Being sued for working?

Nov 14, 2006

Here’s a link to an interesting thread where an SEO expert is being sued by a previous client for helping a newer competitor rank better in the search results. I say “interesting thread” because there might be a thin line between absurdity and a valid reason for the client. In this case I think the client is acting absurd and should be sued in return for mental harassment and perhaps for loss of business too.

The SEO expert had worked on the old client’s website 4 years ago, and as he says in the post, the client never updated his/her website. SEO is a continuous effort and you can’t just hire someone for a few weeks, get your website search engine optimized, achieve better ranking, and then forget about this part of the Internet marketing zone. There are 100s, or may be 1000s of competitors vying to beat you for your coveted spot. If you don’t update your website continuously, you not only lose your rankings, you deserve to lose your ranking.

Regarding the thin line I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. The SEO expert could be at fault if he used the old client as a stepping stone to learn things and then move onto better, well-paying projects. Sometimes it happens that I have to write on the same topic for two different clients and both the clients want better search engine rankings for the same topic. At those times I reveal to my clients what is happening and if they have no problem with that, I take up both the projects. I will never purposely spoil the optimization efforts of one client to leverage the goodwill of another because unsuccessful projects cause more damage than the benefits accrued by successful projects.

On the other hand if I feel, even after a few months, that I could have done the job better for an older client, I approach that client and openly discuss the matter with him/her. Recently I visited the website of a very old client by chance and noticed he wasn’t naming his web pages in the right manner and this could affect his search engine rankings. I immediately wrote to him and he made the changes. Of course I didn’t charge him for that.

Technology improves with time, and so does knowledge. As service providers, we keep improving our skills and the benefit goes to the existing and future clients. The older clients shouldn’t resent that, and should pay to continue the services.