One Of The Worst SEO Local Optimization Clients Ever

So I should have trusted my instincts on this one which was to tell them to go pound sand!  But even though all the screening I did seemed to pass and the owner seemed very down to earth.  I always make sure they are okay with me making changes to the website, content, and even photos which he replied with "ya, of course, you have full control and that's what I am paying you to do".  However, my gut was turning and I kept hearing in my head don't do work for this guy!  Which knowing what I know now I should have listened.  I explained payment was due prior to work performed and due on the 1st of each month which today was 12/27/20 which he replied "send the invoice" we discussed some more things that were important to him and were HVAC related specifics to SEO (I used to do HVAC & Plumbing) and I explained the process to achieve those goals to rank for those specifics, which ones wouldn't make sense to people looking for the service, and of course a basic strategy.

So far he hadn't complained about the process, didn't complain about the monthly investment, or anything.  In fact, he even paid the invoice before we got off the phone.  He quickly sent me the information and access I requested and we began coming up with an SEO strategy to boost his website as that was what he was mostly worried about he wanted to rank in the entire state as well as pretty much every city in the area.  We discussed GMB but he was using a Black Hat strategy and had created over 20 GMB's with keyword-stuffed names and wasn't interested in investing in something that could be suspended.

Before We Started Our SEO Strategy

As you can see we started with a decent website that was getting around 58 clicks a day and 6,542 impressions.  We began work on his on-page SEO which was a nightmare, to say the least, but finished it relatively quick probably 24-48 hours but didn't report it was finished for at least 1-2 weeks as most clients will assume it only took you an hour and even if they jump leaps and bounds in rankings they will undervalue the work performed.  *tip* While business owners love to be updated on the work performed always wait a little while to send it, otherwise, they will assume that you half-assed the work and de-value it.  

We then began working on our strategy which consisted of using local trends, news, and mentions about the HVAC industry in the area including things such as "how to become HVAC licensed" "the risk of hiring a non-insured HVAC company" and other related things already trending in the state.  After finding some sources that allowed us to post guest posts on the topic and link back to the website, we also created many articles of our own on the blog.  After this was done for the month we then interlinked all the orphan pages and used basically a pyramiding tactic where we used our lower search term articles that only received about 10-50 impressions to the articles that received 100-1000+ impressions.

After One Month Of SEO Work

As you can see for yourself we have made some improvement!  We discussed our accomplishments and where we sat on our ultimate goal and that we had reached the checkpoint for this month.  He was pleased and of course, continued and said he hadn't checked out the work we performed on the website but would later that night.  Which he called me the next day and was a bit worried about some of the blog posts as they were not customer intended.  I explained how they didn't get many searches and we were using them to boost the important pages which he reluctantly agreed and it was fine and to continue.

So we continued using the same tactics and obtaining more links, posting more guest posts, and of course, writing blog posts which then interlinked to our more important pages/posts.  The next month arrives and we send over our reports and where we were at to reach the ultimate goal and we had not hit our checkpoint for this month but as we discussed that it usually takes 3-6 months to see the full results of the work being performed.

2 Months Of Work

We are now getting around 115 clicks per day and 8900 impressions while our impressions dropped a little our clicks went up a little, honestly, we were expecting more but this isn't uncommon.  The owner calls me up a few days later irate and yelling that he knew those F*#&# blog posts were going to destroy his business and his site is tanking and is just freaking out.  Keep in mind he already paid for another month, so when he finally calmed down I explained we can refund this month and go our separate ways "I explained to you earlier it would take 3-6 months to see the results, you haven't dropped from the 58 clicks you were getting in fact you are 1 shy of double the clicks and while those blog posts you dislike because of the topics they receive very little clicks and very little impressions, not to mention during our conversation at the end of the month you explained sales were up around 20%".  He apologized and told us to continue...

I didn't even want to help the guy anymore to be completely honest and once again I ignored my instincts and continued on working.  At this point, we focused heavily on guest posts, links, and pushed what we already had created.

So now we were at month 3

Now he clearly expressed again during our meeting that he didn't feel we were going in the right direction and believed work wasn't being performed.  While looking at the clicks & impressions I could understand why he felt this way and yes I had said you would see results at 3-6 months which technically he had.  Explaining that we needed 3 more months tops and we could easily double the number of impressions and by that time the clicks would be more targetted on his important posts and based on everything he should see a 40-50% increase in revenue.  This was an in-person meeting in which he slammed his binder on the table and called me and another staff member scammers, liars, and thieves!  The marketing manager that was with me tried to defuse the situation and showed him the stats we had from phone calls, clicks, and even design flaws that were fixed by us.  His own accountant (I am guessing that's what she was) was explaining that their revenue had gone up.  He left the room and some of the other people who worked for him told us he was a hot head and to not take it personally.

He returned with a check for 3 months and said he didn't want to hear about it, think about it, or discuss it until we were at the 6-month mark.  We left and continued with the same strategy we had chosen to do and after 6 months we returned to his office prepared to hear about how horrible we are and that we scammed him.

6 months of SEO work

He looked as if he was in a happier mood and at 281 clicks and 19,319 impressions I would imagine he would be.  The lady who did the numbers said they had a 38% increase in profit and he seemed pleased.  Once again I really didn't want to continue working for this guy he was all over the place.  But he had made an agreement that if we reached our goal in 6 months that his investment budget would increase and we would perform another strategy that should give him, even more, exposure and gains.  We had gone through the tough stretch and now was our time to actually make some decent money off this project so we were prepared to do the next phase of work.  That's when he says "now the hard work is out of the way you should be able to do the next steps for less right?"  No, that wasn't our agreement! (we had it all in writing) We have been dealing with your outbreaks, abuse, and irrational crap and now you think we are going to charge less?  "Well.... I...." going to stop you right there we are done here and don't bother contacting us again!

He emailed us saying he had gone with another company that only charged him $120 a month and they already have done more work than we had, even wanted a refund!  I told him to go pound sand.  He left us negative reviews and called our office all the time!  Then about 3 months later he called my cellphone (must have been a real stalker type because I never gave it to him) and explained he would double our previous agreement and pay in full that his rankings had gone way down and the other guys had re-written our articles, changed some CTA's on the website and who knows what else.  I told him you demanded a refund, left negative feedback, yelled, and called us scammers, liars, and thieves there is no way we would ever do work for you again!

I blocked his number and never heard from him again.  Years later a friend of mine who owns a different SEO company called me and said isn't this the guy you did work for?  Yes, it was... why?  He said their rankings were a total mess and said we never answer his calls.  I laughed and said he hired someone else for $120 and was one of the worst clients I have ever dealt with.  He thanked me for saving him a hassle and declined the work.