7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Search Engine Optimization Consultant
Before hiring a search engine optimization consultant or company, there are certain questions to ask.
Check out this comprehensive guide prepared by an SEO agency from Ireland on how to hire SEO services.
66% of marketers consider improving their search engine optimization (SEO) their top inbound marketing priority.
Many small businesses, however, aren't equipped to handle tedious SEO strategies on their own.
With a search engine optimization consultant, you can attract new leads to your website. Then, your relevant, high-quality content will turn those leads into paying customers.
First, you need to find the right consultant for the job!
Here are seven questions to ask before hiring SEO expert help.
By asking these questions, you can find the right consultant to help your business reach new heights!
Check out this comprehensive guide prepared by an SEO agency from Ireland on how to hire SEO services.
66% of marketers consider improving their search engine optimization (SEO) their top inbound marketing priority.
Many small businesses, however, aren't equipped to handle tedious SEO strategies on their own.
With a search engine optimization consultant, you can attract new leads to your website. Then, your relevant, high-quality content will turn those leads into paying customers.
First, you need to find the right consultant for the job!
Here are seven questions to ask before hiring SEO expert help.
By asking these questions, you can find the right consultant to help your business reach new heights!
1. How Will You Improve My Rankings?
For search engine optimization success, you need a well-thought-out strategy. Creating new content at random won't help you rank higher than your competitors on search pages. With the help of an experienced SEO Agency in Brisbane, you can develop long term search engine optimization strategies that will continue to benefit your business now and long into the future.
When interviewing to hire an SEO expert, ask about their strategy. How will they boost your ranking?
Chances are, they'll mention performing an SEO audit to identify the best places to make changes. Then, they'll want to build a list of keywords to start targeting. From there, they'll need to consider content and link building.
Ask the consultant how they plan on helping you gain high-quality backlinks.
The better you understand their strategy, the easier it is for you to understand their level of expertise
When interviewing to hire an SEO expert, ask about their strategy. How will they boost your ranking?
Chances are, they'll mention performing an SEO audit to identify the best places to make changes. Then, they'll want to build a list of keywords to start targeting. From there, they'll need to consider content and link building.
Ask the consultant how they plan on helping you gain high-quality backlinks.
The better you understand their strategy, the easier it is for you to understand their level of expertise
2. How Did You Help Past Clients?
Ask the consultant if they can tell you about their experience with other clients. Do they have any reviews, case studies, or testimonials you can read?
It also helps to ask if they partnered with a client in your industry.
Ask which SEO strategies they used and if they were successful.
You can also ask how long they've worked with their longest client. If the consultant says less than a year after working in SEO for a while, consider it a red flag.
It also helps to ask if they partnered with a client in your industry.
Ask which SEO strategies they used and if they were successful.
You can also ask how long they've worked with their longest client. If the consultant says less than a year after working in SEO for a while, consider it a red flag.
3. What Tools Do You Use?
Understanding an SEO expert's tools and strategies can help you differentiate a whitehat expert from a blackhat SEO expert. Ask:
If an expert is using SE Nuke or Xrumer, stay away. You might end up penalized by using blackhat tactics
- What tools they use to create reports (keyword rankings, analytics, on-page data, etc.)
- How they study a website's technical SEO for issues
- What tools they use for client, competitor, and keyword research
- How they build links
If an expert is using SE Nuke or Xrumer, stay away. You might end up penalized by using blackhat tactics
4. What Types of SEO Do You Provide?
There's more than one type of SEO. For success, you'll need on-page and technical SEO, off-page SEO, and local SEO.
On-page SEO involves your website content and ensuring it's all optimized with the right keywords.
Off-page SEO, on the other hand, involves inbound links that help search engines trust your site.
Local SEO involves keywords that relate to your business' location. You might consider hiring someone who specializes in local SEO services to help you attract nearby customers.
Once you hire an SEO expert, they'll likely perform a basic technical SEO audit. This audit will tell them where your website is lacking. Technical SEO will involve all the behind-the-scenes website elements, such as:
Your search engine optimization expert should stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, too. For example, 30% of all website sessions will occur without a screen by 2022. As more people use voice search, more businesses need to optimize their content for this trend.
Before you hire an SEO expert, ask them about the most current SEO trends.
Are they writing content for voice search? How are they responding to blockchain's impact on SEO? What about the use of rich snippets?
Ask the consultant which types of SEO they provide and if they're prepared to respond to incoming trends.
On-page SEO involves your website content and ensuring it's all optimized with the right keywords.
Off-page SEO, on the other hand, involves inbound links that help search engines trust your site.
Local SEO involves keywords that relate to your business' location. You might consider hiring someone who specializes in local SEO services to help you attract nearby customers.
Once you hire an SEO expert, they'll likely perform a basic technical SEO audit. This audit will tell them where your website is lacking. Technical SEO will involve all the behind-the-scenes website elements, such as:
- 404 pages
- Redirect issues
- Web crawler errors
- Navigation issues
- Website page speed
Your search engine optimization expert should stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, too. For example, 30% of all website sessions will occur without a screen by 2022. As more people use voice search, more businesses need to optimize their content for this trend.
Before you hire an SEO expert, ask them about the most current SEO trends.
Are they writing content for voice search? How are they responding to blockchain's impact on SEO? What about the use of rich snippets?
Ask the consultant which types of SEO they provide and if they're prepared to respond to incoming trends.
5. How Do You Measure Success?
When you hire a company for any service, you're bound to have certain expectations. Before hiring an SEO consultant, make your expectations clear. For example, do you want to:
Have a specific goal in mind. Ask the SEO consultant if they can help you accomplish this goal, and how they intend to help.
Ask which metrics they track as well. This will help you determine how they report and measure success. For example, some SEO experts focus on keyword rankings.
Others want to help you increase site traffic or on-page metrics, such as how long someone spends on a certain page.
- Increase website traffic by 30% in the first month?
- Rank on the first page for a specific keyword?
- See a 15% increase in form submissions the first month?
Have a specific goal in mind. Ask the SEO consultant if they can help you accomplish this goal, and how they intend to help.
Ask which metrics they track as well. This will help you determine how they report and measure success. For example, some SEO experts focus on keyword rankings.
Others want to help you increase site traffic or on-page metrics, such as how long someone spends on a certain page.
6. How Often Do You Provide Updates?
Once they get started, how does the SEO expert intend to report their activity? Will you schedule a bi-monthly phone call, or will they email a report?
After all, you want to hire an SEO expert who will remain transparent about their progress.
Ask how they intend to keep you informed about website changes, too.
For a successful SEO strategy, an SEO expert will need to make changes to your site. Otherwise, they can't improve technical issues such as your website's speed or page structure. However, you'll want to keep track of the changes they make.
Otherwise, you might end up with a broken site and no idea how to fix it.
If the search engine optimization consultant doesn't intend to make website changes, consider it a red flag. On-site changes are important for SEO success.
After all, you want to hire an SEO expert who will remain transparent about their progress.
Ask how they intend to keep you informed about website changes, too.
For a successful SEO strategy, an SEO expert will need to make changes to your site. Otherwise, they can't improve technical issues such as your website's speed or page structure. However, you'll want to keep track of the changes they make.
Otherwise, you might end up with a broken site and no idea how to fix it.
If the search engine optimization consultant doesn't intend to make website changes, consider it a red flag. On-site changes are important for SEO success.
7. Are You Aware of the Latest Algorithm Updates?
Google regularly releases new algorithm updates that can change how companies approach their SEO strategies.
An SEO expert should remain up-to-date with these changes. Otherwise, their SEO strategies are outdated.
This question will help you tell the difference between an experienced professional and someone without much SEO practice.
Hire someone who is aware of the latest algorithm updates. Ask how they reacted to the update and if it changed their SEO approach.
An SEO expert should remain up-to-date with these changes. Otherwise, their SEO strategies are outdated.
This question will help you tell the difference between an experienced professional and someone without much SEO practice.
Hire someone who is aware of the latest algorithm updates. Ask how they reacted to the update and if it changed their SEO approach.
Start Searching: 7 Questions to Ask a Search Engine Optimization Consultant
Ready to step up your SEO? By asking a search engine optimization consultant these seven questions, you can find an expert up to the task.
Explore the Marketing Integration section of the blog for more tips!
Explore the Marketing Integration section of the blog for more tips!
