Organic (non-paid) search is the largest single source of visits for most B2B websites. The majority of sites generate between 40% and two-thirds of their total traffic from search. Making sure your site is as highly visible as possible in search and maximizing visits requires professional SEO help—whether that comes from inside your company, or from an expert SEO consultant or agency.
If you’re hiring SEO expertise from the outside, how do you make sure you’ve found the best expert or agency for your needs?
How to hire an SEO expert
First, ask other business owners and marketing leaders, in your network or your favorite LinkedIn group, for references. These are often your best leads.
Second, do some online research. But beware of guides written by SEO professionals that are really more about why you should hire them than about making the best choice. (Since I’ve now left the consulting world, nope, back at it—but this post is still my most objective guidance.)
Third, once you have a short list of SEO consultants or agencies to consider, ask them the following 15 questions to help ensure you select a resource who can both meet your needs and is someone you’ll enjoy working with.
1) What are the most important factors in search engine ranking, and how will you help me get better results?
This isn’t really a question of knowledge (any experienced SEO pro should be able to answer without fumbling for words). Rather, it’s question designed to get at the consultant’s communication skills. Can they provide not only an accurate explanation, but also answer in a way you understand clearly? Or do they excessively throw out jargon and acronyms?
Good answer: something about how two factors—relevance and authority—form the fundamental underpinnings of search ranking; something about the hundreds of individual elements Google and other search engines use in determining rank; something about the three pillars of SEO (technical, content, and off-page); and perhaps something about how certain fundamental practices remain constant (e.g., writing to solve specific problems for specific types of people) even as search engine algorithms continually evolve.
Bad answer: anything that implies 1) they don’t really know; 2) they may know but are unable to explain in terms that you understand; or 3) (worst of all) they may or may not know, but don’t want to tell you (e.g., they have “secret techniques,” just trust them).
2) Can you provide success stories and references?
Any reputable SEO pro should be able to point to examples both of ranking success (e.g., if you’re looking for a sales management guru, is there any choice other than Ken?) as well as names of individuals you can contact who will tell you about their results and experience in working with this consultant.
If you’re hiring SEO expertise from the outside, how do you make sure you’ve found the best expert or agency for your needs?
How to hire an SEO expert
First, ask other business owners and marketing leaders, in your network or your favorite LinkedIn group, for references. These are often your best leads.
Second, do some online research. But beware of guides written by SEO professionals that are really more about why you should hire them than about making the best choice. (Since I’ve now left the consulting world, nope, back at it—but this post is still my most objective guidance.)
Third, once you have a short list of SEO consultants or agencies to consider, ask them the following 15 questions to help ensure you select a resource who can both meet your needs and is someone you’ll enjoy working with.
1) What are the most important factors in search engine ranking, and how will you help me get better results?
This isn’t really a question of knowledge (any experienced SEO pro should be able to answer without fumbling for words). Rather, it’s question designed to get at the consultant’s communication skills. Can they provide not only an accurate explanation, but also answer in a way you understand clearly? Or do they excessively throw out jargon and acronyms?
Good answer: something about how two factors—relevance and authority—form the fundamental underpinnings of search ranking; something about the hundreds of individual elements Google and other search engines use in determining rank; something about the three pillars of SEO (technical, content, and off-page); and perhaps something about how certain fundamental practices remain constant (e.g., writing to solve specific problems for specific types of people) even as search engine algorithms continually evolve.
Bad answer: anything that implies 1) they don’t really know; 2) they may know but are unable to explain in terms that you understand; or 3) (worst of all) they may or may not know, but don’t want to tell you (e.g., they have “secret techniques,” just trust them).
2) Can you provide success stories and references?
Any reputable SEO pro should be able to point to examples both of ranking success (e.g., if you’re looking for a sales management guru, is there any choice other than Ken?) as well as names of individuals you can contact who will tell you about their results and experience in working with this consultant.
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