Here are 15 pieces of advice that will help you build a better relationship with your SEO provider.
1. Be sincere About What You've Done in the Past
This is maybe the most critical piece of advice. Lots of clients have done some shady things that they might not have fully hidden were being done, and many have known exactly what was being done and just chose to ignore the repercussions.
Be honest about what was done. It's rare to find someone who hasn't done some sketchy marketing at some point. We're not judging.
Good clients will explain what they have done so their source can find out how to fix it or counteract it faster, if needed.
2. Don't Immediately Blame Links When Something Goes Wrong
Don't instantly blame links if your SEO service provider has built one for you and you've just messed up your robots.txt file. Also, if your SEO provider has built some great links and your site skyrockets to the top of the rankings, generating lots of new traffic and conversions, don't try and insist that it had nothing to do with their work.
3. No shock URL Changes
Don't change URLs without 301ing them or telling your SEO provider about it. If you've provided some targets to work with and they are suddenly 404ing, that's awkward. Webmasters start to get cranky when you have to go back and ask for a change.
4. Share Access to Webmaster Tools and Analytics
If your SEO provider can't see what's happen, it's much harder to do a good job. Sure, we can bug you for this info, but it's much easier if we can dig in and not have to wait for you to come back from your weeklong holiday so we can get the data we need.
5. Answer Questions
I can promise you that I have never once asked a client a question just because I was being nosey. If I ask whether you've just changed 100 URLs, to go back to harping on that one, it's because it affects my work.
If I do have access to your analytics and ask if you've done anything on-site that could account for the sudden fall in traffic to a specific page, again, it's not just because I have nothing better to do than ask unrelated questions.
6. Listen to Our Advice on Risk
Not to be humorous here, but if someone who doesn't mind buying links tells you that your link buying plan is just too risky, you really, really should listen. If we stand to make more money off building more links for you but we say we shouldn't do it, it's because we really believe that you're playing with fire.
7. Don't Employ Multiple Teams or People to do the Exact Same Thing
If you do this and both (or all 10) of us wind up getting relations on the same site, don't complain about it and try and make some of us go back to the webmaster and get them detached.
8. Don't Share Someone Else's secret Information
If you send your provider something that is clearly marked as being "for your eyes only", all your provider will think is that one day you'll be sending their confidential information to someone else.
9. Be obvious About What You Want
Don't start out asking for one service and then run your provider all around until you at last admit that what you really want is something totally different.
I've written up loads of consulting proposals for clients who asked for one specific service. Then, after spending loads of time on it, the clients admitted that they really just wanted me to go buy a bunch of links for them. If you want paid links, then say so.
10. Ask Why a Service Costs What it Does
We'd rather explain pricing to you now than receive a complaint about it later. The more you know about what we do, the better.
11. Don’t Ask About Price Matching
Don't give us pricing information that you've pulled off the site of some offshore SEO firm that no one's ever heard of and expect a provider to meet that price. If you do and your SEO provider says OK, be very nervous.
12. Be Fair About customer Examples
Don't freak out if your provider can't give you the example you want when you're trying to decide if they are the right fit. Sometimes there are iron-clad nondisclosure agreements in place.
However, please be friendly to ways that your provider can prove its worth without violating client confidentiality.
13. Any Good Link Builder Knows About More Than Just Building Links
If you're asked to support your new content socially to give it more attention, take that recommendation. Don't just think that because you can't immediately tie social to links, it means the advice is worthless.
If you're told to do a few things to speed up your homepage load time since it keeps timing out, listen. Link building is much easier when a site's worth linking to, you know.
14. Don't Focus on What Your Competitors Are Doing
Don't frequently point out what your competitor is doing that violates Google's guidelines and ask why we don't just imitate them.
For one thing, your site is not the same as their site. For another thing, if you build a profile based on someone else, you're contributing to a footprint, and that's not a good thing.
Would you want them copying you? No.
15. Don't Try to Get Something for Free
I doubt you'd be able to find a decent SEO who doesn't end up giving away way too much for free. Many of us are really nice people who are willing to share what we know and help people.
But there is a limit.
If you want to pay for an audit, then get a quote and pay for one. Don't try and weasel out pieces of an audit for free each month.
If you're paying for a service, stick to the scope of your contract. Asking a question here and there is OK, but if you want someone to spend 2 hours on the phone walking you through how to do something, expect to pay for that time.
Summary
It's critical that you're honest and willing to listen to your SEO provider.
You know how a lawyer wants to know the truth so they can best defend someone? While I understand that's a bit of an outlandish comparison, I'm still going to make it.
If you're paying us for our expertise, then accept that relationship and realize that most us do actually want to do a great job for you. The more we know, the better we can achieve.
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If your SEO provider can't see what's happen, it's much harder to do a good job. Sure, we can bug you for this info, but it's much easier if we can dig in and not have to wait for you to come back from your weeklong holiday so we can get the data we need link building firm.
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