SEO guy ripping me off
Discussion
I believe my SEO guy that I have been using for my website for the last year has been ripping me off. If I ditch him, will whatever he has been doing cease and will I instantly drop down the rankings? I'm pretty sure he needs to go but I'm worried about dropping down the rankings even further.
MargoSilch said:
I believe my SEO guy that I have been using for my website for the last year has been ripping me off. If I ditch him, will whatever he has been doing cease and will I instantly drop down the rankings? I'm pretty sure he needs to go but I'm worried about dropping down the rankings even further.
If you are high enough up the rankings to worry about losing your current position in what way is he ripping you off?For certain searches with very narrow parameters I rank on the first page around fifth. However I did before I used this guy. I am as high as third in some instances. However I haven't improved in over a year and I am the only business among my competitors investing in my SEO. The point is now it has been a year, I am unsure as to whether the little he has done might be keeping me where I am or whether I would have been there anyway. If the little he has done has been mildly effective will I simply drop like a stone down the rankings?
How much of your traffic comes from Google and how much is generated from the "narrow terms" you rank highly for? This should give you an idea of the worse case scenario if your site drops significantly.
It is a common trick of SEO companies to get your to number one for a very specific term, which looks good, but is so specific no one every searches for it and therefore it generates no traffic.
The other thing you need to find out is what changes he has made to your site, which presumably will remain when he leaves and what he has been doing offsite which are in his gift to remove if you decide to go elsewhere.
It is a common trick of SEO companies to get your to number one for a very specific term, which looks good, but is so specific no one every searches for it and therefore it generates no traffic.
The other thing you need to find out is what changes he has made to your site, which presumably will remain when he leaves and what he has been doing offsite which are in his gift to remove if you decide to go elsewhere.
To really know if he's ripping you off, you need to know what he's been doing. Do you not get monthly reports on changes/rankings/keyword/traffic etc?
I work in the industry, but in house not an agency. If I was paying for SEO help, I'd be expecting to see some reports as a bare minimum.
I work in the industry, but in house not an agency. If I was paying for SEO help, I'd be expecting to see some reports as a bare minimum.
You really need to get someone to research whats currently in place and what effect will take place should the links disappear overnight should he be using questionable methods. Its pretty easy done and will give you a basis of where to take the strategy next especially if its a long term venture. If you need some help hit me up
You'll need a reputable SEO expert that you can trust to spend a few hours looking at what he's done to be honest.
If you've spend less than 12k in the past year on SEO monthly contract you probably wouldn't have a huge amount to show. Even if he was reputable.
The main concern you should have is whether he has been link building and if so what s
t has he acquired.
You won't just suddenly drop off unless someone is upset with you.
If you've spend less than 12k in the past year on SEO monthly contract you probably wouldn't have a huge amount to show. Even if he was reputable.
The main concern you should have is whether he has been link building and if so what s
t has he acquired.You won't just suddenly drop off unless someone is upset with you.
To answer your main concern of could your rankings drop, then yes they could. If your current seo company have been using part of your payment to them to rent links from other sites or as part of a PBN, these could be removed quite quickly. The drop could be in a matter of days as well.
However that said, it sounds like he hasn’t been doing very much seo, or very effective seo at least, if you aren’t ranking high for any keywords which will bring in traffic.
Without knowing what your original contract was for it is difficult to know what you are paying for, if just general seo with no performance clauses then you probably do not have too much to worry about by ditching this company.
However that said, it sounds like he hasn’t been doing very much seo, or very effective seo at least, if you aren’t ranking high for any keywords which will bring in traffic.
Without knowing what your original contract was for it is difficult to know what you are paying for, if just general seo with no performance clauses then you probably do not have too much to worry about by ditching this company.
Like others have said first job is to find out what he's been doing for you? Hopefully you've been getting monthly reports, or worst case quarterly. SEO without regular plain english reports is a bit like getting in taxi and letting the driver pick the destination on the meter (with you blindfolded.)
If it's been mostly changes to the site and depending on how regularly you're adding new stuff too it, then it should be fairly easy to work out what's going on. If it's relationship building to get some relevant links to your site then find out exactly what's going on.
Happy to gives some advice once you get some info, just message.
If it's been mostly changes to the site and depending on how regularly you're adding new stuff too it, then it should be fairly easy to work out what's going on. If it's relationship building to get some relevant links to your site then find out exactly what's going on.
Happy to gives some advice once you get some info, just message.
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