How to Hire SEO Experts: The 5 Important Questions
SEO is still a bit of the Wild, Wild West. While their are two main camps of SEO experts: the “White Hats” and the “Black Hats,” sometimes it’s still hard for those that are new to the boom town of Search City whose who.
That’s OK, because I’m going to give you a little insight into the world of Search City, so you can better select the SEO expert that is right for you. So take a load off partner and let’s get started.
*Disclaimer: I firmly have a “White Hat” affixed to my head. I believe in following the rules set by Google and producing quality content. I respect the buyer and always want to give them the best quality product. Why? Simply put, because I’m a buyer and those are the types of products I want to find and buy.
How to Hire SEO Experts: The 5 Questions
1. Do you guarantee I will be seen on the first page of search?
SEO is the only industry I know of that you can tell someone is doing their job correctly when they don’t promise you results. That doesn’t mean you won’t see them, on the contrary you will if you are committed for the long haul. Nor does it mean that the time, effort and money isn’t worth investing- it certainly is – it’s just their are no guarantees.
How could someone give you a guarantee when none of us know for sure all the search engine ranking factors? SEO is as much a science as it is an art. We test a lot of theories constantly, we watch announcements from Google like hawks, but none of us has the absolute answer. We have educated guesses and some rules to live by. Nothing is 100% certain, but a lot of things are 75% – 95% probable.
So, if any SEO experts tell you they can guarantee you first page results, or significant traffic in a month or two – RUN. Whatever short term gains they may actually be able to deliver on, will only hurt you significantly in the long run. The LAST thing you want is to be kicked out of Google’s search results. You will pay more to have someone help you get out of that mess AND loose money from sales during that time than you will ever make in those few short months where your traffic spikes.
What you want to hear from the SEO experts you are looking to hire is that honesty. If they tell you nothing can be guaranteed in SEO, but I have a very good track record with my clients, they are fellow White Hatters. Ask to see some case studies from past/current clients. A true White Hat SEO expert will want to show you their data, and talk to you about all of it in great detail if you ask. You want a true partner, someone that is willing to be 100% honest with you at all times, not just someone that talks a good game.
2. Who will actually be doing the work?
A lot of times SEO experts will outsource parts of their job like keyword research or copy optimization overseas or to under qualified freelancers that are cheap. This is a problem because language selection is key. It’s tricky enough sometimes to figure out how to add in a keyword string that is grammatically correct, let alone doesn’t change the meaning of the article or webpage.
When you outsource this to third-party vendors or freelancers whose primary skill-set isn’t optimizing for search your results will be sub-par at best. The overall number of visitors to your site might significantly increase but the overall quality of those visitors will be very poor. Meaning there are metrics that show you how engaged your visitors are. Things like,
- Bounce rate
- Time-on-page, and
- Average pages per visit
If you’re going to spend the money, time and effort on optimizing your content for visitors that will eventually be turning into customers don’t you think quality is better than quantity?
Ask for examples of past/current client’s work that they optimized and if you still can’t tell ask for a client reference. Talking to the expert’s client about how easy or hard the process of keyword research and copy editing is will be a big indicator of their effectiveness for you. If there are always multiple rounds before the client feels comfortable with the keyword strings selected, or if there are multiple round of edits to the content that is a red flag.
Sometimes when you work with a client that is in a very jargon filled industry getting the hang of the keywords can initially take a few rounds of back and forth. However, this should not the consistent norm.
3. Have any of your clients, while with you, been dinged by any of Google’s algorithmic updates (ex: Penguin, Panda, etc.) If, so why?
Chances are if you are using a reputable SEO expert none of their clients will have been hit hard by any of the Google updates. (The one caveat is if the client ignores advice. Yes, it does happen.)
If the consultant or company has, ask why. If they blame it on Google, walk away. If they blame it on the client, listen. Perhaps the client is:
- Using a homegrown 15+ year CMS (this is good for no one)
- Just starting to get their house in order and they knew it was going to happen
Use your instincts on this one. If the person is dancing around the topic, or gives you an answer that is too perfect, then you should listen to your gut.
4. How do you define and track success?
A reputable consultant/company will tell you that a lot of that depends upon the clients goals. While not a concrete answer it’s a good start. You want to work with someone that custom tailors your SEO strategy to your unique business needs. While a lot of the same tactics are applied to all clients, they can and should be customized to help each company achieve their needs on their time table.
There are a few key items that all good SEO practitioners will want to track.
- Overall traffic to your site
- Organic search traffic
- Traffic to certain key pages that the company has defined as important (Ex: Landing page for a service)
- Referral traffic
- Number of inbound links to your site from high domain authority sites
All of these basic types of metrics will help the SEO expert determine if they are moving the needle. These are basic reporting metrics that you can reference and ask about.
If you do hear the person talking a lot or exclusively about your first page rankings this is a red flag. With search being personalized now it’s impossible to accurately track your SEO success by the slot it appears in on the search result page. Yes, tools like Moz track it, but even they will say it’s a flawed metric and you need to track other more important things.
5. How do you create SEO Strategies for clients?
There should not be a one-size fits all option, period. Real SEO experts examine your unique landscape (business goals, metrics, industry, etc., etc.) to determine what tactics are needed and what will work best for you.
The answer you want to hear is all about customization. “We did x, y and z for Client A, but for Client B we only did z, but in this unique way.”
If the person you are talking to insists you only need linkbuilding for example, without looking at your site, your metrics or really talking to you about your obstacles and wins they are NOT the right person. It’s time to get on those running shoes.
In Conclusion
Unfortunately, there are a lot of snake oil salespeople hanging around the SEO industry. Just like with all things in life – if it’s to easy, to cheap or seems to good to be true – it is.
SEO is the long game. It takes commitment, time and effort, just like all good things. For example eating ribs from a fast food chain isn’t even the same ballpark as eating ribs from a BBQ pit master that slow roasts them for days.
You want a partner that will be in it for the long haul with you, not someone who is just around to make a quick buck and move on. Find your BBQ pit person that wants to teach you. With some time and commitment you will be able to make your own knee-slapping ribs.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment below and I will happily respond to you.
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