One question that those of us in the search engine optimization profession constantly wrestle with is whether to provide prospective clients with a ranking guarantee. Many firms will not budge without that guarantee, which makes a SEOs life even that much more problematic.
Forum discussion at Crea8site illustrates the dilemma.
As optimizing websites for the search engines becomes more complex and personalized search options from Google and Bing gain more popularity, viewing success through the prism of search engine rankings alone can be disastrous. The science of SEO has evolved way beyond simple keywords and listings.
Actual traffic and conversions are the important considerations but traffic is the only thing the SEO can realistically do. Without traffic and conversions, your clients will eventually become frustrated and stop investing in their website.
In order to make a SEO firm/client relationship work, each party needs to work in tandem on pricing, rankings, content, service, etc. to get maximum yield from their investment.
Read the forum for more and check out our article in the search engine optimization knowledge center on looking for a SEO firm to grow your online presence.