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
-
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
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
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)
-
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.
-
Personally I think it's unethical to take on more than one client in the same niche in the same area for two reasons.
- 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.
- 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.
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
-
Local SEO & Google Maps Question - 1 Company with Multiple Google Pages
Hey Mozzers! I'm working with a client who has 2 websites (different URLs completely), which one is for all parts and the other is for accessories only. They have multiple brick and mortar locations throughout the US and have done a nice job creating Google My Business pages for each and all verified. Their question is will it benefit them to create and verify another GMB page with same address, but place in "Suite B", a new phone number and apply the other URLs for the accessories site. The business name would also be different, but similar meaning Business 1 = ABC where as Business 2 = ABC Accessories. Their goal would be to try to have both rank or display to improve their local SEO. In theory it sounds like it will work given NAP would be satisfied within the GMB, but wanted to get the Moz community thoughts on this first before moving forward. Look forward to the replies. Patrick
Local SEO | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
Another local fence company used (stole) one of my images
We have a local fence business in Oklahoma City and one of the other local fence companies took the liberty of using one of our images that I took myself on their website...creating a similar page even. They took the our image from this page: http://www.a-better-fence-construction.com/metal-fence-post.html And used it on their page (2x they used it!): http://fenceokc.com/2016/07/13/all-about-fence-posts/ They didn't even bother renaming the file "metal-fence-post.jpg"! I'm not experienced in what I should do? (I did a google image search and lots of websites are using it...but one contractor locally in OKC is using it and one in Dallas area is also using it.) I just wonder what other people are doing to prevent images being used or if your not worrying about it. Brad metal-fence-post.jpg
Local SEO | | SuperNovi0 -
If I kill off the franchisee websites and create a corp SEO monster...will my Company's SEO suffer? Pros and Cons?
Our 25 franchisees sell one product of our 7 within the Corporate porfolio. We getting ready to release a brand new corp website employing all the best possible SEO practices. Since the franchisee's barely maintain their 3-page website...we are thinking of killing them off. We will create some market pages on the Corp side and continue to use HubSpot to pass along leads to the individual franchisees. Corporate has robust Content Marketing strategy in place. Any suggestions? Cases studies?
Local SEO | | Joseph.Lusso0 -
Benefits of Several Backlinks from same Web 2.0?
If I get several backlinks from same web 2.0 (wordpress, tumblr or so on) will it be beneficial as 1 ? or each backlink will equal? if you say, "will count as 1 cause from same domain" then why don't google give you credit for getting link from 96 DA site? (wordpress)
Local SEO | | Jubaer961 -
Any Recommendations For a Backlinking Company?
I am looking for a good backlinker or backlinking company to hire. I just have too many marketing tasks to do it myself. I am not looking for quantity but quality. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Sincerely, Garret
Local SEO | | eWebify0 -
SEO: Directory Listing Help with Two business locations in different states
Hello! I am in the process of building my second location, and will be moving to Nashville TN. My first location is located in ohio, and I am changing my primary location to nashville, but still want to keep my clients in Ohio... At least for the first year. As for directory building, what is the best option? 1.) Should I create two separate directory listings for each location and then direct www.domain.com to Nashville directory, and then www.domain.com/ohio-wedding-photographer/ to the Ohio listing in the directory? Or do you create one directory and mention I have offices in both Ohio and nashville? Is it bad to have two listings for each location if they have different addresses and phone numbers? Thank you!
Local SEO | | jean78780 -
Showing a preferred Google location in branded search for a multi-location business?
Background: A business has 5 brick and mortar locations, in 5 different states, with 5 separate Google+ profiles. The corporate headquarters are in Michigan. The Michigan Google+ Local profile is the one that should be most closely associated with the brand. Problem: We want the Michigan Google + Local page to show up for branded searches nationwide: right now, it only shows up on geolocated searches in Michigan. Of course, it totally makes sense that the other 4 Google+ local pages will appear for users searching with IP locations (or logged in locations) near those states. But for other states - is there a way to help Google understand or give preference to the main corporate location? What we're trying to prevent is someone in New York City searching for "company name", and then seeing a lesser location appear in SERPs associated with the brand, instead of our favored Michican location. Ideas so far: Continue to enhance out the Michigan location's Google+ page (check categories, photos, description, share content frequently, expand circles, get reviews, yada yada yada - we've already done much of this). _Maybe give this page more attention and content than other locations if we have to? _ Build links into Michigan Google+ page? Ensure general citations are up to date - use localeze/moz local etc. Website - We have a page for each location. While Michigan is featured, we also do promote our other offices as well - all kinda promoted equally on site in terms of metadata, content, etc. Any other brainstorming advice or out-of-the-box (oh no, did I just say "out-of-the-box"?) ideas to help Google associate the Michigan location as our "primary" one we want shown on more generic branded searches, even though of course the other 4 are impt too? Tricky...
Local SEO | | mirabile0 -
Local SEO?
Hello everyone, I've just been through the Moz Local learning area, which is pretty informative. However, a lot of it seems like good practice for general online marketing (mobile friendly websites, goals per page...). I'm new to all this - am I missing the point? William
Local SEO | | Seabrook0