If you are interviewing – or planning to interview – various SEO experts in London with a view to hiring one of them, then there are some very obvious questions you will already be planning on asking them. How much will this cost and how long will it take are two very common questions. These are must asks for sure, but they are not the questions that will really help you make the best choice of SEO expert in London for you.
These are the questions you should ask a potential SEO consultant or digital PR agency to help you really determine whether or not they are the right fit for you:
- What are some of the strategies and tactics you have seen working well recently for a business site like ours?
- Can you give me some examples of working with a site like ours?
- How often do you report on the work you are doing, and how can I know if it is successful?
- How does a project with you typically start, and what do you require from us?
- What’s your approach to link building?
Why should you ask these questions? Let’s take them one by one:
Question: “What are some of the tactics and strategies you have seen working well recently for a business site like ours?”
Why you ask it: You need to know if the SEO consultant is open to trying new things and is actually up to date with what is actually driving business results right now, as opposed to following what the “gurus” said three years ago. You want to hear real experiences, real stories and get real examples of how things have shifted and what is currently driving results for their clients.
Question: “Can you give me some examples of working with a site like ours?”
Why you ask it: SEO is more complicated than ever these days, and what works for large sites won’t work for small sites, and vice versa. As SEO becomes increasingly specialized, you want to work with an SEO expert in London who has extensive experience working with your type and size of the website. They’ll understand your audience, how to target them, how to fix your website, and so much more.
Question: “How often do you report on the work you are doing, and how do I know if it is successful?”
Why you ask it: Different businesses report in different ways. Sometimes your reporting needs are minimal, and your head of marketing understands that SEO is a long-term commitment, and therefore they need less reporting than one who expects SEO to work like PPC (I give you $X dollars, and you give me back $Y dollars). Regardless of if your business is the former or the latter, you need to hire the SEO expert in London who reports (or is able to report) in the ways that you need them to.
Question: “How does an SEO project with you typically start, and what do you require from me?”
Why you ask it: From an SEO agency/SEO consultant perspective, the project kick-off is one of the most crucial parts of the whole engagement. As the business hiring a consultant/agency, your understanding (and their ability to communicate it) of what is required from your end for a successful project is a must. Any great SEO expert in London should be able to give you a list of all the things they require access to and what you will need to do to help them be successful in growing your business.
Question: “What’s your approach to link building?”
Why you ask it: If you’re hiring an SEO agency/consultant to build links to your site to help with your organic traffic, you first need to educate yourself about the good, the bad, and the ugly of link building. Then, you need to ask your potential marketing provider how they build links to your site, what they will prioritize, and how you should measure their success (hint: it’s complicated). If you have any doubts, get a second opinion or walk away. It’s not worth your business.
These are just a few of the questions you should ask, there are more. And don’t be afraid to ask lots of them. Hiring a true SEO expert in London is not likely to be cheap (well, actually it shouldn’t be), and you deserve to try and ensure that you’ll get a good return on your investment before you make it.
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