Most businesses tend to regret falling for “cheap” SEO services. I understand that investing money to grow your business is extremely important. But, choosing “cheap” SEO services can affect your business.

I don’t want you to regret thinking about the time and money you’ve wasted by hiring cheap SEO service providers.

In this guide, I will explain why you need to avoid cheap SEO services.

It doesn’t matter if you have a limited budget for SEO efforts. There are ways to get SEO strategies implemented.

Let’s get started.

What is Cheap SEO?

Everyone has their own perception of cheap SEO. For example, if a business is generating millions in revenue every year, then spending RM15,000 to RM20,000 a month may seem cheap. On the other hand, if a business is making only a few hundred thousand in revenue per year might find RM15k to RM20k per month to be expensive. So it depends on how people perceive cheap services.

But you need to understand one important thing from the example:

SEO that works is not cheap

Let me explain to you more in detail why hiring a cheap search engine optimization company is not the right thing to do.

You can only do limited SEO tasks without money
You won’t get long-term results
Unable to develop quality assets
You won’t have the ability to scale your business
SEO is a long-term process
Experience matters the most

You can only do limited SEO tasks without money

There are only a few SEO tasks you can complete with a low SEO budget. And those tasks are the ones which do not cost you any investment.

But sometimes the tasks that do not require investment like on-page optimization, keyword research, and technical optimization still need work from experts if the issues are critical. Even if you’re ready to spend more time on those tasks, you will get drain out with the complexity of the issues. Getting such issues requires money.

With a limited budget for SEO, you can’t move further from the basics. You might think it’s better to do something than being idle.

You won’t be able to go far with the basic SEO activities.

The two important elements that grow your search traffic are backlinks and content. Acquiring quality backlinks and developing good content requires a good amount of money if you want to stay ahead of your competitors.

This is where cheap SEO becomes completely useless.

Since cheap SEO companies don’t have the money to:

Develop high-quality contents
Perform outreach campaigns to acquire quality links
Pay for high-quality guest posting on relevant sites

You can only achieve the following results from a cheap SEO service:

Low-quality content development that damages your brand.
Use black hat link building methods to get your site penalized by Google in the long run.

This is the truth you need to be aware of.

You won’t get long-term results

The funny part of business owners is that they want to achieve a good profit with less investment. From a business perspective, it might sound good as profitability is what matters for businesses. But there are certain things in business that you don’t want to go cheap.

Digital marketing is one of those things.

It applies to SEO as well.

Cheap SEO companies focus on getting more clients rather than retaining the current ones. The search algorithms are consistently changing and it requires new strategies and ideas frequently rather than relying on one particular strategy.

SEO companies offering cheap services would not take any initiative to stay in compliance with search algorithms. The problem today is that the amount you spend for the first month might look cheap. But imagine when you’re spending for 12 months and realize there are no results from your investment.

Cheap SEO can lead your site to be penalized by Google. You might see positive results in the short term, and end up getting manual action from Google due to the unethical strategies used to build links for your site. The process of getting your site recovered will cost you more time and money. Sometimes it can take more than 6-9 months to get the penalty removed.

So you don’t want to face unwanted consequences by going cheap.

Time and money are valuable assets for businesses.

Unable To Develop Quality Assets

The content that you develop for your website and the backlinks you acquire are ASSETS for your company. These assets will improve your value within the industry both online and offline.

When you hire a cheap SEO service provider, it’s impossible to develop high-quality assets. That’s because they don’t have enough money to create outstanding content or acquire links from high authority sites.

You won’t have the ability to scale your business

Most cheap Search Engine Optimization companies have to use strategies that do not require any capital investment. Without the right investment, the SEO company is unable to scale your business by integrating creative works.

SEO is dynamic and flexible. Although the SEO principles remained the same over the years, every single SEO campaign is different. Different clients require different SEO needs.

So, cheap SEO services result in low-quality work.

SEO is a long-term process

I’ve always stressed that SEO is a long-term process. Do you think cheap SEO can help you achieve long-term results?

No and never.

SEO is not a one-time process., it requires constant quality work. For you to implement quality SEO strategies, you need to invest in reputable SEO service providers.

Cheap SEO services can deliver only the basics for a short period of time. Once your traffic starts tanking they will ignore you and disappear as they are unable to make any justification with their service.

Experience matters the most.

Agencies that offer cheap SEO services have no other choice than to employ cheap workers or outsource to cheap freelancers.

Cheap labor = No experience

Good agencies are expensive because they employ experts to work for them. These experts have years of experience in delivering the best results for clients. Therefore, the experts would never work for low wages.

But, how can you spot inexperienced employees in an SEO agency?

If an agency is hiring a huge number of interns to work, it shows that they are using this inexperienced labor force to run their agency.

You need to understand that SEO works only when it is handled by experienced and skillful people. Not by agencies with a large number of entry-level employees.

What Cheap SEO Packages Look Like?

It’s extremely easy to spot cheap SEO services once you have basic knowledge about SEO. Here are the important things to look for:

Template Proposals

Cheap SEO agencies send copy-paste template proposals to business owners. Moreover, they insert complicated jargon into proposals. This will make those agencies to look like super professionals in the work they are doing. But trust me, 95% of the tasks they’ve included in their proposal will not generate any positive impact on your SEO campaign.

The Proposal Does Not Include Content Development and Link Building

If you don’t see content development and link building in the SEO proposal, just stop reading it. Google has mentioned that content and backlinks are the two crucial factors that influence search engine rankings. If the agency that you hire doesn’t know this, stay assured that you won’t get any results.

How Much Does Quality SEO Services Cost?

It does not mean if an agency is charging you high, they can deliver the best results. The results you get depend on pricing vs value. There are agencies that charge blindly without taking into consideration your business nature and what is the cost per acquisition (CPA) for your business.

Moreover, the pricing also depends on the competition in your industry. You can take a look at the article I’ve written on SEO pricing.

SEO Malaysia Pricing & Packages in 2022

What can you do if you’re just starting off or having a limited marketing budget to invest in SEO?

That’s ok. There are great solutions for you.

DIY (Do It Yourself)

Doing the fundamentals on your own is safer and better than giving it to a cheap SEO service provider. When you do it by yourself, you will have full control over the SEO activities and be responsible for the results generated.

There are so many SEO resources available on the Internet today. If you have sufficient time to learn and apply them to your business, you should do it.

Check my blog post on the top SEO blogs to read in 2020.

28 Best SEO Blogs To Read in 2022

Outsource SEO tasks

Once you get the fundamental knowledge about SEO, you can start investing in the right SEO tasks. Content development is one of the time-consuming tasks that you can outsource by hiring a high-quality freelance writer.

You can hire the best freelance writers from the following sites:

Patience

You need patience. Don’t take the wrong decision by hiring cheap SEO services providers. If you have a limited budget, just focus on acquiring more funds and hire an experienced quality SEO agency. Meantime, you can do many things on your own to start growing your search traffic.