Hi, I just started a freelance SEO site (http://seobythehour.com). I was thinking about creating a (wiki) page with a couple past SEO client examples and what I've done with them. (case studies/portfolio) Some of my experience comes from freelancing clients and some comes from clients I've worked on at work. I've worked for several agencies, as an consultant and as a regular employee. My question: Is it unethical to use a couple clients I got from work on my portfolio? For instance, I do freelance work for a local web design agency. I'm the SEO/marketing consultant for the whole company. I work anywhere from 20 to 40 hours a month on websites they build. Can I say I'm the SEO for one of their clients? OR could I add past clients I used to work on at a past job to my portfolio of clients? I know I've worked on them and can prove that it was me that has done work for these sites. Does that matter? Can I add them to resumes? What's the rule or law on this? Thanks James
The ethics on this say you cannot include it directly and the company you work(ed) for may complain and it is actually illegal for you to put that if one of the companies would complain (which they probably won't see it). If I were you I would not put them on there but maybe have a short paragraph saying "I have also worked for [company name] and during that time I [name services] for [name companies].
I would definately contact them first and ask their permission. If I were an SEO customer I wouldn't want it broadcasted to search engines that I paid someone to help me manipulate their search results. On page SEO is one thing, most "seo" work however involves link building methods search engines don't like - which is why I mentioned that in the first sentence.