Things to Look For When Hiring an SEO Expert
Trusting an internet expert with the care and maintenance of your website can be pretty daunting – especially if you’re keen to make the most of your online visibility. With so many black hat SEO practitioners hoping to seek fresh victims for their activities, it’s no wonder why business owners of all experiences are a little reluctant to sign up to a service.
When hiring an SEO company, there are a few particular traits and characteristics to look for – all of which can help you to tell the difference between a great service, and one that could leave you facing a delisted website with minimal to zero traffic. What are these traits exactly? Here’s a closer look at a few of the most prominent.
A proven track record
If there’s one thing that you should request to see above all else, it’s how well an SEO experts clients are currently ranking. If the results demonstrate a consistent top page rank, then the service is clearly an effective one. If results appear on lower pages, or if they seem to fluctuate randomly from week to week, then unsavoury tricks may be at play and you might want to give the provider a wide birth.
Openness and transparency
Although an expert will be unlikely to disclose the advanced methods and strategies that they utilise in order to rank a client’s website, there’s no reason why they should be like a closed book either. When it comes to providing information the more transparent a provider, the clearer their actions will be. If you’d like to know how long until you can expect results, then they should be able to provide an answer (in most instances between 6 and 9 months).
A reasonable price
A good service should never be cheap – but that doesn’t mean that a company should be required to pay out more than they can expect to get back. Although they might not be reaping the rewards from the offset, after a few months of strategic ranking, a website could be exposed to thousands more visitors than ever before. This can more than make up for the costs, especially if they are ongoing.
Easy availability
It’s not enough to hire an SEO agency and hope for the best – sometimes you’ll want to know what’s going on and receive updates regularly. A good expert will make a point of being available whenever their clients get in touch. The best way to gauge the responsiveness of a potential provider is by sending them a message. If they get back within a matter of hours, then the chances are that they will be keen to help with your optimisation project. They should also offer a support service if you do take their services on – just in case you need a little extra information.
Professionalism and quality results
No matter how friendly a service provider might be; if they can’t offer satisfactory results, then they may not be worth you investing your time and effort. There’s nothing wrong with being friendly, but there should also be a careful focus on professionalism and on providing quality results. The last thing that you will want is to feel obliged to pay for a service. As long as you’re getting the results that you’re looking for, a pleasant working relationship can be an even greater bonus.
Professionalism, availability, an affordable payment plan and superior results are a must when taking on any expert – especially when it comes to optimisation. With search engines getting stricter and stricter, it’s never been more important to hire a reliable provider that can offer sustainable results, without making false promises in the process.
