If you have a website, your ultimate goal is to appear on the first page of search results on Google, Yahoo or Bing. If you do not show up on the first page of search results, you lose potential customers. With this, you need to focus on one key aspect of search engine visibility – SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

You must understand that visibility is critical to boosting visits, which can lead to increased brand awareness and eventually higher sales or profits. However, many website owners fall short when it comes to their SEO efforts. If you lack the technical expertise and the time to enhance your site’s ranking, it makes sense to hire search engine optimization specialists.

There are many specialists but not all are created equal. You have to be a better judge. With the following questions, you can identify the ideal SEO specialist:

How will you improve my ranking?

At the onset, you should understand that you couldn’t get any significant results without serious SEO strategies. Knowing this, you have to check if the specialist has good SEO process. In most cases, an SEO specialist will answer along the lines of “I will identify the best keywords to target”.

This is not enough. You have to ask about the backlinks as it has a big part to play. If the specialist is promising a large number of links and it works out to $1 or less, you should not consider it.

Can you share the results of your past clients?

A transparent SEO specialist will not hesitate to share the results of their past clients. In fact, a good SEO specialist will provide the contact information of previous clients without waiting for you to ask.

Do you follow Google’s best practices?

Google best practices are critical to the long-term growth of traffic. The specialist should always follow guidelines released by Google. You must be aware that Google is now penalizing sites that violate their rules and if your site is hit, your traffic will surely plummet.

What kind of SEO will you do?

Once you hire a specialist, there should be at least a basic SEO audit. Technical SEO will involve all background aspects of SEO from finding and addressing web crawler errors to redirect problems, 404 pages and evaluating the navigation of the site.

Aside from technical SEO, part of the work should also cover off-page and on-page. Off-page is primarily concerned with inbound links from other websites to your website. On-page SEO deals with the content on the site and how it is enhanced for relevant keywords.

Can you guarantee that my site will rank first?

This is a crucial question that needs straight answers. A specialist who wants to make a quick sale will make false promises. In reality, no one can guarantee #1 ranking every single time. This is because no SEO knows the precise Google algorithm.

What is your payment structure?

Finally, you have to ask for the payment structure. This can help you decide if the specialist is right based on your level of affordability.

Final words

In the end, hiring an SEO specialist can make or break your company. Keep in mind that a good SEO specialist is keen on getting you on the right path to make the most profit. With this, it is crucial that you choose carefully.