Stop Telling Lies To Your SEO Customers About Your Strategies
I wish I could just type ‘the end’ here and hit post and everyone in the industry would be fully on board. If you do agree, then I’m not going to say anything new to you here — just hit like, share with people who are new to the industry and move along!
If you’re not sure what I’m talking about and who’s telling lies to who, then please read on because, unfortunately, many people in the industry don’t even know they’re telling lies to their customers. They genuinely believe, because they went to some shady conference or have been sold on the idea by their less reputable peers, that private blog networks (PBN), web 2.0 links and other nonsense designed to trick Google works and therefore is safe and fine to ‘just use’ without discussing with the business they work for.
You’re Damaging Someone Else’s Business
My main objection to using things you either don’t understand or know are risky, but don’t disclose to the clients, is that you’re damaging someone else’s business. Perhaps years after you did the work and were paid for it.
I’m totally agnostic when it comes white hat vs black hat, and all of those debates. But it’s essential that we start engaging with the business community in a more honest and straightforward way.
If the business owner you’re working with wants to take a higher risk, jack up their rankings, and see some short-term gains with some risk. Great! Let them go for it, and help them put that plan in place (or talk them out of it and show them the benefits of doing something else — totally up to you and them to make an honest, informed choice there).
However to just go ahead and slam 50 PBN links to their site, put up some spun content and throw in some tiered spiderweb 2.0 megablasts for fun without telling them there’s a significant risk involved is absolutely unacceptable.
I won’t even tell someone that doing natural content promotion style outreach is 100% safe. Because it’s not. Nothing is. I’ve seen people sharing their manual penalty messages where the example links were real, earned, press coverage. But there’s definitely a spectrum and you need to know where you are on the spectrum. And be honest about it.
Learn From Serious Players In The Industry
One of the biggest mistakes I see new entrants make is they’re attending small events, aimed at finding ways to sell ‘something’ to small businesses as easily as possible.
Their introduction to becoming a consultant might even be some kind of course that tells them about how easy it all is to just print money helping small businesses out.
They teach how to charge $1k/mo for ‘marketing and SEO’, how to get results quickly and easily. How to play ‘pretend SEO expert’ basically.
That’s now how you build a professional reputation. It’s not how you become a competent practitioner in the industry.
And it’s definitely not good for the rest of us who get tarred with the ‘bunch of snake oil salesmen’ brush because a whole load of people get burned by the wandering new one-man-band types who vanish after a year of trying out that shenanigans.
The serious players in the industry that have stood the test of time are always innovating and finding new ways to make great content. They share so much online, and even speak at conferences. One of my colleagues was lucky enough to hear Ryan Stewart speak and he made the point that if you mess about with PBNs and a serious client, they fire you. Why put small businesses in a position where they get that shoddy work just because they don’t have the knowledge to stop you?
In addition to seeking out heavyweights prepared to share their wisdom at conferences, consider reading the more mainstream blogs. While Brian Dean doesn’t cater to an advanced audience, his blog is absolutely one of the best for beginners and intermediate SEOs looking to break free of the shackles of spam (or just not knowing what they’re doing!). If you follow his formulas for making good content and promoting it you will be very unlikely to fail at staying safe and solid.
Learn What’s Risky, Understand The Industry And Be 100% Transparent
Quite simply as the professional giving advice and helping a small business owner grow their online presence, the onus is on you to know about the different strategies. Know what’s risky. Know what’s safer. Fully explain those points to them so they can make an informed choice.
If you can’t explain the risks and benefits of a specific strategy honestly to a client and still close the sale, then you shouldn’t be doing it. No excuses and no lies please. It damages all of us in the industry. All for some short-term easy money… when you could be earning serious money doing great work.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments — what’s the worst SEO lie you’ve ever seen told to a customer?
