Based on comments from a number of website owners and people who were unfortunate enough to have had bad experiences with SEO consultants, I believe that many potential clients are doubtful of the value of SEO to their businesses.
No doubt this stigma attached to SEO has arisen from consultants who:
- Sell themselves as SEO experts but have little knowledge or understanding or
- Use ‘black hat’ or dubious techniques to increase their clients ranking or
- Promise more than they can deliver or
- Hide behind SEO being a ‘black art’ rather than a process or
- Claim for more hours than they spend.
This bad perception of SEO does little to help the SEO professionals who do not fit into any of the categories above.
How then can we change this perception? Is there some way of exposing the fraudulent SEO practitioners? Do we need to create a new name for SEO? or is it all about educating the client base?