I think where our opinions differ is target market. Based on your website, I assume you help dentists achieve ranking in local markets. This is a much different fight then if you were fighting for organic search position against huge corporations with internet marketing budgets in the millions. It is a different beast all together. High ranking is absolutely possible, but it doesn’t happen with a website check up. It requires ongoing fresh content and a whole internet marketing campaign to back it up.

While page one ranking is achievable and even number one position feasible, it is hard to “guarantee” top position in those cases.

Again, I respectfully take issue with your logic. As a professional SEO helping businesses since 1999 (and today dentists exclusively), I can and do guarantee 1st page positions for my clients.

Your contention that Google alone makes the rules for what individuals may or may not do is, frankly, ridiculous.

As I mentioned earlier, no one, including myself, can absolutely guarantee that a search engine will perform exactly as expected (by the SEO). However, unless my efforts produce first page positions for their most competitive keywords, the client doesn’t pay me. It’s that simple; I’m within my right as an individual to make that claim and my clients appreciate the gesture of good faith.

Forgive me, but you are “standing firm” on a symbolic perception of authority, not truth, reality, and most certainly not based my own and other SEO’s personal experience. Google’s caveat about search engine rankings has, over the years, been directly responsible for helping SEO scam artists defraud and steal countless millions of dollars from website owners.

Same as for any product or service offered by reputable companies, selling SEO services should come with responsibilities and accountability. Intangible and largely misunderstood by the general public, SEO should especially be accompanied by a guarantee for performance; otherwise the SEO is given carte blanche to tell a client anything and steal with impunity.

When you put yourself in their shoes, when you consider their needs first, you’ll begin to understand why I shoulder the burden of risk for my clients; if I don’t perform to the standards of our agreement, clients are not obligated to pay me.

Without a requisite background in Web development and search engine optimization, the layman website owner is vulnerable to deception. To compensate for this disparity, and in the spirit of fairness and responsibility, the SEO professional should provide clients with specific keyword goals for their project, and be willing to back it up with a guarantee.

Targeting a particular goal, then missing the mark, is like buying any other service or product that never gets delivered. If you don’t deliver the goods, then hey, I want my money back. I pay for performance, not excuses. Incompetence and inadequacy doesn’t pay the bills in business. This is why I respect my clients’ needs first, provide them with a guarantee for SEO and why I encourage other SEO’s to do likewise.

If I prefer to guarantee 1st page positions for my clients, I do not need Google’s or anyone else’s permission. Counter to your opinion, this is not theory; it’s simply an obvious fact.

Respectfully,

John Barremore
Houston, TX

I have a client that scores higher than Microsoft on a variety of keywords. We have achieved great success, but I still would not guarantee him placement on anything. We target multiple level of keywords based on priority and we set goals. We then work hard to reach those goals.

In the words of Google themselves “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”

Sure, no person can predict exactly where the client’s website will rank in the search results, whether on the first page, or even less, for a particular # position.

Still, if the search engines do not respond favorably to the SEO’s efforts, the client shouldn’t have to pay for incompetence. A guarantee for 1st page positions (for their most competitive keywords) is the only reasonable assurance a website owner can rely upon to get their money’s worth.

I’m sure it was not your intention, though playing the Google card (“…we tried but Google says no one can guarantee ranking.”) is the hallmark of the SEO scam artist who takes the client’s money and gives nothing in return.

John Barremore
Houston, TX