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Nope - first thing I checked. No mention of SEO, search, Google etc... And she signed.

We've had several e-mail exchanges, initially I informed her that all the work had been completed. She then informed me that it wasn't ranking so she wouldn't pay. I referred her to the contract but she didn't seem to get it. Again, I think its just something that she expected, possibly due to her lack of knowledge? I've since tried pinning her down on exactly what she is expecting. Trying to get specific keywords that she wants to rank for, and where she feels she should be ranking. She's been quite rude about it all, suggesting that I';m the web designer, and should therefore know and shouldn't need to be spoon-fed! (Her business, she should know what she wants to rank for, right??) This is why I think she no longer wants the site. She won't give a specific answer as to what she wants. If she said "I was expecting A, B and C, (even though she hadn't paid) and it was achieved, she wouldn't have any further excuses, but by not telling me what she wants, I can't meet her requirements!

I wouldn't usually hesitate in doing this - but as I said, her mother works quite closely with my wife and could make things quite awkward for her (which I don't want!)

Hi Mike, Thanks for the response. I think under the surface, she may just have changed her mind on the who website thing, and is looking for reasons not to pay. No SEO services were mentioned in the initial website proposal, or the contract. Everything (and a little bit more) stipulated in the contract has been fulfilled. She has actually said that she doesn't care if the website comes down as it is "absolutely worthless" (yes, she's very charming!) because its not ranking yet. I did take a deposit before the project started, but if I take it down a) its not going to rank and I've no chance of getting money out of her! I'm still waiting for Google to pull its finger out and rank it (its built with SEO in mind but no link building has been carried out). I've submitted a sitemap and checked Webmaster tools, no major issues detected. There is still a large chunk of money to be paid, and I don't want to lose it!

Hi guys, After a bit of advice as I've not had to deal with a situation like this before (I know most of you have). I've designed and built a website for the daughter of one of my wife's colleagues. I met with her, and all seemed fine. I knocked up a contract detailing what would be done (design, build), costs etc, she signed and I started. Fast forward to know. The site is up and running but she's refusing to pay. Apparently, she made it very clear (she didn't) that the site would rank for various terms (they haven't been specified, nor how highly the required ranking) so we're kind of stuck. I think she just expects a site to rank for various non-branded terms, which may sometimes be the case, but not always. I'm leaving the site up for now, as it should start ranking for terms other than the site name soon, but it is taking longer tha I have previously experienced. I've never had a problem getting sites to rank for terms before, but this does seem to be taking longer than usual. Its a locally popular term, but nothing that shouldn't be achievable with just onsite stuff (as opposed to backlinks etc). The site is here, so if you take a look and see anywhere I might be able to improve I'd appreciate it. Its been up for about a month, and doesn't even rank 1 for the site domain name, which again, I've not experienced before. Be great if any of you could help me out! Thanks