Relationships with SEO customers can be difficult and challenging. We want to meet their expectations, we want our cooperation to run smoothly, but we cannot meet unrealistic needs. SEO services are long-lasting, which means that we cannot expect the first effects to take place immediately. Therefore, dialogue with the customer often becomes a daily obligation. It requires knowledge and interpersonal competence on our part. Without this, we will not be able to maintain satisfactory cooperation and successful SEO customer service.

Most marketing activities have a clearly defined beginning and end – so we know when to expect results. With SEO, it’s harder. This is not an email or web push campaign, where we know exactly at what point in time what messages the customer received and what we can expect from them. The situation is similar with Google Ads, DoubleClick, Facebook Ads campaigns. Although they also require time for the algorithms to learn how to optimize them and deliver them to our target group, we can count on the results quickly and after the first week, we can estimate whether the results will be satisfactory.

So how to ensure the right relationship with a customer, who impatiently expects quick results in SEO activities? You can learn about a successful SEO customer service from the following text!

Education, Education And Once Again Education

The lack of knowledge on the part of the customer is the biggest challenge for an agency in SEO cooperation. It is obvious that the customer does not need to know everything from the technological point of view. But it is good if they know the basics. This allows them to better understand the chosen strategy. SEO is an area at the intersection of many skills. So an SEO expert has to be able to explain many of its intricate aspects to the customer. That’s why we should educate and not be afraid! With a similar level of knowledge, it is easier to set strategy and priorities with the customer. Moreover, the cooperation is simply more efficient.

Permanent Communication with the Customer

Thanks to the fact that we are in constant contact with our customers, talk about what we currently do, set priorities together and solve problems, the customer can feel more confident. Lack of knowledge is a common reason for dissatisfaction and irritation. Especially in the case of long-term activities, such as SEO activities, for which the customer usually pays monthly, and the effects of the work can be seen only after the first few months. That is why it is worth talking to and updating the customer’s knowledge. Informing them on an ongoing basis as to what actions we take, when we take them, what stage the specific tasks are on, and so on. Treating our partner with respect, we build trust and foundations for long-term cooperation.

Clearly Defined Cooperation Objectives

In order to know where we are going, what we should care about in first order and what the customer’s priorities are, it is worth defining and precisely specifying the objectives of cooperation right at the onset. Setting annual as well as monthly or quarterly targets together. Thanks to this we know where we are going, but we also have small goals ahead of us, which prove well-thought-out cooperation. In addition, they show the customer the progress of work, if they are achieved within the set time.

A target could be, for example:

• to reach the top 10 for specific key phrases,
• the percentage increase in traffic or users,
• improvement of quality parameters such as bounce rate or session duration by a certain percentage compared to other periods,
• improvement of the Domain Rating, URL Rating, Domain Authority to a specified value.

It is important that the objective is jointly accepted by both sides and measurable. Only this way we can provide successful SEO customer service.

Schedule of SEO Activities

The establishment of the schedule of activities is an important starting point for any cooperation. As a result, both the customer and the agency have established tasks, know the time needed for their implementation and know, when and what to expect. In addition, it can be helpful to ‘tick off’ the tasks performed not only on the side of the agency, where we can motivate ourselves to the next but also on the side of the customer, who sees noticeable progress and knows when they can count on the first results.

The first months of cooperation are usually the most abundant in work also on the part of the customer, who may find it difficult to accept a high price for actions that do not bring measurable value immediately. Therefore, it is worth guiding the customer through all the tasks calmly, so that everything is understandable for both parties.

When creating the schedule of activities, let us take the following items into account:

• description of the task,
• quantity/scope, e.g. 5 blog texts per month,
• the person responsible for completing the task (Agency/Customer),
• deadline.

Learn from Your Mistakes

Agent-customer collaboration is a continuous process in which something can always be improved. If a customer prefers to talk about something once a week during a phone call and have information about what was successful and what was not successful in the e-mail, then let’s adapt to it. If the customer prefers to work with us on its CRM, we should also take over the customer’s working style.

Supposing that the customer does not understand a process, even though we feel that we have already explained it several times, let’s consider why. We may be using too many professional expressions or talking about them too vaguely, assuming the customer has a similar level of knowledge to us. It is worth taking a look at it from a distance, so as not to repeat a similar situation with other customers. That is why we should learn from our mistakes, draw conclusions and work on communication with the customer.

Statuses And Calls for Successful SEO Customer Service

In order to reassure the customer, it is worth leaving an hour in the work schedule monthly for short calls and statuses. Especially when it comes to the technical optimization of a website with regard to SEO. Then it is good to call and explain the meaning of the planned actions. This will be useful for both the company’s management and the IT team, which will work on the basis of our recommendations.

Positioning Is a Long Process

Positioning takes time. And the first effects of an SEO specialist’s activity can be observed only after some time, usually after the first 3 months of cooperation. Optimization of the website itself can be time-consuming. The activities carried out in this first period are aimed at improving the sensitive elements of the website, which influence further SEO activities. We need to explain this to the customer and present the entire process in an understandable manner to provide the basis for productive collaboration.

Lack of a Clear End Result in SEO services

The customer knows when its email marketing campaign is executed in a satisfactory manner. If more than 80 percent of the messages were opened, with a conversion rate of 10 percent, it is known that the campaign was successful. SEO does not provide such obvious measurable values defining success. A website can be optimized and improved infinitely. It depends only on the will and budget of the customer. That is why it is so important to clarify what SEO activities look like, what our goal and schedule are.

The Mysterious Search Algorithm

Nobody knows exactly what criteria Google or any other search engine uses to match its algorithm and get the top 3 positions on the first page of the search results. More than 200 different factors influence the ranking of Google’s search engine index position. Developers talk about many of them, and a lot has been discovered by SEO experts by means of trial and error. However, the importance of each one of them is not 100% certain.

Therefore, if we work with a customer for half a year and the search engine releases an ‘update’ of its algorithm, we are not always able to estimate how it will affect the position of the customer’s website. It is therefore worth informing the customer in advance of the update and prepare for any fluctuations in the position.

Punctuality of Actions

If we agree with a customer on certain actions, it is essential to observe their deadlines and inform the customer what the consequences of the delays may be. Especially, if we optimize the current content on the website for SEO or publish a series of articles on the blog to influence our positions on key phrases. The customer must have full knowledge in this area in order to prepare for the efficient submission of possible amendments to the content or acceptance of the content of articles on the blog. As a result, it will be easier to achieve timely and efficient cooperation.

Better to Ask the Way Than to Go Astray

If you are not sure if the cooperation with your customer is going well, ask them about it! Asking for feedback is one way to show respect for the other party. We show that we care about good cooperation and do not want to waste anyone’s time in case of dissatisfaction, but we want to develop. It is worth asking the customer regularly for feedback, asking for an evaluation of our activities, for satisfaction with cooperation even in the case of smaller tasks. Collecting such small confirmations that we are doing our job well is not only a good signal for the agency, but also a moment for the customer’s reflection. It may be useful when the agency is not doing something well or on time. Then the customer can recall the positive aspects of the existing cooperation and forgive a one-time slip.

However, if we receive negative feedback, we know that this is an area which we must work on. Let’s research, correct and optimize not only SEO websites but also soft aspects of cooperation. It is the only way to provide a successful SEO customer service.

Effective Cooperation – a Win-Win Situation

When we see all the potential trouble triggering points that may appear in cooperation between the customer and the SEO agency, we can also adequately prevent and counteract them. Let us take care of the comfort of conversation and not be afraid of frequent contact. The more both parties know, the better they can perform their activities on their side, working for mutual success. Trust, respect, and dialogue are the most important factors in SEO cooperation. Regardless of whether it is a small ice cream shop in the center of a mid-sized city or a huge e-commerce service operating globally.