Reality: Some SEO concepts are easy, and many others are very complex and can hardly be assimilated and applied by someone who is not highly familiar with the industry and has an extensive background in SEO.
Also reality: hiring a SEO professional can help your project a lot, especially in the case of large websites, for technical reasons. Or simply see the potential of the online channel and the possibility of business in other smaller websites/businesses.
If you have an online business that has already gone through the DIY SEO phase and you’re ready to take your SEO efforts to the next level beyond updating meta titles and writing blog posts, it may be time to hire an SEO provider that can help you get one step further on your path to improving online visibility.
But the question is: how do you find and hire the right SEO company that can generate real, tangible results for your business?
In this month’s post we are going to answer in the form of tips some of the questions we receive most frequently from potential clients who still have doubts about outsourcing their SEO service.
For example the pros and cons of outsourcing, what exactly an SEO consultant does and even knowing what questions to ask during the hiring and negotiation process.
Índice de contenidos
- 1 SEO Hiring Tips
- 2 Advantages of hiring an SEO company
SEO Hiring Tips
Choosing an SEO company or consultant requires careful consideration of options, as the main goal is to find a provider that best suits your business needs and objectives.
For some projects a freelance SEO professional may be ideal, for others a specialized SEO agency with more resources and availability of consultants specialized in complementary disciplines (programming, design…) will be necessary.
For the above reasons we have included some tips for effective SEO hiring to help you weigh options and decide on the right choice for your project.
#1 Research the SEO providers you are interested in.
Before signing on with a new SEO service provider, it is best to do some initial research to learn more about their services, their approach and the results they have generated for their clients. To do this, you can browse their social media profiles, look for customer testimonials and check out case studies on their website.
Browse reviews and testimonials
Whether you are referred by someone in your network or you come across a supplier on your own, it is always a good idea to check the reviews that other customers have left about the supplier.
It also looks for evidence that they have generated real results for their customers in the form of traffic, leads or sales.
Search for case studies and real examples
At the same time you are looking for reviews on Facebook and Google, you should check the vendor’s website to see if they post any SEO case studies or examples of their past work.
Reviews can tell you how much clients have enjoyed working with them, but case studies are a truer indicator of the type and size of projects the agency can take on:
- Do they convey a deep understanding of the data and how to interpret it?
- How do you measure the success of a project?
- Do they look only at rankings or at more specific metrics?
All of these questions are important when analyzing the actual cases published by an SEO provider.
The answers you find can make – or break – your confidence in their services, so they will go a long way toward helping you determine if they are the right provider for your business.
Many SEO firms are active on social media, and examining their content is a good way to get an idea of their approach to SEO and how they work with their clients.
Look at their blog posts and the posts they share on their social media pages to see if it’s a brand you’d like to work with.
#2 Ask what your services include
Many providers offer an all-in-one SEO package, but it’s important to be critical of anyone who takes a one-size-fits-all approach.
What you should look for is a provider that will take the time to understand your business and develop a strategy that is tailored to your specific needs and audience.
It is essential that you ask what their SEO services package includes so that you can be very clear about what you are paying for.
Some of these extra services that may be charged as a plus if you don’t ask first are:
- local SEO strategies
- technical optimization
- website migrations
- creation of content on the blog or pages
- link building
#3 Ask how they measure results
SEO goes beyond rankings and appearing in Top-1 for any search.
An experienced and reputable SEO provider knows that the goal of any SEO strategy is ultimately to help the company gain visibility and money.You should therefore take into account several key performance indicators (KPIs) beyond mere rankings and where this or that page appears.
Some of these KPIs may include:
- traffic figures (direct, organic…)
- conversion rate
- potential new customers on the site
- revenue generated by visits
- …
A competent SEO agency will be able to communicate the true value of SEO and why these metrics are the most important in measuring the success of your SEO efforts.
#4 Schedule a call or meeting (or several)
Before signing anything it is mandatory to have a face-to-face conversation (or via phone call) with your potential SEO provider. This will give you the opportunity to discuss your needs in more detail, ask questions and get a better idea of whether this supplier is right for your project.
#5 Request a detailed quotation
When contacting an SEO agency or consultant, you should ask for an honest estimate on how much their services will cost for your site and how long they expect those services to last. Any provider that is cryptic about what it offers, what it costs, how long it lasts or the expected results is an SEO provider we recommend you be wary of.
A decent SEO agency will know how much work is required to optimize your site, approximately how long it will take and how much it will cost.
It may be necessary to hire optional services that can be discussed later (content, graphic works…), but the initial budget should give you a clear idea of what you can expect when working with them.
#6 Communicate your company’s SEO goals
Ranking high in Google for your keywords is important, but it is very likely that you have other more specific goals in mind:
- attract a new type of customer
- to enhance a specific service
- reduce web response times
- improve the communication channel with the customer
- …
Be sure to communicate those objectives to your prospective supplier so they know what you hope to achieve and to make sure you are both on the same page.
A professional SEO agency should be able to help you articulate your SEO objectives, put them in order based on their importance, communicate if some are dependent on others and establish new ones.
#7 Compare several options
You don’t have to choose the first SEO provider that comes your way.
Don’t hesitate to compare your options, get a second or third opinion or check different suppliers to choose the right one for your business.
Ultimately, you should decide on the one that best understands your business and industry and demonstrates that it has what it takes to get positive results from your SEO campaigns.
The confidence he shows in the meetings you have with him, as well as the portfolio of current and past clients he presents will help you to have a complete picture of whether the provider you have in front of you is the best for your website.
Advantages of hiring an SEO company
While there are countless resources online to help you implement SEO on your own, there are also many advantages to outsourcing your SEO or hiring an in-house SEO professional in-house.
SEO is not always easy to understand, so working with a professional can be the solution to avoid headaches and wasted time and money.
If you’re wondering if it’s worth hiring an SEO company, it’s time to consider the benefits.
An SEO provider can help you:
- Stop working on SEO in trial-and-error mode and start implementing an effective strategy from the beginning.
- Save money by executing data-driven, targeted campaigns that make the most of your marketing budget.
- Expand the reach of your online business.
- Prevent costly SEO errors that can go unnoticed and potentially evolve into Google penalties.
- Understand the analytics and data that can be extracted from your website, what they mean and why they are important to your business.
- Reduce tooling and bidding costs. An SEO company can easily pay more than 5.000€ per month in licenses and tools (and if it doesn’t, be wary). Leaving this costly option to a specialized company may be a good idea.
If after all that we have explained, you want to know more, contact us and we will be happy to help you.
Especializado en la redacción de contenidos y la gestión de blogs, Desde 2018 investigando y dándole a las teclas para convertirse en un auténtico maestro del WordPress y el SEO on-page.
