There are countless reasons why an SEO campaign can fail, but we are only going to talk about 5 today. I’m sure many of you SEO’s have countless stories to tell about how an SEO campaign failed, whether it was your fault or something the client did without consulting you.

But what about the clients themselves? I’m sure they would have a different take on why their SEO campaign has failed. We are not going get into the he said she said babble or start pointing fingers, because more often than not, it is the fault of BOTH PARTIES when an SEO campaign underperforms. While that may seem like a bold statement, if you really think about it, more often than not both parties could have prevented the failure of the campaign. Let’s take a look at the top 5 reasons why SEO campaigns fail:

1. Lack of Communication
   This is the driving force and most likely cause of all SEO campaign failures. Miscommunication can happen on both sides.  The SEO Company can send a document to be approved by the client, then not hear anything from the client for days, weeks, months and what do the SEO companies say? “Well I sent it to them – what else can I do?” Well, there are a lot of things you can do, actually. You can try emailing them again, calling them, calling them again. Call them every day until you get a hold of someone. You have to remember that the client may not understand how important each portion of their campaign really is. The more you contact the client, and the more urgency you have, will help portray this.
2. Lack of Knowledge
   One of the bigger reasons that SEO campaigns fail is because the SEO company doesn’t know a whole lot about what it is their client actually does.  This can fall under the “miscommunication” tab, but ultimately, it is the job of the company doing the marketing to find out exactly what the products or services are all about. It is also important that the SEO company ASKS the client for information so they can learn from them. So if you have hired an SEO company and they are not asking you the basic questions about your business then it might be time for you to find a different company to market your website.

   On the other side of things it is very important for a company to know as much as possible about SEO, primarily the do’s and don’ts. Learn from the company you hire, ask them what they are doing and the effects their strategies should have on the site.  Just having a basic knowledge allows us as SEO’s to get our job done smoother and makes the client more comfortable with the processes of SEO.

3. Lack of Timelines
   This is something that a client should be asking for from a SEO company and a the SEO company should have one for them after the program officially kicks off. The timeline should have major delivery points and strategies, so the client is in the loop at all times.  The importance of this is to have a clear understanding (knowledge) of what to expect from your SEO company at a certain time. This also helps the client realize how delayed approvals on items can hold up the entire program.

   SEO companies (most) have set up optimal times to begin SEO programs for various reasons including seasonality or other factors. Missing these opportunities will result in you possibly not getting the traffic/sales/leads you could have if you followed the timeline that was should be provided to you.

4. Lack of Goals
   • • NEVER PROMISE RANKINGS,
     • NEVER PROMISE SALES,
     • NEVER PROMISE LEADS.

   This is something that needs to be talked about right from the beginning of the contract. “What do you expect to gain from this campaign?” is a question that is often overlooked.  Since many companies fail to understand what SEO really does, this topic needs to be discussed in detail.

   Most SEO’s will tell you that their job starts and ends with driving traffic to the client’s site. We do our work and ultimately it will just provide extra traffic for you. After that? It falls onto how well your site is set up for conversions. SEO’s can help you optimize your site for conversions by supplying some input in regards to what they have seen work and what they haven’t as well as giving some advice on how to help improve. But overall, SEO is designed to drive more traffic to your site.

   If you are looking to increase your sales or your leads TELL the SEO company that off the bat. Tell them that the main point of your campaign is to get more leads and sales and that traffic is meaningless if it doesn’t convert. Tell them what you expect from them so they can have a clear understanding of the goals they need to meet. This also comes back to communication, it is important for the SEO company to state what is feasible and what is not.

   An SEO Company should:

   I know that’s what every client wants to hear but the minute you start promising them results you can’t control is the minute you will find yourself and your company in trouble.
5. Lack of Communication
   Hey, hey, hey, I already said communication right? Well I’m going to say it again IT’S THAT IMPORTANT. If there is bad communication you will struggle PERIOD. I can’t stress enough on how important it is for both parties.

Well I hope some of these have helped. Like I have said when one of these things falls short you are looking at having a tough time showing positive results on a monthly basis. This includes both parties, if a client isn’t responding it is hard to say well I can only call so many times before it becomes mundane and not worth the trouble. This is true but by the end of the contract you will also having nothing to show them and while it might have been their fault for not responding it has hurt your pocket since they more than likely won’t renew. Try your hardest to keep the client as much in the loop as possible. Make them feel that their input really does matter and help them understand how important SEO really is for their company. Here is a graph just to give you an example of how we factor some of these mind you these are purely based off my opinion.