Hiring an SEO Consultant? Ask These 9 Important Questions

The occupation of an SEO advisor is to make and negociate SEO tasks to amended a website’s show successful hunt engines. All of this should yet pb to expanding the business’s revenue.

Hiring a large SEO advisor tin skyrocket your business, arsenic integrated hunt is the main postulation root for galore websites. Alternatively, a incorrect prosecute tin bash a batch of harm that whitethorn instrumentality a agelong clip to fix.

So what does it instrumentality to abstracted the wheat from the chaff? Ask your candidates the pursuing 9 questions to marque the close hiring decision:

1. What’s your way grounds of success?
2. What bash you do best?
3. How overmuch tin your enactment interaction my business?
4. Do you warrant the results of your SEO work?
5. What’s your attack to Google’s SEO guidelines?
6. What SEO tools bash you use, and however bash you use them?
7. What does your SEO reporting look like?
8. How overmuch bash you cost?
9. How bash you manus implicit the enactment erstwhile we part ways?

Let’s dive into each of them truthful you’ll cognize what to look for successful your candidates’ answers.

There are 3 ways to travel crossed a imaginable SEO consultant:

1. You get a reference.
2. You get acquainted with them based connected their online and offline presence.
3. They scope retired to you, offering their services.

If it’s the archetypal lawsuit and you truly spot the idiosyncratic recommending the consultant, consciousness escaped to skip astir of the qualifying questions successful this article. However, for the 2nd and 3rd cases, you should archetypal absorption connected a candidate’s way grounds of success. And that tin beryllium tricky sometimes, arsenic radical mostly contiguous themselves successful the champion airy possible.

So what’s tricky here? Let’s spot an example. Last year, I was asked to pb an SEO store for 1 of the Big Four accounting firms. If I had accepted, I’d person conscionable placed its logo connected my website and claimed the steadfast was my client. That would technically beryllium existent but besides a spot deceiving (regarding my SEO consulting experience).

Any SEO advisor should beryllium capable to disclose a fewer websites they were moving on. Most consultants database a fewer clients connected their websites. But this accusation is not often followed by testimonials oregon lawsuit studies reflecting the consultants’ performance. If you’re missing this information, you tin inactive get it earlier getting successful interaction with them.

You tin unfastened Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, plug successful 1 of the websites, and cheque the integrated postulation illustration successful the overview:

If you spot an upward trend, past it’s a bully archetypal sign. But ever sermon a fewer cases with the advisor erstwhile you get successful interaction with them. They tin archer you the periods erstwhile they worked for a definite lawsuit and adjacent supply the charts and numbers, arsenic anyone tin look up the data.

Sometimes, you won’t spot overmuch maturation oregon whitethorn question the show successful different ways. Let the advisor warrant their results. SEO is simply a semipermanent game, and you seldom spot immoderate important changes successful integrated postulation successful the archetypal months of cooperation.

There’s nary one-size-fits-all SEO consultant. Instead, effort to find the champion lucifer for your business.

For example, I cull each e‑commerce offers. E‑commerce SEO is simply a class connected its own. I’ve ne'er done it, and determination are galore different consultants who tin bash a amended occupation for cheaper rates. I’ve ever worked for SaaS businesses, and that’s wherever I tin supply the most value.

Besides a wide cognition of marketing, an SEO advisor should beryllium bully astatine each SEO disciplines (on-page, off-page, and technical). However, precise fewer negociate to beryllium experts successful each of them, and that’s not necessary. Some consultants absorption connected conscionable 1 country similar nexus gathering oregon method SEO. They treble down connected their strengths and connection a niche service. That’s a good thing.

This question simply helps some sides recognize if there’s a bully acceptable betwixt your needs and their focus, knowledge, and expertise.

There are a fewer factors that travel into play for estimating the imaginable interaction of SEO connected your business:

• Organic postulation potential – Is determination a precocious hunt request successful your concern category?
• Marketing strategy – How overmuch should integrated search be prioritized among different selling channels?
• Developer resources – Do your developers person the country to instrumentality required changes successful a timely manner?
• Content creator resources – Do you person a squad to nutrient SEO content? If not, bash you person the indispensable fund to prosecute freelancers?
• Link builder/PR resources – Do you person a nexus builder and/or PR specialist? If not, tin you spend to hire them?

A bully advisor should measure each of these factors erstwhile they’re asked astir the imaginable interaction of their work. To beryllium clear, don’t expect the advisor to springiness you immoderate numbers astatine this stage. For now, your extremity is to travel to an statement that investing successful SEO is the close choice.

If immoderate SEO advisor guarantees their enactment volition skyrocket your integrated traffic—run. Yes, this is simply a dealbreaker.

No substance however bully an SEO advisor is, they can’t warrant immoderate results successful SEO. There are conscionable truthful galore variables (ranking factors) involved. Yes, you’re hiring idiosyncratic to marque a affirmative impact, and there’s a precocious probability that a bully advisor volition wage disconnected rather quickly. But it’s ne'er 100%, and you’ll often person to wait galore months to spot immoderate affirmative results.

Here’s different example. I got progressive successful consulting for a website. It didn’t get backmost connected way aft being severely deed by Google’s algorithm update contempt having large SEO consultants each along. I’ve recovered immoderate caller opportunities and helped hole a fewer things. But I can’t property immoderate occurrence to these efforts due to the fact that it inactive took different six months for the integrated postulation inclination to look good again:

By the way, the surge successful postulation happened aft different algorithm update. We, SEO consultants, person done bully work. It conscionable took a batch of clip for the results to footwear successful (almost 2 years successful this case).

There’s nary close answer. But leaning toward the extremes (doing everything/nothing according to Google) should beryllium taken with caution.

Google has go overmuch amended successful SEO recommendations and documentation successful the past fewer years. However, each bully SEO disagrees with Google’s guidelines present and then. Some much than others.

For example, the main taxable of disagreements betwixt Google’s statements and SEOs is link building. What works successful signifier erstwhile gathering links and what Google recommends are sometimes 2 wholly other approaches.

A bully motion is proceeding astir a fewer examples wherever the advisor disagrees with Google and why.

Every bully SEO advisor needs to usage 1 of the 3 starring all-in-one SEO toolsets: Ahrefs, Semrush, oregon Moz. Hearing 1 of these brands is simply a bully commencement for this question. Using Google Search Console and Google Analytics is taken for granted.

However, having entree to the champion SEO tools is conscionable the beginning. Let the advisor archer you a spot astir their processes. How bash they audit a website? How bash they find nexus gathering opportunities? What astir keyword research?

There tin beryllium countless close oregon incorrect answers connected utilizing the tools. If you’re not an SEO expert, you won’t beryllium capable to justice them. But immoderate the answers are, they should physique much assurance and rapport.

You tin easy archer a bully SEO advisor from a atrocious 1 based connected their SEO reports. If they supply an illustration report, here’s what you should look retired for. A bully study is concise and casual to spell through; you should besides recognize the gist of it successful a fewer minutes. Here’s an illustration of a bully descent taken from my SEO study template:

But astir consultants won’t nonstop you different clients’ reports owed to non-disclosure agreements and delicate data. Inquiring astir their SEO reporting process is the second-best prime here.

What to look for present specifically? Well, see if they speech astir SEO KPIs and however they attack them. That’s a dormant giveaway. You privation to perceive astir metrics tied to your concern growth. These are, astir universally, integrated conversions and share of voice (search visibility).

Beware that integrated postulation maturation unsocial shouldn’t beryllium a KPI unless you monetize each your website traffic using show advertizing networks.

Another important happening is the operation of information sources. Every bully SEO advisor should make reports by combining metrics from Google Search Console, Google Analytics (or alternatives), and autarkic SEO toolsets similar Ahrefs. That’s due to the fact that each instrumentality has its unsocial data. Also, immoderate metrics are conscionable much close successful 1 instrumentality than another.

It’s champion to person immoderate pricing estimates arsenic soon arsenic imaginable truthful that neither broadside wastes time. Some consultants disclose their rates publicly, but you ever request a punctuation for your circumstantial needs.

You’ll mostly brushwood 3 types of pricing:

• Hourly rate – This is the astir straightforward pricing model. It’s the astir communal 1 successful the Czech Republic (where I live). But it’s not truthful fashionable successful the West, according to my observations.
• Project-based pricing – This is astir apt to beryllium utilized if you request SEO assistance successful a definite country for a shorter play of time.
• Monthly retainer – This is fashionable for semipermanent cooperations. You hold connected a artifact of clip the advisor volition supply each period to your concern and however overmuch it volition cost you.

Some consultants usage each 3 pricing models, portion others instrumentality to conscionable one. You should besides speech astir the minimum declaration magnitude and outgo terms.

SEO tin beryllium a lucrative profession, truthful expect the champion consultants to beryllium rather expensive. On apical of that, it’s apt the request is higher than what they tin meet, truthful immoderate consultants are picky astir caller clients.

Of course, the pricing volition drastically alteration depending connected the country. In the U.S. (and different countries with a precocious purchasing powerfulness parity), you should expect to wage astatine slightest $100 per hr to get a coagulated SEO consultant. To prosecute the champion English-speaking consultants, you tin expect to beryllium charged $200+ hourly rates.

Recommended reading: SEO Pricing: ~350 Agencies, Consultants, and Freelancers Reveal How Much SEO Costs

You won’t enactment with your advisor forever. Any advisor should effort to bash their champion to manus implicit their enactment and guarantee an casual modulation erstwhile you prosecute idiosyncratic new. You privation to beryllium definite your advisor volition do that.

Actually, 1 of the archetypal things immoderate bully advisor should inquire you astatine the opening of your practice is your SEO history. Has anyone already done keyword research? Is determination a contented plan? What astir a database containing the statuses of method SEO issues and opportunities? Link prospecting and outreach lists? What bash your past reports look like? What has been done and why?

You see, there’s a ton of accusation and information you tin supply to your caller advisor that tin prevention clip and money. It tin besides uncover imaginable issues that whitethorn hinder your SEO performance.

Final thoughts

Judging the expertise of a imaginable SEO advisor isn’t casual erstwhile you’re not acquainted with SEO yourself. But you tin precise good measure their connection skills based connected the 9 questions above.

If they don’t explicate the SEO worldly with ease, conscionable accidental “it depends” without going into much details, oregon springiness iffy answers that conscionable don’t consciousness right, you’re astir apt amended disconnected hiring idiosyncratic else.

So wherever bash you find the champion consultants? It whitethorn beryllium tempting to usage Google because, well, ranking astatine the apical indispensable mean that it’s bully astatine SEO, right? Yes, but you’ll beryllium missing retired connected perchance amended fits. After all, determination are mode much large consultants than apical hunt results.

I urge you inquire radical who person hired SEO consultants successful the past, your societal circles, oregon SEO experts. Even if you don’t prosecute them for SEO consulting, they tin assistance you with immoderate recommendations.

Any questions? Or much ideas to suffice SEO consultants? Ping maine on Twitter.