How To Set Realistic SEO Goals And Expectations For Your Clients

Most SEO agencies have the same problem. Their clients want to reach the top of Google for very competitive keywords in as little as weeks. Obviously, this is not at all a realistic expectation, and no agency should ever agree to deliver such results. If you do agree, you are doomed to fail, as you can't speed up the link building without risking a terrifying penalty from Google. You need to do things slowly as if those links were acquired through natural ways. This is why you have to help your clients understand what a realistic SEO goal is and what they can expect to get for their money.

Ideally, you should set these expectations together. You, the SEO expert, should make a list of all keywords your client needs to rank for, and then assess them regarding keyword competitiveness and search volumes. The terms that less competitive are going to be easier to work on, so you can explain to your client that you are going to focus first on these long tail keywords until you get them on top of the SERPS.

Show your client how old their biggest competitors are, how many links they've got and what authority their ranking pages have. After that, consider the speed at which you can acquire links and calculate how much time you'd need to equal your top competitor. This is the moment when your client can expect to rank as good as this competitor, so any moment earlier than that is only a false expectation.

Make it clear that you can't get too many links too fast, as this is going to trigger a flag, thus putting the website in danger of landing a severe penalty. Some of these penalties are very difficult to recover from, so you should avoid them in the first place. If your client doesn't agree, you may refuse to sign the agreement, as you won't be able to do what they ask you without putting their business in danger.

You have, to be honest with your clients. Never promise something you aren't sure of. Don't let them imagine they are going to see an overwhelming flow of targeted traffic within the first month. As a general rule, it's better to under promise and over-deliver, rather than promise the moon and the stars and deliver nothing but a measly meteorite.