Tips from Google

Can you show me some previous work and results?

This is the first question you should ask when interviewing potential SEOs. Have they had success in the past? What types of challenges have they overcome? Ask for concrete examples and you will save a lot of time later on when you find out they can’t solve a technical problem. SEO is an ongoing discipline and the web technology industry requires daily study to remain relevant.

What tools do you use?

Ask any potential SEO candidate what their tools of the trade are. If they can’t tell you or are hesitant to share, step back! There are already enough bad SEOs in the world. The best ones pride themselves on transparency. So sharing some info about your tools and subscriptions won’t be a threat to a potential client. If anything, this is an opportunity to explain how SEO works and why the tools are used.

How do you accept payment?

This is one of the most important questions for an SEO. Are they incorporated, or a sole proprietor? If they operate in Ontario, do they have a registered HST number? These are all important questions when selecting an SEO company and trusting them with your money.

Do you have experience with Google penalties and how did you overcome them?

Another very important question. Any good SEO would have encountered at least one penalty in their time, because no site is perfect. If they have no experience or are not willing to share details of overcoming a Google penalty, you know there will be problems when you ask questions about their work on your site.

How will you improve our SEO?

This is the big question that should be asked before anything is signed. Will they promote content using boosted posts? Will they earn content doing email outreach? There are a lot of ways to improve SEO, but not all of them are a cure all solution. Make sure your potential SEO has a strategy that you can mull over for a few days before you sign anything.

Walk into a room of professionals and ask if anyone has been burned by bad SEO practices- more often than not, someone will have a horror story to share. It’s difficult to find quality SEOs in the new age of Google, so as a Valentines’ day gift for us hard working digital marketing professionals Google has released an official video on How to Hire an SEO.