With the Internet now playing such an enormous role in day to day life, for virtually any business to get ahead, a strong online presence is essential, which is where SEO comes as a handy tool.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, basically helps in making your website/page visible online when people use search engines to search for relevant products and services offered by your business.
The better your website is at SEO, the nearer the top of the SERPs it can reach, and more traffic your site will generate as a result. Many people hire SEO vendors and experts to take care of this side of things for them, and if you’re thinking of doing the same, here are ten questions you should ask before hiring.
Can I see a list of your past/current clients?
This is a very important question to ask because it will help give you an idea of how successful the vendors have been in the past. If they’re hesitant to provide you with names of clients, you need to ask yourself why that is.
How are you able to improve my search engine ranking?
Obviously this is another question that should be one of the first you ask your vendor. If your vendor doesn’t talk about how they’re able to do so, you may wish to steer clear. They should freely and openly talk about which strategies they plan on using, and how and why they will work for you.
What kind of experience do you have?
Again, another very basic yet very important question to ask. When hiring SEO experts, ideally they should have a great deal of experience under their belts, as the more experienced they are, generally the more efficient they will be. Of course all businesses have to start somewhere, but even so, if they are experienced, ask them exactly how well.
Which services do you offer?
When hiring anybody, whether they be an SEO vendor or not, you need to know which services that they offer, as that will help you get an idea of their methods and practices. Ideally you want vendors who can offer a wide range of digital marketing services, covering all platforms and formats.
Can you guarantee me a Number 1 ranking?
If you ask a vendor whether they can guarantee you, a number 1 ranking and they reply with ‘Yes.’ Look elsewhere because they aren’t honest. It doesn’t matter how great they are; not even the best SEO experts can ever guarantee a number 1 ranking as they have no idea that strategies the competition is using.
Will you let me know all changes you make to my site?
You need to know which changes will be made to your site’s coding and web pages in general as you may wish for them to check with you before making changes. For example, they may only intend on making a few slight adjustments, whereas you may want an entire overhaul of your site or vice versa.
Will you be available when I need you?
Inevitably at some point, your site will encounter a few technical issues that will leave you stumped, which is why you will need to be able to contact your vendor when you need them. It’s no good hiring somebody and having them take days, even weeks, to respond to emails and phone calls, etc., as you will want a fast response time.
How much do you charge and what are your terms?
By knowing the terms and how much the vendor charges in advance, you can avoid any hidden surprises when the time comes for you to pay your bill. By getting payment and terms out of the way early, everybody knows exactly where they stand.
What do we do when we go our separate ways?
When you do eventually part ways, you need to make sure that your vendor won’t make any changes to your site and that you maintain full ownership of all content that you paid for.
How are you able measure the success of each your SEO campaigns?
To determine how successful SEO campaigns are, you need to track how much traffic is being directed to your website, and where the traffic came from. Google Analytics is very useful in this instance, which is why vendors should be experienced in using this tool. Make sure they keep you updated with these analytics to keep you in the loop.
