11 Questions to ask before hiring a SEO professional
11 Questions to ask before hiring a SEO professional
SEO. A word we use so frequently that we often forget that we need to step back and simply explain that SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is essentially the process in which your website or web page shows up in a search engine organically. Organic SEO refers to the online ranking of your website used without paid advertisements or paid tactics. Organic SEO refers to different types of searches including but not limited to image search, local search, video search and more! Did you know that a well designed website can help your SEO? It can!
- What’s the best and fastest way to generate links?
- This is a great question to ask any SEO rep because to be honest it’s a little bit of a trick question. While generating links may have been a worthwhile trend in earlier days, it’s no longer the best approach. Asking this question is somewhat of a trick question but it’s an easy way of discovering the type of SEO tactics that this firm hires. Filter out anyone who considers generating links quickly. Building reliable links can be done but quality links are built on quality relationships and content, therefore they are harder to generate and can’t be done quickly. This is a good opportunity to feel out their views on linking.
- Do you sell backlinks or link building services?
- If the company you’re interviewing is a fan of selling any sort of links, guest blog spots etc. – it’s time for you to run and run quickly. Selling linking services is not just a big no-no but it can substantially damage your organic SEO. This may have been a successful trend a few years ago but SEO has come a long way since those days and you should stay away from services and companies that provide those techniques. That being said, it’s not that you don’t want links it’s that you want high quality links that are dependent on a long term strategy, anything short term and subpar can potentially hurt your website.
- Is content important?
- No matter how you slice and dice it the answer to this question is always yes. Content is not only important, but it is one of the most important aspects of a good SEO strategy. Creating original, unique and informative content is imperative to getting organic results. Sure there are other factors into a successful SEO campaign but the phrase “content is king” exists for a reason, content is king.
- Why is content important?
- This is a great follow up question to is content important. High quality content that is informative, creative and unique serves a purpose. Creating content that educates informs and helps enhance the user experience is what the new SEO experience is all about. Two years ago google started eliminating the chance to see keywords, now they have almost completely blacked it out. By focusing on valuable content rather than keywords, you will be able to see your organic rankings rise. Having an SEO person who not only knows that content is important but why it’s important is crucial to a successful SEO or marketing campaign.
- Is your SEO done in-house?
- Knowing who does your SEO and what task is designated to each individual is an important question whether you know it or not. Tons of marketing and SEO companies outsource their work – not all of them, but a lot of them. It’s important to ask if it’s done in house verses outsourced. Since a lot of SEO is now content based and engagement based, if you’re using a company that outsources every single aspect of your site to someone in a different country the language barrier might be too much to depend on them for every aspect. However if they’re only outsourcing technical stuff but managing every aspect as though it was in-house, it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. These days it’s very hard to find a company that doesn’t outsource any sort of development work, just ask the right questions, do your research and you’ll be okay. If it is outsourced some great follow up questions are:
- How much of it is outsourced?
- What aspect of it is outsourced (web design, web development, etc. etc.)
- Does someone oversea the work that isn’t done in-house
- Knowing who does your SEO and what task is designated to each individual is an important question whether you know it or not. Tons of marketing and SEO companies outsource their work – not all of them, but a lot of them. It’s important to ask if it’s done in house verses outsourced. Since a lot of SEO is now content based and engagement based, if you’re using a company that outsources every single aspect of your site to someone in a different country the language barrier might be too much to depend on them for every aspect. However if they’re only outsourcing technical stuff but managing every aspect as though it was in-house, it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. These days it’s very hard to find a company that doesn’t outsource any sort of development work, just ask the right questions, do your research and you’ll be okay. If it is outsourced some great follow up questions are:
- Who creates your content?
- A very important question and also a great follow up question to “is your house done in-house”? It’s important to not just know who is doing your content but also to meet with who is doing your content. Content creation is important so it makes sense that you would want to know who it is that’s creating your content so that you can make sure that you two are on the same page
- A very important question and also a great follow up question to “is your house done in-house”? It’s important to not just know who is doing your content but also to meet with who is doing your content. Content creation is important so it makes sense that you would want to know who it is that’s creating your content so that you can make sure that you two are on the same page
- Do I need to be on social media to help my SEO?
- Yes, Yes, Yes! SEO has drastically changed to incorporate the users experience. Social media engagement know signals relevancy to search engines. An updated study from our friends at Searchmetrics agreed with us and showed that social media signals are an important part to your companies organic SEO ranking. According to Searchmetrics high ranking URL’s almost always have a high number of social engagement meaning – a high number of likes, shares, re-tweets/tweets and of course Google’s very own +1’s. A few years ago social media might not have mattered but today it does. It’s a great indicator to show search engines that you and your business are relevant.
- How important is local search?
- Extremely. Especially if you’re a small or locally ran business it’s imperative. Claiming and optimizing your listings can be what makes the difference between showing up first and not showing up at all. If your SEO person doesn’t believe in the power of local search or claiming your listings, I would ask why. Even if you’re a multinational brand like Target or Macy’s, you still have individual locations that should be highlighted for the individuals in those cities looking for you.
- Can you tell me about your most successful campaigns and why it worked?
- Asking someone to show you or explain about your successful campaign is a great indicator on how they work and their success rate. It’s no different than asking a graphic design or a photographer for their portfolio – you want to feel confident in the company you’re hiring so it’s fair to ask them to talk to you about their most successful campaign and how it worked. It gives you a little bit of insight into how their brain works and if they’re the right fit for you.
- Can you tell me about your least successful campaign and why it didn’t work?
- While this might seem like an intense “interview” question it’s a fair one. We all have a failure at some point, and the best of us grow stronger from it. This is a great opportunity to tap into their mind and see how they’re able to grow from past failures and how they’ve applied different techniques to change their paths.
- When can I expect to be number 1 on google?
- This is essentially another trick question because no real SEO professional can guarantee any sort of ranking or placement. If you’re talking to someone that can guarantee your placement I would be hesitant about whether or not they’re a legitimate company. While a company might be able to promise high rankings, most of them can’t guarantee a specific date.
LRT is a marketing and graphic solutions company that specializes in SEO, Social media, content writing and management and more . We serve a large variety of clients in Chico and surrounding North State and Northern California areas like Oroville, Paradise, Corning, Red Bluff, Redding, Orland, Reno, Sparks, Yuba City, Marysville, or Sacramento. We would be more than happy to work with you on your next marketing and content creation project – talk to the experts today!
Call us at (530) 879-9261 or toll free (888) 934-6578 for a creative, innovative and successful marketing and content creation that is sure to drive traffic straight to your website.