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5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company



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5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company

There comes a time in business when we hit a crossroads when we start to become successful and trying to figure out what needs to be done about our SEO.  Most CEOs will make the decision to either bring on an SEO team so it's in-house or find the best company to do the work on a contract basis.  Sometimes a CEO will have unrealistic ideas of how SEO works, mainly because they aren't familiar with it in general, and that tends to create problems later on when the work doesn't seem to be doing what they had hoped.

If you're a CEO I hope you read through this entire discussion and get a better idea of what SEO is, how long it takes, and how detailed it is.  After you read everything I hope you have the patience needed for your rankings to get to where you wish they would be.  It's not an easy thing, we're not just sitting at our computers and typing up hyperlinks on facebook in order to boost your traffic, so I hope this discussion opens up your eyes a little bit 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company  I've been in your shoes and know how painful it can be to wait for rankings, I'm a CEO and an SEO provider, so I can see this from both sides 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company


Trying to manage what the SEOs are doing will delay results
I understand you want everything to work a certain way, but you need to understand that the SEO specialists working on your project have a detailed plan of attack and each time you try to change something it will delay the results.  think of it this way, would you change the foundation of a house you're building after you have the framing done?  No, because you would have to reframe the entire house and that increases the amount of time before you finish.  The same goes with SEO if you want to change everything in stage 1 and 2 but you're on stage 5, you're going to push the SEOs back and that's not only annoying but it increases the time in order for you to be ranked.

I've had plenty of SEO clients, a lot of them try to do this, and I will give them the explanation above and they will quickly understand that they shouldn't try to manage what I'm doing.  You may have an idea of how SEO works, but you're outsourcing it for a reason, so just let them do the work and try not to manage them.

SEO takes time to see results
All SEO providers know that it will take months before you start to see great results from their efforts.  All SEO providers also know that they will have to do a sort of damage control when you start to get angry because you're not ranked after 2 weeks.

Whenever I have a new client sign up for my monthly services I will always make them sign a contract saying they understand it takes at least 6 months before they'll see results.  I have it say 6 months because that's usually an average timeframe to have a decent amount of traffic coming in after doing dedicated SEO for a website.  Sure, you could see a lot of traffic coming in after just a couple months, but you're an exception to the 6-month rule and you'll likely be a happier client than the ones who take 6+ months.

Good SEOs won't give you a guarantee
Any SEO company that says "We guarantee you will be #1 in Google!" is only saying that so you sign up for their services.  No one will give you a guarantee to be on top of the SERPs because we don't work for Google.  Do you think someone that works for the Google search team is going to accept anything less than $500,000 a month for their knowledge of getting a website ranked?  Yes, half a million per month will likely get you some sort of guarantee because a good SEO team will just hire multiple teams to focus on specific parts of a great strategy, but you won't be able to get a legitimate guarantee from a real SEO company.

We can't give legitimate guarantees because we don't work for the search engines.  Since we don't work for the search engines, we don't know exactly what factors into top rankings, and that means a guarantee is worthless.

SEO companies will take the first week to do research
I get complaints from new clients all the time saying "We haven't moved at all this week!" and not only is it annoying because SEO takes time, it's annoying because good research takes at least a week to do and clients don't seem to understand that.

SEO isn't a LEGO type system where we can just input your domain and keywords into a machine and everything goes right.  We have to sit down and analyze your industry, your competitors, figure out where we can get the best links from, figure out how we can help brand while doing marketing as well as placing a link within an article to benefit you the most.  So if you complain after just the first week of research, you're not going to be happy when you figure out SEO takes months before you'll see great rankings.

Don't expect to rank #1 for everything after the first month
Top rankings are definitely in your future, but they won't be in the first week or even the first month, and some CEOs don't accept that.  If you think it's so easy then you would just do it yourself, but you're outsourcing the work to someone that knows what they're doing, and it takes even them a few months to boost you to the top of the SERPs.

I had a client that signed a contract with me for 6 months and they wanted to break it after just 30 days because they weren't making 5x their investment.  They said that they read something online saying SEO can increase your profits by 5x within 30 days, but they didn't think of how difficult their niche was and how bad their website was designed.  I told them this many times, they changed nothing, and their rankings slowing rose but not quick enough for their own timeframes.  If they had just listened to me and changed a few things or gave me hosting access for me to do the changes, everything would have been sped up and they would have seen better rankings.  Even with all the changes they wouldn't have been 5x more profitable after 30 days, and they still would have been upset, and I hope you're not like that because you'll quickly get annoyed with SEO lol.


In conclusion
If you're a CEO that needs some SEO you need to understand it takes time to do it right.  We need to study your competitors, figure out what works with your niche, see who would be willing to take guest posts and figure out where we can get the best links for your website.  That's just a quick example of what we have to do, so don't try to step in thinking you know what needs to be done, because you'll just push pack the timeframes with every email you send in or every phone call you make to ask us to change something 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company


Remember to follow me!
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey


Thanks!

Tommy Carey

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rlpzbeermoney
In this day and age, I think that people rush to get instant gratification. Instant gratification from work. Instant gratification from school. From our peers. Everyone wants things to get done quick. People want to see results fast. I think that there are some things that need time to grow. In business for example, success can't be done in a month or in a year. And I think this article sums all that.



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TommyCarey
A lot of people will say "SEO isn't a spring, it's a marathon" but that's still wrong. SEO needs to be seen as something you need, that doesn't have a timeframe, and definitely should be done right way in the beginning to show the best results 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company

Too many people give themselves a timeframe of when they think the work will start to show results, and that will discourage them when they don't hit goals, but it's difficult to have a set target time for when you want to rank. Rankings depend on how much you're doing to boost your website as well as how much your competition is doing. So if you're doing just as much as your competitors you won't move much in the SERPs and your timeframes will just get pushed back. CEOs that aren't familiar with SEO won't think like this and they expect to see results from services soon after they're purchased, which just doesn't happen.



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rlpzbeermoney
I watched this Youtuber pay for ads for his just established T-Shirt brand. He gave himself an unrealistic time frame of a day to get at least 1 sale for the sale. Just 2 hours later, he got himself 3 buyers and the commenters were quick to point out the BS. Turns out it was all just a scam and he got exposed a few weeks later. I agree with your point that it doesn't guarantee you sales.



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Martinsx1
Exactly! Most people rush for the easy ways to getting results but from my experience in online business so far, most businesses at least 90% of them that offers immediate successes and benefits are rooted in scams. This is why most of these people who seek to get immediate results tend to get scammed along the way. Good business succees requires ground work and foundation in order to ensure its longevity.



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Corzhens
With SEO work the main issue is the time when the result can be seen. I have read some discussions that their clients for SEO work get disappointed when the results would not be seen in a week’s time. They thought that SEO work is a sure thing and quick in the effect particularly to the traffic of the site. When the traffic is not moving upwards then the client would think that he is scammed.



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rlpzbeermoney
Yes, that where you employ a leap of faith for you site to get traffic. Though there are numbers which you can monitor, most of the time you can't rely on those. As it doesn't translate to results.



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cmoneyspinner
“Good SEOs won't give you a guarantee”.
I like that point. If they give you a guarantee, that's a red flag. You should wrap up the meeting and say “Don't call us. We'll call you.” And never call them back! 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company

Expecting to rank #1 after the first month?

Sounds like a CEO that has unrealistic expectations. What do they want? A miracle worker!



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TommyCarey
Yeah, a legitimate SEO company will never guarantee top rankings but they will tell you that they have ranked plenty of websites in the past and can definitely help you out. I run a full service SEO company and hate it when someone complains because they aren't ranked #1 for everything and then say "You guaranteed me #1 rankings for my keywords!" when in reality I NEVER say that, but I will say something along the lines of "We can get you top rankings, but we can't guarantee it, and this is because we do not work for the search engines".

Some CEOs just expect you to do everything, rank their website in a day, make millions from hiring an SEO company for $100 a month, and in the end, they just hate everything and complain lol. A lot of CEOs I've talked to actually understand what I say when I'm talking to them, and that's probably why they run great businesses, but you will always run into the new CEO of a startup that expects you to give them everything for a few dollars a month 5 things every CEO needs to understand when hiring an SEO company

One of the biggest problems is that the CEO will go online and see other people saying "We guarantee you will rank #1 for your keywords in 3 weeks!" and they expect everything to work like that. When in reality those service providers guaranteeing top rankings in 3 weeks are using a loophole because they will rank a super long keyword in the #1 position and that's how a contract doesn't get voided. They did what they said, the CEO didn't ask enough questions, and now they are "ranked" #1 for their keywords. It may not be the keywords they were thinking but it's still a keyword that could bring them traffic if someone decides to search a keyword that is unrealistic lol.



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cmoneyspinner
What you describe is really a very unethical and deceptive practice. The CEO wasted all that time and money. They should waste a little bit of time and give that company a public review at a reputable site where people look for reviews and customer satisfaction testimonials.



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Youngshark
I think its a wise thing to actually judge the SEO companies by the promises they make. Those who lay out the evidence before promising to overdeliver are the best to opt for. Its better to know that they have a reputation of doing well.



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Martinsx1
Haha, I must give it to you that you are one funny fellow but it's absolutely true what you have just mentioned about the point of a good SEO never giving you any kind of guarantee. It's not possible to predict how the work is going to take form with a whole different variables going to interfere with the work. So, if any guarantee is being given, it only shows that the company already has an illegal way to exploit the system in order to determine when they will get the results needed and using such means will only hurt your business.



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Youngshark
Exactly. Those are the kind of companies that you cross out even before you begin to choose. I have become accustomed to such by living in a corrupt nation my friend. When you see people making all sorts of sweet promises know that thwy already have some background plans in play.



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amelia88
I appreciate that you said it takes time to see results with SEO. So often these days I think people assume that it's easy for success and results to just happen instantaneously, when it's important to remember that it is a process. There's a lot of background research that has to go into the process, and sometimes it's just nice to hear someone else say that success isn't an overnight process!



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Martinsx1
Exactly! You have made a very good point about knowing that getting to anywhere good using SEO takes time to be achieved because a lot of good work is required to get such results. Remember that saying that nothing good comes easy, if it's easy than it's not using legitimate means to achieve the end game and it's not going to last if it comes from using black hat tricks.



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Martinsx1
If you are looking to see immediate results when using SEO company, you are definitely not going to see it because SEO takes time to hold ground. There is no way for you to expect number #1 ranking in Google during the first month because there have others before you in the business using the same service. So, you have to work your way up the ladder before getting to the top spot and it's going to take months before that is achieved.



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Barida
That's it as there are also smart people that are in the same type of business who are working as much as they could to ensure that they rank higher in the rankings every month. However, with the right things happening and determination, there is definitely going to be changes in the first few months.



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Youngshark
The other great thing is that when you land a great deal the SEO will last you for a very long time. You may never notice at first but the best results are the ones which are more durable.



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Barida
That's the truth as when you are popular and ranking higher, your site visitors might just bookmark your website and doesn't need to google again to find about new contents that you upload on a consistent basis as well.



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Barida
Understanding the need to be patient with those that are working for you when it comes to Seo is one of the basic ways to achieve results in the long term. The reality of everything is that you are not going to have it all good when they are starting, but with time, everything will start working fine.



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overcast
I think the best approach for any CEO is to understand what to and what not to expect from SEO. And what are some of the things that can be good approach. And measuring the performance for each one of us is lot different. And we have to understand that SEO companies can't fix your project and the service overnight. And CEO as a first person needs to learn about this the first.



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Youngshark
I agree. Getting the expectations right from the first moment is very important to ensure that zero dissapointments will be had.
Getting to measure their level of experience will enable one to deduce how good the company actually is in the SEO work.



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overcast
Yes and some of the times what happens is that most of the SEO agencies are just creating bad links. And they have bad articles placed which links to your site. So overall it can be really bad in many ways. So you can see that SEO agencies need to get the things done professional way. And that seems to eb the way it can work around.



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treecko142
It doesn't matter if you're the CEO, you should let the specialists do whatever they're doing and give them space to work their magic on a field that you have not much experience on. That's why you hired them in the first place. It's annoying when CEO micromanage everything and want to see results immediately when it doesn't always work that way.



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overcast
I agree with this. Some of the time we have to let the specialist and let them be. And that means you can learn from the process instead. Because CEO needs to limit his work because if he micromanages. Then things would definitely go out of hand. And that's something not worth thinking in that direction. That's what I have learned from the experience.



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treecko142
Yeah, it's understandable for younger CEOs to want everything under control especially when it's their first business, but they really should learn from experience and realize that what they're doing is only hurting the productivity of your specialist, and in turn, your company.



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Alymae
I'm not a CEO but I know someone who is like this. He wants to have instant results which is impossible. I told him that. Most CEO's act this way even in offline businesses. They want what they want.

In this market, no one should expect instant results. First, there are lots of competition. Second, it takes time to research. It would be bad if the SEO won't research. It's a recipe for failure.



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Corzhens
I think the line that says SEO takes time to see results is critical. If the client doesn’t know about it then the SEO company will become suspicious since there are still no results after a week of SEO work. And I think it is only right for the SEO company not to give a guarantee because SEO is not an exact science. It is not really a hit or miss affair but you cannot define the time of effect and the magnitude of results.



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anchoreztin
I own this small start up business but I am not yet comfortable being called as a CEO. Anyways, I was afvice by my business analyst and advicers that it is good if I will be hiring an SEO to boost my company. I recently bumoed into this article and it was a great help for me especially about point number 2. I am now screening applicants and some of them have already said this line "I promise I can make you number 1 in google!" It seems very enticing especially for me a newbie in this world of business bit after reading your article, I am just glad that I haven't hired who said that.



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jaymish2
I agree with this. In the world today we all have the microwave mentality where we want things done instantly. We all forget that Rome was not build in a day. Seo providers also mislead their clients. We all know that to grow organic traffic we need time to build an audience. We also know that the product that you are selling or promoting affects the time frame needed to build an audience. Nothing is a guarantee in the SEO world. It really is like playing the lottery.



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