Are you worrying about not getting your website listed on the top pages of search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo?Well, you are not alone and there are millions, and everyone is struggling to get on the first page of the search engine so that they can get huge traffic and thus sales or revenues.
But due to lack of expertise, most of us are not able to do it and beat the competition. And here comes the need of an expert who can do this work for you. You can hire someone who can do the SEO part on your behalf and help you achieve the goal which you couldn’t due to the obvious the reasons.
Now when it comes to hiring an SEO expert, you have two options-
- Either hire a freelance SEO consultant or
- Hire an SEO agency do to the same
No matter with whom you are going to hire, you should always look for the quality and responsibility which you are looking for.
Although this is really hard to identify and assure but using the below questions, you can be somehow sure that you are hiring the right SEO person for SEO consulting.
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#1 Ask for the current and previous assignments
Looking for the history is one of the best ways to evaluate someone. If someone is hiring a web developer, they can ask the person to either develop some design or show the previous design.
Although in SEO, you can’t do a miracle in an hour or day but definitely looking at the previous work, you can definitely get assured for the skills. You can also check their feedback by clients based on the prior work. This will help you hire the best and suitable person for your work.
#2 What will be your strategy to improve my ranking
Asking for the plan shows how serious the consultant is for the work and how much he or she has prepared for the job. Based on their previous work experience, the consultant should be able to make a strategy for your work.
Again, the strategy can’t be the same for all websites. A local SEO is completely different from the global SEO and should be dealt with in different ways. Also, you should look for the following in their strategy-
- The inclusion of the technical review of your website
- Identifying the problem which is lowering the ranking and making the site speed low
- Checking broken links
- How 404 and error pages are being handled
- And other on-page and off-page reviews
You should also look for the off-page strategies as well in both local seo implementation and generic seo.
#3 Do you follow the Google webmaster guidelines
There are 200+ rules for the SEO and following all won’t be possible for anyone but we should try to follow as much as we can.
Especially the top rules like-
- Not generating the spammy content
- Avoid copying the content which is already published somewhere else
- Don’t create a backlink from already spammed sites etc.
You may also ask for some rules to test how they follow the guidelines.
#4 Do you guarantee the ranking in a search engine?
Well, you should note that search engine ranking is not a day of the month of the game. It takes months to rank and again a steady work to maintain the ranking.
Ask this question and if the consultant is saying Yes, try to avoid that person as soon as possible. No one can guarantee for the ranking. All they can do is work hard and in the right direction. Look for the strategy they follow for both on-page and off-page SEO and not for the guarantee for the ranking.
#5 Are you good with the local search also?
Local search is getting momentum these days and local search results are working like charm. If the consultant is good with local SEO as well then it will be easier for you to be ranked and viewed when someone searches for the keyword from nearby.
Local search is comparatively more beneficial rather than the normal search as a call to action of local search is more impressive.
This is really required!
If you are aware of project management techniques then you must be knowing how important it is to keep a track of changes. And no matter your website is small or large, you should do it.
We don’t know when the time changes and you may need to know what change has caused it. And so, you’re to be an SEO consultant should make a report for all the changes done. You should get these changes to report on a regular basis as agreed. This includes even the tags and HTML codes along with content and design.
#7 How you measure the success of an SEO campaign
The measure of success is different for different people and you should know their meaning and ensure both of you are on the same page.
In the SEO campaigns also, someone might be just looking for the traffic while for others it will be the conversion. So, depending on the nature of the goal both of you should shape the campaign.
#8 What will be the mode of communication and how often
The way of communication varies from person to person and a remote consultant usually communicate through email, Skype, WhatsApp etc.
And so, if this communication channel is good for you also, you can finalize one and if not, then you should mutually discuss the mode on which you will be talking.
Also, you should make an assurance for the frequency of communication. Like after how much time they will send you the change report, ranking updates, content details etc. This will help you keep the project streamlined.
Conclusion
These were the top 8 questions you should ask while hiring an SEO consultant. Along with these, you should also look for the terms of payment, parting ways, and other legal terms.
If you have also hired or outsourced SEO consultants earlier, do share the skills you checked while hiring.
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