How can anyone refer to SEO services as a "commodity" when there is such huge variation in the way that it is implemented across the planet?  The variations are not just in the detail - but they are also in the approach to campaign management.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting with many people in and around the search industry and it is clear that there are a couple of different management styles being exhibited by both SEO and Search Marketing (PPC) companies.  I have started to call one of these styles the "Light Touch".

The "light touch" is the style that is most frequently used by advertising agencies, web design companies, and "low cost" SEO/PPC consultants. 

This campaign management style is typically identified by a concentrated level of activity at the beginning of the campaign and then very passive/automated monitoring once the initial work has been completed. 

For example, an SEO consultant may optimise a web site (on-page) and then provide a weekly or monthly report to client and possibly provide some on-going off-page optimisation services too (usually outsourced).  Or a PPC consultant will set up the structure of an Adwords campaign, get the ads written (usually pointing to existing landing pages on a client's site) and then leave it running without too much hands on involvement other than the periodic performance report.

This approach is a modified form of the project-based style of search campaigns that were dominant in the industry until a year or two ago.  Clients now know that SEO in particular is an on-going process and so started to demand a longer-term approach.  The "light touch" style is what emerged - a project-based campaign with an "extended" period of "monitoring".

Does this management style work? Yes, it can.  But it depends on many factors - such as the competitiveness of the client's site/industry, the calibre of the consultant, the quality of the monitoring systems being used, etc. 

One of the main problems is that the client typically ends up running the campaign and not the consultant or agency.  As the campaign is close to the client's heart (and marketing budget), the client is the one who usually fills the void left by this approach in terms of analysis, closer scrutiny to the metrics and performance, etc.

As you look for search marketing services, please remember that despite what you may have heard - SEO and SEM is not a commodity.  There is too much variation in everything for it to be so; and this is not just in the detail, it is in the way the campaigns are being managed.  Selecting an agency or consultant using a "light touch" approach may be a good fit for you, but the approach and its potential impact to your own time is something that should certainly be factored into your decision.