Because of the dozens and maybe hundreds of myths being perpetuated in the SEO business, clients tend to have unrealistic expectations some of which are based on misconceptions or outdated practices. While some problems can easily be solved with a simple discussion and explanation, there are those that are absolutely impossible to achieve. Internet marketing experts should be wary of accepting clients who have extremely high expectations that it becomes unattainable, no matter the strategy or price involved. To prevent dissolution of partnership between a client and an SEO company, here are some of the common expectations clients have that are difficult to achieve, as listed by Scott Cowley of SEO.com.
1. Speed of Ranking Increases – Just how fast a client’s website will rank in search engines is something an SEO firm does not have control over. When done right, achieving high SEO rankings will happen, just not within a specific and short time frame. It is important to explain to a client that just because some of their keywords received high rankings, it doesn’t mean these keywords will automatically land in the first pages of search engines in a week.
2. Number of Keywords Targeted – Clients have to understand that not all keywords are relevant for their specific business. In SEO, the more keywords targeted, the more work is needed to get place them high in search engines. Having a narrow list of targeted keywords is more efficient because SEO work is focused on these set of words thereby driving relevant traffic, leads, and revenues.
3. Quantity and Quality of Backlinks – The quantity and quality of backlinks go hand in hand with each other. Links that lead back to the website should be numerous but of high quality and relevance. Search engines prefer websites that have a “natural-looking backlink portfolio” which means that links should be both quantity- and quality-driven.
The first part ends here but be sure to check out next week’s post that will conclude some of the difficult expectations clients often have that drive their SEO firms crazy.
