There is a trend recently of people blogging about SEO myths. Links = SEO being a popular one. I wanted to address an issue close to my heart. I was very disappointed to see this article on search engine watch as they are normally a good source of SEO news. While purporting to be “5 SEO Myths to Forget in 2015″ the main bulk of the blog is in fact Kristine Schachinger trying to say that cheap SEO consultants are inherently bad because they are cheap. She refers to cheap SEO firms/consultants as “snake oil salesmen” - which seems to be the buzzword of 2015 if you follow any SEO blogs. Don’t get me wrong here, a lot of cheap SEO consultants are con men who “change a few titles tags, throw up some links, and tweet a bit”. Unfortunately a lot of expensive SEO firms do the same.
It is almost comical how Kristine tries to justify that cheap SEO is inherently bad. Keeping knowledge up to date apparently justifies SEO consultants making north of £100k/year. A surprising amount of more expensive traders charge £1000/month per client and take on at least ten clients. Do the maths. I think the main thing that offends me about this article is that it is not five myths. It is an attack on cheaper sole traders such as myself with moral pricing values. She adds a couple of paragraphs added claiming to be other ‘myths’ but they seem to be unconvincing after thoughts she spent next to no time on. The article doesn’t do what it says on the packet - the content doesn’t match the title which is actually very bad SEO practice.
How scam SEOs work
Your average small business owner is passionate and knowledgeable about what they do. They tend not to have any idea about how to rank well on Google. A lot of firms do what Kristine describes. Fix a few on page mistakes, and if the business owner has created good content they are likely to start ranking higher over time anyway. Google works out they are reliable and able to engage a visitor so over time they naturally rise up the listings. Cheap SEO isn’t the problem here. You are unlikely to find an independent SEO consultant who charges more than £800/month and even those are comparatively rare.
What to look out for with larger firms
Almost exclusively the most expensive SEO consultants work for larger firms who can happily charge north of a thousand pounds for a SEO. They have sales teams, managers and investors all wanting a cut of the money that YOU make. They often train their staff poorly. The one thing I can’t stress enough is that you do need to research your SEO consultant before you employ them. I personally would never advise using an SEO firm over a sole trader. Firms just don’t care enough about the individual, whereas sole traders work hard on building their reputation and are willing to go the extra mile for you. It is rare that a small business can justify spending so much money on a massive firm.
Depending on what industry you are in think about how many extra jobs you need to justify the difference in cost between a good but cheap SEO consultant and a good but expensive one. Even if the big firm does do something better will it actually benefit you? Unfortunately this is all purely hypothetical anyway because I can assure you the best sole traders are every bit as good as a large firm at around a fifth of the price.
Risks of going with sole trader
Going for an expensive sole trader can be risky as well however. It is standard to take on as much work as you can. As you start to get close to the limit of how many clients you can handle charging more can be justified. . When sole traders start to reach their limit of clients they often outsource their work to other firms and charge commission on top like the larger firms. Generally price is a measure of how much work your SEO consultant has, rather than how necessarily competent they are.
What to look for with cheap SEO
So what I want you to take away from this article - know your SEO. If you are employing a firm, make sure you know who will be managing your SEO day to day. There is nothing wrong with getting an expensive SEO consultant as long as they have a very good provable track record. I can’t advise strongly enough to shop around though, cheap SEO consultants who are just as good as expensive ones do exist. I would advise asking what your SEO consultant would do differently to other firms. If they are able to give you a clear reason to choose them over others they are generally worth employing. Remember cheap SEO doesn’t mean bad SEO.
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Updated: March 4th, 2015