Where does failure end and SEO agency responsibility begin?
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 8:12 am
Although litigation between an SEO agency and a client is not the most common, it is becoming more frequent. In such situations, I sometimes get the impression that at least one of the parties to such a dispute either does not know how the issue of mutual legal relations between the agency and the client looks like, or – well, maybe they do not want to know. Whatever the answer to this question, it is worth devoting some space to this issue and simply explaining some things.
The article answers the questions:
Is an SEO agency responsible for achieving results?
In what situation is an SEO agency responsible for delivering the service to clients?
Are clients responsible for working with an SEO agency?
Contents:
Is the SEO agency responsible for the campaign results?
When is an SEO agency responsible for the result?
Failed campaign and responsibility for lost profits
Is an SEO agency's client liable for its illegal actions?
Can an SEO agency limit its liability?
Is the SEO agency responsible for the campaign results?
When I serve entrepreneurs and hear about any claims against uk email lists agencies , they most often concern failure to achieve a certain level of sales or a certain position in Google. But do such disputes have a legal basis?
It is worth explaining that agreements related to marketing activities concluded with an SEO agency , apart from perhaps some completely unusual agreements, are agreements of due diligence, not agreements of result. This means that the effect is in a sense irrelevant, but whether the SEO agency acted diligently does. It is true that an SEO agency is required to exercise a higher degree of diligence, which the law requires from entrepreneurs, but still, even if the online store covered by the SEO agency's services does not sell, even if the website has a low position in Google, the SEO agency will not be liable for this just because this is how things are. Importantly, it will not matter here whether we called the agreement we signed with the SEO agency a contract of mandate, a contract for the provision of services, a cooperation agreement or a framework agreement for cooperation - due to the specificity of marketing activities on the Internet, we will almost always be dealing with a contract of due diligence.
The fact that the SEO agency's liability in the case of marketing activities is not dependent on the result does not mean that the result of its actions is unimportant. Firstly, if you do not see the effects, you will probably change the SEO agency . Another issue is the possibility of introducing a "success fee" in the contract. Remuneration dependent on the result can take several variants. Firstly, it can be an additional fee due to the SEO agency in the event that the campaign generates a specific income, when the website occupies a specific position in Google for a given phrase or in other cases. Of course, it is also permissible to regulate the issue of contractual remuneration in such a way that it depends entirely on the achieved results. What is important, however, is the fact that making the remuneration or its amount dependent on the results is by no means equivalent to the fact that in the event of failure to receive the remuneration by the SEO agency, we will be dealing with improper performance of the contract.
When is an SEO agency responsible for the result?
However, there are situations in which an SEO agency is responsible for the results of its actions. Well, contrary to what you probably thought when reading the previous paragraphs, there are quite a few such situations. This will be the case when, for example, we commission an SEO agency to create a website, implement specific solutions in an online store or carry out another process, the final result of which can be precisely determined at the stage of concluding the contract, and it is precisely on achieving this result that the contract is based. In such situations, the client of the SEO agency can certainly expect and demand that the project specified in the contract be carried out. In each of these cases, we will talk about a result contract. Of course, in the world of agile contracts and sometimes huge, constantly changing projects, there can always be exceptions to this rule, in the light of which even a contract to create a website will not be a result contract, however - as they say: the exception only proves the rule!
The article answers the questions:
Is an SEO agency responsible for achieving results?
In what situation is an SEO agency responsible for delivering the service to clients?
Are clients responsible for working with an SEO agency?
Contents:
Is the SEO agency responsible for the campaign results?
When is an SEO agency responsible for the result?
Failed campaign and responsibility for lost profits
Is an SEO agency's client liable for its illegal actions?
Can an SEO agency limit its liability?
Is the SEO agency responsible for the campaign results?
When I serve entrepreneurs and hear about any claims against uk email lists agencies , they most often concern failure to achieve a certain level of sales or a certain position in Google. But do such disputes have a legal basis?
It is worth explaining that agreements related to marketing activities concluded with an SEO agency , apart from perhaps some completely unusual agreements, are agreements of due diligence, not agreements of result. This means that the effect is in a sense irrelevant, but whether the SEO agency acted diligently does. It is true that an SEO agency is required to exercise a higher degree of diligence, which the law requires from entrepreneurs, but still, even if the online store covered by the SEO agency's services does not sell, even if the website has a low position in Google, the SEO agency will not be liable for this just because this is how things are. Importantly, it will not matter here whether we called the agreement we signed with the SEO agency a contract of mandate, a contract for the provision of services, a cooperation agreement or a framework agreement for cooperation - due to the specificity of marketing activities on the Internet, we will almost always be dealing with a contract of due diligence.
The fact that the SEO agency's liability in the case of marketing activities is not dependent on the result does not mean that the result of its actions is unimportant. Firstly, if you do not see the effects, you will probably change the SEO agency . Another issue is the possibility of introducing a "success fee" in the contract. Remuneration dependent on the result can take several variants. Firstly, it can be an additional fee due to the SEO agency in the event that the campaign generates a specific income, when the website occupies a specific position in Google for a given phrase or in other cases. Of course, it is also permissible to regulate the issue of contractual remuneration in such a way that it depends entirely on the achieved results. What is important, however, is the fact that making the remuneration or its amount dependent on the results is by no means equivalent to the fact that in the event of failure to receive the remuneration by the SEO agency, we will be dealing with improper performance of the contract.
When is an SEO agency responsible for the result?
However, there are situations in which an SEO agency is responsible for the results of its actions. Well, contrary to what you probably thought when reading the previous paragraphs, there are quite a few such situations. This will be the case when, for example, we commission an SEO agency to create a website, implement specific solutions in an online store or carry out another process, the final result of which can be precisely determined at the stage of concluding the contract, and it is precisely on achieving this result that the contract is based. In such situations, the client of the SEO agency can certainly expect and demand that the project specified in the contract be carried out. In each of these cases, we will talk about a result contract. Of course, in the world of agile contracts and sometimes huge, constantly changing projects, there can always be exceptions to this rule, in the light of which even a contract to create a website will not be a result contract, however - as they say: the exception only proves the rule!