Logical and Sad Real Life SEO Problems

When I come across this, it’s always a little sad… well… not that much.

Story…

I see a request come in for an SEO Report.

After a little pre-screening to make sure the request is legit, we’ll run the report.

Usually, this request is based on some curiosity on the part of the business owner, manager or marketing person.

Perhaps it is to scratch some sort of itch… who knows.

There are two kinds of reports I run…

• The first picks apart the website in terms of how it is built from an SEO stand-point… Basics like, title tags, descriptions, headers… and the best practices needed to at least be in the SEO running. This report also takes a look at directory presence, reviews citations and competition.

• The other report is simply a score card. It takes a keyword or phrase and a geographic area… think… “Your type of service, your area” being searched for on Google…. and the report pulls a score and that score is basically your search placement.

The health of the number 1 report can usually be on-par with the number 2 report.

Example… if a site and online presence is poor… (scored by report #1)… typically, you’re going to have poor rankings in report # 2. This makes logical sense… yes?

However…

There are times when report one will be horrible. The site has no “SEO Foundation” and everything is out of whack… YET…  It still ranks well.

How is this possible?

The one variable is COMPETITION.

In low-competition markets, the health of how your site was built does not matter much. It can be horrible from an SEO perspective and yet, will still rank well.

Logic… right?

And what is a little sad…  ?

When you run these reports and talk to the business owner who has a horribly built site, ranks well… (because of low competition), but is paying high fees for “SEO.” This person is basically paying for nothing.

Sad… sad.