This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter four of ‘Part 3: Retention & Growth’.
In an increasingly competitive SEO world, client retention is becoming more important than ever. According to a recent Sparktoro survey of over 600 agencies and freelancers, a majority are reporting that their biggest challenge is their sales pipeline and new client acquisition. That means every client lost is going to have a bigger impact on agencies that plan to grow.
So, how can you improve SEO client retention? Well, as a previous freelancer and current agency owner who’s worked in the industry for over a decade, I’m going to share some of the biggest complaints I hear from business owners and what you can do to stand out in such a competitive market. Apply these not-so-common-sense principles, and I’m confident any freelancer or agency will not only retain clients longer but probably close more new business, too.
What is value beyond deliverables?
I’ve talked to a lot of business owners who have worked with SEO companies. In fact, on the GBP Help Community, where I volunteer as a Product Expert, I spoke to nearly 1,000 business owners in 2024 alone.
One benefit of this is it allows me to get a pretty good pulse on the industry and how business owners describe their problems (which I then, of course, incorporate into how I describe solutions). And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, agency reputation is not at a high point among business owners, to say the least.
In my experience, many business owners are unimpressed with digital marketing agencies (generally speaking here). And aside from the obvious horror stories, I think there’s a fundamental disconnect between what clients hope to get and what they actually receive—even from the “good” agencies!
Let’s look at some noteworthy findings from the Sparktoro survey I mentioned. They report some pretty staggering numbers…
When agencies were asked what they expect their biggest challenge to be over the next year:
- 70% of respondents said new business sales.
- Nearly 40% said existing client retention.
When asked how they feel about the current state of the agency world:
- 44% said, “It’s a struggle right now.”
- Just 10% said it’s “healthy.”
So what’s behind all of this? Why is it so hard to sell? And why do so many agencies think it’s a struggle right now?
It’s certainly not because businesses are spending less on digital marketing. Various reports suggest strong growth in digital spending in 2024, and digital marketing investments are projected to continue growing over 10% YoY and will be a $1 trillion industry by 2030.
I’ll tell you why most agencies find it hard to sell right now: the market isn’t seeing enough value from most agencies. Duh!
One problem I see frequently is that agencies try to “sell” the value of digital marketing, in general, rather than selling the value of themselves. And given the enormous worldwide investments in digital marketing, I don’t think anyone needs to be sold on the value of ranking on Google. It’s not 2001, people!
We’re at a time in the industry of nearly complete adoption. It’s akin to Apple trying to sell the value of cell phones. If that was their only value prop, I’m sure it would be a struggle for them, too.
This brings to mind a client who fired their previous agency even though the agency was producing great results.
The deliverables were there, the performance was there, and in fact the price was cheap too. Yet, the client wasn’t happy.
For this particular client, it came down to “soft deliverables” – mainly communication and basic customer service. They also had a hard time connecting the dots between their marketing performance and what the agency was actually doing (and the ROI of it all).
They were fully aware of the value of SEO and how important it was for their business. Nobody had to convince them of how important it was, nor did they need to be convinced they ranked well for some valuable keywords.
What they told me is that actually SEO gains were not a motivating factor for seeking change – that they were more concerned about understanding SEO, ROI, and digital marketing strategies.
So, with that in mind, if I had presented them with a pitch focused on the value of SEO and how I deliver SEO results, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been very meaningful for them.
Instead, my proposal focused on partnership, customer service, communication flexibility, meeting flexibility, how I could adapt to their operating style, what my work entails, and how my work ties directly to their bottom line.
Rather than selling results, I was selling how I could tie my role to results (any results – good or bad).
They ended up closing on a deal that was priced 4x their previous agency – and they’re still one of my happiest clients. They’ve even referred multiple new clients.
I have a similar anecdote: I had another client who, after having strong SEO results, referred another business to me. I wasn’t surprised, given the campaign’s success, but what was surprising is what I learned from the new prospect: the client never even mentioned performance to the referral.
My client told this referral that the communication made it worth every penny and more.
And this was after he had worked with several marketing agencies for over the past 10 years.
I don’t believe these are flukes, either. I regularly hear complaints that clients feel neglected, they don’t understand where their money is going, that their strategy seems generic, they don’t fully grasp what agencies do for them, and they aren’t getting what they thought they were buying.
So, how can you counter these common pain points and stand out?
5 Tips to Close More Deals and Keep Clients Longer
1. Being a Partner vs Vendor
In my experience, most clients aren’t looking for a task rabbit. Many don’t even understand this stuff (that’s why they are looking for a partner). They don’t know what tasks need to be done, which ones will pay off, what’s the best fit for their business, and most importantly, what they mean to their bottom line.
What I see is they are looking for a trusted expert to guide them on the best path forward and explain how things work, why it will work for them specifically, and how to measure the ROI of it all.
Having worked for agencies and as a customer of agencies when I was in-house, I’ve noticed that many operate more like vendors than partners. Whether it’s rate cards, packages galore, or templated reports and dashboards, it seems more like a product than a service—and I don’t think clients are looking for a product. At least mine aren’t.
Because of this, I tend to spend a lot more time one-on-one with clients. Is that scalable? No. However, customer service can retain a client through difficulty.
Vice versa? Not so much.
That’s why partnership and customer-centric values are top priorities in how I do business, particularly when most of my clients are doing local SEO. I know that local businesses meet their customers face-to-face, day in and day out, so weak customer service from me won’t be acceptable.
So, instead of selling effort and deliverables, I sell partnership (which just happens to include some deliverables).
Which brings me to my next point.
2. Stop Selling Deliverables
Aside from selling the value of digital marketing, another common problem is selling deliverables. According to a different agency survey from BrightLocal, over 50% of agencies said that their billing structure is based on deliverables.
Usually it looks like something like this:
- One blog per month
- One backlink per month
- Four GBP business posts per month
- And so on
Sound familiar?
It’s worth considering that, at a time when most agencies are reporting trouble with their sales pipeline, most are also billing clients based on deliverables.
While this might be a case of correlation rather than causation, there are definitely a few issues with this approach:
1. Clients Aren’t in the Market For it
When was the last time you heard this from a potential lead: “Hi, um, so I’m looking for one blog per month, one backlink per month, and four GBP posts per month. Do you have any in stock?”
Right… so why do we sell this? In my experience, clients don’t know what that stuff is, but if it gets them more customers: “then sure?” And that’s a best-case response!
2. It Commoditizes SEO
If SEO is one blog per month, one backlink, or whatever, then why don’t they just go with the next agency that provides that stuff for less?
3. It Ties Your Work to Tasks
That means if those tasks don’t get done, then they aren’t getting what they paid for. So if calls are up 60% YoY, that doesn’t really mean anything if you didn’t deliver your deliverable (aka, that blog).
4. Your Work is Always Aligned Toward Meeting Deliverables Rather Than Clients’ Real Goals
That sets you up for a client who doesn’t see real value in your work because those deliverables were never their real objective to begin with.
I’ve learned this the hard way. It’s pretty frustrating when you’re producing results for a client, yet they’re unhappy because a blog wasn’t completed on time!
I know some might argue that operational structure can prevent the issue of missing deliverables, but my point is that it’s actually quite telling if a client sees a blog deliverable as more important than calls. Clearly, they aren’t attributing my work to the call increase!
And that’s a big problem, which brings me to my next point.
3. Vanity Metrics vs KPIs
The same BrightLocal survey found that the most common challenge clients bring to agencies is revenue not meeting expectations.
Interestingly, “needing one blog per month” didn’t make the list… but I digress.
Aside from undervaluing deliverables, clients also undervalue all sorts of metrics that are important in SEO.
They don’t see value in impressions, traffic, rankings, or any of those metrics (generally speaking). These are all metrics that only matter to marketers.
So unless your client is also a marketer, there really isn’t any value in showcasing it unless it is directly tied to actual KPIs (i.e., calls, sales, etc.). If a client comes to you and says, “Customers can’t find me online,” and you show them a rank tracking report, that actually doesn’t tell them anything about how many more customers found them online.
Let me put it this way: in my previous role, where I worked as an in-house Director of Digital Marketing for a healthcare chain, I reported directly to the CFO. And while I am indeed a marketer who uses all sorts of metrics to perform my job well, I can assure you I wasn’t going to the CFO end-of-year to report how impressions increased by a whopping 300%. CFOs don’t speak that language.
My reports were always tied directly to new business, revenue, and specific attribution year over year, and that’s how I operate with clients as well. While I know impressions and clicks are valuable, my clients simply do not speak that language either.
They speak:
- Phone calls
- Appointments
- qualified leads
- Sales
- Revenue
- ROI
Rankings and traffic are just how you get to the metrics that actually matter.
I know my clients will never see value in a vanity metric, no matter how “up and to the right” or shiny it may look to me or another SEO.
The good news with this approach is you also don’t need to have case-study-level homerun ROI every time. The mere fact that you helped a client implement attribution and tie SEO efforts directly to business outcomes will make your services stand out in a big way! Because that in and of itself is highly valuable, even if performance didn’t end up as strong as you hoped.
4. The Problem With Account Managers
While some clients like account managers, I’ve heard and seen enough of the bad not to have them at my SEO agency.
Don’t get me wrong—some account managers are great! But the term just doesn’t make the most sense in the agency world. It also has a negative connotation for many business owners who are unhappy with agencies (many of whom have account managers).
AMs make perfect sense in the SaaS world, for example. They can help clients make the most of the product and are often a valuable asset since they are experts in it.
That’s the issue I have: in the agency world, clients aren’t looking for a product. Even if digital marketing strategy were a product, then the AM would need to be the person who actually developed and implemented the strategy to be a true expert in that client’s particular “product.”
Clients generally don’t need to be convinced SEO is valuable, nor are they looking for high-level general concepts and the deliverables involved. They aren’t stupid. They might not completely grasp SEO, but most of them certainly know when they are getting blown smoke.
In my experience, what they are actually seeking is a deeper understanding of what exactly is the plan for them, why, what’s next, and whether or not they are getting a return from a particular task (or if it’s just a waste of time).
To some marketers, this might come off as needy, hence the solution of handing clients an account manager so the client knows things are getting done and has a person to talk to.
But that won’t fix anything if the “problem” you are trying to solve via an account manager isn’t even the real problem to begin with.
What I’ve heard from a number of business owners is that they have perceived some account managers as a sort of “buffer” between them and the people actually running the strategy and doing the work. Which makes sense… Because that’s exactly what it is (generally speaking).
This all goes along with point #1 above – clients want a partner, not a vendor. Account Managers seem more like a vendor thing. I mean, it’s even just the name… Account Manager.
I think most of my clients would be quite offended if I referred to them as an “account.”
5. Proactivity vs Reactivity
The last place I want to be with a client is when they are wondering where I am or what I’m up to. In fact, I’d prefer they have as little opportunity as possible to reach out to me first. At my agency, we’re always looking for excuses to talk to clients. I know they are less likely to be compelled from a cold outreach if they are in constant contact with me!
For example, we recently noticed an SEO client was trying to post links in their Instagram posts. We don’t work on their social media, nor have we sold it or even intend to. That said, we decided to create a LinkTree for them and give some suggestions on Instagram marketing best practices. It was very quick, easy, and only cost us a few dollars. And those few dollars very well may end up paying off more than we could ever quantify! You never know when an agency might come along and approach my client with, ” Wow, your current provider never told you that!”
Wrapping Up
Selling SEO is becoming more difficult, which means keeping your current clients is more important than ever. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of business, which means freelancers and agencies can continue to grow if they can better understand their customer’s pain points and deliver more value beyond a deliverable. By focusing on customer service, ROI, and communication, agencies can position themselves to stand out in a crowded market and retain clients longer.
Do you know a freelancer or agency struggling right now? Be sure to share, save, or bookmark this page if you’ve found it valuable. That way, we can all help businesses get more back from their SEO investment – which will build a happier & healthier SEO industry for everyone.
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