But scoring the lowest price when it comes to choosing a search firm may
actually be a bad thing. According to Did-It's Dave Pasternack, search companies that seem to be low-balling their competitors may be desperate for business and ultimately do marketers more harm than
good. Pasternack argues that the 15% agency fee that has become the industry norm should just be a starting point; and that depending on the client and the size of the job, search firms could
feasibly ask for more.
In the increasingly complex search space (think content networks and blended search, among other things) a search firm that sticks to their guns on that fee isn't shortchanging themselves and will likely be able to do a better job at getting results.