Why does our SEO contract last 12 months?
The question, "How long will it take to optimize my website?" is statistically one of the most frequently asked questions among SEO specialists. This is, of course, a perfectly understandable question. After all, anyone paying for SEO services wants to know when they'll be able to enjoy the results.
This question also relates to the length of the contract signed with the agency. SEO contracts range from 1 month to 3 years (not including notice periods). Why this discrepancy, and what does it look like at Verseo?
Positioning is a process…
…and the process takes time. A SEO specialist divides their website optimization, content implementation, and link building activities into stages. For a given activity to translate into ranking increases, it must be detected by Google's search engine spiders.
This means that they index a given pool of SEO specialist's work. This usually doesn't happen overnight. To speed up the response of web crawlers to implemented changes, the SEO specialist reports them using the Google Search Console tool . However, it's up to the crawlers themselves to decide when they will graciously visit our website and index the changes.
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In practice, their response time can vary from a few hours (a change implemented in the morning resulted in an increase that was visible when the position was checked again in the afternoon) to several weeks. Only after the period during which the page change should have been indexed has passed can they determine whether the change was effective and benefited the website or had no impact on its rankings.
Due to this, one might be tempted to say that a 1-month SEO contract is actually a one-time optimization of the website, which may not have time to be indexed and bring about an increase in position during the duration of the contract.
How do we do it at Verseo?
Due to our commitment to the quality of our services and our many years of experience in SEO , we currently offer our clients 12-month contracts. We believe this is usually sufficient time to implement optimization changes, conduct several rounds of link building, develop website content, and so on.
This also gives you the necessary time to observe the website's response to specific SEO activities and to modify the initially established SEO strategy (which was prepared based on the initial website audit) in this respect.
It also takes into account issues related to algorithm changes and the ability to respond to them. This isn't a rigid term or a universal assumption that will apply to every website.
The SEO process is influenced by issues related to website access (without them, the SEO process becomes significantly more difficult), acceptance of submitted content, interruptions in the website's operation, its reconstruction or replacement with a new one, etc. These are individual issues that are worth discussing with your SEO specialist.
SEO expenses
By breaking down the SEO process and placing it on a timeline, it's easy to see that the beginning of the collaboration after signing the SEO contract is the period when the most work is initiated. This is when the website and link audits are conducted, the SEO strategy is developed, optimization is developed, content is commissioned, the link building process begins, and so on.
Some of these activities are very time-consuming, such as audits, strategy development, and optimization. Depending on the size of the website, they can take up to several dozen hours of work by an SEO specialist.
Additional content for websites or linking involves additional costs. Let's illustrate this with the example of creating content for a website. A copywriter receives a specific assignment to prepare content for a client's website – for specific subpages, with a specified length, keywords that must appear in the text, and other specific requirements defined by an SEO specialist.
This, of course, involves additional remuneration for the client. These expenses are highest at the beginning – a natural consequence of their accumulation. Verseo's fixed monthly SEO fee model accounts for this variation in the amount of work performed over the duration of the contract.
The amount specified in the contract is the average expense for the entire 12-month period, divided proportionally across all billing periods. This avoids the inconvenience of unpredictable invoice amounts and significant initial invoices.
During the contract term, there may be times when the website needs more content, for example. Choosing a fixed-fee model also avoids surprising the client with an invoice "increase" during the contract term, especially since the client would only learn the amount after the invoice has been issued.
To put it simply, at the beginning of the contract, Verseo essentially provides the client with a loan and invests in numerous activities so that our client can enjoy the results of SEO as quickly as possible. Paying monthly is more convenient than paying a large, one-time activation fee.
In the past, Verseo has offered its clients contracts for 6, 9, 12, and 24 months. Agreements signed under these terms remain valid, and our clients are not required to amend or change their duration.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The annual contract at Verseo stems from the fact that effective website positioning is a process that requires time to develop and maintain visible results.
- Positioning is a process divided into stages, the effects of which appear only after Google robots have indexed the changes introduced in content, optimization and linking.
- At Verseo, we use annual SEO contracts to ensure we have enough time to implement changes, build links, develop content, monitor results, and adapt our strategy to site responses and algorithm changes.
- SEO expenses are highest at the beginning of the relationship due to audit, strategy, optimization, and content creation, and Verseo's fixed monthly fee model spreads them evenly over 12 months, ensuring cost predictability and client convenience.
