- Find SEO agencies that provide binary guarantees for results.
- Find agencies working with performance-driven KPIs.
- Estimate their market share.
How the sample was prepared
Got 3158 sites. For them, the CY and position in Alexa were parsed. The first 300 companies were selected, taking into account both indicators. Checked that all significant companies were present in the sample. Freelancers and private professionals were not included in the list.
Request for proposals for SEO
Prepared a believable legend:
- We took a real site of a typical client: b2b-theme, more than five years old, SEO - what the doctor ordered.
- Prepared technically: separate phones, mail on the domain, good non-server proxies, access to Yandex.Metrica, and so on.
- The client was instructed in all the nuances: what to answer if managers are trying to call the manager directly through a common phone, and so on.
Requested a standard SEO proposal from all 300 agencies. They left applications on the sites, communicated with managers by phone and mail. We worked for three weeks. Particular attention was paid to those who said something about guarantees. They could be asked for a contract template and other details.
What did they find out in addition to information about the guarantees provided:
- Age of the company.
- The number of active SEO clients.
- The total number of employees on the staff.
- The number of SEO specialists.
- Minimum SEO budget.
- Recommended SEO budget for our site.
Complicated audits, analyzes and forecasts were asked not to be done so as not to waste time at the stage of preliminary selection of a contractor.
Excluded from analysis
- 39 agencies did not give birth to any commercial proposal in three weeks (they did not have time, too long approvals, too many input data, and so on).
- 19 companies did not want to disclose data about their scale: the number of customers or employees. Since in the final figures we are interested in market shares, and not just the number of companies, this slice had to be excluded.
- Ten companies refused the client for various reasons: they didn't like the CMS, there are no resources at the moment, and so on.
- Two companies were expelled for deliberately inadequate data: for example, a small St. Petersburg agency cannot have 500 employees for 30 projects.
total stats
We got something like the following table:
230 agencies.
Total number of SEO clients across all agencies: 23,834.
Total number of employees across all agencies: 9,252.
Total number of SEO specialists of them: 2282.
Portrait of a medium agency
Assessment of the total monthly turnover of all companies participating in the study:
- Minimum budget: RUB 795,916,040.
- According to the recommended budget: 1,204,894,000 rubles.
- Average indicator: 1,000 405,020 rubles.
That is, we took the minimum SEO budget that the agency works with and multiplied it by the declared number of active projects. And they received 796 million rubles a month. Likewise with the recommended budget.
Interestingly, the average between these two almost exactly coincided with our own turnover, therefore, in the future, all estimates will be made exactly according to the average indicator.
Is there money in SEO? Yes, in Moscow, Tula, Tambov and a little in St. Petersburg.
Where is the money in SEO?
Bottom line: are there guarantees in SEO
Everything possible options answers to the question "Do you have a guarantee?" we have divided into three broad categories:
Almost 83% of the market does not provide SEO guarantees
No guarantee
The segment of the market, directly or indirectly saying that there are no guarantees for the result in SEO, turned out to be the most significant - 82% in terms of turnover.
This includes both companies that explicitly declare that it is impossible to provide guarantees in SEO, and companies that claim guarantees for the volume of work, quality, invariability of price and any other similar variations.
KPI work
In second place in popularity among agencies is KPI work. In this category, we included those proposals in which payment is to some extent related to some actual result.
These companies also do not guarantee anything, but they share with the client some of the risks regarding target results.
The dependency formula can be different. The most common scenario: a fixed part of the payment and a bonus for the result (positions, traffic, leads). Rest: variations of this scheme. For example, payment for the percentage of traffic forecast fulfillment.
There are really few formulas where a really significant part of the payment is tied to the result.
It is curious that managers in such companies in most cases very fiercely insist that their scheme is a real reinforced concrete guarantee.
Binary guarantees
The smallest segment on the market is binary guarantee agencies.
Binary guarantees are closest to the traditional understanding of guarantees. The agency guarantees that some event will happen (requests will go to the top, visibility will increase, and so on), and if not, it will somehow respond.
For example, an agency may promise to work for free until it achieves an agreed result:
For example, no more than two months
Often, even in cases where the manager explicitly declares the existence of guarantees of the result, the contract turns out to be more creative:
And sometimes it completely contradicts the previously received commercial offer:
2017 SEO Companies Ranking
Of course, with so much data on the agency's declared scale of activity, it would be foolish not to compile your own version of the SEO agency ranking. Perhaps someone will see the market from a new angle.
When investing in advertising, each customer wants to achieve their goals and have some kind of promotion guarantee. The search engines Yandex and Google have a huge number of algorithms in their arsenal. Using sophisticated algorithms, search results are generated for each individual keyword.
Our company produces website promotion with a guarantee at very competitive prices. This is especially true in an unstable economic situation. Before starting cooperation, we provide a detailed work plan. You can get a work plan for free right now.
We guarantee that we will complete all the work from the technical assignment on time. The terms of reference is drawn up for each customer individually.
We would like to point out that Digital Cowboys does not give any guarantees that your Internet resource will reach the TOP for a specific request. Also, we do not guarantee the appearance of the results of the promotion by a specific date.
Useful articles by topic:
We can only outline an approximate period of time for which the first results of our work will appear. This is due to the fact that the search engines Yandex and Google update the database whenever they want, and notify about updating their own database after the fact.
Guaranteed website promotion in Moscow
According to our internal statistics, projects reach the TOP for 83% of requests on average for 8-12 months of fruitful work. As for competitive niches and promotion in Moscow, visible results will appear no earlier than in 12-16 months.
We carry out website promotion with guarantees of work performance. The list of works is fixed in the terms of reference for the contract.
Why is it necessary to work with us to promote the project?
1. Transparent pricing
We provide a quote indicating:
· List of specialists working on the project.
· The time that a specialist spends on each operation.
· Detailed list of works.
· The final cost of the work.
You receive a document with detailed description the cost of specific stages of work to promote the resource. The guarantee of website promotion is based on the forecast for investments, traffic and terms. Now you know the amount of investment and the time required to achieve your goals.
2. Work performance guarantee
We build a strategy for promoting an Internet resource and determine a list of works that will affect the result. Website promotion with a guarantee is impossible without analysis.
It's very simple, if we do not perform the work, we return the money.
3. Great experience
Our team has extensive experience in promoting projects throughout Russia. We know the peculiarities of getting to the TOP in various niches and regions. We know what will affect the result and how to work with different types Internet resources. We carry out guaranteed website promotion equally successfully in the regions of the Russian Federation and in Moscow.
Hurry while the regional level of competition is in search engines ah average or almost zero!
Website promotion with a guarantee in Moscow
A huge number of customers choose a contractor focusing only on the price. This is the wrong approach to promotion! You, as a customer, should know what kind of work the contractor undertakes to perform for the specified budget. The list of works is reduced in proportion to the promotion budget. Our company will be able to provide quality services starting from 23.9 thousand rubles.
Colleagues recently shared quite interesting information, as many large offices carry out the so-called promotion with a guarantee. As I have written many times in previous posts, guarantees for promotion are complete nonsense. Positions can only be guaranteed by the owners of search engines. Everything else is a shake of the air, as there are thousands of reasons why your site may or may not reach the TOP.
What do Moscow seo-offices offer? They set a condition - we, they say, promote your site for 4-6 months. If positions start to grow during this time, we take the entire budget. If there is no result, we will refund your money.
How everything really happens
For example, you have a website for a construction company and you are bringing it to promotion. So, this office has about 100 of its own information satellites on the topic of construction and real estate, disguised as SDL. First, any minor gestures are made with your site (a la registration of tags and news) and this is where the promotion ends. Then the office places the remaining 4 months evenly from its sites links to your site. At the same time, they do not spend a dime, and you are billed in the monthly report for links, for example, $ 700-900 for 30 links.
1. The site has moved and there have been any positive shifts in positions. The office takes all your money. At the same time, they spent $ 100-200 on you for copyright and a couple of hours for registering tags. Indeed, there is a category of sites that in themselves have a lot of trust and a good structure. And only a few mistakes prevent them from reaching the TOP.
2. No changes. You demand money back. You get back 80% motivating by the fact that, they say, we have an office, taxes, etc. But .. the rest 20% of the office earned on you! They did not incur any costs: links were not purchased and the news was written by a full-time copywriter hired for a pittance. And they spent all your money for half a year either on the stock exchange or in the bank.
And now in numbers:
Average cost of promotion $ 1000 / month * 6 months = $ 6000
If the site goes, they earn $ 6,000 for you, and this money is also spinning and multiplying all the time.
If you didn't go, they earn 6000-80% return for news = 1200 $ for you.
In both cases, your the site is not really promoted and they have money from you. Such is the SEO scam. Average workload of large offices is 150-200 projects per month.
With a net profit of $ 500,000 per month, it is not difficult for them to make 100 satellite sites for each topic (construction, auto, real estate, pvc windows, tourism, etc.) and then successfully apply this scheme to siphon money out of clients. And they don't care deeply about your site and its promotion.
Show phone
Greetings, I worked at Yandex for seven years as a marketer and Yandex Direct specialist, for confirmation I will send you my projects in Yandex by mail. Meeting at Yandex, signing a contract, transferring money to Yur. Yandex account. My photos, I can call you on Skype. I work every day, call from 09:00 to 22:00 I will advise on any issue.
I set up Yandex Direct, Yandex Market and Google adwords... Fast SEO promotion of sites and online stores in the top 1. I am a certified specialist in Yandex Direct, I will send you a certificate and letters of thanks. I have been engaged in website promotion, online stores and creation for 12 years.
I will create the most modern wide-format websites and online stores html 5 (in 3D), very well adapted for mobile phone... Production of logos
There are two of their sites, which for many top queries are in first place in Yandex and Google, I will send you links by mail.
Website promotion on home page Yandex.
Website promotion in social. networks in the most popular groups of any topic and the creation of new ones.
My works took first places at events and forums in Moscow dedicated to advertising, promotion and creation of sites. Many well-known sites, shops I did with my team, I will send you an email.
I combine in myself: a project manager, an internet marketer, a designer, a programmer, and when one person has so many skills and knowledge, he will bring an advertising campaign to life much more efficiently than any other specialist. I work not alone, in a team with a programmer and designer.
Website creation
- I will create the most modern wide-format html 5 sites (in 3D), very well adapted for a mobile phone, a very beautiful design is individually developed for these sites. The site is not a template, you can implement all your ideas. Any site engine, for example: Bitrix, WordPress.
- Individual online store, automatic copying of goods from any stores, 5000 items per day will be copied to your store, as well as convenient manual addition of goods. Easy admin panel for editing and adding products, anyone without special skills can figure it out.
Website promotion
I write the correct keywords in the code of your site, I make a "Behavioral Factor" for your site, plus your site's advertising will be on large advertising banners, on all popular sites of various topics that are in the top of Yandex and Google, in addition the site will be shown in million-strong groups social networks. After the "Behavioral Factor" made and prescribed keywords into the site code, you will not have to pay money in the future for placing your site in the first places of Yandex search (in Yandex.Direct), it will already be in the top on the first search page for free (not in Yandex.Direct), due to good traffic and popularity.
Additionally:
Writing texts, benefits, promotions.
