Last month, my column at Search Engine Land tackled a topic that the SEO industry sometimes struggles with: educating clients. I still believe that a well-educated client is a happy one, and if you ever struggle to understand exactly what it is your SEO vendor does, it might be time for an honest conversation with them.
As SEO professionals, we should stay transparent about our tactics and strategies, and our goals should be laid out clearly – so that expectations always line up for both the vendor and the client. It’s important, for example, to optimize for keywords with “purchase intent,” rather than targeting every keyword you could possibly think of (especially since there are tons of keywords that won’t bring you any traffic, and even more that will bring traffic that won’t convert). An SEO’s job is to do the necessary research and determine the right list of keywords to target. At the end of the day, we’re here to make your life easier and to help bring in qualified leads. A scattershot approach never helped anyone.
If your SEO vendor hasn’t taken the time to sit down and explain their process to you, then simply ask them. They should be more than happy to explain what they do and why they do it. If not, that’s a really bad sign. You should always have an open relationship with your SEO provider, no matter what.
A lack of communication and transparency can lead to a LOT of frustration, as my latest post over at Search Engine Land details. I took some time to educate some other SEOs in the digital world on teaching their clients about Google’s best practices and how to ensure that their client’s goals & expectations match up with the service they’re providing. Click here to read more.
