Client with Very Very Bad Onsite SEO

[runnerkik]

So one of my clients has a really really bad website from the technical perspective.  I am talking over 75k in violations and warnings.  Granted, the tagging is done well but any other SEO violation you can think of is occurring.  In any case, they are building a new website, and I am on a retainer for a couple hours a week to do some link building.  I am feeling like I am not getting anywhere.  What is your advice?  Should I keep on keeping on or advice the client to put SEO on hold until the technical issues are resolved.  I feel like all of this link building isn't having the value that it could have with a site like this.

[earlyadopter]

Let me explain you with the help of an example. Let's suppose, if you meet a person. Apparently, he looks really good. He is well dressed, healthy, smart and gives a first impression of being perfectly fine. You will notice that not only you but other people are also attracted and feel good to be associated with him just like you. He is attractive enough to make everyone his admirer BUT, from deep inside, he is completely shattered and mentally upset. There is a lot of destruction going on within himself but he is not showing it off to other people. From outside, he is great but from inside, he is broken. Do you think that person can even think of becoming someone friend and help him/her out of his problems? Can you think of any kind of support from him coming in to you? Definitely not! He himself in desperate need of help to be repaired and integrated. He is good for nothing but yes, seemingly, you may think absolutely the other way but the fact is you are being cheated. A good disguise doesn’t necessarily have to be true.

Your client’s website has exactly the same story. It looks good from outside but technically, it’s broken. I’ll advice you to discuss everything openly with your client. I am afraid you are going to lose your repute and goodwill at the end of the day.

[danatanseo]

Hi runnerkik,

Wow, when I read your question all I could think was "I'm not alone!" Seriously, I am with you sister. I was hired as an in-house SEO in September 2011 for a medium-sized audio-video equipment retailer. After building an unrelated niche site for them (which has kick butt rankings and almost no technical SEO problems) I transistioned over to begin working on the main site.

At every turn, it's a technical SEO nightmare. I spent a couple of months building links and traffic started to increase, and increase. Great right? No. Our organic traffic is up 45% year over year. I had a choice. I could approach it with the attitude of "great, organic traffic is up, I'm doing a great job." On the other hand, our conversion rate is plummeting, due largely to sever technical issues that no one is willing to acknowledge as serious, or even worth fixing.  Our organic traffic is up 45% but our conversion rate is down 50%. All that means to me is that all this link-building is me spinning my wheels. Why bust my butt delivering traffic if it's not converting?

I have literally gotten to the point where I am considering paying for the technical audit and remedies out of my own pocket. (Not that I'm recommending that by any means).

My suggestion, is gather as much serious data as you possibly can. Include point by point, the problem, the remedy, the cost for the remedy, how long the remedy will take, and the potential/estimated ROI from the remedy. This is exactly how I'm going to have to approach this. I don't just have to sell it to the CEO, I have to sell it to five owners of the business, all of which have their own agendas.

Money talks. You have to put the technical problems of the website into money terms and your presentation of that has to be 100% believable (i.e. supported by real data, not just emotion).

I think your situation (and mine) are an example of current and future SEO and what we as SEOs must all be able to present and improve upon at the companies we are trying to help.

I'd love to know hoe this goes. Please let me know how you proceed. I have basically just had to learn technical SEO in order to convince my company where the real problems are and how and why those are undermining any link building activities I do.

Good luck!

Dana

[CoreyNorthcutt]

Definitely been here.

One thing that they'll definitely need to realize right away is that they probably won't gain any ground in Google until after their on-page webspam is fixed.  Potentially long after.

If their site still provides a good user experience though, and they're up for it, I'd say sure, build some great links.  Get some product reviews out there, put them in niche directories, place some killer guest posts.  Those pieces are always valuable in terms of the residual referral traffic and brand perceptions anyway, and the added authority will still be there/helpful when once their on-page SEO is palatable.

If your agreement with them is short-term, though, or they aren't willing to continue budgeting for anything other than what yields SEO results, I also might consider pausing the agreement.   If you're an independent SEO (as your profile suggests), these situations can be particularly tough, as the client may not necessarily have a huge vote of confidence in giving you the time that's needed to really help work their company through this .  Even then, there are going to be clients that aren't patient or trusting enough to let you help them through these things.  I've seen plenty that would just as well dump their SEO after hearing that and hire a few more spammers.

If they won't accept either of the two options above, it may be time for you to part ways.  Those scenarios are really the most frustrating, because there will probably be no time that they need someone like you more.  But I'd consider all of the above when you talk to them about this and make the best decision that you can.