed-seo-and-why-reputable-seo-agencies-wont-offer-it/
Please help me to find right company of SEO job for my website rank in Google! Everybody grabs my money and doing nothing, all are frauds! Why?!!I am sick and tired of spending money for nothing!
I do agree with your valuable post Mr. Rand. These are great points you have shared for SEO person. Possibly there could your rank get down because of google update or by another reasons. Also you cant assume your competitor increasing day by day.
I DO NOT TRUST SEO AGENCIES THAT REFUSE TO GUARANTEE AT LEAST SOME MEASURABLE SUCCESS!
I have been a digital marketing & SEO professional for over 15 years and I actually think SEO agencies who guarantee nothing must be avoided at all cost. Based on my own experience in the digital marketing world (both as a client and as a service provider), I have noticed that the ones that guarantee at least some progress almost always outperform those who refuse to guarantee anything. Let me explain. Everybody knows that no SEO agency can guarantee a particular ranking on Google and the search engine can do whatever it wants with its ranking algorithm (which changes very often). Even a 10-year-old kid knows that by now. But why would you (as a client) pay thousands of dollars for several months to an SEO agency if the latter cannot guarantee anything? Unless you are the world’s biggest fool, you would not work with such a service provider. Of course, an SEO agency cannot guarantee a specific ranking on Google. But what they can (and should) guarantee is that they will improve your visibility on search engines for the keywords related to your business and they will bring more organic traffic to your website. If an agency refuses to guarantee that they will at least improve your visibility on search engines and bring more organic traffic to your website by a certain amount (e.g., X% higher visibility on Google for your relevant keywords based on the visibility report from Moz.com or SEMrush.com, or Y% more organic traffic to your website within 6 months), then you could be very, very disappointed. Take it from someone who has been both an SEO client & an SEO professional for 15+ years in 3 different countries.
You made an excellent point here. Nobody gives you guarantee when rankings are inherently unstable!
thanks for sharing
#welldone
Great information here. Something else I have a hard time understanding is why does every SEO company I have ever talked to demand they get all the money up front. I mean basically as a business owner it's just some voice on the phone, telling me how great they are and that they need thousands of dollars just to get started.I've never received a paycheck before starting a job.
Great Post Rand
Most of the SEO clients are thinks that SEO means only getting ranking on particular keywords in Google. So most of the clients are asking for the guarantee for their website ranking in Top 10 of Google.
And SEO can helpful to develop and design their website SEO friendly.....But they can’t give guarantee for the stable ranking in Google....Because they don’t know that what Google will make changes in its Algorithm in future.....
SEOs are much similar with Farmers. As everyone knew farmer mostly depend on the rain and if rain good than farmers will get good. But in some cases if rain not there than they have to lost. Same we can compare SEO with them SEOs do everything for their websites which suggested according to Google webmaster guide line and algorithm. But stand it in top 10 SERP listing mostly depend on Google.
Seems we are seeing both sides of the coin in the replies here, but Rand made all the right points. I deal with it all the time. I'm talking to a client about getting them rankings and traffic only to have them remind me that my competition offers guarantees. “You know so-and- so, she offers a money back, 100 percent guarantee that I’ll be number one on Google.” My response is simple – you want #1 for a keyphrase that no one is searching for – or would you like targeted traffic who wishes to buy your product or service. My guarantee is simple; I’ll do the right things the right way. My job is to turn your website into one of your best salespeople!
Besides, trendmx, I have yet to see the heart surgeon who is unwilling to receive payment, even if you die on the table!
Many people find it hard to pay for things when there is no guarantee. I look at it as investment. Sometimes they pan out, and sometiimes they don't. Thanks for explaining exactly why seo firms have these policies. It makes sense.
Agatha Bar
[link removed]
THis is the most sensible blog i've ever encountered. Thank you for this. It is indeed true that rankings are very unstable. One day you're in number one and the next day you can be in number 3. I hope many more articles like this will be written.
Giselle
Someone hacked my account and posted this using my login information..... Just noticed it when I was checking my account out on the site. it's been changed, but... leaving the post here anyway..
Great post Rand. We find a few prospective clients turn from us because we can NOT guarantee their #1 ranking and go to companies that do and fail... Some good points to use to let our clients know about the reality of SEO. Thx!
It is rare to find great respectable information on any services, yet alone seo. However I have found this to be benificial and will spread the word.
I also came accross another great seo source and seo service provider. Please visit: http;//seoshopping.yolasite.com
Great post - and so true! I'm always amazed at meeting with clients that STILL get these types of promises.
Whether they've been burned or just get the onslaught of emails (I still get the link builder offers each week) my usual comment when they bring up a competitor offering HUGE promises up?
If it sounds to be too true, run like the wind!
Just like building a business, everything takes time, energy and resources to build something great!
Couldn't agree more! I spend more time educating then pitching my services. I can't stress enough how important it is to thoroughly educate your client so they have realistic expectations and know and undertand the process. It will pay off in the long run and make for a great working relationship.
Excellent post, and we agree completely. If a propsective client insists that we offer a guarantee on rankings, we explain why we do not offer guarantees. If they still insist, we happily turn them away as a customer.
Instead of guaranteeing results, I think it would far better to provide guarantees on a KPI or a set of KPIs i.e relevant visitors, sales, conversion,etc.
I get the impresssion that with honesty and detail when talking about SEO practices comes trust.
The guarantees only come from when I do x, y, z, a, b, c then this is likely to happen.
I'm certainly not the first to say it but clarity in SEO strategy and efforts is key - and keeping the client involved in that process is a nightmare but time spent well educating works wonders, I feel.
And when I say educating, I mean educating on why ranking promises cannot be mad as well as what positvie practices will be taking place.
Ben, UK SEO
Great post, Rand.
Not two weeks ago, I had a potential client shouting at me on a conference call and calling me incompetent when I told him that rankings aren't the most valuable way to measure success. Hearing someone smart say the same thing in such an authoritative way is reassuring.
As long as people continue to "guarantee" rankings we can always sort the wheat from the chaff; genuine SEOs will always be able to pick up business by truly looking after those who have been burnt before.
I guarantee I will post a comment on every good mozblog post.
It is truly many of us wanted to hear all along. I have personally had clients who have demanded guaranteed rankings, and with so many SEO agencies claiming to have it, it becomes all the more difficult to explain that rankings cannot be guaranteed. Not without adding hidden clauses. Thank you for putting it in black and white for us.
I will refer others to this blog. How could anyone guarantee something they don't have the final control over.
Good blog.
This is a classic subject, it never wears off... unfortunately :(
I agree with you 100%. I do often find customers that try to insist on a guarantee and I explain things pretty close to what you have done here. Often it turns them around and they begin asking more resonable questions.
yes, this post is a classic, but I feel that we all need to read posts like these from time to time to remind ourselves that promising high rankings on SERPs is dangerous. With so much scam out there customers are often misled and demand thing like being No 1 in Google only because they read that this is possible in spam email they get daily... I am personally a bit dazzled and find it difficult how to react to this effectively, in fact, I have happened to lose a couple of customers because I have refused to guarantee top rankings to them. Still I think being honest about it brings you more trust in the long term.
what you have said is so true. It is actually the first thing I tell the client on our very first meeting : "I would be a liar if I would tell you that you will rank #1 for your keywords for sure ! " And then I move on explaining more or less what you have just wrote. Believe it or not, but the client feels good about the explanations, and realize upward what he can expect from me. Moreover, there is no disappointement after the job is done, and being in the Top 10 is very satisfying!
Great post Rand ;)
While I was reading the post a very popular sentence among soccer player's came to my mind: "I don't promise results, just hard work!"
Although these words sound like a cliché they're true and carry a part of the message of the post.
I visit this space frequently, and Rand, have seen you speak in NY and SMX Sydney. Today I registered.....
This post nearly made me cry. After many years in the industry and as savvy we think our clients are getting, some still want certain pages ranked for certain keywords. Not even traffic nor ROI will bring them around.
Working with larger corporations you even find that there is only so far they will go before they begin finding ways to not implement recommendations (red tape, dev, politics) and then wonder why they aren't ranking for "my choosen keyword". And, I never guarantee rankings.
CaliGirl
I thoroughly agree. Really annoys me when I get these spam emails which say guaranteed number 1 spot in google.
Especially knowing how much work goes into getting a number 1 spot.
Ever get the feeling it won't be long before a SEO Salesman's Training Manual pops up to replace the Used Car Salesman's Training Manual?
Very Concise. Maybe I should just refer my clients to your post instead of explaining it to them 100 times.
Personally I think you've been a bit hard on page1solutions.com (no never heard of them before this post).
They lay it on a bit thick, but apart from their first promise what they guarantee is entirely attainable. They basically are guaranteeing that you get first-page results or you don't pay. So if they push you up to the first page for the chosen keywords you pay that months fee. Sounds like a good (and honest) charging model to me.
How do others here charge, per keyphrase optimised with no results test? How can you demonstrate the resulting traffic increases are down to your optimisations?If you charge on increased conversions, how do you weed them out?
Nice post Rand, and hello everyone. This looks like a great site so I have joined.
There are some really goods points here. What I have learnt over many years of sales, marketing and SEO its that the goal is to find those keywords that will bring the right people with the right mindset to the website. The 80/20 rule generally applies where 80% of the business will come from just the top 20% of keywords. But its knowing which 20%
I often run a adwords campaign because i find it allows me to test lots of ideas, keywords and adcopy quickly. Adding a great landing page and a good call to action (really important IMHO) allows me to measure what works. For example one advert/keyword may have a CTR of 7%, but a conversion (sale or call to action) of 5%. Another advert/keyword may have a lower CTR of 3% profits I can then use this information to better understand what keyphase (based on impressions and clicks that get results) I need to optimise for the organic work and what copy I need on the page to get the highest desired result, either a purchase or call to action.
Achieving maximum results means the client has to be fully involved. For example adding a "11 things to just have to know before you buy product ABC" - get the free report, will improve getting the email address from the site visitors by a big percentage.
SEO skills are part of the task -copywriting skills are also key. Of course in some cases this work may be completed and the target keywords fully understood. But I feel confident in saying, everyone who cares about delivering customer results-and that looks like everyone here, should find it quite easy to outperform a unethical SEO company that is only interested in getting a cutomer onto the first page -irrespective if the keyword is 100% relevant, just so they can get paid each month. Ask a customer if they want 1000 extra clicks or $10,000 extra profit. They will usually choose profit and have thus answered their own question that you are the right choice. And of course Google makes it easier than ever to test and report on real results and tracking conversions.
Rand, thanks for the mention in your opening paragraph. As usual you have taken my thoughts far further than I ever could myself. What a great checklist! Now if only it could gain some traction in the SMB community...to echo a number of comments here, sometimes prospective clients hear what they want to hear and are less likely to listen to voices of honesty and reason.
Most of our clients understand that there can be no guarantees with ranking unless you have intentionally selected an obscure phrase with little or no competition. Even so, it was great to read an organized list of reasons. We have used this information before in discussions with clients but not in such an organized fashion.
Thank you a lot for this post. I will be showing this article to many colleagues I work with and a client I used to work for, but got into a war with, because I told him that I don’t guarantee any rankings.
I told him, I will do my best and will give you my best advice, but rankings I just cannot guarantee.
Well, at the moment I’m waiting for him to come online and to show him this article.
Thanks a lot.
Great post. Spot on! We're not Fed Ex or Coca Cola - good one!
Thanks Rand, very informative. I have been into SEO for 3 years now and I usually get asked things like: How many links do we need to be number one for this keyword? How long is it going to take to get my Site a PR6? I usually request to them, is that your main purpose to increase PR? They usually say yes. So some type of clients is just impossible to work with.
To summarize, a great SEO can guarantee:
Traffic increment
Improvement in conversions
Guarantee the site will not be banned out of Google
What else can be stated in a contract?
What about average time spend on site? That could be a good KPI too. I thank god every day that we have been very lucky to have very understanding clients so far.
Anyone in an SEO sales role should read this post!
Since our company primarily does Web development I've never had a customer not believe me when I tell them it's hard to rank. But like you said, if a customer really needed you to prove it to them you could easily pick a long tail phrase and have it rank in no time (just to prove a point). I've been finding that lately all I need to do to rank in Google is have a good page title, meta description and a few inbound links with great anchor text (on a decently aged site mind you). I know it seems too easy ... but it's true. By the same token ... I always make sure to write in the first two sentences of a proposal that getting ranked on the first page of Google is not a guarantee or even feasible for some sites because so many factors are involved!
"...SEO has its own insiduous, stereotyped marketing claims that legitimate providers avoid like the plague."
This was a regular issue between salespeople and analysts at the SEO company I used to work at. The salespeople wanted to use the "guarantee" line to write business and earn commission, whereas the analysts were vehemently against it for all of the reasons you cite. The real point is, they're empty promises that might get someone in the door, but will ultimately blow up in your face.
"The metric shold always be traffic - increasing search traffic means the SEO is doing their job."
I actually disagree with this statement. The metric should be conversions, whether or not the campaign involves on-site conversion optimization. Whether the client gets 10,000 visitors or 1,000 is ultimately irrelevant; what's important is that they get 1,000 sales instead of 100, and traffic quality plays a huge factor in that. Sure, once you've got the quality down, you want more quantity, but ROI should always be the most important metric in any marketing campaign.
By the way, in case you haven't tested it on the user side yet, the site works just fine in Google Chrome. ;)
Tracking conversions isn't likely be accurate. If you have a discovery-phase shopper check out your site and then come back a week later via direct traffic to buy, that's not going to appear as a conversion attributed to search engines. If you want to show a client that SEO has value, show him or her that SEO is bringing people to the site. Once there's a definable increase in traffic, then let's examine what's converting and how.
Congratulations for great post, Rank.
IMHO some companies wants to trap the clients and didn't talk with transparency. They didn't look forward for the long term relationship.And at the end client was frustrated.
Be honest and do business for long term.
Thanks Rand, nice to have this kind of thing to forward on to clients and account managers. Especially #4.
I also want to echo that the goal should be business results (conversions according to that solid business model you mentioned in #4)
Traffic is closer to the goal than rankings, but reviewing keywords in terms of conversion-analytics is an important aspect of keyword retargeting... :-)
We know that not all prospects convert the first time, so conversion value of keywords isn't the only factor, but if I can increase traffic for a keywords with proven converting value, I will definitely do so!
I think #4 is a still too often overlooked point. I've seen clients obsessed with getting from #2 to #1 and spend all sorts of time and money, while their long-tail keywords languished, their conversion slipped, and their PPC campaigns bled cash. In some cases, they finally reached #1 only to see little or no impact. All things being equal, ranking is a good thing, but it's not the only objective, even for an SEO company.
Good Point Pete. The problem is depending on the vertical it might be very difficult to get the "clients" out of this mind set. I find its hard enough to convince my upper management team that rankings aren't the correct matrix to follow. Then we have clients who all they care about is first page for this and that query. I know its a battle worth fighting but I seem to be the only voice in my area preaching that. luckily i have the traffic data to back up my and others points about Rankings
I do agree that there is no guarantee for high ranking even for the most professional SEO expert. To guarantee something that has no guarantee is so unprofessional and usually is the trick of scammers. Those who have no knowledge about SEO might fall for the trick.
Rand thanks for a great Post. It's been too long since I have had time to comment or even read much of this blog.
I have been looking for a concise way of explaining to our clients why the competitors "guarantee" is not only impossible, impractical, but misleading and deceptive as well. This will help me show them that its not just "sour grapes" when we don't offer a guarantee.
If I guarantee anything its the effort that will be put forth for our clients.
The only reason a SEO can't guarantee rankings is because he is a rookie. Period. Do you honestly all think that someone is going to link to your content? For what? Are you the queen? No you are not. Unless you are on a PR9 website and has 100,000 subscribers your posts just sits there. Rand, I'm starting to believe you honestly think what you say is true. I'll challenge Rand any time in a guaranteed ranking, SEO contest. I can 100% guarantee top five spots for any two word keyword, any time.
Exactly how is it that you are GUARANTEEING rankings in a Search Engine that you do not own? What happens if the Search Engine just decides to randomly exclude the website that you are performing SEO on? What happens to your guarantee then?
I am not denying that you can get somebody in the top five positions... I can too. I just think it is very important to understand, and be clear on the types of things that you can legitimately guarantee and the things that you cannot.
It is unethical to make a guarantee on something that you do not control.