Jason hired what he thought would be a reputable SEO company but it turns out, that SEO company did not deliver on their promise. Or at least, Jason doesn't believe so. So he stopped paying the SEO company. The SEO company then in turn sued Jason for not paying. Jason countersued for not delivering what he felt he deserved from the company.
This is the story Jason wrote in a Google Webmaster Help thread.
We know, there are many bad bad SEO companies out there. But SEO companies that do not deliver upon client expectations aren't considered "bad." The main question here is, can a customer sue an SEO company and win?
Obviously, most of it depends on the contract between the SEO company and the customer. Depending the set of deliverables and terms of the contract, that will likely result in the outcome of the court case.
Most SEO contracts probably do not offer a fine set of ranking promises. They probably do offer deliverables such as ranking reports on Mondays, SEO audit to be delivered to customer by a specific date, follow up with customer on another date and so on. But a requirement to rank the web site in position X is likely something you won't see in an SEO contract.
Even Google's own SEO advice says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
That being said, I am sure many SEO companies have been sued and will be sued in the future.
It is very important to give customers clear expectations to avoid being sued and then to protect yourself with a solid contract if you are indeed sued.
Do you think this client can sue his SEO successfully? Check the details out in the thread.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
Image credit to BigStockPhoto for gavel
