How to Find and Vet an SEO Consultant Who Drives Real Results

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for businesses looking to increase their online visibility and attract more website traffic. Hiring an experienced SEO consultant can help take your SEO efforts to the next level. However, finding the right consultant for your specific business needs can be a challenge. Here are some tips on how to find and vet a good SEO consultant.

Define Your Goals

Before starting your search, clearly define what you want to achieve through SEO. Do you want to increase website traffic, improve search rankings for specific keywords, generate more leads, or boost online conversions? Outlining clear goals will help you communicate your expectations to potential consultants. It will also help narrow down consultants who specialize in your specific needs.

Ask for Referrals

Reaching out to your professional network is a great way to find consultants. Ask colleagues, friends, or other business contacts if they can recommend any SEO consultants they've worked with successfully. Especially seek referrals from those in your industry or niche, as they may have experience with consultants who understand your market. Check online reviews and testimonials for any referred consultants as well. A referral from a trusted source greatly improves your chances of finding a good match.

Search SEO Company Listings

Utilize online directories and SEO company lists to find consultants who specialize in your industry or location. Resources like Clutch, GoodFirms, and SEMrush offer listings of vetted SEO agencies and consultants searchable by specialty area and location. You can even read client reviews to gauge satisfaction levels. Focus your search on SEO consultants and firms that have worked with businesses like yours or understand your target audience.

Verify Credentials

When vetting consultants, look for ones who have established expertise and credentials in SEO. Ideally, they should have several years of hands-on experience optimizing websites in your industry. Check that they are up to date on best practices by examining their certifications (e.g. SEMrush, HubSpot, Google Analytics) and association memberships. Credentials like these indicate a consultant is serious about SEO and continuously developing their skills.

Assess Their SEO Process

A sound SEO strategy requires an integrated process addressing technical and content-focused aspects. When interviewing consultants, discuss their overall process to optimize websites. They should take a holistic approach analyzing on-page elements, link building, content strategy, site speed, and more. The consultant should also outline an in-depth keyword research methodology for optimizing pages and content. A thoughtful process tailored to your business goals demonstrates their expertise.

Evaluate Their Communication Style

Strong communication skills are critical for a consultant guiding your SEO program. During calls or meetings, pay attention to how well they listen, explain concepts clearly, and field your questions. Convey your expectations for communication frequency and channels. Ensure they can provide regular progress reports and optimization updates in a style that works for you. Good communication helps prevent misalignments and keeps your SEO efforts on track.

Compare Cost Structures

SEO consultant fees can range widely depending on experience level, scope of services, and geographic location. More experienced consultants typically charge more. When comparing rates, look at the full cost structure. Some consultants charge flat monthly retainers while others bill by project milestones or hourly. Make sure to get fee estimates in writing so there are no surprises. Also ask about any additional costs such as reporting dashboard access or ad management fees.

Read Their Service Agreement Carefully

Before signing a contract, meticulously read the service agreement detailing the SEO services, deliverables, fees, contract term, and early termination policy. Ensure the agreement aligns with the consultant's verbal promises and your business goals. Look for specifics on milestone dates, metrics reporting, optimization response times, and communication frequency. Clear service agreements help avoid misaligned expectations down the road.

Ask for a Trial Period

If possible, see if consultants will agree to a trial period of 1-2 months. This gives you time to evaluate their optimization approach, communication skills, and early results before committing long-term. Pay close attention to how they prioritize initial focus areas relevant to your goals. A trial run can confirm if a consultant is the right fit before investing further. Just ensure trial terms are formally outlined in a simple agreement.

Once you've found a shortlist of qualified SEO consultants to potentially work with, it's time to ask more detailed questions on how they would specifically optimize your website and content. Here are key questions to ask prospective SEO consultants during interviews or trials.

Questions to Ask an SEO Consultant

What's your process for conducting keyword research tailored to my business?

The consultant should outline a systematic process to identify relevant keyword opportunities. This may involve analyzing your site content, assessing search volume and difficulty for key terms, looking at competitor keywords, and integrating keyword data into your website pages and metadata. They should tailor research around your specific products, services, and target customer demographics.

What elements of on-page optimization will you focus on for my website?

Factors like page titles, URLs, heading tags, image optimization, and internal linking all impact on-page SEO. A consultant should analyze how to optimize these for your most important pages. Ask them to physically show examples of on-page elements they would optimize. Their suggestions should align with your brand style and content goals.

How will you improve my site architecture and URL structure?

A site with intuitive, search-friendly architecture and URLs ranks better. The consultant should assess your existing site structure and URL naming schemes. They should suggest improvements so search engines can better crawl and categorize your pages.

What is your technical SEO auditing process?

Technical website factors like site speed, security protocols, HTML markup, and accessibility impact SEO. The consultant should have a methodical process to audit these elements and identify fixes that will improve website performance. Ask them to explain technical auditing tools they use like Google Search Console, Pingdom, and Google Lighthouse.

How will you expand my backlink profile?

The number and authority of external websites linking to yours is crucial for rankings. Question the consultant about their proven tactics for building relevant backlinks, like guest posting, outreach to similar sites, and securing editorials in trade publications. They should outline a plan to build links from highest-value sites first.

What is your content strategy process?

Keyword-optimized, high-quality content boosts SEO results. Ask the consultant how they will drive an effective content strategy tailored to your brand and customers. They should detail how they will create topic clusters, integrate keywords, structure content for better ranking potential, and identify new content opportunities.

How can my existing content be improved for better optimization?

In addition to creating new content, the consultant should evaluate processes for optimizing your existing materials. This can involve restructuring pages, adding related keywords, updating titles and metadata, and improving media integrations. Ask them to analyze a few pages of your content and suggest specific improvements.

How will you keep my site content fresh and avoid duplication issues?

Search engines penalize stale, outdated content or duplicate versions of pages. A good consultant will outline how they will identify and address these issues by adding new materials, expanding thin content, and consolidating or removing redundant pages.

What ongoing SEO monitoring, reporting, and adjustments will you provide?

It's crucial that an SEO consultant provides regular reporting and updates to ensure your site and rankings stay on track. During your trial or contract term, pay close attention to the insights, metrics, and dashboards they provide. Look for proactive recommendations as trends or issues emerge.

What is your contingency plan if my site faces a manual action by Google or other search engine?

Even sites following best practices can face manual search engine actions like sudden drops in rankings or deindexing. Ask consultants how they will work to identify and fix the underlying issues. They should have established processes to address algorithm or search engine guideline violations.

Finding the right SEO consultant takes time and diligence. But vetting consultants thoroughly leads to a more rewarding relationship and better optimization results long-term. Defining your goals, verifying credentials, assessing technical expertise, and asking key strategy questions helps ensure you choose a consultant who best fits your business needs. With an experienced consultant guiding your efforts, you can build a smart SEO program to increase your website visibility, traffic, and conversions.