Sometimes SEO fails. It would be unrealistic to state that search optimising is always successful, or that we have always succeeded. We are the people renowned for telling it straight, with no BS - so we should make sure you understand when there can be problems. We now prefer not to take on some clients, if it looks as if the problems will be too great.

There are many ways a client can make or break a project; and there certainly needs to be full commitment or we are just wasting our time. Lip service is not enough: if you want to get to the top, you must really want it - and you must help us to help you. In some cases that doesn't seem possible for clients, for one reason or another.

So let's talk about when SEO doesn't work. 

Poor hosting

There are some circumstances where we refuse to take on a project. SEO cannot help some website owners, because their aims are unrealistic in the first place. We've made mistakes in the past, by agreeing to carry out projects that were doomed from the outset; but we won't do it again.

The first example of this situation is if you are on a Windows server, with no access to any management functions and no PHP or MySQL installed on the server. This is usually an indication of the lowest-possible standard of hosting, and it would be no surprise to learn that dedicated IPs are not available either.

Here, we just can't help you. You have a desperately poor standard of hosting and if you refuse to move to a real webhost, then we can't assist any further. You wouldn't ask us to run a marathon while carrying a 200-pound weight, and this is the equivalent. The vast majority of Windows hosts can provide servers with PHP and MySQL software, and there are no issues. The vast majority of hosts can supply a dedicated IP. If yours can do neither, you should get the message.

We start at the server and work up - so if the server and hosting are rubbish in the first place - and you won't move - it speaks volumes about your commitment to the project: you just don't seem to have the commitment required.

That isn't our attitude, we put 16 hours a day into a project if that is what is required; and the description '100% commitment' doesn't do us justice. We certainly don't need projects where the client is not committed to the success of their business.

And in connection with this, you should probably note that we aren't hosting resellers, we don't do any hosting ourselves, and we point you toward any one of a dozen hosts who will suit according to your precise requirements. An ecommerce store with 20k uniques per day will not be advised to host with the same firm that a start-up with under 5GB of traffic per month should be with. 

Poor web design

An amazing number of site owners are sabotaged by their website builders from the word go. Probably 75% of websites are built by people who are clueless regarding any of the vital qualifications for website building nowadays: web standards, usability issues, accessibility issues, validation, legal requirements, and basic SEO (which of course includes the previous items).

As a simple example of this, three-quarters or more of the web pages we see are very poorly coded and fail the basic validation test by a wide margin, sometimes with dozens of code errors. This is the most simple, most basic requirement for any web page: to be HTML code or one of its close cousins such as xHTML. So: if a website constructor has never heard of the most basic of web standards (or can't be bothered to comply), how does it leave all the other issues - which are more difficult to comply with correctly? The answer is obvious: they don't know or care.

And this brings us to the question of new clients with new but terrible websites. They believe that their brand new, sparkling, squeaky-clean sites must be perfect for SEO, and therefore a reasonable income is guaranteed. It is sometimes our sad duty to tell them their sites are poor and all the money they spent was wasted. The site will need rebuilding from the ground up.

As you may imagine, some website owners cannot comprehend this - they cannot understand the fact that the people who built their site are incompetent or fraudulent. They cannot take it all in - who exactly is to blame? Is it us who are advising them incorrectly - after all, the site looks fantastic with a ton of Flash and widgets everywhere - and the site builders have such a marvellous-looking website themselves. How will they get their money back? Should they find another, more sympathetic, SEO agency who will agree to work with what they've got?

This is a painful and all-too-common scenario. We have to tell the owners concerned that they have been sold a pup - even though it may look terrific. It will never get any results as-is and that's all there is to it. They have three options:

1. Get the site rebuilt by people who actually know what they are doing. This is the sensible option and what they should have done in the first place.
2. Forget SEO as it won't help, search engines will never rate them highly; get traffic in by using PPC advertising. An expensive, inefficient alternative.
3. Go to a black-hat operator who will spam them into the results for a few months, until they are de-indexed.

And it happens every week.

We care deeply about this for two reasons. Firstly, we think it appalling that large numbers of people are being sold websites that are deficient from the word go. Secondly, our job is to guarantee the website earns its keep. How can it do that when it is demonstrably faulty and fails every test that can be applied?

Bad website coding

Closely related to this is the problem of less-acceptable website coding. Both the codebase and its implementation can be less than correct by today's standards.

This isn't actually related to validation, as a page that validates fully may have plenty of other issues; and a site whose pages all validate may still be of low quality. To take one example, it is unacceptable now to use the huge quantity of JavaScript that web coders used in the past. This JS is used to provide complex functionality that cannot easily be provided by other means, as it requires a lot more skill to use a more acceptable option. JavaScript is a quick and easy solution to many page function problems; but in many cases its use is unjustified or unacceptable.

There are all sorts of issues here, but the most relevant are that search engines hate it and it is a major accessibility issue. Of course, the coders who use it the most have never heard of these matters. We tell site owners with a problem in this area that the site has major issues that need resolving: we can't get top results with heavyweight JavaScripted sites, in the same way we can't if there is malware on the site. It has to go.

There are many similar issues in this area, which add up to the fact that if you want traffic and you want income, you'd better talk to an SEO consultant before you get a site built. Above all, you need to realise that commercial websites are not a work of art cooked up by someone who previously worked as a clothes designer; they are leading-edge technology combined with solid commercial principles with a dash of art added.

A site must be built to a website contract that includes the simple basic fact that it must comply on these points:

1. Every page must validate 100% with the W3C.
2. Every page must validate to Level 1 / single-A, or (better) Level 2 / double-A accessibility level.
3. There must be no Flash or JavaScript in the navigation.
4. There must be a maximum of 5% Javascript visible in the page source code.
5. Server-side JS must be kept to an absolute minimum.
6. Legal requirements must be complied with.
...and so on.

These are all basic and obvious points that cannot be argued against - yet only a small percentage of websites are built to comply. Probably only 5% of new websites pass this sanity test. Potential clents with sites that were not built to a simple and common-sense contract of this type often have to face a very painful wake-up call. Websites are business, not art.

Hard commercial reality

A business website is (or should be) designed to do one thing above all else: make money. There is only one route to this: it needs to be constructed in such a way that it complies with modern web standards. That means it must be built according to recognised standards; it must comply with search engine requirements; it must comply with community standards; it must comply with legal requirements for the area it is hosted in; and it must assist in the task of improving an enterprise's status and reputation. Some would say that it should also be able to be hosted on a standard, normal web server (a LAMP server).

Prospective website owners far too often seem to be ruled by the heart and not the head, or make snap decisions based on appearance that will handicap them for the foreseeable future. Before any question of arranging the construction of a website or its hosting is considered, they would be wise to seek the advice of an expert who is unconnected with any of the suppliers. The only experts in all these matters are SEO consultants. It is their job, above all else, to ensure that the site does its job: to make money and improve the business reputation.

There are right ways and wrong ways to start down this path. The wrong way is to arrange a site and a host without taking advice. There is a simple route that might be taken if you are determined to go it alone, though - you can arrange for a popular PHP-based CMS website to be built for you. At least, via this route, you will find the problems are minimised; and not only that, it will suit the majority of websites. The reasons for this are (1) the codebase will be a modern, acceptable, accessible and compliant base; and (2) a standard webhost of the normal type can be employed. The people who are then engaged to ensure the site delivers will at least have a solid foundation to build on.

Unrealistic aims

Our job is to earn you money. We turn your website into an efficient income generator that complies with all community standards and search engine guidelines - and is therefore a dependable long-term asset. This depends, in turn, on an increase in targeted traffic and solving various website issues.

Traffic, which is at least 50% of the equation, is based on search in the main - meaning that for most sites, most new customers arrive via a search engine. That is by no means an unbroken rule, but it applies in general. So we need to succeed strongly in the search arena.

Search, itself, is based on naming - ie the use of keywords in relevant places. Keywords describe the site's theme and its products or services. It is a simple matter to place highly for one, narrow term. It is harder to place high for several terms, and even more so if they are broad terms. It is very hard indeed to place highly for main market one-word or two-word terms (and especially more than one of them).

By 'hard', we mean you must have the resources available in order to play at that level. Resources = money and time. If you have little money and want it done quick, there is only one option: black-hat SEO. That's not our game. (In case you don't know what that means, it could be described as fraud for search.)

As an example, we are occasionally approached by a client who has 50 or even 100 keywords they wish to position for. In addition these might be main-market broad terms with intense competition. And they have a three-page website (or the bulk of it within a password-protected area, which is the same thing), and don't really want to expand it. And their budget is less than the price of an old and broken-down car.

Sadly, we have to decline. But it's more than likely that someone, somewhere, will take their money.

No budget for SEO

Lastly, and perhaps the most important of all: you need a budget to fix the problems we find.

Search optimisation, in our view, when done correctly is a form of management consultancy - it identifies problems. It flags up areas where you can make gains. It identifies possible problem areas that need action to avoid them becoming an issue.

In some cases we can fix these items but you must understand that most will be totally outside our remit - if we find your website is junk and you need it rebuilt, that's not on our job list. If you need another 1,000 links before you have any chance of competing, then unless that was specifically included in the fee quote, it's extra. If you need another 50 pages of content of a certain type, then - again - this is extra. Unless these items are clearly stated as included within the project.

Therefore you need a budget to fix the problems and make the gains. If you don't have that, then strictly speaking, SEO is useless. A task list is of no use if you can't do anything about it.

An 'SEO budget' comprises two parts: the consultants' fee and the work costs.


As you can see, there are several circumstances in which search optimising - at least, the way we do it - won't work. It's only fair to tell you.