Advice about SEO advice

A client for whom I have build a website has hired a SEO company to optimize their website. The company is specialized in the area of the clients' business, and has some sort of no cure no pay policy. They (say SEObiz) get paid a percentage of every new client they bring in for my client (say ABCbiz). They also help optimizing the titles used on the website, do some keyword analysis, set up some adwords campaigns, etc.

Ok so far nothing wrong. But to measure the results of their work on the site (and to be able to collect their share!), they want to be able to measure all traffic. So they want me to remove all personal email addresses and telephone numbers from the website, leaving only the (tracked) contact form. As it is now, the website has different pages about people who you can contact directly.

That does make me wonder:

• what about people who want to just call directly to a person? You might loose those (potential) clients. For my own business, I know that maybe half or more of my (new) clients prefer to call me then email me through a form.
• what about people who want to email directly to a person?
• what is the real reason to channel all traffic through one single (tracked) form? Is it to help the client ABCbiz, or is it just to maximize the profit for SEObiz?

What are your ideas?

JamieStanton

So essentially, wreck the user experience of the site so the SEO Gurus ^TM can get their cut. Sickening. But a logical evolution of their devious craft. 

From what you're saying, they essentially want to take credit for ALL business that goes through the site, no matter if this is down to their efforts or not. As "SEO" becomes more and more useless as search results become tailored, it seems that the SEO Gurus ^TM are finally revealing their true colors as out-and-out conmen. 

Such retainers have become a kind of tribute the ignorant pay to the SEO priesthood to appease the Gods of Google. It's fascinatingly Bronze Age. 

I have worked with companies who will "remove SEO" (i.e title tags, keywords from text) when the client decides to move on. I find that practically a form of sabotage, and profoundly unethical. 

Sadly SEO Gurus ^TM  frame the debate at present, and we have to list "SEO" as a service only as a way to introduce clients to the ideas of good build quality, and good content and social media strategy.

Darren

I would be worried about their lack of caring for the individuality of the sites authors by lumping it all into one contact form.

I can understand that they want to track their performance but there are other ways of doing that than limiting it to one form with contact. There are plenty of ways to send contact to individual people (including via telephone) that you can still track, albeit not as easily as the single form but it seems the SEO company don't seem to be the kind of company to change what they are doing, more change the company they are working with.

if there is no persuading anyone important away from the SEO companies advice you could always make a compromise. Have the contact information avialable but after a traceable click which records the interest, the person, where they came from etc. this would allow the SEO company to see their effect and still allow you to keep the individuality of the contact procedure.

personally though I would be arguing my case for the individual contact information as its way more beneficial to the end user, screw the SEO company the site isn't for them to use!

mattiman

Thanks for both your replies.

To some extend I can see the usefulness of some specific "SEO" work. In the sense of helping my client write better content, write more useful headlines and link text, etc. So basically Content development, while knowing about the specific business, the potential customers and the way they search/read. That's not only important for search engines, but for the usability of the site itself. A link "Watch the interview with Paul about webdesign" is more useful for everyone, compared to, for example, a link "Read more".

However, something like removing telephone numbers seems like a bad thing to me.

I will look into it some more and discuss it with my client.

Darren

The general SEO advice is sound, the points you mention definitely so, but these can be delivered by people like us during training/at handover. However the telephone numbers are not an SEO thing it's just so they can track the effect they are having on traffic. I'm guessing "make contact" was high on the list of things the company wants to do with its website and both you and the SEO company have picked up on that. The SEO company seem to think the only traceable contact from a website is via the email form.

JamieStanton

mattiman said:

However, something like removing telephone numbers seems like a bad thing to me.

It is an appalling idea, and wholly selfish on the part of The Gurus. If they are insistant on going through with this, why not suggest registering a new phone number (one digit different) to promote on the site, a "website number". That will come at its own cost of course, but will be offset by people they may lose who don't want to be forced to use an email system and just want to talk to somebody. I forsee that even this solution will not fit neatly into their money making scheme and they will argue against it on cost or technical reasons. 

The company you mention do not seem to have anybody's best interests in mind but their own.