It seems that everyone wants to outsource their link development. One of the most common reasons people reach out is that they know they need links but don’t have enough time to devote to the process. This is true for business owners, webmasters, marketing managers, SEOs, and even link builders!
With my extensive experience, I feel I’ve gotten a good handle on what makes for a good client relationship. Being a business owner as well, I can see things from the client’s perspective, too—here’s hoping you can benefit from my experience without having to go through a few of the nightmares we’ve been through.
7 Signs That It’s Not the Right Fit for the Client
1. The link team isn’t transparent about what it’s doing. This is the biggest and most critical red flag. Whatever they’re doing, you need to know about it, as you’re the only one who can decide whether it’s worth the risk or effort. This applies to everything in SEO.
2. They don’t listen to your feedback about the links they build. If you don’t like a link and explain why, but they push back without taking your feedback into account, it’s something that probably won’t change. One instance might not be a big deal. However, if you’re unhappy with several links, that is a big deal, especially if they aren’t trying to work with you to improve it.
3. They don’t report the links they build. It’s amazing when someone says they had no idea about the links a past link team built intentionally. We’ve had many clients come to us asking, “Will you be reporting the links each month so we know where they are?” If the link-building team isn’t reporting on the links they’re building, either they aren’t keeping up with the links or they have something to hide.
4. Their efforts aren’t generating a positive ROI for you. Some clients feel that even if they’re not seeing positive results, as long as they aren’t seeing negative results, they need to keep moving so they don’t get left behind. If you’re okay with that, fine. If you aren’t, don’t keep paying someone who isn’t helping you.
5. They don’t come to you with questions, problems, and suggestions. If you never hear from them and they aren’t actually getting links for you, that doesn’t bode well for the future. We have clients for whom everything always goes well each month, and we don’t communicate much other than when it’s reporting time. But with everyone else, we’re reaching out to ask if they could make a content change, or sharing something a webmaster has said that might help make the site better, or anything else that shows we’re actually working.
6. They don’t talk to you about risk. Many clients ask if we can make guarantees, and we always say no. If your link team tells you that what they’re doing is 100 percent guaranteed to be risk-free, they’re lying—even if what they’re doing is supposedly white-hat. If they don’t understand that any site can get penalized, whether manually or algorithmically, they don’t have enough experience to be handling your campaigns.
7. They try to lock you into an airtight, lengthy contract that you can’t get out of if you need to. Lots of marketing efforts don’t immediately yield results, but it shouldn’t take 12 months of link building for you to know whether or not it’s working.
7 Signs That It’s Not the Right Fit for the Link Builder/Team
1. Your outreach response rate is abysmal. We track our response rates for all client campaigns. When the response rate is significantly lower than average, I realize we’re just wasting time when we could be doing a better job for someone else—so I don’t hesitate to end the relationship.
2. You’re getting responses but no links. This makes it easier to see that the problem likely isn’t due to your outreach. It could be due to poor targeting, but generally, it’s because the client’s site is not link-worthy for various reasons.
3. Webmasters say rude things about the client or the site. This has happened with a few clients, and it was painful. Maybe they had a bad reputation. Maybe the site was horrible. Whatever the reason, if you hear mostly bad things about your client or their site, you probably won’t do a good job for them.
4. The client has unrealistic guidelines and ideas about what you should be doing. Usually, I can say no in the beginning when this is an issue, but sometimes a current client decides to completely change everything. That’s their right, but we also have the right to say, “No, that’s not going to go well.”
I’m sure many link builders have had a client send them an article containing information that contradicts what you’re doing, so they want you to change direction. If you agree and it’s possible, no problem. If you don’t agree and it’s not possible, speak up.
5. The client complains about every link you build. Whoever is at fault here is anyone’s guess, but from my perspective, it means we’re not right for each other. You’d think that if a client were that unhappy, they’d just bail, right? Not always. Some are overly optimistic, but they weren’t the ones to walk away. We were.
6. The client won’t tell you what else is going on. You might need to be proactive here, as clients often have other things on their minds. But let’s say you ask something like, “Are you also using other link teams and spamming forums? Because I keep seeing these weird links popping up.” If they are evasive, things won’t go well for you, especially when they get penalized by Google.
7. The client is completely unwilling to make changes that could help your efforts. I love clients who actually listen to my very easy recommendations (like a title tag change). But when I have a client who keeps complaining about getting nowhere yet refuses to implement any of the suggestions I’ve been making for the past six months, I really just give up.
Final Thoughts
No matter which side you’re on, your relationship needs to work well for both of you, or neither of you will be as happy and satisfied as you could and should be.
Considering the fun I’ve had working with certain clients and the satisfaction I’ve felt making them happy with my work, it’s something I’ll always strive for. I’d hate to think that a client didn’t speak up and tell me he or she wasn’t happy, so remember, if you’re concerned, make your concerns known.
