How can SEO agencies produce value for their clients? Nitin Manchanda joins the SEO Rant to talk SEO agencies and client satisfaction:
How to drive client communications that help drive organic success
How to tackle client expectations that change over time
How to best educate your clients about new SEO and content trends
Strategies For SEO Agencies to Increase Client Satisfaction
Being the solution your clients expect is not as easy as it seems. My experience with SEO agency work is very hit or miss. When it's great, it's great but it can go so wrong in so many ways. One major sticking point is communication. Very often (or more often than you would expect) the level of communication you would expect from an SEO agency is not there. In fact, we talked about one such horror story on this very podcast with Ori Zilbershtein.
A lot of that can be the simple fact that a great SEO practitioner is not always a great communicator. They can be two very different skills. I can tell you firsthand when that level of focused and very conscious communication is not there - it creates a feeling of being taken advantage of and brings up questions as to whether or not value is being created.
But that layer of communication is multifaceted. As Nitin points out, it's a two-way street. Client expectations can change over time and if they don't make the effort the client themselves can be at the very root of the dysfunction. The obvious outcome is you as the agency are working hard on something the client doesn't want or value. In these cases, as is to be expected, it's not always easy to get the client to see that their lack of communication about changing expectations is to blame.
Thus, for an SEO agency, driving client success is far more complicated than title tags and links.
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For more of the SEO Rant Podcast check out our previous episode on: Building a marketing strategy that lasts.