Let’s say you want to hire the very best SEO Consultant, but they all seem pretty good. In this case, it may be that you are asking the wrong questions. Here are a few questions you may want to ask the SEO companies that you hire. They are actually a little unfair in some circumstances, but who said you have to make things fair.
How Are You Staying Up to Date?
This is a clever question because it doesn’t really matter what the answer is. The truth is that most SEO companies are going to have a canned response if they deal with a lot of clients. If the SEO company sounds like it is trying too hard to answer the question, then perhaps they do not deal with as many clients as they claim.
The best answer would be, “We deal with SEO every day. We have our noses in it from day-to-day. Frankly, if there is anything new going on, we are at the forefront of it.”
How Do You Report On Progress
You are looking for a structured response to this. They should have a system set up for the informing their clients on the progress of their SEO goals. It may be in the form of SEO reports, or weekly emails, or something that routine and part of the course.
What Tools Do You Use?
They are going to have a wide number of tools, but they may not be too eager to share them. If they claim they have made their own tools, then you are going to need a lot of specifics. If they tell you the tools they use, press them on why they use them, and why you shouldn’t go ahead and use them instead of using their SEO service.
How Do You Approach Influencer Marketing?
There are several responses to this, but in truth, the better an SEO company is, then the more access they have to higher powered influencers. If they claim they have a series of influencers already on their books, probably because they sell to them, then this is a good answer. If the SEO company starts giving you a lot of hogwash about cold calling and such, then it is time to move on.
How Do You Conduct Your Keyword Research?
They should make it clear that they do their research based on your business goals and your brand goals. Keyword research is not a right or wrong answer. Getting the right keywords is not as important as it was but getting the right keywords for your brand and your business goals is important. If they know spouting a bunch of tools they use, then start to worry because anybody can do keyword research with a few tools they find online. The keywords they generate will have no effect if they were not custom-generated for your business or brand goals.
What Do You Need From Your SEO Consultant?
Ask not what your SEO company can do for you, ask what you can do for your SEO company. In short, the SEO company you hire is going to need a great deal from you. If they are stumped by what they can use from you, then this is a big warning sign. On that note, do not turn over control of your online assets. Set up admin permissions for websites, but do not hand over your administer accounts. If they want to post stuff on your website, then have them create the content and you post it, don’t hand over your passwords.
Start Small and Work Your Way Up
The key to success is partially due to picking the right SEO company, but since you can never be sure if the company you are picking is a good one, you should start out small. Pay for one of their lesser or cheaper services and test them out. Do not be persuaded by big-time first-buyer savings. Start small, and check to see if their efforts genuinely pay off in the short term and especially in the long term.
Try a company like SEO Expert, who have years of experience and a very good online reputation and see how their first efforts go. Once you are happy with the results, then you can start scaling things up.