You Get Burned Because of the SEO Industry’s Low Prices

The Swedish SEO industry has, in its early years, suffered from prices that were far too low. That may sound like a business owner’s excuse to squeeze out a few extra bucks, but I’m not the one harmed by those low prices — it’s you.

Let’s start by asking: what’s the difference between a hot dog that costs 3 kronor and one that costs 30 kronor? They look the same — a brown sausage in a white bun, with mustard and ketchup on top. Since we like saving money, we choose the 3-kronor option, but after a few bites, there’s a nagging feeling. Just like in SEO, the difference lies in the content. Everyone who has ever bought a 3-kronor hot dog at a tourist trap knows you eat it at your own risk — and risk is exactly what’s at stake here.

Doing quality work in SEO comes at a cost, and I think you should ask yourself three questions about the SEO you’re doing today:

• What changes have been made (or considered, if deemed unnecessary) regarding the site’s structure, navigation, and internal linking?
• How much time has been spent on titles, headings, and texts?
• What is the quality of the link building?

Many of the cheap alternatives in the SEO industry are struggling today. Some have practically given away their business, others are losing most of their value, and some have fired their entire SEO team. To me, that’s no surprise. Selling cheap is easy. The real question is: how much time from someone truly skilled are you getting for 500 kronor a month?

What happens when you push SEO prices down?

Yes, prices can be pushed — in SEO just like in sausage making. Instead of working on quality texts, one might choose automatically generated content. Instead of carefully crafting titles and headings, one might just stuff them with keywords. Of course, it’s not black and white — there’s a spectrum ranging from nonsense texts and footer links to the supplier’s own site, all the way to teams of skilled writers and real experts. Just like hot dogs come in every quality level, from outright dangerous to filler-packed to properly made, so does SEO.

There’s been a shortage of specialists in the SEO industry for a very long time. And if you’re one of the companies squeezed by heavy price pressure, it’s easy to recruit straight out of school, slap a senior title on them, and send them off to clients. That’s not fair to the employee or the client. That’s why we’ve chosen to put everyone who works with SEO through a two-year period as analysts, where someone else is responsible for the project. Simply because it’s impossible to find employees with enough experience — often not even when hiring from our competitors.

So, my advice is: don’t choose based on price. Or if you do, do it with open eyes. If you really want the 3-kronor hot dog, then go ahead and take a bite — just hope you get away with it this time too.