The truth is; that too often in the SEO service industry, we see SEO agencies and SEO consultants make promises of instant results and high rankings for any business with minimal investment, but in the real world, there is no such thing as a quick fix or magic pill. SEO is a foundational part of your business marketing plan, but it is not a cure-all to:
- Lack of a website
- Poor website structure and navigation
- Thin web pages and lack of informational content
- Distracting colors, fonts, banners, and graphics
- Minimal brand recognition, about info, company history
- Slow website speed and poor performance
- Mismatched audience and keyword targeting
- Broken contact forms, and phone number links
- No outside traffic being driven to the website
- Minimal investment relative to the desired outcome
SEO is Not A One-Size-Fits-All Solution
Additionally, we see agencies take a programmatic approach where they automate and use the same tactics and strategies for every client. This creates situations where clients end up having the same content and experience as all of the other competitors in the market.
To make matters worse, these agencies also sometimes work with closely located competitors who oftentimes are in the same industry. This conflict of interest is another reason why a cookie-cutter approach to SEO is not effective, and can lead to penalizations that can’t be seen in the data.
Positive SEO Results Doesn’t Always Equal Real Growth
What we mean is that while all your SEO stats may be up, as in they show you graphs trending up, or data tools with “highlighted green bars” this doesn’t actually mean that you are getting more business and customers.
To make things even more confusing, your agency or consultant may tell you things like:
- Your keyword rankings are up by this percentage
- Your impressions, clicks, and CTR are up
- You got x number of calls from your ads
- You are gaining more brand visibility
- Your domain authority is up
- Your getting more “link juice”
- Your building more “online authority”
While all these things sound great, they can come across as “fluff” or “sauce” when they do not indicate actual tangible results.
Realistically everything is not always positive with your campaign and issues or realignments can and will come up. The goal should not be to avoid discussing them, but to instead strategize on how to overcome them.
This is why having a strong SEO strategy is so important, again this is where 99% of SEO agencies drop the ball because they lack the ability to set clear expectations and prevent problems before they occur.
SEO Requires Clear Expectations and A Roadmap
Essentially we are saying, that search engine optimization is only as effective as the parameters, goals, and expectations you set beforehand, and your agency’s level of expertise with SEO.
Again, we are going to be honest, too many agencies excite clients with a list of huge companies they worked with, case studies with astronomical results, awards they received, or Google or SEMrush agency partner graphics to distract you from the lack of expertise and skill they have. So they end up selling you on all the money and fame you are going to get from SEO and not the actual results you can expect.
This record label/music industry-like approach to selling SEO needs to stop and agencies need to stop using it because this creates a false sense of security and expectations.
This is Why SEO Clients Feel Burnt or Tricked
So naturally, when projects run over time, or search engine algorithm changes happen, they find themselves now having to backpedal on the promises they made in the first place. This is why so many clients reported feeling “burnt” or like they got “gamed” or “snaked”. Especially if they were reluctant to try the services but only did so after a sales rep convinced them that they were the best option.
As a result, they may find themselves reluctant to pursue SEO services in the future, or when they do, they try to lowball the next agency because they have P.T.S.D. and horror stories from their last agency or consultant experience.
Give Our SEO Services A Chance
This is an unfortunate experience and at Bounce Rank we get a lot of clients who have worked with other agencies in the past and have been burned. While we can’t take away their pain or lost time and resources, we can help them avoid this situation in the first place by being clear and transparent about what SEO can and CAN NOT DO for your business.
We do this by crafting a custom-made SEO strategy that only works for your business, no cookie-cutter solutions. Only tailor-made strategies that fit your needs and budget.
We invite you to schedule a consultation with us using the calendar below or by clicking this calendly link. By meeting with us we can help craft a strategy and clearly help you see the time and financial investment that SEO requires in order to achieve results relative to what you are trying to achieve. Also visit our FAQ page.