Man, this article “10 Things Most SEO Consultants Hate” over at SearchEngineLand.com was the first thing I read today. It is spot on when it comes to discussing the daily things I battle with as an SEO Consultant in the Pittsburgh market. I guess the funny thing is that it seems that everyone has the same problems as an SEO Consultant. I figured today would be a great opportunity to build upon the article and basically agree with everything that was said.
Of course, a lot of these frustrations are just par for the course in my line of business, and I think it’s just because a lot of people don’t understand the concept of what SEO is, and the benefits of it helping your business with a long term approach. I’ll touch up on the ones that stuck out to me the most in my day to day life when it comes to being an SEO Consultant.
Fascination With Quick Fixes
Our clients, normally savvy business owners, are strangely driven by the urge for “quick fixes” in their SEO. Even though they understand the complexity of SEO and the potential benefits from getting it right, many just want a quick win.
My clients are evaluated on their quarterly or annual results. Even though my convincing pitch with fact-based reasoning demonstrates that they will double revenue from organic search by taking a long-term approach and working on a 24- to 36-month timetable, I still see resistance. They don’t like this. They want faster results. They prefer 12 month horizons.
Often, I’ll get anxious client emails before board meetings. They’ll break down our organic traffic goal into a 12-monthly figure, get pretty graphs drawn, and then discover (to their dismay) that the traffic we’re receiving is nowhere near what we “agreed upon at our initial discussion.”
Businesses should understand that organic search is important, and it cannot be rushed. Quick fixes may deliver quick wins, but it is unreal to expect them to be sustained and long-lasting.
I think this is one of the strong ones that hit home the most when it comes to clients who own their business and their absolute fixation with the bottom line and what it means to them in the immediate future. SEO and it’s scope shouldn’t ever be an immediate impact deal. A business owner should go in knowing that it’s going to take time, and sometimes even some more time to reap the benefits of what good SEO can do to your site. Anyone promising immediate returns is either a fool or someone who’s not following the proper protocol when it comes to SEO.
SEO Cannot Compensate For A Poor Product
SEO can’t fix everything. I know that’s contrary to industry-driven myths, but hey! If your product, service or customer care are mediocre or just not “awesome,” you should fix that first before you call in the SEO guy (or gal) to get you more traffic.
SEO can amplify your business results. If you have a great offer which adds value to people, SEO will help you expand your reach and help many more people while making a bigger profit.
There’s more to SEO than just rankings!
Another heavy hitter when it comes to tugging at my SEO Consultant heart-strings. SEO isn’t a fail safe for a bad business idea. Having a product that isn’t redeeming to the customer is going to fail with or without SEO. SEO should be looked at as a supplement to your business, and this article hits it right on the head. SEO has the ability to expand your reach, but if you don’t have everything on the up and up when dealing with the other sides of your business, don’t expect amazing results. As an SEO consultant, we give you the best opportunity to be seen by more people, we don’t close the sale however.
An Obsession Over Hit-Counters
People love “hit counters.” Ok, maybe hit counters isn’t the right way to describe this. But, many clients still place disproportionate emphasis on page views, search rankings and other such low-quality KPIs (key performance indicators).
None of these correctly reflect your business’ performance. You need to focus on the right KPIs. Ones that are actionable, and which contribute directly to bottom-line profitability. Those are the ones you seek to improve through your SEO strategy.
In many clients’ eyes, ranking is still king. But, SEO consultants understand that a site’s placement in the SERPs is only a rung in the ladder to business success. Without an acceptable conversion rate, more sales and higher profit as a result, even a #1 ranking on Google will be worthless.
Another daily driven battle explained, and I think it’s nothing more than a lack of understanding. Businesses are frustrated that they’re not ranking for “random product,” and that’s the reason their sales are down for the year so the blame gets placed on the SEO Consultant. I can’t tell you as an SEO Consultant how many time’s I’ve actually dealt with this conundrum. I also feels that this mixes with the bad business/product part as well. Sales aren’t down because of SEO, it could be a combination of things bringing your business down, and blaming one part as the sole reason is short sighted.
It’s the same way with counting the success of your SEO program on solely visits, and why as an SEO Consultant it’s my job to educate the business owner on all the successful things that make up the picture and not just a piece.