Can SEO Consulting Be Automated?

by Jason Dowdell on March 2, 2010

SEO Consulting Effort - Issue Identification vs Solution Implementation

SEO Tool decreases the amount of time it takes to accurately quantify and prioritize seo issues but also the amount of time it takes to implement seo solutions.

Many seo consultants swear that their job can never be automated because there are simply too many moving parts and variables that have to be taken into account. These same consultants also cite the fact that no piece of software can ever replace the emphasis they place on their client’s business objectives or create custom seo solutions specifically geared towards those business objectives.

First and foremost, there is certainly some truth in what you’ll hear in the seo grapevine. However, there is also a lot of misunderstanding about automation and what can and should be automated. The most time consuming parts of seo are as follows…

  • SEO issue identification
  • SEO competitive analysis
  • Post seo solution implementation quality assurance

These particular areas of seo consulting represent 80% of the work most seo firms deliver. So if a seo consultant claims to have your business objectives as their primary motivation, then why would they spend 80% of your time and money just figuring out what’s wrong with your site?

SEO Consulting is A Lot Like Getting Your Car Fixed

Let’s say Bob takes his Nissan 350z to the local auto mechanic because his engine is making a horrible squealing sound and he doesn’t know why. When Bob gets to Handy Andy (the local mechanic in our analogy) he tells Andy his car is squealing and demonstrates the sound for Andy. Andy says okay, it sounds bad but I have a good idea of what is wrong with it so let me take a look at it and I’ll call you with an estimate of the repair costs. Within an hour Andy rings Bob and tells him he needs a new a/c belt and its going to cost approximately $250.

Bob “sounds great, when will my car be ready for pickup?”.

Andy “She’ll be ready by 4pm today”.

Bob “Alright, I’ll see you then Andy”.

In this analogy Andy is the seo consultant. Andy hooked up Bob’s 350z to his diagnostic machine and gave it a once over to make sure the machine had diagnosed the issue properly, and within 5 minutes he knew exactly what was wrong with Bob’s car. All Bob cared about was getting his car fixed, he didn’t care about how long it took Andy to diagnose it, he cared about the solution and he was willing to pay for the solution.

I think its fair to say that today’s automotive vehicles are a bit more technologically advanced than the average website so if there are diagnostic systems for our cars then why wouldn’t every seo consultant / mechanic use an automated diagnostic system for your website? Well, that’s the question we’re asking people and so are our clients. SEO Tool automates the diagnostic portion of seo so we, as seo consultants, can focus on crafting a unique solution to each of our clients instead of making excuses for why their sites aren’t ranking month after month.

Don’t get me wrong, this post isn’t meant to slam seo consultants (at least not the good ones). We firmly believe the cream will always rise to the top and the top seo consultants are the ones that will get the most out of SEO Tool because they focus on results and know you’re paying them for results, not troubleshooting.

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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Gervais March 17, 2010 at 5:14 am

To the point and written expertly. Getting the lowdown from someone that knows this stuff in-depth is really valuable to anyone that is trying to learn about it.

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SEO June 1, 2010 at 6:07 am

This article is definitely worth saving to the favorites. I read just about everything on this subject and most of it is a re-hash of the usual data. This material is quite a bit different in that the information is up to date and written by an author that is on the cutting edge of the field.

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web design company June 15, 2010 at 4:36 am

Thanks u r information

its very useful

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