I’m not sure if my view of what an SEO professional is supposed to do for a client is ‘the standard’ way of looking at things. However, it seems as though SEO has evolved to encompass far more these days than is used to. Back in the old days you had a very defined role, crafting meta data, building links and basically looking after only rankings. What happens after the user has clicked on a result in the SERP, was almost never the problem of the SEO person.
These days, clients expect far more from their SEO consultant. It’s like being the swiss army knife of the internet. The traffic you deliver is so measurable and the rankings so transparent. That if you don’t deliver the goods, your client will start to lose faith very quickly. So having a bunch of other services up your sleeve, will allow you to be able to meet any clients needs.
The make-up of any SEO campaign has changed vastly over the past 10 years. Social media and various other factors, now makeup a fairly large portion of any SEO professionals thinking.
So what do I think every SEO should be providing clients with these days?
- Analytics setup and advice.
- SEO strategies based around business goals. (Not just keywords!)
- Link building.
- Social media strategies.
- Content optimisation.
- Conversion optimisation.
- PPC integration.
These are the basic building blocks of any good SEO thought process. When a client walks through the door, if you aren’t thinking about all of these things. Then it’s likely that your clients campaigns are going to fail.
I guess my point, in a nutshell, is that clients expect more than just a basic SEO service these days. Even if your clients expectations are low, you need to be thinking outside of the square and be developing integrated strategies. Without these, your clients sites will continue to under-perform.
