How to explain to a client that link building doesn't get fast results?
-
I started doing link building for a client 1 month and a half ago. This includes submitting to free directories, social bookmarking sites and also writing and submitting articles to free article websites. Since I only use free and non-paid websites, it doesn't get approved instantly and many links I submitted are still pending review. Now the client is getting all nervous because he doesn't see a ROI regarding my work! I tried to explain to him that link building is just a piece of the cake and especially using non-instant approval free directories, it can take up to several months for each link to be listed (if listed), so it doesn't have instant results! I'm also trying to convince him that he needs to create more engaging content on his website, and also invest more on social media in order to get non-solicited links.
I'm really annoyed with this. Can you SEO guys help me explaining to him why he doesn't see a great ROI with just 1 month and a half of link building and why his website's Moz Rank and Moz Trust decreased and that's normal to happen!? Thanks!
-
And that brings us back full circle.
"Creating links in well-ranked directories using his specific category is still a SEO strategy even after all those penguins and pandas."
-
Why not? Creating links in well-ranked directories using his specific category is still a SEO strategy even after all those penguins and pandas. I advised him to create compelling content on his website and invest on social media and also update his blog frequently with good content. I've told him that link building is only a piece of the cake. If he continues like this maybe I'll have to stop working for him and he might find a black hat SEO professional that gets him the fast results he wants...
-
Point is, he's not going to see any results from you doing "link building" from those directories. The experienced SEO shows disapproval of such a plan by not taking on such a project.
-
Thanks for your reply. Actually, this client came to me wanting for me to especifically do link building trough using directories. I tried to advise him in to doing other things but he only wanted this work. I also advised him that he would need a long time before seeing results and he was fine with that. Now why he has this expectations after only 45 days? Well, basically because he's the type of person that wants results fast. I've told him that SEO is a patience game, unless he does black hat SEO which I don't advise.
-
Sorry about that.
While setting rock-solid client expectations may be difficult for the experienced SEO and the rookie alike, a client coming to you at just 45 days into a project looks like the expectations were more far more on the loosey-goosey side than anything close to solid. That tends to be a rookie mistake.
Also, someone holding out promise that the client is going to get any ROI whatsoever from "submitting to free directories, social bookmarking sites and also writing and submitting articles to free article websites. Since I only use free and non-paid websites" and then asking his peers to back him up on that could be seen as a rookie mistake--either that or the mistake of someone who has been away from the practice of SEO for a good many years.
-
I'm not new to SEO, can you please tell why do you think that?
-
Chris - Nicely said.
-
Sometimes, it's hard to know who may be more at fault: the client who's looking to get their SEO work done so inexpensively that they'll put faith in someone obviously new to the field to do their link building for them or the person who's new to the field that tells the client that they can accomplish the client's goals without knowing much at all about what should be getting done.
I'm with you on the getting annoyed part, blablabla, but you really have to bone up on your SEO skills before you can start dissin' the client for what they don't know. You should take a few moments to fill out your profile, as well.
-
I'd specifically look at the Link Building section of the Beginner's Guide to SEO at http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links. Submitting to directories and article websites may not be the highest quality links that your client could good, and may not do too much to help them.
-
i would cull some info from here:
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
additionally, i would explain the very basic idea of spidering, countered with the size of the job, to explain that ROI isn't going to be an overnight/1 month think.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How much 'ranking power' would a link from a privacy policy page of a Big Brand have if the site content is totally unrelated?
Let's say that Site A is a large brand with high authority ( Moz shows it at 90 DA). Site A is about “Blue Shoes”. Site B is about “fishing”. If Site A links from their privacy policy page to Site B … would that inbound link carry enough weight in a way that could impact rankings for Site B given that the content is totally unrelated and it's a link from a privacy policy? I’m asking if the work to get clients/partners do this help. I have a hypothetical question for you all! Site A is a large brand with high authority ( Moz shows it at 90 DA). Site A is about “Blue Shoes”. Site B is about “fishing”. If site A links from their privacy policy to Site B … would that inbound link carry enough weight in a way that could impact rankings? I’m asking if the work to get clients/partners do this help.
Link Building | | RosemaryB0 -
Get number of OUTBOUND link from a domain ??
Hello I´m doing some link profile audit and I noticed that there are some data that would be nice to know for a proper evaluation. The case is the following: Imagine I have a link coming from a blog, so (besides other factors) would be really great to know how many external links follow-nofollow this blog has. I dont mean external links pointing to them (what opensite gives you), what I would like to know is the total number of links this blog has pointing to other external websites. With this data, I would be able to guess in a better way if this blog is selling links or if is spammy. I would be able to know also how this blog/domain distributes its link juice and if the link gives me some value or if is dangerous. I have found some tools/sites but i just get the number of links a specific url has, not the domain info: Screaming frog (but the free version gives you almost nothing, link count checker, etc... ) Do you know any way to get this data in a domain level? You think this data would be important to decide about keeping a link or taking it out? Why none of the powerful tools of the market (opensite, majestic, etc...) provide this info? Many thanks for your help
Link Building | | AutoEurope0 -
Link building with PDFs
I created a manual for a popular piece of equipment and placed it, as a PDF-file, on my website. The PDF contains a clickable link to the root domain of my website. Other websites have downloaded the PDF and put it on their own website, hosting it themselves. Since Google indexes PDFs, does the link in the PDF count as a regular 'link' from an external website, and does it have comparable value? Can't find any thoughts or studies about this anywhere.
Link Building | | RBenedict0 -
Link Building Paralysis
I have been hesitant to build links with all these penalties and need a few good tips for building good quality links. I have a wedding and photography business and we produce tons of photo content which we: blog - 1-5 times per week Facebook Social bookmark Get our work featured on other sites 1-2 times per month Any other ideas I'm missing? I know their is a ton. Just need some fresh, clean link building ideas.
Link Building | | photoseo10 -
Links built by previous SEO company are mostly 'dead' - will this affect me?
Hi, This is my first post/question in the forum - so apologies if this topic has already been covered - or if the question seems daft! Here's the issue: I have started working on two websites, and have been doing a lot of on-site work, increasing valuable content, etc... I'm now slowly moving onto more off-site stuff and have noticed that a lot of the backlinks to both websites (built by SEO companies before I got here) are 'dead' and simply return 404 errors (yet they still show up in site explorer). I'll be honest, the links aren't great; the SEO companies have taken the word 'relevant' and completely re-defined it in their books! Will these links - from sites that aren't relevant... but are dead - have any impact on my SEO efforts from now on? Or should I treat these sites as a kind of 'clean slate' and work on building the brand naturally through social media and user experience, etc? Also - I'm re-structuring the internal pages of the site... would it be worth re-directing the old URLs (with all the dead in-bound links - that may have suffered a -50 penalty) to the new ones, or just start fresh with the new pages? Any advice, tips or stories to share (relevant ones, of course!) will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Nick
Link Building | | Danapollo1 -
Link building
What is the difference between External Followed Links and Total External Links, why are the numbers different? Should the numbers not be the same? I have a difference of 24 links can anyone explain why?
Link Building | | vendorshop0 -
Market Samurai's Latest Link Building Tool
Hey, Would be interested to see everyone's opinion on the latest software form Market Samurai http://www.noblesamurai.com/as/video/3 It's basically an article spinning & syndication promising to be the 'biggest in the world'. Most things they mention in the video is quite contradictory to everything SEOmoz teaches about link building. What's everyone's thoughts about Market Samurai and their practices?
Link Building | | LukeyJamo0