Journalists, writers, copywriters, or other content creators often believe they are SEO experts because they follow some SEO rules and strategies. However, knowing some basics does not mean having enough SEO knowledge to analyze sites and build competent SEO strategies to improve the results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Digital marketing is not so easy! Thus, companies hire SEO experts who can contribute to their business and help them with page positioning. But how to choose the best one? What qualifications should you consider? Today, we will tell you how to hire an SEO Expert to ensure fruitful cooperation.
In the following lines, you will discover how to hire SEO experts and what aspects you need to assess to get the best SEO strategist for your business purposes, whether you want to get more website traffic or more leads.
What Is SEO?
Source: Forbes.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It means applying some technical strategies and writing skills with the final goal of positioning a website at the top of the search results.
Keep in mind that, according to Sistrix, the top three results receive 55.2% of the total traffic of Google. However, the first result obtains 27.5% of total clicks. In this scenario, consider that working with an SEO professional will allow you to position your landing pages in the first place on SERPs and get the most visitors possible.
Website SEO does not require paying the search engine to position your content. It is why SEO is “organic,” contrary to the PPC approach, where you pay for every click on your advertisements. In other words, with SEO, you’re looking to organically appear at the top of Google, Bing, and Yahoo’s rankings.
What Is an SEO Expert?
Source: Databox.
An SEO Expert is a professional crafting organic strategies to position their client’s content in the first spots of the search engine results pages. An SEO expert knows the ins and outs of an SEO approach by perfectly managing its structures and strategies, elevating the general quality of the website.
Now, let’s see the main skills you should pay attention to when hiring an SEO expert.
What Kind of Skills Should an SEO Expert Have?
SEO professionals should have technical SEO and SEO writing skills. It’s important for you to know the differences between both aspects of SEO since the first is about performance and user experience, whereas the second is about generating fresh and unique content. However, there are other skills and knowledge that an SEO expert should possess, mostly related to audit and optimization. Let’s delve into them!
They Should Perform an Excellent Keyword Research
Source: Semrush.
I briefly mentioned the concept of keyword research in a previous section. However, it’s important to delve into it since keyword research is the cornerstone of SEO. As such, professional SEO consultants should understand how to carry out proper keyword research. It includes knowing how to use tools and keyword planner platforms like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
Thanks to those platforms, SEO experts will be able to find the most relevant keywords in the industry of the businesses they are working for. With a robust list of keywords that users type when looking at data from the industry, SEO consultants can build a good SEO strategy for both current and future pieces of content.
They Should Know Your Industry
A good SEO expert should be able to create high-quality pieces of content that resonate with the audience, allowing them to engage with the website, the brand, and the particular products. But is it necessary for the consultant to be an expert on the topic in question?
Working with an expert gamer who, at the same time, is an SEO optimizer to write your gaming content and build your gaming SEO strategy would be ideal. This way, the SEO expert will not only be able to optimize your content in terms of SEO but also provide unique value for readers. Keep in mind that search engines reward fresh content with a personal touch when positioning pages on SERPs. In other words, SEO companies with your brand want to work should specialize in topics and the industry of your business.
They Should Be Able to Position Content in the Best Search Engine Rankings
Source: Monsterinsights.
This skill is a bit obvious, but it does not hurt to mention it again. An SEO expert must optimize your organic content to position it in the first-ranking places in SERPs. A good place in the search engine results means that your website will attract traffic and that the SEO operation is going in the right direction.
They Should Analyze Traffic and Create Reports
Most of the labor of the SEO expert is to audit and analyze the performance of pages or an entire website. This analysis has a final goal of finding all kinds of issues regarding content, images, structure, linking, keywords, topics, etcetera. With deep analysis, the SEO expert should issue a report of all problems and propose a correction program and actions to improve the site. This way, you can make a good decision about whether to accept or reject the proposition of the SEO consultant. Sometimes, you will need a second opinion regarding SEO projects to know accurately what exactly your website needs.
They Should Be Good for Both On-Page and Off-Page SEO
Source: Pixelcero.
Don’t forget that SEO also involves off-page strategies, which include link building, social media marketing, content marketing, guest posts, video marketing, and podcasting. Even though some of these strategies won’t be applied directly to your website, an SEO expert should consider them to provide you with an even wider range of possibilities to improve your position in SERPs.
The SEO consultant should also be an expert in offline advertising since, through other media, such as email marketing, you can entice other potential customers and improve your organic visibility.
Key Takeaways When Hiring an SEO Agency or Expert
Source: Mangools.
Full-service agencies should be able to discuss their range of marketing skills and how they can support overall success. Here, we’re giving you some tips you should consider if you want to hire the right SEO expert.
Set Your Goals Before Hiring SEO Experts
Before hiring SEO services and professionals, you should ask yourself what is the reason why you want to hire an SEO expert. However, the idea is not to define a goal like “I want to get more visitors” or “increasing leads.” These goals are correct, but it’s better if you’re more specific.
If you come to an SEO expert with specific goals in mind, the professional, after analyzing and auditing your site, should help you understand if your goal is achievable. If it is, then the experts will draw up a work plan and the needed steps in order to move the needle in that direction. Some questions that SEO agencies should ask potential clients are the following:
- What is the purpose of this specific page or post?
- What do you think the target audience is looking at when entering your page?
- Can we adjust this page to attract ideal visitors better?
Check Case Studies and References
If you’re going with experts in SEO, the professional or the agency likely has completed some SEO campaigns in the past. What’s more, it should be a requirement from the very beginning when selecting the proper SEO expert for your brand.
When businesses invest in SEO campaigns, they should make sure that the money they are allocating to improve organic results is in the correct spot.
Ask the SEO expert to provide you with case studies, references, and testimonials of past clients to check out results and see if the goals align with your objectives. Find out whether the SEO efforts that the SEO expert implemented delivered the expected results.
Select a Professional SEO Expert that Fits Your Budget and Understands Your Business Model
If you’re a small business owner, you probably know that the money is not infinite, but your brand needs to allocate a certain amount of money to SEO efforts. In this scenario, you need to check how much the SEO expert will charge you for implementing the SEO optimization. It is always a worthwhile investment, but some SEO experts can be really expensive.
Here is when GamerSEO takes on special relevance for small and medium businesses looking for a reliable and seasoned SEO expert.
GamerSEO knows that the most important when planning and implementing an SEO strategy is to understand your business model and your brand’s heart. Thanks to the team of expert SEO specialists, writers, editors, designers, and more, GamerSEO can delve into your website and find the aspects that need to be optimized. The GamerSEO team will also prepare the best content for your website to entice your target audience. Hiring GamerSEO is a great starting point for your business.
Request an Audit for Your Website
Source: Searchengineland.
If you’ve been inclined towards some alternatives, you will want to prompt them to complete a quick audit of your website to find out the main issues with its SEO functionality. Regardless of whether you’ll require a global or local SEO, a typical SEO audit should include the following:
- Site speed. One of the most important factors when it comes to gaining more traffic is the site speed. Most users do not stay long on sites with low speed.
- Broken links. Many websites have been around for a long time. Consequently, many links used in a website’s content may be currently broken.
- Sitemap errors. Websites have a particular structure or architecture that contains all the pages and data. If there are sitemap errors, navigation can be a bit hard and even never lead users where they want to go.
- Meta title/description length. Many business owners do not know that they have only a certain number of characters to create a proper meta title and description. The SEO expert should verify that everything is in order in that regard.
- Structured data problems. Your website probably will be full of specific data about products, such as prices, dates, product descriptions, and more. Data problems can result in bigger problems, such as misunderstandings in products or even wrong deliveries.
- Duplicate content. Navigators do not want to find the same data in several parts of your website. You must eliminate duplicate content, which will benefit the general functionality of the website.
- Image issues. Many businesses do not know that images are equally important as written content. Google and other search engines also rank images when positioning your site in SERPs. This way, the SEO expert should check the images’ descriptions, size, and more.
Ask Them to Determine the Key Performance Metrics They’ll Use
When the SEO expert is auditing your website, they probably will use a series of key metrics to define how your pages are performing, i.e., the number of visitors they have in a certain period, the seconds or minutes that users stay on your website, etc. Keep in mind that not all SEO consultants will use the same metrics or assess your site in the same way.
For example, a must-have metric that the SEO expert should consider is the conversion rate of your site. Measuring the rate of successful actions in comparison to the users that visit your website is a good way to understand if your site has a deficient SEO or not.
They also should measure what is your site performance in comparison to competitors by considering similar online experiences, targeted audiences and products.
Ask for Changes and Solutions for the Problems the Expert Detected
A good sign that the SEO expert is right for your company is that they give you clear information about the changes and solutions they would implement on your website. The clearer the changes and improvements, the more expertise they probably have. They should give you a prioritized list of actions they need to take and explain how these actions will change the performance of your website.
Be Attentive to the SEO Process and Ask Questions to the Expert About the SEO Campaign
Source: Semrush.
As a final tip, please do not forget to be part of the SEO process. It means getting involved and checking the changes that the SEO expert implements every day. If it’s necessary, ask them any questions you have. For example, ask them if the new implementation is driving traffic and increasing visitors. You can also check new online reviews of your website to see if the overall performance is improving. In a nutshell, participating in the SEO optimization process will allow you to understand how the SEO specialist works with your data, site, and brand image.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the product marketing you’re currently implementing on your website or the results you’re getting in terms of visitors, leads, or conversions, working with an SEO expert is also a good move to maintain your site working at its best. Do not hesitate to make your final decision and hire a professional SEO agency like GamerSEO, and let’s break your market!
SEO enthusiast and digital marketing strategist. My expertise lies in optimizing websites for organic traffic growth and search engine visibility. I carry out, among others, SEO tests, keyword research and analytical activities using Google Analytics. Privately, he is a lover of mountains and bicycle trips.