Pay for Performance SEO Is ONLY for Winners. Learn Why!

Winners excel because they recognize talents and engage them in their business. They set goals and expose themselves to new ways of thinking. They smartly determine what strategies work and what not, and work their tail off to keep expanding their business. Business growth in this Digital Era can be summed up in three words—Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Winners create unique SEO plans with the help of experts and see a spike in leads, thereby revenue.

If your goal is to improve your search engine position in Google, SEO is the right catch. A survey conducted by Clutch reveals that Search Engine Optimization is the most promising digital marketing technique to generate quality leads. But, since the process takes time, it becomes very expensive at least for the initial few months. Consequently, many small and mid-sized businesses hardly go for it.

But, those with their aim to win keep googling for affordable but effective SEO methods, and choose Pay for Performance SEO (PFP SEO). PFP SEO is an innovative marketing concept to improve rankings, generate web traffic, and increase revenue as the standard SEO plan. Because the payment in the PFP SEO is done after achieving desired results, it is a favorite for all!!

What is Pay for Performance SEO (PFP SEO)?

Pay for performance SEO is a performance-based SEO model in which you pay when you rank. Also known as pay-on-results SEO, the PFP SEO principle is worthwhile if your budget is low, and you don’t want to take any risks. The philosophy of the PFP SEO model is unique, ‘Get You On the Page Or You Don’t Pay.’

Unlike standard SEO service providers, PFP SEO service companies make ‘NO EXCUSE’ such as the target has not been achieved because ‘SEO Takes Time”. Generally, traditional SEO companies keep charging clients without any results. Pay-for-performance SEO model allows no space for any such dispute. You pay with the results in hand, that’s why it’s called Result based SEO or pay-on-results SEO.

Before exploring why pay for performance is only for winners, let’s throw light on ‘WINNERS.’

Winners keep every step for a wise investment, right from the beginning.

• They invest only when they think the money invested will gain value over time
• They choose SEO because they understand the importance of organic web traffic ( PFP models generate)
• They’re familiar with brownie points of ranking in Google for high search volume keywords
• They know the Quick-fix strategies of PFP SEO that bring huge sales potential

How is pay for performance SEO different and appropriate for all businesses?

Pay for Performance SEO Vs Traditional SEO

Pay for performance is different from regular SEO services. The major difference is the payment model. Despite both models apply different SEO techniques; you pay for no results in traditional SEO, whereas you pay when you get desired results in the PFP model.

To understand the differences, refer to the below table:

	PERFORMANCE-BASED SEO	TRADITIONAL SEO
PRICING	You pay as per the performance i.e. you invest for the results you have earned.	You make an upfront payment before getting any results.
CONTRACT	There are no contracts, so neither upfront payment nor fixed monthly payment is required – but just a minor setup charge.	You get into legal contracts and will have to pay an initial amount as well as a fixed monthly payment.
SUITABILITY	Suitable for businesses of all sizes. Even small-scale businesses can choose it as they will have to pay after obtaining satisfactory results.	Standard SEO service is overall not good for small businesses and startups as it is difficult for them to bear highly expensive costs and wait for months to get results.
BUDGET	PFP SEO is a low-cost marketing solution, unlike traditional SEO. So, it is perfect for businesses with low budgets. You pay for the results. What else? If the budget allows, you can spend monthly on regular SEO.	For clients with a shortage of funds, traditional SEO is not a feasible choice. In addition, investing a big amount isn’t wise, especially when revenue is not secure and results are not guaranteed.
FASTER RESULTS	Pay-For-Performance SEO is a result-driven model. It ensures better and faster results than the traditional mode of SEO. It is more about relevant and focused Search Engine Optimization Services.	With traditional SEO, targets are not achieved many times. Though a long-term SEO campaign is valuable, they do not have a quick solution like PFP SEO. Still, you need to bear a hefty amount. Minimum pay-off time may vary from 5 to 12 months.
KEYWORDS	Pay for performance SEO focuses on small sets of individual keywords for higher search volume. Only keywords that have the potential to drive real sales are targeted. This SEO model works on targeted keywords to obtain top rankings. Experts pay attention to each keyword on an individual basis to give satisfactory results.	Regular SEO companies target a broad set of keywords, as well as a combination of keywords to get ranking. Moreover, SEO professionals plan to enhance the overall search engine optimization score of your website for a broad set of keywords.
TRANSPARENCY	You get SEO services in a completely transparent manner with regular keyword ranking updates, SEO optimization updates, keyword positioning updates, and much more. No need to pay any fixed monthly fee!	You are bound to pay a monthly fee in the conventional SEO model whether or not the results are achieved.

Pay-For-Performance SEO Pricing

How ‘pay for performance SEO’ works is fair enough for winners. Keep in mind that the pricing model of traditional SEO and pay-for-result SEO is different. In the case of the former, you need to pay a monthly fee irrespective of rankings and results. In the latter, you pay for results achieved. There is hardly a term like ‘FIXED MONTHLY FEE’ in the pay for performance SEO.

Take a look at the scenario of the performance-based SEO pricing model:

• If the service provider succeeds in ranking you on the first three search pages of a search engine like Google, then you’ll have to pay.
• Unlike normal SEO services, PFP SEO Service costs are subject to keyword difficulty and business case for each ranking.
• PFP SEO Company charges a pre-determined amount for each improved ranking. So, you can set your budget in advance.
• No charge in case there are no changes in rankings.

Take a look at the below table for an example,

Rank Brackets	Cost Per Keyword (Demo pricing)
1-3	$C
4-6	$D
7-10	$A

A good pay-for-performance SEO company can target 5 keywords for your plan. They improve rankings for one of the keywords from 10 to 1.

If referring to the above pricing table, they will charge you $C.

Now let’s say your service provider ranks keywords from 12 to 10. In that case, you will have to pay only $A. If they get your keyword ranked from 10 to 7, even then the billing amount will be the same i.e. $A. If they manage to rank two keywords by moving them from 11 to 6, then you will pay 2 X $D.

There is a fixed price for each improvement in rank within a bracket.

Performance-based SEO is legitimately a very decent SEO service when it comes to pricing. You pay, when you improve rank. That’s it.

Setup Fee

Note that top SEO companies providing pay for performance SEO services may charge you an initial amount as a setup fee for covering the cost that they incur. The amount depends on 4 factors:

• Your industry
• Working hours
• Keyword difficulty
• Current SEO score

In the Pay-For-Performance SEO model, clients pay their SEO Company based on performance. The intent is to improve ranking, increase web traffic, and boost revenue. Traditional SEO makes promises and fails to guarantee a return. Their main objective is to just run into a contract. They eventually fail to deliver results and justify themselves by saying that ‘SEO is uncertain and takes time.’ Such business experience wastes time, money, and effort. Isn’t it?

Price Comparison between PFP SEO and Traditional SEO

As said earlier, traditional SEO has a monthly fee payment model and you have to pay whether or not you get results. Performance-based SEO comes with a unique approach. No monthly fee is involved.

Consider the below table for more clarification:

Timeframe (In Month)	Keywords on First Page	PFP SEO Billing	Traditional SEO Billing
1	0	$0	$1,000
2	0	$0	$1,000
3	0	$0	$1,000
4	3	$450	$1,000
5	5	$750	$1,000
6	10	$1,500	$1,000
Total		$2,700	$6,000

The above price comparison chart displays how affordable Pay for Performance SEO is when compared with traditional SEO.

Unlike performance-based SEO, the traditional SEO keeps charging you a fixed monthly fee of $1,000 in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd months when the result is ‘ZERO.’ In the PFP SEO model, you’re paying nothing if the result is zero.

How PFP SEO Company Helps You Achieve Rankings

The most important elements included in the Pay-For-Performance SEO by service providers are Industry Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Complete Website Audit, Keyword research, Complete On-Page Suggestion, and Backlinks Acquisition.

Performance based SEO experts follow the below steps to achieve ranking for your websites

• They prepare a roadmap that includes the top 4-5 keywords
• These keywords have the ability to pull out maximum sales
• Experts analyze competition and evaluate the market to craft plans
• They conduct a technical audit of your website and check compatibility with search engines
• They perform off-page and on-page activities for generating organic traffic
• Then they calculate generated traffic for performance and results.

Benefits of Pay-For-Performance SEO Services

Pay-For-Performance SEO benefits both small and large enterprises. Key benefits are:

• No Contractual Investment: Pay for performance SEO companies do not bound you to go into any contractual investment. You pay for the SEO optimization services that you receive from the company.

• Guaranteed Traffic: Pay for performance SEO service provider gives a guarantee of driving traffic to your website. They incorporate proven organic SEO techniques to fetch more traffic to your site.

• Result-Oriented Package: Pay-For-Performance SEO is result-oriented. The company rests assured of excellent results, and service buyers pay based on the achieved result.

• Transparent Business Model: Unlike in traditional SEO services, you do not need to pay for fake and false promises in pay for performance SEO model. Instead, you pay for what you get.

• First-page Rank in Google: The PFP SEO Company can provide the first-page rank in Google for your business website.

• Service Cancellation: The service provider allows you to cancel services at any time if the client is not satisfied with the results achieved.

Common Myths about Pay for Performance SEO Debunked

The pay for Performance SEO model is known for myths, misunderstandings, misinformation, and misconceptions. It’s woeful and unprofitable for propagating PFP SEO myths. Misconceptions may have fertile because PFP is comparatively a new concept. Anyway, a lack of understanding discourages businesses to adopt the PFP SEO model, and so they get rid of its benefits.

Though it can be difficult to disentangle fact from myth, the aim is to debunk myths that have grown up around the digital landscape. Below are some common ones.

• PFP SEO Providers Are Not Serious: Wrong! Had performance SEO providers been non-serious, would they guarantee results? They do not accept payment till desired results are achieved just because they are serious and they are confident to keep what they promise to their client. If truth be told, PFP SEO experts are even more serious than their counterparts i.e. traditional SEO providers because they are paid based on their performance.

• PFP Model Does Not Include All SEO Services: The internet is loaded with misconceptions and many startups believe it to be true. FOLK, be mindful! Pay-For-Performance SEO includes all those activities that are required for the growth of a business. This may include improving On-Site SEO, adding LSI Keywords to the page, monitoring technical SEO, matching content to search intent, reducing bounce rate, finding keywords to target, publishing insanely high-quality content, and more.

• Pay-For-Performance SEO Is Expensive: How can one believe this? Trust, I have already proved it wrong in the above blog’s section ‘Price Comparison between PFP SEO and Traditional SEO.’. The pay-for results SEO pricing model costs are in fact lower than the traditional SEO service costs.

• Not a Long-term Contract: Performance-based SEO seeks long-term cooperation with clients. It is a performance-oriented service model, and thus it helps build long-term relationships.

• Pay for performance Includes Blackhat SEO: This is among the most common complaints that you can find about pay for performance SEO online. Unfortunately, some service providers may use black-hat tricks to bill the client. But the real culprit is not the pricing model. There are just a few bad apples ruining the basket!

• Performance-based SEO Providers Guarantee Rankings: Yes, you come across this myth many times. Please note that never choose an SEO company that gives a guarantee for rankings in Google. But don’t take it for granted with the guarantee that you will not pay unless you rank.

Performance-based SEO companies have a vested interest in maintaining your rankings because they can keep getting paid. If your rankings drop, you pay less or end up paying them.

Pay for Performance SEO Is Not For Every Business, But Winners

You might find this surprising. But, yes, a well-established performance-based SEO company doesn’t work with every business. They are very obvious about their concept, business model, and who they can help, or who they choose to work with. While ResultFirst works with enterprises that target national and international audiences, its core focus is local businesses. We’re the best fit because of our success in local rankings. And it works well for our clients as most businesses would rather see Result First.

Who Should Enroll In PFP SEO Program?

Pay for Performance SEO is the right program for those that want a high ranking, massive traffic, and improved conversion rates. Enroll in the program if you want to:

• Extend your existing team
• Get an extra push to keywords on page 2 and beyond
• Avoid increasing expenses of hiring new talents
• Work in controlled budgets and still get max ROI
• Gain rankings for a long list of relevant keywords
• Improve search engine ranking, boost conversions from organic leads and increase ROI

Bottom Line

SEO is an ever-changing beast. Once you understand what Google is truly looking for, an algorithm update comes up bombing your strategy. So, ranking on the google first page is not easy. SEO professionals put a lot of effort into achieving results. You can find many companies claiming to deliver first-page ranking, but they fail because they lack skills.

As a leading SEO company, ResultFirst never says ‘trust SEO services blindly’. And this is why we always encourage clients to choose a Pay-For-Performance SEO package. Because the PFP model lets you have enough time to evaluate SEO services performance before making payments.

Would you rather pay monthly or for results?