SEO agencies have a client attrition problem.
While SEO isn’t “one and done,” there is a tendency to reduce or completely halt spending on content and link acquisition once desired rankings have been achieved.
But retaining clients is crucial for growth, at best, and critical for avoiding oblivion, at worst.
Because roughly 40% of our own internal revenue is derived from our SEO reseller partners, we have a keen interest in helping other SEO agencies succeed in client retention.
Here are a few of our learnings when it comes to retaining clients for our white label SEO clients.
Table of Contents
Set Clear Expectations from Initial Engagement
Educate clients on realistic SEO timelines and results.
SEO is the equivalent of online brand-building.
It takes years, not weeks and months.
The best SEO is measured over 4 to 6 years.
You can expect it to take that long, and your clients should expect it to take that long as well.
For small, local SEO clients, SEO results can be achieved quicker, but most national SEO clients experience gains over a much longer time horizon.
Consequently, it’s best to establish clear, long-term expectations for rankings potential at the outset. This will include key performance indicators so your client knows you’re tracking according to expectations.
It is also important to be clear that SEO is never “done.”
SEO spending can be reduced after certain desired milestones are met, but it should never be ignored entirely.
Maintain Transparent and Regular Communication
From a client perspective, almost nothing is worse than:
- Not knowing how a campaign is progressing
- Having to check in with the SEO team to get a status update
Regular communication with the client is absolutely critical to maintaining the long-term relationship and trust clients should expect.
Weekly check-ins and monthly reports are table stakes.
Even better are clear and easy-to-understand reporting dashboards (there are numerous platforms that can help here – we have tested a number of them).
Be sure to take a proactive stance in addressing concerns and adjusting SEO strategies.
Consistently Demonstrate Your Value
Showcase ROI through case studies and example progress reports before engagement.
Once engaged, and for the lifetime of the engagement, highlight regular wins, even small ones, to reinforce ongoing progress.
Some examples could include:
- Rankings improvements for specific keywords
- Overall keyword gains
- Leads generated
- Revenue growth
These last two are the most critical as they demonstrate ROI.
However, they will be less likely to come quickly. You will need to explain the long-term benefits of SEO to prevent client impatience.
After you have gained prominence and the leads and revenue the client desires, suggesting and targeting a new set of tangentially related keywords can help you further grow your client’s traffic and leads from other search sources and new niches.
Diversify Services to Increase Stickiness
While most digital marketing agencies do this from the outset, offering other complementary services like PPC, content marketing, and web design can help increase client stickiness.
Use your client sales team to cross-sell and upsell additional services that add value.
When doing so, it can be helpful to throw in freebies to get them hooked and charge for these additional SEO services later.
To be even more sticky, provide exclusive insights or tools to keep clients engaged and happy with your work.
For instance, we have proprietary tracking tools (not just Ahrefs, Moz and others) that we use to showcase the value of how our services work together seamlessly.
In fact, you can use other paid services to influence how you perform and manage your SEO campaigns.
The more you are able to add value to your clients (and show it), the more likely you are to experience better client retention.
Foster Strong(er) Client Relationships
Personalize interactions and go beyond transactional relationships.
You can do this by:
- Sending occasional gifts
- Sending very personal holiday messages or thank you notes
- Creating client loyalty and discount programs for recurring and bulk campaigns
There are numerous ways to incentivize long-term client retention and reactivation.
Improve Client Education, Onboarding, and Support
When you are able to develop a seamless onboarding experience complete with training materials, your clients will thank you.
One major mistake we often see SEO agencies make is keeping their clients ignorant of the “magic voodoo” of SEO.
It’s best to default to the opposite.
Educate clients on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it a particular way.
In doing so, you will achieve greater client buy-in that your strategies are sound.
Furthermore, it’s best to offer dedicated account managers for more personalized service.
A responsive support system to handle urgent client requests quickly.
Nothing will cause client attrition more rapidly than a bad customer support experience.
Address and Reduce Pain Points
Painful conversations and pain in your client’s business should not be avoided.
The same goes for the pain points in your own customer churn.
Identify common reasons for internal client churn and proactively address them.
Offer flexible contracts or pause options instead of cancellation.
Again, providing proper client education to prove SEO value and prevent unrealistic expectations is critical for long-term retention.
Leverage White-Label SEO Support
If you want to both scale and retain more client accounts, white labeling can help.
But your white label SEO provider needs to be top-notch.
Choose a reliable white-label SEO partner that enhances client satisfaction.
You’ll want to ensure your white label SEO partners maintain high-quality service and reporting.
The right partner will already include SOPs (standard operating procedures) that address the items already discussed above, allowing you to scale your SEO business with less churn.
Conclusion
Client retention is the lifeblood of any successful SEO agency.
People don’t shop based on your SEO pricing.
They also don’t leave due to pricing.
They leave because of lack of results.
However, that doesn’t tell the whole story.
While achieving rankings is a key milestone, maintaining long-term relationships with clients requires ongoing effort, clear communication, and continuous value delivery.
By setting proper expectations, demonstrating tangible ROI, diversifying services, fostering strong client relationships, and leveraging white-label SEO support, agencies can reduce churn and build a more sustainable business.
The SEO agencies that prioritize client success—rather than just rankings—will be the ones that thrive in the long run.
- How SEO Agencies Can Mitigate & Minimize Client Attrition - April 1, 2025
- Every Company is an SEO Company - March 26, 2025
- AI is Killing the SEO Agency - March 20, 2025
