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What do you do when you have an SEO client but they refuse to give you access to their servers and do not act upon recommendations that you're giving nearly blindly since you have no access to their statistics?
It depends on how you approach the client when offering services. Before a contract is signed, it's ideal to tell the client that you will need full access up front.
Since there is no right answer to the question, though, you should be sure not to guarantee rankings, especially when you cannot see how well they're doing from your efforts. You might want to eventually approach the client and say "it doesn't feel right" that you're taking their money and not able to make the suggested changes.
Some clients won't give you the access. In that case, the business relationship is probably not a healthy one. You need do what's right for you.
Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forum.
Comments:
Don Draper
03/25/2008 01:54 pm
It's not just SEOs that have to take access issues into consideration. Access to equipment, data, etc should be a key part of the contract. I got burned on that once, and ever since have made sure the client understands that we're on the clock even if we're just waiting for their sysadmin to do something because they won't let us have the root password.
Paul Burani
03/26/2008 01:26 pm
In my experience, these kinds of clients reveal themselves very early on -- a lack of collaborative spirit can be weeded out early. If they don't trust you, even protected by a contract, they really shouldn't be considered A-list prospects!
Bill Kruse
03/26/2008 03:48 pm
Get other clients. BB
No Name
03/26/2008 06:28 pm
Larger organisations have complex authorisation and change control procedures. We worked on the T-Mobile UK site, which took 18 months post-audit to review the audit's recommendations; all the meanwhile, their site sat around with ~100 non-useful pages indexed. It's hard to maintain flexibility; I think people adhering to an organisation's rule structure too tightly (a result of, perhaps, a foreboding corporate culture) leads to epic failure.
Jignesh Padhiyar
03/27/2008 04:43 am
I don't know what is their problem after all its for their business only.
Justin Seibert
03/27/2008 07:18 pm
2 issues: 1. You need to lay out expectations for communication and access BEFORE signing any contract; really from the first true sales conversation. 2. It's probably not a good idea to guarantee rankings regardless. I don't know how anyone can do that when ultimately, no matter how good you or your team are, google and yahoo could change their algorithms in a heartbeat and you would have no control over it.
No Name
09/09/2008 08:05 am
I have given all access right to my seo consultant.
Vikash
09/09/2008 08:08 am
Ya,that's right. It's major problem when you facing this type of clients