SEO Code of Conduct - Customer Service, SEOs Shall Not (Page 3 of 5 ) In the area of Customer Service, the SEO shall not: - Misrepresent their abilities, education, success rates, certifications, performance, or affiliations (e.g. affiliations with Search Engines). Many SEOs inflate their abilities as driven by the almighty dollar in order to get a client’s business. But if that SEO is unable to accomplish the task, that client will be not only out their rankings, but their money as well. You should also recognize and understand that there is no industry standard for SEO, and therefore no valid certification in this industry. This does not mean that those with certifications are scammers, but it does mean that you should still hold these SEOs to high standards, and not rely upon the certification to prove they are ethical or proficient specialists.
- Set unreasonable expectations for success, including providing iron-clad guarantees that cannot possibly be reached or maintained, timetables that cannot be met, etc. As much as anyone would like to believe, there is no one that can guarantee you number one results in a search engine results pages. If they do, save your money, and then run the other way really fast!
- Make promises that cannot be kept. Well, we are all probably guilty of this one, and while no one can always keep a promise, in the area of SEO, you will have to know what promises can be made, and which cannot. See the above point, please.
- Encourage a conflict of interest between two clients’ sites which pertain to the same keywords without notifying both parties of the conflict. This is a tough one, and many SEO experts debate this issue. While it is highly unlikely the SEO will be optimizing sites for exactly all the same keywords and phrases, companies certainly can have this problem, as sites in competitive industries such as travel and computer software are all competing for the same keywords. It’s not ethical of your SEO to cross optimize sites that will be competing directly against each other. Some SEOs believe this is okay, as long as both clients are informed. This is a gray area, really, but ultimately it is up to you as the client to decide if this is an acceptable practice.
- Make themselves unavailable for customer support when necessary. An SEO should be available to their clients. You shouldn’t have to pay for support if your SEO cannot provide it during the period of time you’ve contracted them for. This doesn’t mean they have to give you their home phone number. But they should return your voice mails, reply to your emails, explain their methods, and answer your questions!
- Treat one client better than another based on payment, work involved, or any other reason. All clients should be regarded equally, without giving preferential treatment to one over another. This is especially important when there is a conflict of interest in competing sites. It shouldn’t matter if your account is a small one compared to the other site.
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