Should SEOs Recommend or Implement Optimization Changes?

A new study shows that a majority of companies (64%) fail to implement some or all of their SEO company’s recommendations.

According to the study the primary reasons companies failed to implement the recommendations provided by their SEO consultant were as follows:

1. 33.6% - Lack of human resources to implement the change
2. 16.8% - Lack of outsourced IT budget
3. 15.4% - Timing/frequency of update issues
4. 9.4% - Upper management decisions not to implement the recommendations
5. 8.7% - Agency failed to prioritize specific recommendations
6. 8.7% - Lack of agency implementation support
7. 8.1% - Branding issues/restrictions
8. 8.1% - Unpredictable ROI if changes were implemented
9. 6.7% - Other reasons
10. 6.0% - Predicted ROI did not justify such changes
11. 3.4% - Agency failed to educate company on the required resources to implement recommendations

If you look closely at that list, most of the reasons cited for not implementing SEO changes can easily be remedied and eliminated by making one simple change: Hire an SEO consultant that will make the changes themselves, rather than simply submitting a list of recommendations.

For many companies, that's the big issue here. Many SEO consultants simply do not make changes for their client. Instead, they provide a list of changes that the client must make in order for the SEO campaign to be successful. No wonder so many SEO campaigns miss the mark on success.

Let’s look at that list again after removing factors involving the client having to implement the recommendations themselves.

1. 9.4% - Upper management decisions not to implement the recommendations
2. 8.1% - Branding issues/restrictions
3. 6.7% - Other reasons

Reasons for search marketing recommendations not being able to be properly implemented on a site will always pop up over the course of a campaign. Sometimes it’s technological issues with how the site is designed, other times it’s client preferences on how the changes should be implemented.

For security reasons, some client’s refuse to allow outside consultants to have access to their site. That’s fair, and certainly understandable in many cases, but it also means that the client must take on the responsibility of making all such changes and bear the blame if the results of the campaign are less than expected.

This makes a strong argument toward selecting a search marketing company that does more than simply provide recommended changes. Excuses for lack of optimization changes can be significantly minimized and in many cases eliminated when the client gives the responsibility of implementing all the optimization changes to the company that they have hired. This removes the client from the process allowing for faster implementation of more changes for increases ranking results.

Before selecting a search engine marketing company, you need to do a little internal and external research. Are you willing to give the firm access to your site to make the changes necessary that will produce results? If so, select a firm that includes implementation as part of their optimization services. Not only will that save you time and money, it will also ensure that your search marketing campaign can and will be more effective.

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October 18, 2005