It is common for people working in SEO to draw blank stares when they talk about the realities of their work, such as backlinks, spiders, indexing, etc. If you are one of those people, you should be used to the confusion this elicits by now. However, this can sometimes be a problem, like when your client does not understand much about Search Engine Optimization.
It does not matter if you are dealing with an unenthusiastic agent or the CEO of the company; they need to be made to understand at least the basic of SEO and how it bears on the way their business prospers. Below are a few things you should consider.
Aid Them in Grasping the Terminology
Every field comes with its own lingo, and that applies to the SEO industry as well. You can bore a person to death if they do not know enough of the jargon to understand what you are talking about, so take time to educate them first. It is also a good idea to re-discuss relevant metrics with your client so they feel part of the process.
Tell Them Why you are Taking the Steps
SEO rarely delivers instant results, and so from a client’s standpoint, can seem hard to trust sometimes. When explain your decisions, make sure to explain why you are doing things in a certain way. If, for example, you find duplicate content on a site and go about removing it, and your client asks why you are doing it, do not just say that Google does not like it. Explain how the same content can be a problem on search engines, and go into the details.
Explain According to the Audience
Based on the size of the company you work for, you can have meetings with different audiences. Tell each set of people what they will understand. For example, IT may be bothered about how to make the site more mobile-friendly. The leadership, meanwhile, will be more interested in the new avenues SEO can open up, and the revenue it can generate.
When you are talking to people who do not know about SEO, it is easy to come off as someone trying to exploit their ignorance. However, if these people are the decision makers, you need to keep in their good books. This means you should document your SEO strategy.