Im a big fan of niche web develop/seo companies. I was wondering how many clients can you ethically take on in the same field, located in the same city

[aholyman]

How do niche web development companies justify having multiple clients in the same field  in the same cities. I would love an explanation on how to justify this, and how many clients in the same field/same city is acceptable. A good example would be an seo company for auto dealers or hotels.

Thanks

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Aholyman,

I think it's very good that you're giving this such careful thought. So, if the keywords are identical, then yes, this might be seen as an unethical arrangement, though not a forbidden one (without a contract stating so). I'd take it case by case. Good job giving this such a thorough examination.

[aholyman]

Miriam thank you for your response. I do agree with you, but I don't know if clients will get it, as there are no real variations in keywords. That is to say they offer the exact same thing, however one location could be a vineyard and the other a beach (wedding locations) and that could work arguing that the said client knows where she would like to get married.But would take some explaining to the client.

Thank you

[MiriamEllis]

Hi AHolyman,

I'm going to rock the boat a little here. Unless you are in a non-compete contract with a client that excludes taking on same industry clients in the same city, there is no reason you can't work with more than one. Each client is likely to have different strengths, budgets, goals and attributes, even if they are in the same city. For example, dentist A may specialize in sleep dentistry, while dentist B is excellent with children. Unless you're under an exclusivity contract, I don't see anything unethical about helping them both.

[aholyman]

Kevin I just wanted to personally thank you as well for taking the time to respond. Your points were spot on and everyone has helped me to reevaluate my idea.

[aholyman]

Dave thanks for taking the time to respond, all of you guys have saved me a ton of time and I am very clear that my idea for a niche SEO business would not work how I imagined. The market is just too small which is why it has not bee done before.

[aholyman]

I never would have thought about number #2, but you are absolutely right. Its been so helpful to get everyone's responses that it has saved me a ton of time, and potentially money.

Thank you

[S2RSolutions]

We are heavily involved in the Automotive industry. I can speak from that vertical.

Very rarely (we have never) would you find same brand in same market but you will find competing brands. This is never an issue with us as we usually qualify search with product ("Toyota Camry service" vs "Honda Accord service) and geo.

In cases where the clients wants to focus on generic terms such as "new car" we would advise against that as its too broad a term - which helps us to avoid your valid concern. Our clients get much better results when they focus on their Primary Market Area

If I did run across your described scenario, ethically the only option is to only service the one client unless they were very specific in their focus areas (branding, non-local etc)

[danwebman]

SEO Experts should only have one client in an industry sector.

Unless the client is focused in one Geo location, when you may want to allow 2 or more.

For instance if I search Hotel in Chesterfield, it would be OK to work with a client site to make them #1 in Chesterfield for the search term "Chesterfield Hotels"

However if it's a term like "Spa Hotels" then they may want to be #1 in the UK or even the world.

It all depends on their requirements, however as Matthew says you don't want to be conflicting interests.

[KJDMedia]

Personally I think it's unethical to take on more than one client in the same niche in the same area for two reasons.

1. If your clients are in the same niche the same keywords are valuable to them which puts you in a position where you have to compete with yourself. This means that you're never going to be able to give your clients the best possible service as you're always going to have to make a tradeoff on which keywords you rank.
2. If one of your clients in the same niche leaves, the client that remains has an unfair competitive advantage as you already know exactly what strategies have been employed on the site that is no longer under your control.

What makes this industry interesting is the amount of diversity and new challenges we face on a daily basis. If I were you I'd try to find clients that make your job as interesting as possible.