Advice on this SEO supplier's behaviour

[dotcomdude]

I have recently been called in to advise a client on replacing their website. As part of my review, we have looked into their SEO (search engine optimisation) provider's performance.

They have been charging this client £350 a month, for the past 10 months for an 'SEO package'. Each month they have submitted a report, which has the same block of copy and pasted activities as the previous month.

We had a meeting with them in December, and asked them to clarify exactly what they've done for the £350 in each of the recent months. The account manager said they would look into it and come back to us. We've now had their official response, which is "unfortunately we do not have a comprehensive list of the precise amends made historically". They have offered to keep a more detailed list in future, so they are obviously hoping to keep this arrangement going.

To be fair, the client doesn't understand what he should get for £350 a month - so he is very receptive to how I advise him.

My personal opinion is that they have done nothing for the last few months at least and as we have nothing to suggest this isn't the case, they should be shown the door. However, I'm not sure whether this is too harsh a response.

If you were the owner of the business (ie the client) what would you do? I am meeting the client on Wednesday afternoon, so it would be good to get a consensus before then...

 

[Mark T Jones]

Not sure i've fully understood the question; but presumably if you can provide or source a better solution for similar or better price then you would present that option?

 

[fisicx]

If you were the owner of the business (ie the client) what would you do?

Stop paying these scammers £350/month.

Of course they keep detailed records. They can't provide them because they haven't done anything.

 

[billybob99]

They've been making £350 a month passive income and your client has been one of the suckers.

Because this SEO stuff is portrayed as taking a long time until you see the fruits, there are a ton of scammers like this that do nothing for the whole year.

Your client should be showing them the door, or you should be telling your client to show them the door.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Surely,

"unfortunately we do not have a comprehensive list of the precise amends made historically".

= too

They have been charging this client £350 a month, for the past 10 months for an 'SEO package'. Each month they have submitted a report, which has the same block of copy and pasted activities as the previous month.

So how can they not know what's been done?

As stated by others = we've done jack except spend your money for you.

I'd be asking for a full refund.

 

[Opinion87]

Bin them straight away.

 

[Mr D]

An SEO packet - so presumably certain standard things offered as part of that?
And if they have done anything then they should be able to know what they have done. Be able to point how after they did x then y improved etc.

Unless - as used to appear common - they took money but didn't do any work.

Think its time to ditch that company anyway. Perhaps a company that keeps records and can show what is done - even if its made up.

 

[Socio South West]

My personal opinion is that they have done nothing for the last few months at least and as we have nothing to suggest this isn't the case, they should be shown the door. However, I'm not sure whether this is too harsh a response.

Too harsh? If what you perceive to be the case is correct your client is shelling out £4k pa on nothing - and its not as if there aren't any other companies around offering the same sort of service. This SEO company appear to be a total waste of space and should be kicked into touch - no, on second thoughts.... booted out of the ground - as soon as possible...

You might consider getting a couple of the free SEO reviews that are offered to get some idea of how good or bad the current SEO is on the site to back up your point, and in doing so you will probably find a better supplier.

 

[dotcomdude]

Thank you everyone that has commented. One of my failings is that I tend to overthink everything, so it does help to gauge what others think.

 

[Alison Moore]

I guess is depends how successful their SEOing has been. If your client is high on the search engines for competitive searches without spending a fortune then it sounds like they're doing their job, even though they might not be keeping detailed records. If however there are no results then definitely show them the door. Any decent business should be able to show what their staff have been working on anyway - they would surely be keeping job sheets or similar to ensure that their staff were billing their time correctly. (Just a word of warning though, I have been asked to perform a similar task for a customer in the past (through another company not the one I have listed here) and although my client asked for my advise and analysis, they didn't like the results I gave them and instead of being annoyed with the supplier who had ripped them off, they were annoyed with me! )

 

[tony84]

Do they need to provide a breakdown?

I pay our bloke a similar sort of figure. Our website has gone up in google over the last 12 months or so and we are punching above our weight. Personally, I dont care if he does 2 minutes work or 20 days work for that money each month. If we are going up in google then he is earning his income. I am not paying him for his time, I am paying him for his knowledge and in turn the results.

If they give you a detailed breakdown of what they do, what does that prove? I could go and do 10 hours work and get you kicked off google. I could do 10 minutes work and get you moved up.

Is the website going up in google or at the very least maintaining decent rankings? Lets not forget you cant just stand still with SEO as you are up against other companies getting work done so even maintaining your place costs time or money.

 

[CVRO]

The focus should be on the results rather than the actual activities.
The key question, which is missing up to this point is what was the position 10 months ago and what's the position now. Ideally, you'd also have the positions in some of the months in between.
If there's progression, then the amount of work the company is doing is not that relevant. Mainly, if the customer does not have the knowledge or time to do it themselves.

 

[simon field]

How much extra profit have they made since the ‘seo’ was done?

is it more than £350 a month?

 

[dotcomdude]

How much extra profit have they made since the ‘seo’ was done?

is it more than £350 a month?

On pushing them, they have come up with a list of links which they have Disavowed. 2/3rds of the links on that list are valuable links from industry websites and recognised communities used by the client's customers. All of these links have good DA (domain authority). I think we've established that they don't really know what they're doing!

The key question, which is missing up to this point is what was the position 10 months ago and what's the position now. Ideally, you'd also have the positions in some of the months in between.

I have been tracking the positions on the keywords which the client wants to promote, and there has been very little movement over the 10 months. The agency have highlighted much less competitive phrases which we didn't want to spend any effort on - but even those are more or less the same position now that they were 10 months ago.

 

[fisicx]

In other words, they have been ripping off your client as already suggested.

There are a number of well known SEO companies in the UK well known for their shady practices.

 

[Eldy70]

My company is in this situation frequently - and it's delicate.

On one hand, your client has chosen this third party and has paid them a lot of money... so you don't want to make him/her feel like a numpty for having done so.

On the other hand, your client is being ripped off - and they've asked for your advice.

I generally approach these situations quite clinically - and I do it in a report that I can then talk through with a client.

So the report might have headings along the lines of:

Current SEO spend
ROI from current SEO spend
Comparison with marketplace
Recommendations

Then you can clinically set out what your client is spending, what returns they're getting from that spend, how their spend compares to other options in the maketplace... etc.

Under the ROI section, you can say: Given current reporting structures, it is unclear what your return on your current spend is.

And under recommendations, you could say something like: Our best advice is to move towards a more transparent reporting structure - so that you can be sure to get maximum value from your spend.

Then in a face-to-face conversation, you can talk over your report and be a little more candid. Not slagging the other company off, of course - because that wouldn't reflect well on you, and also you don't want to make your client feel foolish. (After all, they were just doing what I do when I put my car in the garage... I have no idea how to fix a car, I have no idea what a fixed car looks like - so I can only trust the garage to fix my car.)

The way I approach these situations is to lay out the facts, show the client what they could be getting - and almost let them reach the conclusion that it's time for a change.

Good luck

 

[SillyBill]

When I acquired one business there was a surprising number of "service contracts" for all sorts with no evident service being provided or certainly not to the value of. Another reason it is good practice to review these spends at least every couple of years, some people will sign off invoices for years on end without checking any tangible benefit is being delivered. I had one where the business was paying a ludicrously high annual maintenance fee on a piece of kit more than its value year in year out while the provider had no record of ever having been to site to service (they hadn't). And they very aggrieved naturally when that earner got stopped. And a company charging for replacing the filters on a water dispenser long since got rid of...SEO is a bit more murky but if someone can't demonstrate what value they are bringing to the table, they need canning, no questions, no further time should be wasted.

 

[zomex]

It sounds like your concerns are valid and you would be best to raise your concerns with your client.

This seems to be very common with small businesses.