I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.
If you want my team to do your SEO & digital marketing for you, click here.
SEO agencies have been known to not tell the truth. This is an understatement! So many agencies have for years been telling clients exactly what they want to hear and in many cases, this is not the truth.
So I thought that I would tell you 5 facts that your SEO agency will never disclose.
I believe in transparency as the SEO world is plagued by businesses hiding behind the truth while spreading more than white lies.
Although this is not in my interests to do so, I feel it’s important that you should know about secrets to protect you from some of the bad SEO agencies out there.
1) Ranking guarantees do not exist
SEO is about getting you to page 1 of Google and so many agencies will say they can guarantee this to get your business. I have blogged about this so much on this website but still, you find agencies saying this time and time again.
Even Google tells us on their website to avoid agencies that promise ranking guarantees. Or pay on performance incentives.
Why would any agency tell you that they can guarantee rankings when they know it’s a lie?
It’s because the SEO space is soooo competitive and they have to sell their service hard. Plus, I guess it’s what you want to hear, right? People love guarantees and they want to know that their hard-earned money is back up by some form of guarantee. You will learn the truth about this guarantee later when you’ve got nothing but poor rankings.
Unfortunately, with SEO this is not the case, so don’t believe it!
2) It’s all about links and content
While this may be the case over the last couple of years, Google is now looking at other metrics like the user experience, how long people spend on your website and where they are going on the site.
Yes, content and links will get you up there but if your website sucks & people are not engaging with it then it will harm your rankings.
So if your SEO agency is going on about content and links all the time they are not doing their job properly. They have to be looking at conversion rates and constantly tweaking the website for improvements. The secret to better rankings is a bloody good website that impresses the hell out of your clients.
Also read: The Effect of UX on SEO
3) We know what Google is up to and we have Google staff on our team
That’s a lie as no one knows what Google is doing. This is one of the most heavily guarded secrets in the world and if you know what Google is up to then you have to be God. No one and I repeat no one can know their algorithm. If you hear that they also have ex-Google staff working for them, implying that they have some kind of secret window into Google then this is insane. They are just an SEO employee now like the rest of us.
4) Tracking metrics are going to be expensive and an added cost
WOW, this is crazy as Google offers free metrics through its analytics. If your SEO agency says they need to charge you a monthly fee for software to measure your site’s performance, don’t pay it as it’s free.
5) Google just changed its algorithm, this is why your rankings had tanked.
If your SEO agency is doing its job properly then any Google change should not affect rankings. In fact, it should be helping your site if things have been done according to Google’s guidelines. If your rankings have fallen then there’s obviously an issue and the fault doesn’t lie with Google but your SEO team.
There are heaps more lies that you are being told but these should hopefully open your eyes to what you’re being told.
If this sounds too real for you and you think that you’ve been told lies I’d love to be able to talk with you and help get you to get your head around the whole SEO thing.