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Five Situations in Which SEO Services Will Fail:

If you offer SEO services, there are many red flags that you want to keep away from your potential workplace.

The goal of an SEO campaign is to get high rankings for keywords that will expand the site to its market target and help create new business.

However, some web sites are easy for an SEO to work with others. I have listed a few scenarios that may scratch your head as to how best to proceed. If you have ever fallen a customer into these categories, then you know how fast it can stop an SEO services.

1. You’re Stuck With Search Engine-Unfriendly Content

Imagine this scenario: The client is attempting to reach top position on the search engines for a term that is being competed for by sites with loads of free information, fresh industry news, a blog, and other content appealing to search engines. Your client’s site, however, is a stale site designed in Flash with very little content, and the home page is the only page indexed by search engines. Sure, you could attempt to offset the lack of content with an intensive link campaign, but the odds are against you, especially if you decide to use black hat SEO methods.

1. Restrictive Web Publishing or Content Management Systems

Some CMS options are tough on search engine marketers because they are outdated or do not provide enough access to the raw web page code. They can also bloat the page size with poor coding practices and excess scripts. Many people prefer a hosting plan that offers only a simple online editor. Sometimes very few of the important areas like page titles, H1 tags or the internal linking structure can be modified. Can you convince the client to convert to a new system or hosting provider? If so, great. If not, you may be stuck putting extra hours into installing SEO software patches or better accessing the hosting company.

1. The Client is in a Volatile Industry

Stock brokers, real estate agents, work-from-home schemes, or infomercial “gurus” don’t always make great long-term clients. Use your judgment when approached by a prospective client and ask yourself some questions:

• Are you trying to be successful in an unstable market?? (IE. home loans in October of 2008)
• What kind of presence does this company have in their industry?
• Are there any BBB complaints or has bad press been written about them?
• Do they hide contact information on the web site and in their Whois registration?
• Can I really see myself as a client from a year ago??

If you’re like me, you take that gut feeling into consideration when making decisions in life. The same can apply for business – if something “just doesn’t feel right” about someone or their company, then it probably isn’t.

1. The Client is Just Not With The Times

The Web has become a very interactive place. In many industries, a web site’s search engine ranking will suffer if the company is slow to keep pace with current trends and technologies. As a musician, it’s important to stream online and have an interactive and creative web. Someone in real estate needs to offer tools such as a mortgage calculator, buyer’s guide, or market reports for their visitors.

In each industry, there is a benchmark set for online resources. If a potential customer has years of this type of thinking, chances are they won’t do much business even if you manage to get high ranking on the search engines.

1. Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen

This one true pet is my favorite. If a company has invested thousands of dollars in outsourcing SEO, let the SEO firm do their job unfettered. It can cost the client additional fees if others have access to the web server and unknowingly overwrite optimized content. If your client has multiple people who have direct access to the web files, have them schedule a meeting to find everyone on the same page and make an appointment, know about the SEO process.

If a separate company or individual is handling the design and development of the content first, have an SEO consultant on board during that time to advise on search engine-friendly content creation. In many cases, the client is unaware that web designers may not follow better SEO practices.

Make sure there is a clear and legally-binding separation in the SEO firm taking over development of the content. I had one scenario years ago where I had finished optimizing a client’s content only to receive an angry phone call out of nowhere from the old designer demanding an explanation. A client who has developed their web site from several different sources may have designers and web hosts lurking around still with FTP access. The “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario can turn nasty if someone gets overly-defensive about the site being changed.

Search engine optimization isn’t always smooth sailing, but being aware of the more common stumbling blocks before hand can definitely ease the frustration. Hopefully these help you in your future efforts.

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