7 Unrealistic Expectations An SEO Consultant Will Often Hear From A Client

Digital-Marketing-Consultant-Contact-Us

If you’re looking to attend SEO Training and become a freelance SEO consultant or planning to build your own digital marketing agency, get ready to hear some false expectations from clients as soon as they hire you. This usually happens because most clients don’t fully grasp how SEO works.

They expect SEO to be magical and instantaneous. SEO consultants must develop a clear understanding of search engine algorithms and be able to explain those to clients in a way that makes sense. With that, they will know what to expect from your SEO strategy and how to manage their expectations accordingly. In this post, we’ll outline some of the misconceptions that many SEO clients have about SEO:  

 

1. Speedy Results

First on the list of the common misconception is seeing immediate results. Most often, they wanted to see progress in a week or in a month after hiring you.

They should understand that SEO is a long-term strategy and they can’t simply outrank their competitors as they wish.  If other companies guarantee results in a month or two, they must be doing unethical means. In reality, it will take at least 3-6 months or even a year.   

 

2. Top Page Ranking for General Search Terms

Clients tend to expect their website to rank at the top for general search terms, also called Ego Keywords. 

Ego Keywords are great for brand awareness but you should be aiming to rank organically for the main keyword phrases that will drive traffic to your site, not just those with the most search volume.  

 

3. Rapid Increase In Traffic and Sales

Some clients believe that once you start ranking for their keywords, their site will automatically see a huge increase in traffic and sales. This false claim can be based upon click-through rates and time spent on pages in case they create their own projection charts.

As an SEO expert, you need to educate your clients about the SEO landscape, its limitations, and the benefits of organic search engine traffic.  

 

4. Ranking for All Keywords

Another common misconception that a client thinks is when a campaign is started, they will be able to rank for all the keywords. In that case, you have to explain that they can’t rank for all of the keywords because it’s too broad.

Instead, they should only focus on those terms that they have a good chance of ranking for.  It all largely depends on their budget and the keyword research you performed.  

 

5. Backlinking Equated To Higher Ranking

Spammy SEO agencies promise a high number of backlinks to position their clients’ websites on top of the search engines. This has led clients to look for companies that offer a cheaper cost per backlink or expect legit SEO companies to offer the same.

SEO isn’t just about the number of links. SEO is a holistic approach to ensuring that a website achieves optimal rankings for a quality backlink profile, which includes creating useful and authoritative content that’s distributed throughout the web.  

 

6. Hiring SEO Agency To Do SEO Due To Trend

Many website owners believe that SEO is just a trend that businesses should implement on their sites whether doing it on their own or with the help of an expert. Unfortunately, they don’t know how complex the process is and that their expectations are not met.  

 

7. No Contribution On the Client’s Side

One biggest mistake of a client is to assume that all work can be done by you, an SEO Consultant. Clients need to understand how big their role is in the success of their business.

They have to invest time and attention while they are being assisted on matters that require their part to complement the SEO efforts.  

 

Conclusion

When we work with businesses who are interested in having their websites optimized for search engines, we hear many different unrealistic expectations. 

Before commencing the project, we have to be very clear on our scope and make sure that clients understand that those misconceptions are wrong and what they should expect instead.  

 

If you like this article, you may want to read this article about Is Your SEO Consultant Charging You Too Much For The Services?


Want to get more online visibility, traffic and leads for your business? Get the top SEO consultant in the online marketing industry!

Contact Us

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Phone Number (required)

    Website

    What service are you interested in?