I Want My Money Back!
You’ve probably heard it mentioned plenty of times by now, but the question never gets old it seems: What happens when an SEO company “promises” certain results for its clients but then the outcome is less than what was originally expected? Does the client walk away satisfied? Probably not. Do people end up getting sued? It’s a question that seems to be growing and will more than likely continue to be a cause for concern as increasing numbers of businesses and professionals are switching to the Internet as a form of marketing their presence.
So, what to do? Do we continue on in the pattern of thinking that “the customer is always right”? When you hire a professional to fix the plumbing in your house, you expect that at the end of the day, you will get the intended results that you want: ie. the toilet will work again. Therefore, it sort of makes sense that when you hire an SEO professional: ie. an Internet marketing company, you’ll get the intended results that you were guaranteed at the end of a certain amount of time. So, for instance, if you were told that you were going to have n amount of visitors to your site and that your rankings in Google would go up by a certain number, is it then unreasonable to expect results? Are the circumstances different? Some would argue that they are.
Flushing a Toilet is Easy; Flushing your Business Down With it is Not…
Flushing your toilet and flushing your business down with it both have one major difference: one stinks and the other one doesn’t. So, when things don’t work out as planned with your SEO company of choice- if you still haven’t moved up the ranks in Google- if you still haven’t received any leads from all of the marketing ploys- is it then ok to demand your money back? Take the poll below to find out what others think about the issue.
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First and foremost, no decent SEO company should guarantee results. I’ve worked in SEO for 3 years now and that was one of the first things I learned. Simply because results can’t be guaranteed, SEO’s work at the hands of Google and other search engines.
I actually see it as a fault of a client if they aren’t willing to research what to look for (there’s plenty of documents out there) and end up picking a dodgy company. It’s just the same that you would research a company who is going to build your new house rather than just picking the first company you see…wouldn’t you?
I couldn’t agree more, Glen- I think that any responsible SEO company would know better than to guarantee results. However, regardless of what the SEO company tells its clients (or potential clients), I can’t help but believe that there is some sort of disconnect somewhere because many clients begin to get antsy when they don’t see immediate results..even after it’s been explained to them how SEO works..so what else can be done?
That’s a tough call. I guess it depends on how much the SEO company tells them how much ROI they will get. If they promise the moon and the stars then they better deliver.
I personally would never gaurantee results because every market is different. The hard work may turn out well with technology rankings, but terrible for home building. It’s always a work in progress.
Hi Janelle,
I find this to be an interesting poll. I voted “it depends”. Although a SEO company can optimize a site, wouldn’t it also depend on what the webmaster (or author) of that site do, as far as content, updates, and/or behind the scenes?
As for a SEO company “guaranteeing” results. I would advise the client to “read the fine print”.
You nailed it. SEO is not instant enough to be able to guarantee results.
And the rules constantly change as does the environment.
It all depends of agreement between the customer and SEO company. If they have written agreement with guarantees that results will be visible, then everything is clear. If SEO fails to fulfill the guarantee then customer should get money back.
It is not at all obvious to ask back your money, as they do the work they has to do. And it may be due to the content of the website or some other reason that the result is not up to the mark.It is not their sole responsibility and you too have to work from your side.
SEO companies should pay their clients back if they fail to boost site ranks provided the onpage optimization is done by the same company. If someone wants to boost their site ranking on SERPs then it is more advisible to learn SEO yourself instead of hiring companies.