Five Situations In Which SEO Will Fail

If you provide SEO services, there are several red flags that should make you want to keep your distance from a potential job.

The goal of an SEO campaign is to achieve high rankings for keywords that will expose the site to its target market and help create new business. However, some web sites are easier for an SEO to work with than others. I've listed some scenarios that may have you scratching your head as how to best proceed. If you've ever had a client fall into these categories, you know how fast it can bring an SEO campaign to a halt.


1. You're Stuck With Search Engine-Unfriendly Content

Imagine this scenario: The client is attempting to reach top position on the search engines for a term that is being competed for by sites with loads of free information, fresh industry news, a blog, and other content appealing to search engines. Your client's site, however, is a stale site designed in Flash with very little content, and the home page is the only page indexed by search engines. Sure, you could attempt to offset the lack of content with an intensive link campaign, but the odds are against you, especially if you decide to use black hat SEO methods.


2. Restrictive Web Publishing or Content Management Systems

Some CMS options are tough on search engine marketers because they are outdated or do not provide enough access to the raw web page code. They can also bloat the page size with poor coding practices and excess scripts. Many people also choose a hosting plan that offers only a simple online site editor. Sometimes very few of the important areas like page titles, H1 tags or the internal linking structure can be modified. Can you convince the client to convert to a new system or hosting provider? If so, great. But if not, you may be stuck putting in additional hours installing SEO patches for the software or hassling the hosting company for better access.


3. The Client is in a Volatile Industry

Stock brokers, real estate agents, work-from-home schemes, or infomercial "gurus" don't always make great long-term clients. Use your judgment when approached by a prospective client and ask yourself some questions:

- Are they trying to succeed in an unstable market? (IE. home loans in October of 2008)
- What kind of presence does this company have in their industry?
- Are there any BBB complaints or has bad press been written about them?
- Do they hide contact information on the web site and in their Whois registration?
- Can I realistically see them as my client a year from now? Two years?

If you're like me, you take that gut feeling into consideration when making decisions in life. The same can apply for business - if something "just doesn't feel right" about someone or their company, then it probably isn't.


4. The Client is Just Not With The Times

The Web has become a very interactive place. In many industries, a web site's search engine ranking will suffer if the company is slow to keep pace with current trends and technologies. As a musician, streaming online audio and an interactive and creative web presence is essential. Someone in real estate needs to offer tools such as a mortgage calculator, buyer's guide, or market reports for their visitors.

In each industry, there is a benchmark set for online resources. If a potential client is years behind that kind of thinking, chances are they won't do much business even if you do manage to get them ranking high on the search engines.


5. Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen

This one is a real pet peeve of mine. If a company has invested thousands of dollars in outsourcing SEO, let the SEO firm do their job unfettered. It can cost the client additional fees if others have access to the web server and unknowingly overwrite optimized content. If your client has a number of people with direct access to web files, have them schedule a meeting to get everyone on the same page and let them know about the SEO process.

If a separate company or individual is handling the design and development of the content first, have an SEO consultant on board during that time to advise on search engine-friendly content creation. In many cases a client will not know that the web designers may not be following the best SEO practices.

Make sure there is a clear and legally-binding separation in the SEO firm taking over development of the content. I had one scenario years ago where I had finished optimizing a client's content only to receive an angry phone call out of nowhere from the old designer demanding an explanation. A client who has developed their web site from several different sources may have designers and web hosts lurking around still with FTP access. The "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario can turn nasty if someone gets overly-defensive about the site being changed.

Search engine optimization isn't always smooth sailing, but being aware of the more common stumbling blocks before hand can definitely ease the frustration. Hopefully these help you in your future efforts.