SEO is a constantly-evolving field of study for countless enthusiasts, and a needed element for just as many brands and businesses who wish to maintain a level of influence in search and beyond. Between all of the freelance SEO agents and SEO firms available for hire, someone in need has a lot of competition to consider when picking the solution that is right for them. While price can certainly play a role, most clients make short and long-term decisions on hiring based on other metrics. Below, we’ll explain a few simple ways in which you can ensure that current SEO clients remain your clients for the foreseeable future.

Customize Your Reports

When providing clients with periodic updates on a variety of metrics, many SEO firms and professionals make the tragic mistake of phoning it in. This means simply downloading the metrics from Google Analytics or a comparable analytics suite, and sharing it with the clients. SEO firms and professionals are hired in large part to explain to clients what is going on in terms they can understand. Instead of simply copying and pasting what an analytics program provides, be sure to provide this in addition to a customized report that explains what each metric entails, what is improving, what could be improved and how your actions have affected these elements since the last update.

Be Honest

It is sad that it has to be said, but honesty is a key policy when it comes to cultivating long-term relationships with clients. Pinging URLs to client with false sets of numbers or unreachable promises – whether when interviewing for the job or long after it has been procured – will sooner or later be discovered. Papering over the reality with falsehoods will inevitably leave a gap in performance that will have to be explained at some point in the future: it simply is best to be honest about shortcomings. Clients respect trustworthy workers, even if that means a bit of bad news from time to time.

Know Their Desires

Every client has goals that it would like to achieve. Ultimately, any good SEO professional will factor these goals into the SEO projects and plans he or she executes. Being able to communicate how progress is being made along these lines is vital in maintaining a long-term relationship with clients. Pinging URLs to reports that show how each metric related to goal achievement is improving will give a client reassurance that they’ve made the right decision to hire you. If you fail to properly demonstrate value in this regard, then the brand or business may ultimately decide that SEO is not right for them – or that your services in particular are not well-suited for their goals.

SEO clients want to know that their opinions are valued, that their goals are being met, and that the professionals with whom they are working are being honest. When SEO professionals address these simple yet critical areas of the job, it becomes very easy to combine great skills with a long-lasting and productive relationship between the two.