On question I often get is “Do you guarantee the results of your SEO services?” The answer is no, unfortunately I can’t; and neither can anyone else.  Just as you can’t expect a newspaper to guarantee someone is going to respond to an add you pay to place in their paper; same thing. SEO is no different than other marketing services and can not be guaranteed, and for many reasons that may not seem so obvious to the average business owner.

Below are just a few reasons to consider:

1. Search Engines themselves warns about scammers who guarantee their SEO work.
   1. One of Google’s documents expresses, “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a ‘special relationship’ with Google, or advertise a ‘priority submit’ to Google.”
   2. Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines document in the section “Abuse and Examples of Things to Avoid” states, “Most SEO practices render a website more appealing to Bing; however, performing SEO-related work does not guarantee rankings will improve or sites will receive an increase in traffic from Bing.
2. Google typically tweaks their algorithm daily to improve it’s function; therefore SEO techniques must continue to be tweaked to account for those changes, making it impossible for SEO services to predict or control these changes, which can significantly impact rankings and traffic
3. SEO outcomes are influenced by the actions of competitors, over which SEO service providers have no control. Changes in competitors’ strategies can affect search engine rankings.
4. Your business industry and niche can also impact your rankings as they have varying levels of competition and keyword difficulty, making it challenging to guarantee specific results for all clients.
5. Search engines like Google maintain discretion in displaying their updates and changes of their algorithm. SEO service providers cannot dictate how search engine algorithms are designed to rank and display web pages.
6. SEO services cannot control how users interact with a website, such as time spent on website, click-through rates,  conversion rates, all of which affect rankings.
7. The quality, relevance, and age of existing website content can affect SEO outcomes. SEO service providers may not have control over the initial content quality due to their clients’ requests to submit specific wording, etc.
8. Inconsistent link building can effect link-building campaigns due to factors such as the quality of acquired links from external websites and the ever-changing link landscape, making results unpredictable.
9. Effective SEO often requires collaboration with clients to implement changes and provide necessary information. The level of client cooperation can impact results.
10. User search intent can evolve over time, leading to shifts in keyword targeting and content strategies. SEO service providers must adapt to changing user behaviors.

In conclusion, while SEO services can employ best practices and strategies to improve a website’s search engine visibility, the dynamic and unpredictable nature of search engine algorithms, competition, and user behavior makes it impossible to guarantee specific results. SEO Agencies must convey to their client that focus on delivering ongoing improvements and adapting strategies to maximize long-term success is the key to gaining better ranking positions in search engines and needs to be done on an ongoing bases, not just when their website totally tanks. ~Gail Panzitta