seotworank: An SEO Client's Bill of Rights

Sunday, August 28, 2011

An SEO Client's Bill of Rights

by Stoney deGeyter

Several years ago I wrote a couple of posts about the billable rights of SEOs and their clients. I revisited these posts recently and thought it was time for an upgrade. Consider this version 2.0!

There can often be confusion between clients and their marketing team as to expectations, due dates, goal measures and even invoicing. While many of these things can be, should be and are handled in the service contract, not everyone reads the fine print.

So here are some basic guidelines to help SEOs and their clients realize what they have a right to in their SEO campaign.

The SEO client has a right to...

I.
Expect the SEO to fulfill the contract in full.

If you don't have time to invest in fulfilling the expectations as laid out in the contract, give the client a refund for all uncompleted work. If you have failed to deliver any results as expected, a full and complete refund is warranted. Only charge the client for work completed and results accomplished.

II.
Not have a site hijacked, mutilated or destroyed by the SEO.

The client has a right to expect work of the highest quality. The SEO must not do anything that disrupts the usability or sales process of the site or creates a poor customer experience in order to achieve search engine rankings. Rankings are not the goal, but customer satisfaction is!

III.
Accept or reject certain recommendations that may affect their website.

While the implementation of the SEO's recommendations are critical to the success of the campaign, the SEO should work with the client to ensure all recommendations fit with the client's goals and programming abilities. When recommendations cannot be fulfilled, the SEO and the client should work together to find common ground that gives both what they need.

IV.
Know the on- and off-site strategies being employed.

There are no such thing as "proprietary strategies!" The client is paying for a service and therefore has a right to be fully informed of any and all strategies being implemented. The client should also be appraised on how those strategies will affect their website and the website's performance in the search results.

V.
Not have their site penalized or lose value for violating search engine guidelines.

Any strategies employed by the SEO should not, in any way, knowingly or potentially bring harm to the client's website or their performance in the search engine rankings. Any questionable strategies should be discussed and approved with the client first.

VI.
Question results and value of the work being performed.

If the client does not understand a recommendation, they have a right to ask "why?" If the client is not seeing the expected results, they have a right to ask "why not?"

VII.
Expect optimization work performed to increase sales and profits.

SEO must provide more than traffic or ranking data to "prove" the value of their worth. The client should see the ROI from their SEO investment through an increase in sales and conversion rates.

VIII.
Have regularly scheduled performance updates.

Whether in person, via the web or over the phone, the client has a right to regular performance updates on their campaign. It is the SEO's duty to inform the client of progress being made, issues complicating results and areas where opportunity may arise for further growth of their results.

IX.
Maintain ownership of all work performed by the SEO.

Unless the client is on a pay-per-click contract, the work they pay the SEO for belongs to them. The SEO cannot provide any type of switching, changing or removal of optimized content once the contract expires. All work performed belongs to the client paying for the work.

X.
Buy out of the SEO contract at any time.

If the client has lost faith in the SEO and the work being performed, they have a right to get out of the contract. The contract should contain stipulations for such contingencies and allow the client to get out when needed.

I'll cover the SEO's bill of rights in my next post. In case you're interested, you can read the historical documents from which this came.

Follow me at @StoneyD, and @PolePositionMkg.

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