Online Marketing Blog - Latest Comments in Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:36:53 -0000

That's an interesting scenario you've described George and it makes one wonder, "Where some companies are getting their information from?" Do they play vendors in other industries this way or is it something unique to search marketing?

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

George Revutsky — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:51:26 -0000

Hi Lee -

Our search marketing firm just had a situation like this.

A prospective client wanted us to do a quote for SEM and SEO services. We did the paid search quote, as well as a quote for a site audit, keyword research, and SEO plan plus staff coaching. Pretty standard stuff.

Since the client did not know what phrases they wanted to focus on, it was kinda hard to give a price on executing on the plan that hadn't been put together :)

Anyway, they took a look at the price (which was mid-range)and said, basically "well, for that we would expect you to do the plan, execute on it, and get some results in 1-2 months."

Since they have a page rank of 4, and their competitors are up there in the 6, 7, and 8 range, with a whole lot more high value links, we felt it wouldn't be fair to promise dramatic results in 2 months, on key phrases we hadn't yet settled on.

Anyway, long story short, we talked our way out of the SEO engagement. The hook? They asked us to "supervise" the work of a lower-priced search marketing agency.

Of course, I told them I wasn't comfortable suprvising the results of another search marketng firm's work, but they could come back to us if they want to take a second look.

I have a feeling the other search marketing agency will be calling me for sympathy in about 30-60 days...

best

George

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

darkrule999 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:48:20 -0000

Companies should only hire the most appopriate SEO firm for them. Having one more can result to conflicting results. For instance, keyword research results might vary thus over-highlighting the results made by the firm that comes out on top. This could lead to a highlight to one aspect of the company and a negligence to other aspects that might have attracted search engine queries.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Sarah — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:16:14 -0000

I think hiring two firms works out very well. I has been my experience that in doing this, one agency comes out on top. Normally the company that comes out on top ends up being the agency with the best customer service, teaching attitude, and responsiveness to the business needs. We all can admit some of the top agencies out there can have a little bit of a condescending attitude. We don't maintain these condescending agencies.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Shilpi — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:02:16 -0000

As a lot have been said about the tactical aspects here, I would not go into much technical details but would like to draw your attention towards a new aspect. I believe that SEO, apart from being a scientic methodology of site promotion, is also an art. Every SEO or rather Search Marketer has got his or her own strategy and planning which is unique to himself/herself. No two SEO plans can be the same and every strategy has got its own essence. If more than one SEO firm is hired, the flavour is lost and and as we all know that Search Marketing is not only about higher rankings but also generating more and more business and we do not want to confuse the targeted visitors with our multicolour, multifaceted approach. Right?

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Alan Rothstein — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:21:37 -0000

I have seen it work great but only because one SEO agency worked on local marketing and the other the parent companies visibility However I don't think two SEO companies should share a campaign, too many chances to point fingers if something goes wrong.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Nick Stewart — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:48:02 -0000

Personally I think there is enough free info out there that a firm can have one of their employees learn seo and come up with an seo plan for their company.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Ankit Garg — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:59:05 -0000

Well! I believe that there is very big assumption before one hires 2 SEO agencies. The client assumes that there would be synergy in the system and the output would be much better than their individual works. But for the partnership to work, conducive environment is needed which incentivize both the parties not only financially but also emotionally and professionally.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:14:33 -0000

I appreciate the perspective Derrick, because it is unique and I don't think many SEO practitioners have had the opportunity of the scenario you describe. It does make sense, especially where larger budgets are in place and there's need for high degrees of specialization.

Also, thanks for stopping by! Hope we can earn many more return visits. :)

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Derrick Wheeler — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:05:07 -0000

Lee,

Totally agree with you. Just wanted to introduce a scenario where it makes sense to use more than one. As an agency-side SEO for over ten years, I was involved in the scenario you outlined on many occasions. The most common example was working with a client that hired a design/development company that said they included SEO as part of the design/development process. This usually ended up with a bad working relationship because our role became criticizing their work and usually ended up creaping their scope. :)

Great article by the way. Very thought provoking.
--Derrick

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:42:57 -0000

Hey Derrick, a situation like Microsoft.com will millions of pages and businesses is obviously unique to the vast majority of SEO engagements.

TopRank is one of those agencies engaged by several Fortune 20 companies specifically for link building and social media promotion expertise. However, these were projects or focused on specific segments of the overall business.

The effectiveness of a multi-agency engagement is largely dependent on the client's vision and ability to manage the relationships.

The situations I described in the post are based on smaller companies, $1bn or less, that sought to put peer agencies in competition with each other rather than a "coopetition" situation.

Regardless, the vast majority of SEO engagements need only 1 agency to achieve desired results.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Derrick Wheeler — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:22:38 -0000

Hi,

Bssed on my personal experience, there are reasons to work with more than one SEO company.

Some companies are really good at creating long-term enterprise level, international search strategies. So called thought leaders.

Other SEO companies have really good tools for diagnosing structural and code issues.

Some companies have strengths in link building and social media.

And even other companies focus on helping to hire, organize, and train an in-house SEO team.

It's hard to find one company that is THE best choice for all four of these initiatives. Especially for large complex organizations that have thousands of large complex websites.

It is rare, I'll admit, that a typical website needs more than one SEO company, but using multiple companies does certainly have it's place.

Being succesful at it requires working with companies that have mutual admiration for eachother, a strong sense of co-opetition, an understanding that there really aren't many long-term approach secrets in the industry , and a willingness to put the client's needs first.

Best,

Derrick Wheeler
Sr SEO Architect, Microsoft.com

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Vic McDonald — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:44:57 -0000

Great article and great comments. I can't tell you how many times we "discover" by accident that we are not the only ones at work in link building for certain clients.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:43:13 -0000

Hey Gab, to me mini or micro sites (for SEO purposes only) are a maintenance pain in the ass but then again it depends on what kind of site it's for.

If you're publishing sites to monetize content, then I see your point. If you're optimizing content for a known brand and there is no distinct content or marketing reason for a microsite, it's likely a waste of time.

SEO for lead generation and sales is a very different thing than using SEO for content monetization.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:39:30 -0000

Hi Michael. If there is no "lead agency" designation, we wouldn't bite as the first or the second SEO shop.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

@Michael_Martinez — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:19:13 -0000

So, Lee, just out of curiosity, if you find yourself coming in as the second SEO shop, do you just back out of the deal?

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Gab Goldenberg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:49:38 -0000

BTW, the title of this post is absolutely brilliant :D.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Gab Goldenberg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:48:59 -0000

Depends on the context, imho. Multiple sites can be done with multiple agencies. Minisites too, imho. It's easier getting a link to your homepage than to a inner money page, anyways, which is why I like microsites. Not to mention that exact match domains get a boost in G, per Matt Cutts (for being exact match, in and of itself). Then there's the fact that you get better anchors with exact match domains. Plenty of good reasons to do minisites imho, and I'm a fan.

Depends how granular you're getting though; at one point you're better off letting affiliates mine that longtail for you. 4-5 word phrases? Yeah, no minisite there...

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:51:11 -0000

Hey Dana, that's spot on: Client (or prospect) education is key.

Sometimes companies don't want to hear what you have to say when you are conservative with estimates but it's always better to under promise and over deliver than the other way around.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Lee Odden — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:49:00 -0000

Hi David, I agree with you on the lead agency angle. That works best.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Ankur — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:25:08 -0000

they should hire because it would increase the competition and the work output would of better quality.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

mark — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:21:46 -0000

Lee its depend on the client.if the client does'nt understand the working of seo.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Dana Lookadoo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:15:23 -0000

"Ugh!" Your analysis is spot on!

I worked on a project to advise best practices for ecommerce & SEO. Project manager was an "SEO expert" but actually only new PPC. Client didn't know difference. SEO expert's approach: SEO comes later after 60 days of PPC to identify keywords. OUCH! I spent hours trying to train client so they could understand their decisions, then left project - too many sleepless nights. Site was developed with non-SE-friendly URLs with no keyword mapping to pages. Site has duplicate content issues - working with them again in "repair" mode. AND no landing pages were not discussed for PPC campaigns.

Sounds like client education is key, prior to engagement, to avoid issues you discussed here.

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

Alex — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:03:28 -0000

Dear Lee,
I don't think that companies should heir multiple marketing firms. Targeting and analyzing a definite customer base will increase a company's output and business productivity. This is the main reason, ventures heir marketing agencies. hiring more than 2 agencies might increase database but its not necessary that they will work on same track.It may lead to two different concepts of consumers mind. rather than going for 2 agencies companies should believe in one agency's working and they should emphasis over its proper functioning and whole some work out over customer base.

Regards,

Alex

Re: Should Companies Hire Multiple Search Marketing Firms?

David Mihm — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:29:19 -0000

Lee, I didn't mean to imply that I disagreed with your post (I just re-read my own comment and saw that it did not have the tone that I intended). When you have a large client and two agencies, there is no doubt that the two agencies are almost always going to be working at cross-purposes.

I was just trying to say that there are ways for it to work with smaller agencies, although I would recommend clients START with ONE provider and expand only if that first provider is allowed to recommend whom to work with.