Jill Whalen wrote a post over at Search Engine Land called “Most of SEO is Just a Boondoggle“. At the end of her post she says the following about a client’s role in SEO:

Client Involvement is Key

Don’t get me wrong, this is not an SEO is dead article. SEO is alive and well if you focus on the things that matter. Part of the problem is that the things that matter are often a lot of hard work that need client involvement, whereas the boondoggles can often be done strictly through the SEO company. Most clients are too busy to get involved, which is why they’re outsourcing their SEO in the first place. But a professional SEO company cannot get long-lasting, needle-moving results for a client that isn’t willing to help.

I think she hits the nail on the head with that. Long lasting results need a good relationship between the search marketer and the client. There are a lot of positive things that SEM/SEO marketers can do for clients without a lot of input from a client, but to keep the results moving in a positive direction there needs to be that consistent interaction.

When clients are involved in their SEO campaigns, it opens a lot of doors. From an on-page stand point we are able to build out a site faster and with better content. We can research and try to learn a client’s business and industry inside and out, but at the end of the day, the client will still know more. They know what changes are happening in the industry, what competitors are doing, new products or breakthroughs. All of that information could be turned into content or used to help build out a website. From a link building standpoint, clients know what the major industry publications are, their partners or distributors, trade organizations, etc. These things can be used to build quality and relevant links.

Search engine marketing takes hard work and long hours, both from the client and the marketing firm. A big key to success is a good solid partnership between the SEM/SEO firm and the client, end of story.

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