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There are a variety of metrics that you can provide.

1. Increased referral traffic.  If your links are good and are coming from pages and sites that people read, then your referral traffic should always rise.

2. Increased traffic to specific landing page.  If you are targeting the links towards specific landing pages, then their traffic should go up, right?

3) Increase in rank for targeted keywords.  This is easier if the client is long term.  We always tell clients its going to take at least 2 weeks for rankings to increase.  This is my least favorite metric, but it does help clients understand.

Another thing that I have found is that clients need to know as much about where you failed as where you succeeded.  We always provide a list of pending or failed link attempts.  This shows them that the work we do is difficult, helps them understand our efforts.

It sounds to me like what could have been improved was the initial planning period.  If you had helped set expectations from the start, writing down your plans and KPI's you might not have this issue.

That being said, sometimes no explanation is good enough.  If you feel like you've done everything you can and the client is still not happy with your answers, it may be best for you both to go in a different direction.  Nobody wants to give up revenue, but sometimes it is for the best.

If the site is a nightmare then you shouldn't be building links to it yet!  First get the site architecture figured out, and then get back to this.

That might even be the reason why the client is so upset...he might be thinking that you should be focused on getting the site built instead of buidling links to an unoptimized site (and he would be right).

Welcome to SEO

Explaining what we do and why it has value comes with the territory.

Hey Kyle,

My guess is that it is probably a combination of both...Dr. Pete ID'ed Panda 3.7 not long ago, so it may be that you are just doing things right and the algo spotted it.  However,we've seen quite a bit of fluctuation (both bad and good) recently so I would hold onto your horses.  I am telling my clients to do the same, and take everything with a grain of salt right now.

It's doubtful that you are the victim of negative SEO, as you would have seen a spike in links (that is what negative SEO is, they attach spammy links to your site).

Seeing some variation in the rankings is not uncommon...Especially with the recent updates there is going to be an adjustment period.  The rank dropped this week.  They could very well get back on track next week.

Another question.  Did anything big happen in your niche recently?  Maybe there was a big announcement, and that changed the SERP's.  News stories can change the rankings significantly because of Google's interest in providing fresh content.

Also, if you notice in the rankings graph, you did have a previous drop in rankings, only to have it come back again.  So don't panic.  As long as you are doing the right things, you should be fine.

Hi Joel,

I used to spend a ton of time on the Warrior forum.  Every once in a while there is a worthwhile discussion, but mostly people are looking to sell their products.  When I first became interested in SEO, I even bought a few of their guides.  And while they were not completely useless, most of them didn't tell me anything that I could not have learned for free on a blog.

I personally would not pay for being a member of the Warrior Forum.  In the Post-Penguin world, many of the tactics expoused there are not only useless, but can be detrimental to the health of your websites.  Maybe I am painting with too broad a brush, but there it is.

Dude,

The best way to get links is to earn them.

Paid links are against Google's policies, and could get you banned.  Don't buy links.

And before you even start thinking about buying links, make sure that your site is worthy of being linked to.  Then check out this blog post:http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies  And buy this book: www.linkbuildingbook.com.

Unfortunately getting links is not easy, but don't go down the dark road of link buying...no good can come of it.

Good Luck!

The question is, do you see SEO as a service that complements your current product?

Think about it from a branding perspective:

I have an SEO site.  If I decide to sell SEO tools, I might promote those tools on my SEO blog, but I probably would create a new branded domain for the tools themselves, right?  That is why I'd say that you should start over with a new site.

I'm also going to let you in on a little secret.  Very few of the top SEO companies rank for SEO related terms.  This is because ranking for SEO terms simply isn't worth the time and energy that you need to put into it in order to succeed.

Focus on building a beautiful site, writing stuff that people find useful, and providing excellent value for your first clients and you will do OK.

BTW, congrats on taking that leap, here are a couple of articles I wish I'd read before getting started:

http://www.sugarrae.com/seo-sphere/the-number-1-mistake-new-seo-consultants-make/

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/setting-up-your-seo-project-agency-for-success

http://www.seobook.com/starting-new-seo-business-2011

http://www.seobook.com/starting-an-seo-company

Good luck, and if I can ever be of assistance, I'd love to help.

Hi Adam,

What an interesting question!  While this is not really my speciality, I feel obligated to add my .02 cents.  Parts of what the client wants is unrealistic.  Mainly that her article would rank when someone searches the magazine name.

HOWEVER, there are ways to get her articles to show up when people search her, or the specific topics that she covers in her writing.  What you need is to get the magazines to give her the rel=author tag in the online version of these articles.  The expert on this particular subject is AJ Kohn from Blind Five Year Old.  Here are links to a couple his blog posts addressing this topic:

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/author-rank

If your client is a well respected author, these sites shouldn't have an issue implementing the Author tag, but you never know.  It is certainly something she should request before writing in the future.

This also sounds like a great question for AJ, and since I'm going to MozCon, I'll be glad to ask him!

The advice that eyepac is offering you is pretty sound.

Geotarget for US? Check

Hreflang? Check My go to resource for how to do this is http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2232347/A-Simple-Guide-to-Using-relalternate-hreflangx

Using a subdirectory rather than a subdomain is the right way to go for sure.  It allows your authority to trickle down to your Spanish site, making it significantly easier to rank.

What I would add is that translation is a tricky business...so keep the following in mind:

The vast majority of Spanish speakers in Los Angeles are of Mexican heritage.  Make sure your translator is also.

Make them understand that the translation should not be literal.  Otherwise you end up with some terrible misunderstandings and terrible text.

Have someone vet the translation before you put it up on your site.  It could be a different translator, or if possible a current Spanish speaking customer (they will be in the best position to judge whether or not the translation is adequate.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask follow up questions!

Well, sometimes we have to deal with people we don't like.  One of my first clients was a huge pain in my rear.

I complained until my throat was sore, but the fact of the matter is that him being on me made me better at documenting progress, reporting and explaining processes.

Take those lemons, and make lemonade

Good call on the Google Alerts!  Everytime I add keywords to my campaigns, I set up Alerts.  Actually, I use that for link building prospecting as well.

Hi Jason,

Tip No.1 never buy a tool if you don't have time to review the instructions.

Honestly, I got the free version of this software when I was first starting out in SEO, and I found it very cumbersome.  Additionally, it needs frequent updates, and on many occassions you are asked to pay for those updates.  It was because this tool did not give me what I needed that I sought out SEOmoz, Ontolo, Majestic SEO and others.

It may have improved since then, but most of the reviews on Cnet have been mixed:

http://download.cnet.com/SEO-PowerSuite-Professional/3000-18485_4-10920496.html

Hola Chucho!

I took a look at your site, and I absolutely understand your issue.  Do NOT use the Google translate tool, as Google will see this as poor content and might mark you as spam.

My suggestion is that you invest in a translation which shouldn't be too hard since there are many native English speakers who also know Spanish (look for someone who is English first to ensure that the final product will be high quality).

You don't have to do the whole site at once...you could do home page and top 20 linking pages first, and then over time, keep doing the rest.  Obviously that is not ideal because it is going to cost money, but think of it as an operational cost.

My company usually works English to Spanish so I can't offer my services, but if you need help selecting a contractor I'll be glad to help.

www.knowem.com is a username checker.  Their list is very extensive, but as Ben points out, I wouldn't suggest making submissions en masse.  I hope that helps!

Hi Sean,

When you are setting up your campaign, you can designate up to three competitors, and get a bunch of metrics on them.  Once the campaign has been live for a week, you can compare your clients ranks to those of their three closest competitors for as many keywords as you have designated, as well as three search engines.

You can also compare domain authority, and backlinks.  Over time, this can be very valuable because you can track the success of any initiatives that you or your competitors undertake.  I hope this helps!

Glad to hear it...Any chance you could give me a "Good Answer" on this?  It seems like my perspective was helpful, and I'm trying to reach Journeyman status ASAP.

I do know of several examples of small businesses that have been able to get multiple sites onto the first page for competitive terms, but they certainly did not get there by just throwing up duplicate content.

Usually what they do is turn one of the sites into a review site that points to several options, but suggesting that theirs is the best.  However, I tend to agree with the other commenters who say that keyword URLs aren't as important as they used to be and that you would need to have a ton of resources to manage and continue to build the two sites.

But don't put up duplicate images, that is just asking for a manual slap from the search engines.

I'd go with the second option.  First off, from a user experience standpoint, nobody wants to read EVERYTHING. Having lot's of pages means they can choose for themselves.  Also, using multiple pages allows you to create unique metadata addressing multiple keywords.  This gives you a better chance at ranking for long-tail phrases, which can sometimes be more valuable than the so called "money" keywords.

I'm with Joel.  These are all solid ideas that you should follow.  One of my favorites is to look at Analytics and see if there are any phrases that jump out as longtail opportunities.  Then write a blog post about them.  Also, you can create infographs about the applications of heavy machinery, share pictures of your merc on Pinterest (bet nobody is doing that yet!) and generally be TAGFEE, you will be in great shape!

Hi Dimitrios,

The first question is which of the two languages is the most important to you?  That is the one you should prioritize and give the other language the subfolder.  The next question is are the English pages intended for the same country, but in a different language?  if this is the case, then you should also add the hreflang attribute so that Google knows which pages should be served to what type of users.

If you have follow up questions about hreflang application, here are a few resources for you:

http://moz.com/blog/hreflang-behaviour-insights

http://moz.com/blog/using-the-correct-hreflang-tag-a-new-generator-tool

It's not so much that you don't want to wake the beast, but more that the beast will ignore you.  If you have not been warned, most likely you will be told that it was an "algo change" rather than a manual penalty.  For Algo changes they do not reconsider rankings, because that would be manually tweaking something that they had solved with the Algo.  Might be better to just focus on continuing to improve your site and they will find and reward you.

I love that last line...

"By the time I'm done, I want my client to feel like a genius...if for no other reason than they were smart enough to ask me for help :-)"

Do you mind if I use it?

First off, I agree with the advice that Charles has given you.  Keep them all on the same domain!  It means that your DA will help the authority of your pages aimed at other countries.  Now, let me address your other questions:

1. Yes, duplicate content is still an issue.  You can solve it using the rel=hreflang tag.  This will tell Google for what country the content is meant.  For instructions on how to apply it, check this post: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2232347/A-Simple-Guide-to-Using-relalternate-hreflangx

2. Pricing your products locally can be helpful, in establishing your commitment to that market.  I just read this article that could be helpful when thinking about that strategy: http://searchengineland.com/how-international-pricing-strategy-website-forms-impact-global-search-marketing-147265

3. If at all possible, localizing the way things are written will also show your commitment.  We work exclusively on Spanish language projects, and I can tell you that we have to localize quite a bit depending on the market we are going after.

Let me know if you need any more help, I'll be glad to point you in the right direction if I can.

Hi Emarketed Team,

1. Just because it doesn't show up in OSE doesn't mean it isn't indexed/valuable, depending on how relevant it is to your client site.  OSE does not crawl the entire internet yet, although they are getting closer.

2. I have not seen any scholarly studies on this subject, but I did find this blog post: http://www.seowizz.net/2010/07/links-do-not-have-to-be-indexed-to-count.html

Since it is from 2010, I would take it with a grain of salt.  Even the article says that you shouldn't base your entire SEO campaign on this tactic.

So here is what I would do (not that you asked).

• Drop the link into my monthly report

• Move on to the next target

• Would not spend a lot of time bragging about this link to the client

Good Luck!

You should always protect the brand.  But the question is, are their any SEO implications for the work that you are going to do?  
The answer is not much.  If you do an awesome job on you client site, you should be fine.

Well, you should always try to get a mix of branded and unbranded links.  If you can get links to inner pages, that will also be helpful in helping build authority.

Use the tool Screaming Frog to see all your pages, that should help.  Also, the SEOmoz toolset has a function that will show you all duplicate content (if you are a pro subscriber).

Directories like this can help, but they are very expensive (the Yahoo link cost $299 the last time I checked).  I stand by my advice.  Do something awesome on your site before you ask anyone lese to link to it.  
And make sure that the websites you target for link acquisition are relevant to your site.  In the example you gave, construction sites would be relevant.  But not blogs about travel.  Does that make sense?

Hi Emerald,

My response is similar to the one that Chris gave, but I will tell you that we have extensive experience in exactly these types of situations.  It can sometimes take Google 2 or 3 months to index a particular individual page in a different language.

Keep doing whatever your marketing plan dictated, and this issue will work itself out.

BTW, I noticed that you have the reservations marked in red in English (to help conversions) but in Spanish  the reservations are the same color as the rest of the page...Is this intentional?

Best of Luck!