Reply To: Advice on a first time SEO effort in new market for established consultancy.

[WasabiSad3632]

Love this question. Congrats on the expansion, too.

When hiring SEO talent for the first time, my advice would be to look for strategic thinkers, not just executors.

Some red flags in my eyes are:

* Guaranteed rankings as there is no such thing/
* Over-indexing on backlinks/content volume without talking about intent or ICP
* Generic “we’ll do keyword research + blogs” pitches with no mention of your sales cycle or deal size

Green flags:

* They ask about your buyers, deal values, sales motion, and regional differences
* They acknowledge SEO is slower than paid, but compounding

I myself worked in SEO for over 14 years and it is best to understand client’s website and set the right expectation.