question about major seo companies

[Robert Charlton]

I've run this by Brett, who suggested I request StickyMail replies on the company names, so we don't get a bunch of link dropping follow-ups...

I'm wondering who the "major" search engine companies are, the companies who service the large corporate accounts, and how they represent themselves. I've heard there are some big companies in New York, but I don't know who they are.

Aside from the names, I'm curious which of the companies are actually good... and which offer on-site optimization (as opposed to cloaking).

[stuart]

Would it be okay to sticky me the results Robert?

[Robert Charlton]

Stuart - It occurs I should have volunteered this, so yes, I certainly will. That said, thus far I've gotten almost no input. To explain what this is for, I've been talking to some marketing types who are interested in seeing how the big SEO companies who service Fortune 1000 companies represent themselves, so you might say that this is a marketing research project...

I've started wading through the companies listed on the MarketingSherpa site in relation to their report, and researching companies of SEOs that I know of.

[skibum]

I don't think many FORTUNE 1000 companies are open to modifying their sites, though some do it if they are convinced that SEO is the way to go and are willing to spend really big bucks on it.

Haven't seen the Sherpa study, but my bet is a large number of the companies covered go off the site with keyword loaded domains, frame (low tech cloaking) tricks, and good ol' generic doorway pages dressed up from the auto generated ones of yesterday.

To find major SEO companies, or at least the ones who advertise like they are, just search for search engine optimization, positioning, and related terms on Overture.

[agerhart]

I've started wading through the companies listed on the MarketingSherpa site in relation to their report

I wouldn't rely on the Buyer's Guide too much for judgement of SEO companies.

Buyer's Guide Discussion [webmasterworld.com]

[jeremy goodrich]

sent you a stick, Robert. If you don't mind, please keep my name publically off of any info I hand you (forgot to ask that in the sticky).

As I know many former coworkers of mine read here.... :)

[Robert Charlton]

I just got back after being out of town for several days. I see that several of you agree with comments I've been swapping by sticky-mail. Great minds must think alike. ;)

Yes... I'm also unimpressed by the SEO companies listed in the MarketingSherpa report, and I too have my doubts that Fortune 1000 companies could be easily convinced to modify their sites. Is it in fact possible to sell good on-site SEO to large companies?

[jeremy goodrich]

im my experience, no. However, I have never worked in sales in that capacity.

[agerhart]

Is it in fact possible to sell good on-site SEO to large companies?

It is rare, but it happens. Better to go through someone, or some company, that already has sold them a service.

[DrCool]

I have worked with a couple of large companies in the past and I would agree that it is nearly impossible to get them to change something on their main site. I think it would be possible though if you tell them up front that changes would have to be made to their site for the best results. If they don't want to do that, tell them to go somewhere else and save yourself some headaches.

[Black Knight]

Larger companies are increasingly open to the idea (and more importantly, the ROI) of using SEO, but yes, they are still very reluctant to allow anyone to mess with the HTML or site design.

That said, it is simply something that takes longer, needing a lot more effort to establish trust. You start them with PPC and viral marketing, and then when your figures and knowledge speak for themselves they are more willing to go further.

It varies a lot. One large multi-national took 18 months to finally allow their development team to remove query strings from their dynamic URLs, while another major UK company, accepted my advice at the very first meeting, and implemented a solution a week later.

To work with multi-nationals and larger corporates, you need to understand a broader range of marketing and advertising issues than just SEO. You need to show how SEO fits into an overall campaign, and you need to show reliablity and reputability.

Once you are in with one, though, the refferals from one CEO can open so many doors to other corporate clients that the extra effort is very worthwhile.