Search is evolving.

More and more marketers understand that the technical configuration part of SEO, although essential, is not the entirety of any good SEO strategy.

But there’s one thing that hasn’t evolved and shows little sign of changing yet – initial contract duration.   It will be interesting to see if this changes as knowledge of SEO best practice becomes widespread within marketing departments.

While a contract lasting 12 months may have seemed sensible when companies were focusing almost exclusively on the technical configuration part of SEO, the landscape is completely different now, and yet a typical initial agreement is likely still to be for only 12 months.  There are a number of reasons why I think this will inevitably change, to the benefit of both agency and client:

1. SEO is a creative discipline

There is a large amount of creative work required to deliver top-quality SEO, both to deliver authoritative external content and to increase conversion on site.   As anyone involved in delivering creative will testify, that requires in-depth understanding of the target audience(s), the brand and tone of voice guidelines, and all other marketing plans.   eConsultancy’s recent Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2011 suggests that 43% of clients use their search agency for developing a content marketing strategy and 62% say that their SEO and content strategy are integrated.   Significant numbers but still a long way to go to reach 100%.

2. SEO is partly about amplifying existing marketing campaigns

To best amplify existing work, SEO agencies need to develop good relationships with all the agencies being used across other marketing channels and media platforms.   That takes time but it is time clients get great value from.   For many of our clients we lead or play a key role within an all-agency group, helping to ensure that all marketing campaigns and collateral are maximised across all channels.

3. SEO opportunities can be time sensitive

An SEO agency needs to know all the relevant people and processes that allow fast signoff and decision making client-side.   This can mean there’s a need to educate about SEO, agree processes and develop relationships with dozens of clients across multiple departments – a task that is often underestimated, but essential to any fast-moving campaign.   To bed in processes and ensure that work can be approved quickly is likely to take several projects, so of course it takes time to optimise.

4. SEO is a mid and long-term business transformation tool

We normally estimate the revenue we think we can deliver by the end of year one and by the end of year three, for our target keywords.   Our ROI estimates are normally found to be conservative, but what they do demonstrate is that - not surprisingly – ROI increases in years two and three as year one is about gradually moving up the rankings position by position, with each improvement delivering a financial benefit.   Years two and three benefit from a page one position from the outset (and in many cases position one throughout depending on the competition for that target keyword) so while the investment is likely to remain the same, the returns are far superior to year one.    As a result, when planning SEO investment levels and estimating ROI it’s essential to think well beyond year one.

Are there any more that you can think of?   Having worked at digital creative or integrated agencies before Propellernet, I’m used to often working to three-year initial agreements, as there’s an inherent understanding that it takes time to develop a detailed understanding of the brand.

Changing agency after a year would be highly disruptive and inefficient for both clients and the other marketing agencies remaining in place, so I feel sure that this will change with time.

So if SEO contracts cover longer durations, how will that change impact Propellernet?   In terms of client retention, we perform well with an average client Net Promoter Score of nine, so rolling annual contracts work out much the same for us as three-year contracts.

However, longer contracts might allow us to be more open to requests from clients for performance-related pay, as we could be sure that we would reap the financial benefits of our hard work in year one during years two and three.   Longer initial agreements with a larger contracted investment might also ensure a rigorous pitch process every time – something that can only benefit agencies delivering top quality results through ethical means, when there are still many trying to cheat the search engines.

Most of all though, it would mean that search as an industry would be recognised as an integral part of the marketing mix working alongside other top-performing marketing channels, with board-level visibility.   eConsultancy reckon that just 14% of companies surveyed spent more than £100k per annum on SEO which is a scarily low amount (compared to spend through other marketing channels) but also one that shows the huge opportunity for growth.

That is why we continue to educate at every opportunity to dispel the myths about SEO, and demonstrate to our future clients how they can transform their business by using search to reduce cost-per-sale mid and long-term.   I look forward to a time when contracts are routinely awarded for an initial term of three years rather than one, and SEO budgets are proportionate to the profit they return.