Hi all,

We have client A that targets local and statewide search terms related to their industry and they have great rankings.

The other day, I received a call from a new, potential client (client B). Client B is in the same city and the same industry as client A.

I am uncertain how to proceed from an SEO standpoint, as client B will undoubtedly want to target some of the same terms as client A. Is this a conflict of interest for me? Is there a code of behavior that we should follow, etc?

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The phone books sells advertising services to anyone with the money to pay regardless of competition..

You are doing nothing less than that.. Just do your best with each client and let the on page content decide the winner..

erm.... that is completely a NO NO in my world. It is interesting your client didn't have the foresite to have a non-compete in your agreement. I have non-disclosure and non-compete clauses in my contracts and so this is NOT gonna happen with me.

I am pretty sure if you have to ask, yer walkin a thin line. Part of your job is access to sensitive business inteligence for client A which obviously is in your noodle when working for CLient B.

Here is an idea, go ask Client A if it is ok?

While you are technically not required to stay away (lack of a NC clause), I doubt it would enhance our reputation should client A or B find out you ar playing both sides of the fence..

I say it is a TOTAL conflict of interest (and to send Client B over to me... bwaaa ha ha ah ha)....

David has brought up an entirely separate issue of non-competes and contracts..

I disagree totally that this is a conflict of interest in either case.. People in SEO are marketers.. I think that you would be very hard pressed to find your average local marketing outlet that does non-competes..

We aren't talking Coke and Pepsi here..

Marketing would include TV stations (run commercials for all beers and car lots) Phone books, will run an ad for everyone in the area, Radio, billboards, etc etc etc.. All of them will work to the best of their ability with anyone willing to pay them..

Now, if your contract says no compete, you charge more for that.. And I have done that in the past.. The rate for development is $X, if you want to have me not offer my services to other people in your market, then the rate is $XX..

Remember, you are not selling a specific ranking position.. You are not promising to rank them #1.. You are offering a service that will help them rank "better" than they do right now.. And a lot of that ranking relies on their effort as well as your own..

Take a look at all those vertical design and hosting companies out there..

http://www.chiromatrix.com/

They offer site development, content and promotion to any Chiropractor willing to pay..

Interesting conversation.

Would this same apply for SEM?

I don't see why it wouldn't.. In fact, I'm having trouble coming up with any industry that will only work with one client of each type in any given area / field..

Software development doesn't seem to work, web design, any marketing field, architecture, engine builders (Nascar) (Indy Car), brake development for stopping airplanes when they land.. The only time there is non-compete is when the person doing the work is an employee or it is explicitly laid out in the terms of the contract.. And as I said before, that costs more..

In cctech's instance I can only assume that this was never discussed.. And when you are working in local search it really should be discussed early in the project.. But now that he is at this point I see several options..

1. Take the second client and do the best he can for both of them and let Google decide where they should rank..

2. Turn down job #2 and refer him to someone you trust and expect may return the favor some day..

3. Contact client #1, explain the situation, and offer to enter in to a non-compete contract with him for more money.. There are a lot of risks on this one, so be very very very careful with how you approach the original client..

I'm inclined to take option #1.. As a small business you simply can't afford to tell potential clients to "go away" out of some potentially mis-placed loyalty to your current clients.. I don't know the details of the relationship so I can't advise one way or the other on this..

there will be no problem at all if they are the same... now it is all in your hands, how you will go about it to satisfy your clients...

With local SEO you're likely to run into the problem of one of your guys is #1 and the other is #2 for the same phrases. You're up **** creek without a paddle if you don't tell both of them that you're taking care of both accounts and they find out. But then again if you DO tell them, and they are happy with the situation then you're ok. I had this happen for a national account not too long ago. The first call I made was to my existing client. He wasn't happy with the prospect so I didn't take on the new client. But I certainly wouldn't try to hide the fact that you're doing both.

When we did the site for client A, SEO was not in the package, we just included some basic techniques because we're so nice, and we were still practicing. Since then, we have massaged the site so that it now is ranking pretty well. When we have had a significant amount of time, we have billed them for that. So, I suppose it is not really a traditional SEO project in the truest sense.

Client B contacted us after visiting Client A's site, so client B is aware that we did it.


Yeah, as I said, it was not included in the original contract. I kinda morphed into a little of that after the site was completed.


I tend to go w/ option 1 also, but we have a good relationship with the client and so I think it would be a better idea to at least mention it to them so that they do not find out about it on their own.


I thought about this also. However, I thought that at #1 and #2 (or at least first page), both sites would still get clickthroughs and, from then on it is up to the content/design/layout of the site to sell the client.

I guess your left with a reputation management issue in that should client A ever fid out and get pissed, you will have some clean up in isle 3 to do....

In the end, there is no formal SEO contract and no NC agreements, you are safe as far as ethics are concerned. If it were me? If I wasn't strapped fer work I would turn it over to some one else... ( and scrap it out he he...) or at very least inform client A (might get a better contract out of them) and then continue on.

Point being that you need to consider how Client A will react should it ever become an issue.

well, it could actually be in both clients interest ... each time you do some kind of research; you can use the info for both; makes it cheaper for them ... kind of ... so, it really depends on the people, talk with them, try to make them understand their own benefit, if it's in fact possible to get them to rank #1 and #2 easier and faster then just 1 of them on #3 ... everybody happy ...

I've been in this situation a couple of times, lets say for example ive worked on a boxing site that subsequently starts ranking well. Others in the same field visit the site as a result of its new visibility, see my link at the bottom and want the same service.

I've had to make a decision based on each individual situation, if i have a good ongoing relationship with one client i'll turn down the second site.

Problem is, technically speaking thats anti-competitive behaviour. But politics always play a part is business right? don't bite the hand that feeds you and all that..

if client A as paying you £X for 4 hours SEO/ month but client b wants to pay £XXXX for 5 days SEO/month then you need to consider your business. it would be a courtesy tell client a.

imo if client a is not paying you for an ongoing seo service then you are free to provide a service to client b and you have no obligation to inform client a of the new project.

So long as your first client did not pay for or expect SEO services from you, you are technically clear to do as you like, but for the sake of good business relationship I would tell Client A that you have been approached to do SEO on a paying basis for Client B, but that since he is currently your client, you are willing to give him the first bite at the paying SEO apple.

I went ahead and wrote up a long, for me, blog post about this with my thoughts.. It's not much more than I have already said though..

I think non-competes are bad for business, on both sides.. And I think that specializing in a vertical market can be very lucrative for everyone involved..

If you are interested -

http://largeorangepop.com/blog/local-se ... ics-oh-my/

read your blog ...

well, I would indeed talk to both clients and convince them of the benefit for both, assuming that with a double budget you can achieve 3 times better results and so they actually gain 50% ROI ... kind of ...

of course you should talk to client A first, better to have 1 bird in the hand then 10 on the fence ...

This is a very interesting debate.
I personally do not think I would tell a prospect whether or not I offer SEO services to a competitor. If the question is asked then I would tell the truth. My sales pitch would be that if SEO SERVICE PROVIDER A can bring a client offering the same services as a prospect on top of SERP's, SEO PROVIDER A can do it for the prospect as well. Not only would SEO SERVICE PROVIDER A have the knowledge of their industry, but it would prove that it has the skills the prospect needs.
Prospects are given the option to go elsewhere to get their SEO services and still compete against SEO SERVICE PROVIDER A s' client, but that does not guarantee that the other SEO SERVICE PROVIDER the prospect would chose to work with will have the skills SEO A has for that specific industry.
To make long story short, I like the yellow pages analogy.
Also, let's take Google. It offers services to multiple clients that are in the same industry. All the clients compete for the same Keywords. I don't think Google would be where it is if they had to agree on NC agreements.

Basically, the more you pay, the better the results, the better the services, the better the research, the more links we get, the better links we get,...

Wow ths is indeed a very interesting subject. And because I may start a seo business when I'm finished studying, it is good to think about this.

So now we know that this could happen, you can put in your contract that your client will approve that when you are in the situation that a competitor will hire you service, that you are allowed to take it. And when they don't want to sign a contract like this, they have to pay more.

But than the problem can exist that if you sign a contract which state that you will not serve a competitor, that you fail to receive more money then when you did not sign the contract with the first client if the other client has such a big budjet to spent on you that this is a very important opportunity income for your business.

So I should not give your clients the option to sign a contract which results in not serving a maybe much more profitable competitor. And when a competitor of your client wants your service, you tell your first client about this and see what there reaction is. I should tell them the benefit for them because they can profit from the budget of the second client.

When they approve that you serve the other client, that will be good. If not you may calculate whether it is (economically seen) an important outlay cost to take client B in place of client A, if client A wants to break the contract when you take the client B. If the profit that will be generated from serving client B will outnumber the profit from client A and will outnumber the fact that you lose a client that had your trust, you should take client B.

But of course the situation that this happens is very small. for example when starbucks wants to hire you service while you do seo for a local cofee shop. In this case when you serve starbucks this will be an important company to have in you portfolio that will outnumber the fact that you have rejected a "first"client.

Besides this, we should not forget our ethics of course, but that is why you should have to sign a proper contract which will not restrict you for doing seo for another company, so when left out there is no problem or fault on you side.

But when client A don't want you to do seo for client B and if client B has around or a little more to spent than client A, you should not do seo for client B, IMO.

No - do NOT put in the contract that your client will approve of you working with another client.. That contract legaleaze may actually put your client in charge of who you can work for and who you can't.. If you want to keep your options open simply do not give them exclusive / non-compete status..

that was the conclusion, but I admit that the story was a little to long to read everything.