Top Five Mistakes Which Every SEO Company Should Avoid!

It was the date of 1st of October 2004, when I first came through this term Search Engine Optimization or SEO. It was the day when I initiated my SEO career that too in the role of a link builder.

Link Builder?

Really?

Yes, it’s true, it was the time when I too become a bit surprised to hear this term, but I really started liking building links that time. During my nine years of industry experience I found many things to change in between. I saw the rising of the social bookmaking’s, and social media sites like FaceBook, Twitter, and Google+ in between. On the other hand I too saw the concept of link building (as we were doing in the past) becoming obsolete with time.

During my nine years of working experience as an SEO I saw the rising of the web directories and then their downfall as well. In fact I become a silent viewer of many changes which this SEO industry came through in between.

Though I thought to write a blog on completion of my nine years in the SEO industry and I thought that I should write the one on some of the mistakes which every SEO company should avoid. Though I am not a big name in the field of SEO, but still I am quite hopeful that you people will gain some benefit from this blog of mine.

Well, we all do make mistakes in our life. Humans are expected to do mistakes, but the best thing is that we should be able to realize them and try not to repeat them in future. I have seen many people in my professional life that they prefer to hide their mistakes, but my concept is quite simple, I simply don’t want to hide them, rather I accept them with pleasure and try to rectify the same, and I make sure that the same mistakes should not be ever repeated by me.

As far as SEO services are concerned, it is really hard to expect that a SEO can make some mistakes. As a small mistake might jeopardize your entire campaign and ban your website in Google, and might drag your company’s name in mud. Your company website or business website might become the part of history, just because of a mistake, and you won’t even realize this.

I would like to quote one example for this, I was working for a company as an SEO and I found that they were thinking that it is quite an easy task, and can be easily managed by someone who doesn’t even know much about it. Slowly-slowly I came to know that there was a senior manager out there who was a bit aware about using Facebook and Twitter and he started spreading rumors that our SEO team does not work properly. I realized that it is of no use to tell them SEO works in this manner, rather than I clearly informed them that I cannot be able to give results better than this. They asked me to quit and I quit, but what happened after that? After a few weeks, their site is now out of the Google SERP for all the major keywords of them, search engine rankings and Alexa rankings of the site fell down badly, but no one is there who can actually understand these. When I see their current status, I really feel sad for their Managing Director, but I can easily say one thing, in the world of SEO you cannot rule the Google, as you tend to do rule your employees. You might rule Google for PPC campaigns as you are paying them for this, but for bringing your site to the Organic results you will always have to follow the right path in a rightful manner. (Also read How PPC might Help You in SEO?)

So, based on my own real life experience here are the top 5 mistakes which every SEO company or firm should avoid.

Unmanageable Projects

I have seen many a SEO guys and companies to start SEO works on the client sites without really understanding their exact requirement. It is hard to work in the field of SEO in a haphazard manner. Unmanageable projects are bound to give poor results compared to properly managed projects.

In most of the cases clients are not at all aware about the SEO Process. It is the responsibilities of the person who is managing the SEO process that he/she clearly explains the SEO process, plan to achieve success, your strategy, etc. to the client.

What if the client doesn’t give a damn to your plan and strategy?

Well, it is the same question which I encountered many a times in the past, even with my last organization as well. The best way in this case is that you should clearly tell the client that this is the standard way of doing things as far my SEO knowledge is concerned, if you will allow me to work on this in the same manner, I would definitely bring the results to you. But always remember one thing that results in SEO cannot be seen overnight, so have patience and see the magic.

If still not understood by client, part away yourself politely from them. Never try to please them with choosing unethical ways to boost their rankings, as this will harm them further, even in the future as well.

Unreal Expectations

One of the real tough challenges associated with SEO industry is that to meet the unreal expectations of the clients. Every site owner thinks that the day SEO guys like Alok Vats started doing SEO of my website; it should reach to the first page (actually to the first position) of Google for different key phrases.

Well, what I have analyzed during my nine years of experience is that it is mostly the fault of the SEO person himself. They usually help the client to imagination of unreal expectations for their website.

Well, to be very precise, every client should always understand this thing that SEO is not a magic. You cannot get overnight results from it. It’s a long and steady process, which actually requires lots of patience and perseverance.

If you are really looking towards getting quick results you should always look towards some other mediums like advertizing your services through Google Adwords, but then again you should not start comparing the results generated by the two processes. Both the processes are entirely of different nature and cannot be compared.

If the client is of understanding nature, try to let him know about the different factors associated with ranking, like keyword competition, too much competition, or requirement of funds for investing for the work. Be clear about the needs of content in the process of SEO, and the cost associated with getting quality content. The client should understand the importance of quality content in spreading websites visibility.

Too Desperate About Results

A good SEO always need patience. Being an SEO you should not become too desperate to get quick results, and to do so you cannot go for unethical means. Just because your client does not understand the process, doesn’t means that you should harm their website for long run. After all a website is the main source of their business, and they handed over it to you for their business growth, so you don’t have any right to anyway harm them in any manner.

Thus your own patience level is too crucial for the SEO of a website. Don’t ever over optimize the site. Frankly being an SEO you are always required not to follow any things which might have negative impact on them.

Always Keep the Client in Loop

Well, one of the biggest mistakes which mostly SEO companies do is leaving client behind for what work are they doing to optimize their website. In fact the client should always be aware about your every step. You should let them know about your future plans, and its possible effects.

Well, to be very precise SEO is a team work and need small-small efforts from designers, developers, content writers, social media managers, and the client as well. Try to involve all of them in the procedure.

Have the Courage to Accept Truth

Well, being an SEO, you should be able to know the status of the industry, and you should keep update yourself with all the moves and updates going through by Google or other major search engines. You should have the courage to accept the truth that things are not working any better than what you are doing at the moment. You can clarify this scenario to your client. If he understands it, he can encourage you to go through some other means which might work for their own website, and if don’t then it is always better to part away from him in a very polite manner.

I am quite sure that this blog of mine on top five biggest SEO mistakes will help you to understand things in a proper manner. I hope that you like it too. Please don’t hesitate in sharing your opinion about it in the way of comments. I am eager to hear your views on this blog.