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What sort of information is helpful to have on hand when trying to hire an SEO professional?
Heading says it all. I’m almost through my first month of Google Ads for an ultra amateur blog I contribute to. I think my next step is to work with an SEO professional in order to promote traffic more efficiently (I think that is what you people do). I was thinking I’d take advantage of the analytics and have them on hand when hiring someone. However, I don’t want to be pushy or pretend I know what I’m doing. I much rather the professional do their job their way. It seems like common sense, but would key words, geographic regions, ect, ect, be useful? If so, how many days of data do you think would be useful?
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10 Replies
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If it were me, I’d let an SEO that you are looking to hire have access to your Google Search Console, as a restricted user. The info from GSC will be more helpful than Google Analytics info.
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I’m not sure you understand what SEO is… you need an SEO that can help you understand this marketing channel – they should have access to all of your data – there may be some hidden gems from the last that they can rekindle, just an example.
It also works best as a two way relationship, working together to achieve the results you’re looking for. Your knowledge of your industry is super valuable!
If you want to discuss more about your project/site happy to chat in DMs or email!
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what your objectives/goals are e.g I would like a 50% increase in users in 6 months or I would like this keyword to rank better.
Then we can work backwards from there.
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If you start sharing data with them make sure they sign an NDA first.
I wouldn’t worry about coming across as not knowing much, they should talk you through it. The main thing you’ll need is what your goal is and who your customers are.
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Start by educating yourself about the difference between paid and organic search. Be sure you know what your end goals are before hiring. eg; 50% more conversions in 3 months. Ask for a high level action plan before work begins (a good SEO won’t provide everything in detail, but will definitely show you strategy). Do not hire anyone who plans on selling you backlinks. Big red flag. Good luck! 🙂
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My clients are charged my hourly fee, so basically, whatever you already can provide, you won’t be billed for. I offer SEO and web development services.
Did your keyword research? I might ask you whether you’re confident you’ve done it correctly or would like me to review it. This could end up as 15 minutes (“keyword revision” – or something like that) on your bill. I might also just add 15 minutes on top of another task we’ve completed for you, bumping up the 3 hours of “bug fixing” you’re already paying for.
Fail to send me pictures in the correct dimensions? Since page speed is a SEO ranking factor and you’re paying me to keep your website on that first position, we aren’t going to want to jeopardize that with poorly optimized images! I’ll gladly take care of that for you – for a price!
I think you get the jist. If you have enough time and can provide certain things without too much hassle, you won’t be paying me to do those them. This let’s me focus on tasks that require costly tools to solve efficiently and/or more expertise, meaning you’re getting the most out of your budget 🙂
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As for what I’d want from you as an SEO, here’s my top 5 list for the initial chats before we decide if we can work together and the such:
1. The history of your business, business cycles, the competitive landscape and how you see yourself fitting in.
2. Your goals and aims from doing SEO
3. Anything you’re unsure of about SEO and what we do
4. What you want your customers to be doing (registrations or purchasing etc)
5. How you’re marketing the business outside of SEO/PPC.Basically, I want to get to know you and your business. From there, then I’d be looking at conducting an audit, preferably with GSC and GA access (but it’s possible to do it without, just not necessarily as accurate when it comes to reporting stats) and then from there, hopefully you sign.
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Just ask him to prove he has built and ranked sites highly on google. Should be first page stuff. Keep in mind the more common the phrase or word the harder it usually is to rank on google.
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If he has a portfolio of high ranking websites, he probably knows what hes doing in terms of SEO. Simple 🙂
—-my business [Electric Bike Conversions](https://www.OkanaganEbikes.com)
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If you want data then Google Search Console (data) would be super useful. Do note that professionals will have their own tools that will inform them about the project[s]. This means that, they will come prepared or do an audit on the spot.
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Hope it helps
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