I’ve been involved in SEO and Internet Marketing for 7 years now and I’ve seen a lot of things go on in this industry that I don’t believe in. The best piece of advice I could ever give you is this,
Never trust an SEO or Internet Marketing company that promises guaranteed SEO results.
That is a lie. A myth. A fable. In fact, if you ever see the phrase “guaranteed SEO results” used in the same sentence then you need to run very far away and hold on to your wallet and/or purse very tightly. These are usually companies that use heavy and aggressive sales tactics to build a large list of clients and they don’t do much else besides this. The companies they work with come and go and most don’t realize how they are being scammed until it’s too late or not at all.
We Can’t Guarantee SEO Results
In my experience, most people simply don’t want to believe that SEO results cannot be guaranteed. We live in an age of instant gratification and we want things done NOW. It’s really tempting to go with SEO companies that can provide guaranteed #1 Google rankings in 14 days versus the guys like me saying that it’s not possible. But more on that in a bit…
Simply put, whenever you are dealing with SEO companies you are generally dealing with people who have a great deal of experience and knowledge in marketing. They realize that most companies coming to them either want results fast or that they are in a place of desperation and have heard that SEO may be able to save their businesses.
The truth is that no SEO expert in the world fully understands the search algorithms that Google uses to determine organic rankings. We have a general understanding of how they work and how we can optimize your website to rank highly in the search engines, but Google is King in our world.
What To Expect
1. It takes a very long time to generate meaningful results with SEO.
I always tell all of my clients that they would be lucky to see good movement before the 6 month mark.
For me, the process of picking clients to work with is almost like trying to select a partner for a long term relationship. I will spend time interviewing my potential clients to make sure that they have the correct mindset, budget and understanding to work on a project that will take at least 6 to 12 months to become fruitful. If you’ve ever worked with me, you hear me constantly reiterate the fact that, “SEO is more of an art then a science” over and over again.
I can’t even tell you how many companies I’ve refused to work with because they just weren’t able to comprehend why I couldn’t provide instant results. Trust me – you don’t want to work with these guys. They will make you lose sleep at night.
2. Companies will try to “prove” that they can guarantee your results by providing 30 pages of reports showing you positive increases in your search traffic and rankings for certain keywords.
Here’s the deal with that – not all keywords are equal. They could be tracking an extremely easy keyword like, “where to buy blue widgets from acme widget company”. That keyword is extremely small and specialized – it’s even got the company’s brand name and product name in there. You are going to rank for that regardless of what they do for you. Ask them why you aren’t ranking for “blue widgets” and see what they say.
These reports are phoney in 9/10 cases because companies track extremely easy keywords that they know you already rank for and they do some basic optimizing to bump it slightly higher. In addition to this, companies will create pricing models based on the number of keywords they are actively monitoring and working on for you. This is also garbage. I can look through a website’s analytics and find 15 easy competition keywords (that probably get no search traffic) and begin working on them and charging you for these. I could show you how they are increasing in rankings but they will do nothing for your business because they will bring no additional traffic or sales to you.
Why Guaranteed SEO Results Are Lies
1. Nobody Knows Google’s Algorithims
As I’ve said before. Nobody knows the formula Google uses to rank websites in their search engines. SEO experts understand it and what they can do to improve the odds your website has of ranking for keywords but there are literally millions of factors that go into this that can’t be predicted with any sort of accuracy.
2. Ranking In Google For Keywords Can Mean Nothing For Your Business
Not all keywords are created equally. You can rank #1 for certain keywords and have this showed to you by SEO companies – but what they fail to mention is that it’s possible to rank highly for keywords that get absolutely no traffic. This happens all of the time. Since these easy keys get little to absolutely no traffic, they are easy to rank for but will do nothing for your business. You could be wasting big money by having companies focus on keywords that do nothing for your bottom line.
3. Google Results Change Depending On Where You Are and What Services You Use
Google results changed based on your geographic location while searching for things. For example, typing in “eye doctors” while in NYC will give you different results then if you typed in “eye doctors” while in Boston.
Google results can also change based on being logged into other Google products such as YouTube, G+ or GMail.
Google results can also change based upon your cookies and the previous websites that you have been visiting.
Therefore, it’s pretty easy to fly under the wind of false information and data.
Get SEO Results That You Can Trust
The reality of marketing as an industry is that everybody wants and expects results but no one is willing to spend the money while waiting for the results. In SEO, you must be willing to wait while not seeing an immediate ROI.
There are cases where I’ve worked with companies and they see massive ROI in as little as a month but my point is that you can never predict this. It’s better to under-promise and over-deliver every single time.
I hope you’ve find this article useful as to what you can expect. This is why I offer SEO Auditing services in my business.