Is it reasonable to not give an SEO access to our CMS?

[ChristinaRadisic]

Obviously I don't know the conversations between the client and the SEO.

We also do SEO work and alarm bells ring when something doesn't sound quite right. Such as "their website doesn't rank anywhere in the SE" when it's in position 5 for their chosen keyword.

Since posting this message I've had a quick look into the SEO company, they seem to work on linking from this domain which looks dodgy to me.

http://listofdomains.org/

[MickEdwards]

"Other SEO's have never had a problem with this arrangement, but this SEO claimed what they do is secret and for no one else to see."

Run a mile!!!

[Red_Spot_Interactive]

In short- Yes, you are being unreasonable. You are not allowing the SEO to do their job, and will be hindering your own results.

[Andy-Halliday]

no its not being unreasonable - what happens if the SEO guy changed something and broke the website - would would the client ring up and moan at the SEO guy or the web design agency.

If the guy was willing to take responsibility for his changes, then they would be unreasonable, but why would they allow someone to edit their work and potentially break the site - only for them to get moaned at.

SEO is 'secret' anymore - so I don't get what they guy has from not willing to work with the agency. To me it sounds like he will be doing stuff he isn't willing to share so either black hat techniques or doesn't actually knows what he is talking about so was going to bluff it until the client clicked on that the guy was b*ll shitting.

[ChristinaRadisic]

Thank you everyone for giving us feed back.

We don't want to be difficult but ultimately we are there to protect our client and to give them the best advise.  We have already had one client suffer at the hands of a bad SEO, which cost them their on-line business.

After investigating this particular company, I've found plenty of complaints about them.  I've also found they use linking farms.  In this instant I'm glad I protect my client from them.

[Chris.Menke]

Thought should then turn to the original decision made to hire that SEO firm and how a similar decision could be avoided in the future.

[BlueprintMarketing]

I want to say I agree anything they say is "secret" is probably not white hat. I don't think anyone here is worried about someone stealing their formula for on page search.

However it's possible the person he's used to working in a certain way.

If you're going to do the work and allow them to delegate to you and you're actually going to do what they say I don't see an issue with it all.

[BlueprintMarketing]

Try using a staging server it's kind of crazy to be making changes to the live site regardless. There are some great staging servers out there that will allow access to them then only once the site is definitely not broken or heard in any other fashion then you can move forward.

Saves you having to do their work and them having this issue. I do agree everyone talking about the secrecy stuff there's no secret sauce it's create the best website and best user experience.

Most people would be proud to say what they're doing not say that this is MI fives operation

[ChristinaRadisic]

Unfortunately we weren't part of the process to hire the SEO company.

[ChristinaRadisic]

We will certainly look into a staging server.

Although the web developer does some magic and I'm not usually updating the live site.

[BlueprintMarketing]

Are you running WordPress? If you are here are a list of hosting companies that provide staging servers.

I'm glad to hear you guys are looking into possibly working this out hopefully it's just a miscommunication.

I think staging servers are a godsend and allow people to do things that they will know if they could have gotten away with are not once they try it.

This list is partial to staging every web post is very good there's one I state do not use unless you use their VIP plan I wish I did have to say that but I can't recommend them without stating that.

http://wpengine.com/plans/ (probably the best staging environment available)

You can get four months for free of WPengine & 30% off for life from Pagely via https://Moz.com/perks

https://kinsta.com/features/ (outstanding staging and hosting)

https://pantheon.io/features/version-control-workflow (awesome)

http://www.presslabs.com/ (great hosting and staging)

https://getflywheel.com/tour/staging-sites/ (must just say please turn on staging)

https://pagely.com/plans-pricing/wordpress-vps-hosting/ (one of my favorites but staging only available on VPS & enterprise plans. I must say it is worth it)

https://pressable.com/ (unless you're going to get a private “VIP” cloud the downtime is very bad and will hopefully get better soon but until then I cannot say use these guys in less you are going for the VIP plan an amazing staging set up.)

https://www.siteground.com ( inexpensive offers staging)

http://mediatemple.net/webhosting/wordpress/ (offers staging)

** How to keep your hosting and create a staging environment NON WordPress as well**

http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-staging-environment-for-a-wordpress-site/

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Establishing+Staging+Server+Environments+for+JIRA

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3844369/git-production-staging-server-workflow

I think if the person is really trying to do things without other people knowing what they are that's not good. At the same time I would be wary of anyone keeping secrets.

I hope this information is a step towards you guys working it out.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[ChristinaRadisic]

Cheers for all the information.

I don't work with Wordpress or Joomla.

Usually bespoke systems only.

[Chris.Menke]

Call me batty, but in 10 years and a bunch-load of clients (usually agencies), I've only touched a small percentage of sites.  I write up the changes that need to be implemented so that designers/webmasters/programmers can either cut and paste what's necessary or have a good understanding of the changes that are necessary, and then I review once they're finished.  If they do have questions, I help them by phone.

[BlueprintMarketing]

you can use whatever CMS or code you want on this part.

How to keep your hosting and create a staging environment NON WordPress as well

 

you can use it on a server as bespoke as you please. (You must have root access)

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Establishing+Staging+Server+Environments+for+JIRA

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3844369/git-production-staging-server-workflow

I hope this will be more helpful.

all the best,

Tom

[JVRudnick]

Exact same thing has happened to us in the past too....

One of our clients is a major Canuck city's Economic Development dept whose mandate is to get new businesses and investors to come to their city to invest and open new businesses. At first, we too were denied access to anything - we had to create long Word .docs with full directions and screenshots of what to do and where to do it. However, after 5 renewals over the past 5 years, we were given full access to their site via both their CMS and ftp too...

Proving I'd suspect that trust needs to be "earned" - not given freely is how I'd see it...

Oh in another case another SEO client - a major Canuck University has not been able to give that same earned trust access as their site includes credit card info - buried deep and encrypted - but PCI specs say that they should limit access....so again we do the full Word .doc blueprints for their site....