10 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a SEO Company

James jones -

For an online or e-commerce business, if your website does not show up on the first page of Google search results, you are lacking somewhere. There will not be anyone knows you exist if your search results do not improve. Hiring an SEO Company can place you in the sky or drag you to hell.

A good SEO expert or organization can be the reason for million dollars in your pocket or your extinction from the game. Your website rankings lay the foundation for good sales, prosperity, and a prospective brand value. If your website is not obtaining the desired result, question yourself if you have done everything right. If not, it is time to hire an SEO expert.

While hunting for an SEO expert, shortlist them based on 3 parameters: Reliability, experience, and approach. Interrogate them and ask few requisite questions to gauge their virtues.

How will you improve our search engine rankings?

Avoid SEO reluctant candidates sharing their methods in detail. If they do not acknowledge their ways to drive up your website’s search engine ranking, move ahead and look for better option. All SEO experts have a set of process that they follow. A detailed strategy is a key to success.

Besides, estimate the duration to achieve your SEO campaign goals you agree on. Ask about their strategies. Ask them if they will also cater the off page services.

Ask about the links. Backlinks have been a major part of SEO campaign and one good backlink is worth thousand backlinks.

1. Do you adhere to search engines’ webmaster guidelines?

Google has webmaster guidelines that every SEO experts needs to stick with. Google implements more than 500 algorithms, each of them serves a single purpose which provides better results for users.

Beware! Webmaster guidelines are ‘golden rules’ which you are required to adhere if you do not want to suffer.

When you hamper the rules, Google will either penalize or impose a ‘ban’ on you. Both can affect your website traffic drastically and it can take months or years to recover. Presume the loss and make sure your SEO expert can keep you safe.

2. Are you up to date with the latest algorithm changes?

As told earlier, Google implements more than 500 algorithms, each of them serves a single purpose that provides better results for users. The majority of them have minimal impact on your website. However, there are few algorithms which your SEO expert should be aware of.

Filter out the Seoers who are incredibly inexperienced and trying to earn a few bucks. Test your SEO expert and ask to describe a few of them, and then confirm their knowledge and awareness.

3. How will you keep me informed of changes you make to our website?

Each SEO consultant has unique customer service standards and communication styles. Find someone whose approach best fits you. Enquire about the frequency of reports and update submissions. Ask about their preferred mode of communication.

Ask them about the elements of their report. All SEO reports should include details  

  • summary of activities
  • search traffic  
  • search rankings
  • conversions

4. Can you guarantee my website will achieve a number-one ranking on major search engines?

If you are spending money, you should seek for insurance and returns.

Ask them and if the answer is yes, ask them how. It is impossible to warranty the first ranking in any search engine. However, if they claim to, waste no time and find an exit.

5. May I have a list of current and past clients?  

A reputable SEO consultant should be transparent with his list of current and former clients, though not all of them you should be asked. Ask about their top 3 clients.

Be ready to ask them the duration of association. These references can help you gauge how effective the candidate is, as well as verify their authenticity.

6. Are you experienced at improving local search results?

If you are a small business trying to attract nearby customers, the priority should be improving your ranking on local search engine results. Improving on international search engine results is scrap.

Being based on your customers, your website should be optimized for what is known as “local SEO“. Your website should appear when someone searching for your business nearby.

7. How do you measure the success of your SEO campaigns?

Gauging the success of SEO efforts is equally important. Tracking how much traffic is coming to your website and where it is coming from in order to filter the relevance. Test your consultants about their expertises in using Google Analytics.

Demand the transparency with their plans and ask them to share important analytics with you. Enquire their prospective plans to continually improve your search engine rankings and website traffic.

8. What happens when we part ways?

For your own protection, get complete details about what you are signing for.

After your contract expires or you terminate it, you should have the ownership of all of the optimized web content you paid for.

Ask every detail in written and specify them in the contract from consultants. Whatever they charge, all of the contract termination fees should be quoted.

9. What are your fees and payment terms?

You should know how much you will have to pay. Project-based payments are regular in the SEO consulting industry, but they may vary depending on each project. According to Moz’s 2011 pricing survey of more than 600 SEO firms, most contract projects range between $1,000 and $7,500.

Whether you charge according to industry norms or there are some special charges, you still have to pay. Other important payment-related questions you should be aware of when you make your payments is getting everything documented to avoid future conflicts.

10. Why should we hire you over other Seoers?

This question is out of context and there’s no specific answer to it. Put forward this question just to evaluate your Seoer and get the best out of the deal.

Look for Red flags. Which usually are,

  • Claims to be cheap
  • Promises more backlinks
  • Faster results guaranteed
  • Or a straightforward, we do not know.

If you get these answers, beware!! Step cautiously and take Precautions.