How to Handle Clients and their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Concerns?
You may notice that the title of this post has a question mark. Steven Wanless left me a good comment on yesterday’s post regarding how PageRank actually works. In his comment Steven brings up a really good question. How do you handle a situation where a client knows too much about SEO, or even just enough to be dangerous, and to expect impossible results? Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer, nor do I think there is an easy solution to this problem.
At Zipline, we have not had too many problems with unrealistic SEO expectations. Whenever we start a new project, especially with first-time clients, we are careful to educate the client on what to expect from an SEO standpoint. We try to answer any questions they have regarding their website and search engine optimization. We also provide them with a general overview of how the search engines work. Our goal is not to lower the bar for our design team but to ensure they have a realistic picture of what to expect when their website is launched.
Our design team takes SEO into consideration when building a new website. Each project we develop is designed to be search engine friendly. Unfortunately, the design and programming alone are only a part of the overall picture. The search engine algorithms take into account many factors that our outside of the hands of the web site developers. When educating a client we let them know exactly what to expect from us in terms of SEO and we also let them know what search engine optimization tasks they will be responsible for. In addition to establishing exactly what we will be responsible for, we give them external resources that are capable of assisting with additional SEO tasks and strategies if desired.
Another benefit to this strategy, aside from developing realistic client expectations, is increased participation from the client. For example, when clients learn how important inbound links and corresponding anchor text can be to their overall ranking they are often excited and willing to help recruit those needed inbound links from business partners and sponsor organizations. These educated and participating clients have a better understanding of the requirements and are likely to get better results and are more likely to be satisfied with the results they get.
All in all, this strategy has worked well here at Zipline but it is certainly not a fool proof system. Search engine optimization is seen as black magic to many. The concepts are far reaching and difficult to understand and not every client is capable or interested in being educated on the topic. As a company, it is our job to gauge these situations and protect ourselves from the problems that will occur with unrealistic expectations. Unfortunately, we have only found a method to help avoid these negative situations. Our solution is far from being complete or perfect. I personally don’t think a perfect solution exists. Hopefully, one of you can prove me wrong by answering the title of this post with a magical answer!
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Comments
One of the interesting things I find are potential clients who expect to get to number one on Google. It’s something we get here in NZ very frequently. They want to spend as little capital as possible, want to do no work (content wise) and hear that a friend’s website got to number one.
Without trying to laugh too hard, I tell them 2 things:
1. No one can guarantee getting you to the first position on Google.
2. Ask how deep their wallet is, as I can get them to number one, but it will be one expensive campaign.
This usually serves two purposes:
1. They run scared
2. They realize their friend is full of it!
Needless to say I don’t have any of these clients myself as I they usually run away or aren’t serious in the first place.
The other one-liner they like to catch you out with is that they can’t find you on google for ‘website’. I tell them first off that I haven’t optimized my website for that keyword (which is true), then explain there are millions of ‘website developers’ who are either good, or not so good which come up with such a bland keyword. This usually puts them into #1 again.
I always tell my clients that it varies by a number of factors, which we can explore further if they really would like to, give them a ball park figure to work on and consider. And of course most of my clients who we have built websites for generally do very well for them anyway as part of our design process (much like yours). We don’t like to retrofit, as it’s too much of a task, and in most cases can work out to be more expensive.
I can probably get you to number one for “buy tyres in timbuktu” but not “cars” 
I agree that the perfect solution doesn’t exist but I think you have a great way of dealing with the situation…. actually, your more so addressing a potential problem before it arises.
We have to remember that most of our clients in this industry know very little, if anything, about the web/SEO industry. By communicating with them upfront, giving them the resources they need to undertake their requirements in the SEO process and making sure all parties are on the same page is going to reduce problems later on down the line. That way, should any issues arise at the end of the project you can remind them that you meet all of your (the developers) requirements that were outlined at the beginning of the development.
Scott from SEOmoz made a good point in that video yesterday; “We can only speculate on how things work at those search engines” (paraphrased – but you get the idea). As developers, we rely on what we read and learn about the search engine industry, do what we can and leave the rest up to the search engines. SEO is not an exact science. We have all seen that. Things change for no apparent reason. Much of it is out of our hands, and our clients need to understand that. We will do everything we can, but at the end of the day there is only so much we can do.
I like your ideas Ryan and I’m going to have to steal them. If I learn a better way I’ll be sure to let you know.