Understanding SEO Malpractice and Negligence Claims
SEO is a professional service. When businesses feel they have suffered harm due to poor SEO work, disputes can arise over whether the provider’s actions met reasonable professional standards. These disputes often involve allegations that the provider used risky tactics, failed to implement necessary safeguards, or ignored explicit warnings.
Bill’s role as an SEO expert witness is to evaluate the work performed, compare it to accepted practices at the time, and explain how it likely influenced search visibility and traffic.
Evaluating the Work Actually Performed
The first step is to understand what SEO work was actually done. This may involve reviewing:
- Contracts, statements of work, and proposals.
- Reports, deliverables, and documented changes.
- Emails and project communications.
- Before-and-after snapshots of site content and technical settings.
These materials help distinguish between planned work and work that was actually implemented.
Comparing Actions to Professional Standards
Once the work is understood, it must be evaluated against professional standards. That evaluation considers:
- Industry guidelines and search engine documentation available at the time.
- Common practices among experienced SEO professionals.
- Known risks associated with specific tactics (such as spammy link schemes).
- Whether the provider adequately explained potential risks to the client.
Importantly, the assessment is based on what was known then, not just current practices.
Risky Tactics and Algorithmic Responses
Some disputes center on aggressive tactics that may have been used to achieve short-term gains at the expense of long-term stability. These can include low-quality link-building, duplicate or spun content, deceptive redirects, or other practices that violate search engine guidelines.
Bill analyzes whether such tactics were used, how they relate to published policies, and whether subsequent penalties or ranking losses are consistent with known algorithmic responses.
Failure to Act or Implement Safeguards
Other matters involve alleged failures to act, such as not setting up proper redirects during a migration, ignoring clear indexing problems, or failing to address obvious technical issues. In those cases, the question is whether a reasonably careful SEO professional would have identified and addressed the issue within the circumstances and timeframe.
Connecting SEO Work to Business Impact
For malpractice or negligence claims, it is not enough to show that work was substandard. The analysis must also consider whether that work likely contributed to the claimed losses. Bill uses analytics, search console data, and timelines to connect SEO actions to changes in traffic and visibility.
Rebutting SEO Malpractice Allegations
In some matters, Bill is retained to respond to malpractice allegations. In those cases, he reviews opposing expert reports, evaluates whether their assumptions are supported by data, and explains alternative causes for observed changes where appropriate.
Next Steps in SEO Malpractice Cases
If your case involves allegations of SEO malpractice or negligence, gathering contracts, work product, analytics, and communications early is important. The Attorney Checklist can help organize this material.
To discuss whether Bill’s expertise is a good fit for your matter, please use the Contact page.