EPISODE 21 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: THE DIRTY SECRETS OF THE SEO INDUSTRY
Sonya:
Today I have a special guest on the podcast, and I actually can't tell you who this guest is because I do need to protect his identity. So he has agreed to come on board. He's voice has been disguised and talk to us about the dirty secrets behind the search engine optimization industry. So for those of you who think I am speaking jibberish, I am talking about whether or not you're being found on search engines like Google.
So these agencies popped up, what, in the 90s and there's a lot of agencies out there that built really, really big businesses off the back of this service. My concern with this industry nowadays though is that people aren't keeping up and they're using quite old methods of SEO and ripping clients off. So to talk to me about that today is my special guest, welcome.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for having me, Sonya.
Sonya:
So you have been part of hashtag Agency Life for years now, and a lot of those agencies that you've been a part of have actually been SEO specialists. What are some of the worst things that you've come across when it comes to these SEO agencies?
Speaker 2:
So SEO agencies are renowned for having some black hat tacticts, and probably some of the worst things that I've seen from these agencies have been little to no work done whatsoever on some of the months. So clients are paying for a monthly retainer and we, or the agencies that I've been a part of, have done pretty much no work during that time. But we still reported on the metrics, still talk about organic traffic. But in terms of implementation, nothing is actually been done.
Sonya:
So, okay. Well, you've used the word black hat. What does that mean?
Speaker 2:
So we're just talking about some dodgy tactics. We're talking about buying links that aren't going to be beneficial to your business. We're talking about cowboyish and old-school ways of doing on-page and off-page SEO. And what that all accumulates to is no results but taking money out of your pocket month to month.
Sonya:
Yes, and if agencies are charging a set retainer fee they might lock you in for 12 months, but so beyond month three they're actually not doing any work. So the first three months, what are they typically doing to your website?
Speaker 2:
So most SEO agencies will claim that they're doing some on-page optimizations in month one. They may very well say that they're getting access or they're setting up reporting, and I've worked for agencies that have taken a month to set up a campaign, whereas any competent SEO agency would be able to set that up in a week to two weeks. So I have seen agencies that have taken a month just to get the campaign even to a point where they can start.
But normally you're looking at an on-page optimizations, and then you're moving into off-page authority, which is relying on backlinks, and then you're also doing content. So although within the first three months you should get all of those, there are some agencies that will only for a [inaudible] like an on-page audit. Or there are some agencies that won't do anything at all and they will just continue to charge you for those services.
Sonya:
Okay. So explain what backlinks are to me.
Speaker 2:
Sure. So backlinks are different referring domains that are sending authority to your website. So an example would be Kim Kardashian, obviously quite popular. If she was to put an Instagram post up about your business, you would gain popularity from that. That's the same deal with backlinks, so backlinks are authoritative websites referring to your website, which then gives your website popularity or authority based off that.
Sonya:
So basically Google will rank your website, or this is a contributing factor, or rank your website based on how important other people that are important think you are.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, that's correct.
Sonya:
Interesting. Okay. So, part of SEO for some contracts is that they do this backlink rental service. So they rent a spot on other people's websites that then link back to your website, which theoretically should then push up your site in the search rankings because more people are linking back to you. Correct?
Speaker 2:
Correct.
Sonya:
So okay, I have heard this rumor that beyond month three, after they've done on-site optimization of your website, if they're not doing content, essentially they're just sitting there having these backlinks just be rented out each month. So they're not physically doing any work, they're paying a rental service for these back links. And then if you decide to leave the agency, they pull those links and your rankings then drop again. Is there any truth to this?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's completely true. So from my experience, there are agencies that will rent links. At the end of the day links are, I guess, pieces of text from other websites, you don't necessarily have full control over that. There are also other tactics for getting public links, which you basically have next to no control over. And then as required, you could potentially be paying for those links to be built or to be outsourced for you.
And then I have experience within agencies I've worked for that once you leave, the said agency where you stop your retainer, that will advise you that your links will be pulled or they'll be taken off. And therefore you drop a significant amount of authority. But what's probably the next level is that I've seen agencies then use that as a tactic to come back to you three months later when your organic traffic has dropped, due to those said links dropping. And then using scare tactics to get you to come back on and pay again for another extended period of time.
Sonya:
That's so dodgy, isn't it? So do you think SEO is something that you can do once in terms of optimization on-site and get results? Or do you really need these backlinks in an ongoing manner?
Speaker 2:
It depends. I mean SEO can be perceived and can be manipulated in so many different ways. The proper way of doing SEO is that you would have an integrated campaign involving everything. So it needs to be quality content, it needs to be technical optimizations on the pages of the website. And you do need authority, which could be from links, but the best is your campaigns are the ones that take six to 12 months where you build that over a period of time, and you follow all of the best ethical ways of getting organic traffic.
Unfortunately, this industry has a lot of people that are prepared to give you guarantees in short periods of time, and therefore they use any tactic they possibly can to try and manipulate that. And on the flip side it could actually do some harm to your business. So to do SEO right it could be a really worthwhile investment for your business, but for you to turn around and do it like a once-off on-page with a little bit of link building and then hope for the best, more chances are that it probably won't work for you or your business.
Sonya:
Why is SEO as a service so expensive?
Speaker 2:
When you think about the costs involved in buying backlinks, so you're obviously buying that from somebody. You're also having a host that sometimes, sometimes you have to build websites from scratch. It's very resource-heavy. But I also think that, again, talking about perception, it is an industry in which people don't understand a lot. So for these technical SEO people quoting you and telling you that there's all these problems with your website, I think a lot of people that run businesses and have to get SEO probably don't know the technical analysis side of things. So they're just trusting the audit or trusting of their instinct of business agencies so they can charge whatever they want.
Sonya:
That's interesting. Okay, so you think that sometimes it is worth it, doing SEO for a business and sometimes it's not. If someone is going to outsource the SEO, what type of things do they need to be looking for within their contracts or service agreement?
Speaker 2:
So I think you need to use your instincts a little bit, better than most I think you need to do the research. So I think you need to make sure that you're not going to the first agency that you find on Google. Just because they rank on Google doesn't mean their best option. I think what you need to do is you need to ask them what their strategy would be. If you're getting somebody telling you that content doesn't work, or they have a very strong opinion about backlinks being rubbish or whatever, you need to go as deep as you possibly can into that and identify what they're quoting and doing for your strategy and for your campaign.
And then you also need to go and get a few different options because if somebody is quoting you seven K and somebody is quoting you to two K for the same service, there's obviously something wrong there. So you need to identify what's going to work for you, what's going to work for your company's KPIs, and how you're going to achieve your goals. And by doing as much research on as many businesses or freelances or agencies as you can, you should be able to find a good solution.
Sonya:
So the agency you're currently working for, do they do content as part of their SEO strategy?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we sure do.
Sonya:
Great, interesting. Okay, so if someone is tossing up between Google ads and SEO, what sort of strategy do you recommend they take when working out which option they're going to go with?
Speaker 2:
Again, it probably comes back to the KPIs of your campaign. If you are looking for quick wins, ads is a lot more quick win related so you can definitely start an ads campaign, you can get the wording reasonably quickly and then you're paying for those clicks to come through. But SEO done correctly has a much better conversion rate because it's a very intent-driven search. So people are looking to do a certain service or a certain product, and therefore the organic search will come through a lot better and it will be a lot more in intent-driven.
But you also need to have a look at what Google is doing and Google at the moment is incentivizing people to start spending money with their service. So as more ads appear, as more extensions on ad campaigns appear, there are more options to push organic searches down the fold more, and this will continue to be a trend and therefore paid has really, really good benefits from a display aspect on their campaigns. But again, it just comes back to what your KPIs are as a business.
Sonya:
Fantastic. All right, and what do you think about agencies promising page one results for all of your keywords?
Speaker 2:
Probably the biggest tip that I can give you is agencies that give you guarantees, there will always be something fishy going on in the back end. So I have worked for, and I'm very familiar with some agencies that tell you that they will achieve 80 percent first page results for your keywords. That they'll give you 50 keywords for example, and 45 of those will be keywords that have zero search volume. So they're achieving their goal, but they're actually giving you no value on the other end, which won't actually lead to leads or to revenue. So you need to make sure that you identify what keywords they're going for, why they're doing that, and why their strategy's aiming for keywords with a certain volume.
Sonya:
I think that is a really interesting point that you bring up and it's a trend that I've seen amongst many podcast guests recently, and that is beware of any agencies giving guarantees because there are no guarantees when it comes to any form of digital marketing.
Speaker 2:
Correct.
Sonya:
Amazing. All right, well thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and revealing some of the dirty secrets of the SEO industry. I definitely think that since it's something that a lot of people do not understand, that there's a lot of dodgy activity happening. So make sure you ask the right questions, make sure there's a backlink component, an on-site component, and also a content component. And double check your keywords that they're going to be ranking for, and also the search volume associated with those.
Is there anything else that you would like to add in terms of that, those five key points?
Speaker 2:
All I can say is just watch yourself. It is a very, very difficult space to completely understand. If you don't understand it, try and find people like [inaudible] Sonya, who might be able to share some light and may be able to point you in the right direction. Because, just because your competitors are doing SEO or just because you're being told that you have to do it, doesn't mean that it's the right [inaudible] for you.
Sonya:
Absolutely. Every single marketing strategy should be tailored to your business and the space that you're operating in. All right. Thanks again for your time.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for having me.
You've been listening to the Marketing Solutions Podcast with Sonya McIntyre-Reid. Don't forget to get your hands on our awesome freebies that will get you on your way to marketing success. Head to kissmarketing.com.au/free.