I had a consulting client ask me a few questions the other day about SEO and this sort of thing happens occasionally. It might be that a consulting client already have similar search engine optimization services when they come to me and we talk about other things or it’s for services that I don’t offer.. either way, I am happy to review what others are doing. It’s not that I would say that they are doing it wrong or right, but help with questions to ask and be sure small business owners aren’t getting taken advantage of. You know how it is; a few bad ones can give us all a bad name.
So anyways, she was telling me that she was getting link building services (which is important for SEO). I said that it was great what she was doing and said to be sure of a few things, then asked about the more specifics of what she was paying for. She came back to say, you know, I really don’t know what I am getting, just know that X was my budget. She also mentioned that the provider insisted she change to use the SEO Yoast plugin and for her to give him admin rights to her WP site – not the limited access she had given him.
So, all that lead me to think of this blog and to provide a little bit of insight into the process and what to expect with link building and SEO services.
Link Building
- KNOW what you are getting! If you don’t know and they don’t tell you, be leery and/or ASK!
- If you are getting links built for you, great job, however, know how many links you are getting each month and ask for a list of the link and anchor text.
- The anchor text is your keyword (hopefully long tail keyword and not the same over and over) that is used as the linking point from that website to yours.
- Get a copy of the links – having the links allow you to verify where the links are coming from.
- Remember that getting links, from say a porn site, isn’t going to provide you with any value and getting them from pages where there is no commonality is also pointless.
- Know how many links, for how much and how often, as well as how often they will provide you with a report.
- Link farms are common for unethical link building, which is basically exchanging links. So, building a site just to house content full of links back to your site – the simplified version – isn’t good. Google is smart enough to know what you are doing, so don’t do that.
- If you are involved in black hat (read: bad) link building, consider the “fun” you will have when Google penalizes you and trying to go back and remove them or disavow them = NOT FUN.
My thought on this guy was – why does he need admin rights to do link building anyways. Quite honestly, he shouldn’t need access at all, for link building that is. Not to mention that the plugin that has anything to do with link building, so that was fishy. So, just like with our business, we need to put in the work to get the benefit. Short cuts usually lead to short cut type results.
SEO
- If you are getting other search engine services like what I offer (revising on site, visible content to be keyword right, title and meta tags, alt tags, h1 tags – that sort of thing) and you didn’t come to me first, shame on you! LOL
- However, just so you know, this is what I offer, to compare. Again, this isn’t saying what I am providing is better (well…), but gives you an idea what to ask for and why.
- I provide keyword and competitor research before starting
- Select 10+ keywords to track your keyword rankings and put that on a baseline report.
- I make sure you have Google Analytics or an analytics of some sort but Google is Free and easy
- I share graphs for page views and total traffic – new, returning, organic, referral, direct and paid if you have it and provide that data on the baseline report
- Then, at the end of each month, I run those keywords to determine their ranking and see how your traffic is, and bring some things to light, how are you doing, what I noticed, etc
- I also review some other things, like for website readability and if you need more content, I will add it or ask for it to be added by you.
- Review each page and blog and update your content with the SEO ninja tasks mentioned above
- If you pay someone to do SEO services, there needs to be a means of tracking their progress. I’ve said this before in other blogs, if you do any sort of marketing campaign, you need to track to see how it’s doing so you know whether you want to continue. SEO is more of a need to do and the results will take time but you need to do it in order to stay on Google’s radar and to keep your keywords moving up.
- As far as SEO and the plugins, the plugins aren’t what make the SEO, it’s the person who is typing the information in. The SEO plugins aren’t to do the work for us, but to make it easier. Yoast is a great tool, but the tool is only as good as the information going in it.
Hopefully that helped for you to understand a little more about the link building and SEO services you are receiving. I’d love to hear what you thought in the comment section below. Of course, should you be interested in my search engine optimization services or having a consultation so I can teach you the how and why, I’d love to be of service, just contact me and we can get to it.
~Kristen
I REALLY love your transparency and honesty. Since I build WP websites, I couldn’t figure out WHY that person would need admin rights. I did think when someone did SEO that they would need to get onto the website, but from your post it looks like they don’t have to? IE, the person puts the words in that you create, you actually aren’t in there touching things. Is that right?
I would have to understand what was going on and it is CLEARLY outlined what you are going to do to determine if the keywords and all the optimization is working or if it needs tweaked.
You know a LOT about this subject and I can say that most of us don’t know half of this, so these blog posts are really valuable. I also heard that you should change up your keywords or do additional research every 6 months to see if they are still relevant. Is that true? I would imagine that it is since trends change so much, but I was curious on your thoughts.
Thanks Heather, love the feedback. I have to be transparent, my industry gets highly scrutinized, as you know and plus, it’s so much easier to be open and honest, then there should never be any question, right?
However, YES, to do the SEO that I do, yes we need to get into the site, but for backlinks – linkbuilding, you don’t. As in the post, this person was linking other sites to her site, so there would be no need to log in there.
Lastly, yes, I think that it could only help, not hurt, to review your keywords every so often. Plus, think if you added focus to other things, or if you added services, removed services or changed your business plan? Think of the SEO, the website, the keywords as part of the business plan, since it is, and when you reevaluate that, you should change the pieces of that plan. Also, as you indicated, trends change and you may need to change how you look at a topic. Great points Heather!
Thank you so much for replying. Now I understand what you meant. I’m going to have to put it on the calendar to that. I’m starting my SEO from scratch again since I was told on my other site that my keywords weren’t a good fit. Ugh!
Of course! You are welcome and yes, work on your website every month, not all at once and review just like you would a biz plan. 🙂
Kristen, I love this article! I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t get a solicitation from at least one company or person wanting to sell me bad SEO services. You are so clear on what you do and don’t do and what things are good and what ones should be avoided like the plague! I’ll remember this good resource.
Awww, thanks Beth! I am so glad that you liked it. Do you know… that I still get solicitation from those in my industry. I say, I guess you haven’t checked out my website, because, I offer what you do. Or, better yet, when they CLAIM they checked it out, I can nicely call them out. LOL
So glad it has become a great resource for you!
Your blogs on technical info are the only ones that don’t make me dizzy, although this one was getting close. I asked myself- do I have back links? I don’t know. I know I can’t stand to look at charts, graphs, google analytics that aren’t words.
So happy with our webmaster/coach who is guiding our lifestyle e-commerce site. She keeps her eye on everything and I learned the hard way, it is not a good idea to work with more than 1 in a field. In fact sometimes reading too much info from group members seems contradictory, confusing and not exactly applicable to my business.
You did an awesome explanation of your services.
Thank you Roz and I am so glad you have someone else on your side helping you along and glad I could add additional insight for you! 😉
Great tips! I love your article. Looking forward to reading related articles.
Thanks Lorii
Hi Kristen, A lot of this is gibberish to me…. YIKES! You do a good job at breaking down what is what and helping us understand why we would choose to use one or the other. I feel like it’s so easy to be fooled paying for seo etc. if we aren’t tech-minded. Aside from knowing you, you make it VERY clear that you are here to help your clients succeed. You are very transparent with what you do and I love learning a little more each time I read from you. TY!
Yea, it is a tough market and that’s why honesty is best.. so consumers understand the biz better, we aren’t all bad.
Glad to hear that what I do in these blogs helps you, and others, and that for something so confusing, it makes more sense, thanks so much! Yes, I am in it for my clients, friends, followers and like minded business owners. Thanks for noticing! 😉
Excellent, excellent, excellent! You are right on it with SEO, and sadly, a lot of business owners don’t know what they’re paying for when they hire an “SEO Expert.” I love how open and honest you are with what you do. I know that the service you provide is worth the money and you get it!
They really don’t… if they don’t know, they need to ASK! How else will they learn, and find out about what they don’t know, right? 🙂
Thanks, honesty IS the best policy! Thanks for the compliment! Appreciated
This is the first time I’ve heard anyone address link-building; interesting information. You have done a fabulous job with my website and our mutual client with the services you offer and I would recommend you to anyone. Great work!
Shouldn’t have been the first time Jackie! LOL The link in this blog is for another blog I did on link building months ago! LOL But thank you for the comments and the openness about referring me! YAY
Thank you for sharing the SEO tips….what to do and what not to do. It’s always good to hear from someone who’s experienced it. This will definitely come in handy.
You are quite welcome Lumbie. I hope it will prove to be beneficial in the near future!
As I have probably said before in other blogs I’ve commented on, my eyes glaze over the minute I see the letters S – E – O so link building just makes my head explode even thinking about it. I so appreciate though the lengths you go to for those of us who want to remain clueless but you challenge us not to 🙂
I know got that SEO glaze girl, and you are NOT alone, which is why I try to make them more manageable! Thanks Beth!
Hey Kristen,
I am totally clueless when it comes to SEO, so I’m totally looking forward to reading your posts.
I also am clueless on back links. So, like that woman, I wouldn’t even know what kinds of questions to ask if I were to hire someone. Thanks for such great tips. I know I am going to learn a lot from you.
Lisa
Thanks Lisa and good to see you around again… or rather, to be in another group with you… didn’t realize you switched to another biz. Anyways, glad to help!
WOW! You have a headfull of knowledge here lol I hate to admit, I know very little about SEO. I am certain this is an area I will need to invest in. It sounds like your client is blessed to have you watching our for her! 😉
Awww, thanks Daveda, I try. That client is one of our DIY Social gals but yes, I have my clients’ best interest in mind. Thanks!
This is such a common issue where people outsource something they don’t understand and don’t have a way of measuring whether what the supplier is doing is working. Great advice Kristen. I need to get more done on back linking. I hired a company once before but fired them because they didn’t report on their activities. I don’t believe in crossing your fingers that everything will be okay.
Thanks so much Clive! I appreciate it.. and I’d love to hear your experience with backlinking as well.
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