SEO: No Guarantees

This world is full of guarantees. Guarantees that what you buy will make you feel better, look younger, be richer, get happier. It is famously said, though, that there are no real guarantees in life except death and taxes.

For many years, there has been a subset of SEO vendors that make what I believe are unethical guarantees. For the most part, these types of companies are selling cheap services based on simple SEO checklists and promising things like No. 1 rankings.

I’ve said in the past that cheap SEO is a near-death experience. Unfortunately, though, many cheap SEO companies are aggressive in their marketing. They prey on the misinformed.

The allure of cheap SEO with guaranteed rankings creates false expectations. This, in turn, creates a major headache for quality SEO vendors who now lose clients to cheap SEO companies because they won’t guarantee No. 1 rankings.

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google.

–Google, Do You Need an SEO?

There are no guarantees in SEO. SEO takes place in an environment where the search engines constantly change their rules and algorithms and where competitors continually adapt. It takes skill, effort and time to compete well.

Unless an SEO professional truly owns and controls Google Search and also controls your competitors, then they should not promise No. 1 rankings.

If they do make promises — when they have zero control over the results — they are preying on the naive. Do you seriously think there is a spam method or secret that Google does not know about?

What quality SEOs can guarantee is their best effort backed by years of experience and education. They can demonstrate achievement backed by a strong reputation, and show past results including references.

Those results may include No. 1 rankings for their clients. But they cannot promise rankings. That is unethical.

Besides, the cheaper you want it the cheaper you get it. An SEO guarantee is a sign of desperation.

Unfortunately, though, there are ways that unethical SEO companies can make good on their promises, with few the wiser.

Perhaps they’ll get you on Page 1 for branded terms like “company name + product” (not that hard if you’re the only one with that company name). Or they may achieve Page 1 results for keywords that don’t have a lot of competition (in other words, things that people aren’t really searching for anyway).

These strategies don’t drive real improvement for the business, but they may satisfy the guarantee.

Weighing SEO Vendors

So where does that leave a business that is weighing the option of a cheap SEO firm with guaranteed rankings versus a reputable SEO firm with higher fees and no guarantee?

Sometimes the best value may seem unaffordable. But you get what you pay for. Understand that good SEO can drive revenue. But you have to invest in it.

Channel share in 2019 per BrightEdge Research

On the other hand, buying cheap SEO can actually harm your site. And then you’ve not only wasted money, but also your opportunity to rank if you get a Google penalty.

While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye by using overly aggressive marketing efforts and attempting to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site’s presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index.

–Google, Do You Need an SEO?

In many cases, businesses are making a leap of faith with SEO. They are trusting that a competent SEO can help them outperform their competition better than an unreputable SEO. (And remember, the competition may also have competent SEOs and a big budget.)

Yes, it would be great to have an “easy button” you could push for rankings, but that is not how SEO works. There are too many variables outside of our control.

You can certainly pay less for empty guarantees and poor advice. But where would that leave you?

If you need SEO services to help you invest in your business’s future, contact us for a free quote and consultation.

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

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