What To Ask SEO Consultants – Technologist

SEO strategy sessions are more productive when you prepare a few questions beforehand. Knowing what to ask SEO consultants can help you choose the right SEO partner, reach search goals faster and maximize your return on investment. These eleven questions are right on the money.

What To Ask SEO Consultants About Their Business

Trustworthy SEO consultants deliver measurable benefits for your website. Shady “startups” promise the moon, but waste your money. Ask questions to tell the difference a mile away.

1. How Long Does It Take for Your SEO Strategies To Work?

Offers of SEO success in 30 days or fewer should set off a major red flag. The same goes for $99 “deals” that promise page one of search results with minimal effort.

Effective search optimization techniques take hard work, but provide real results. SEO is like a freight train: You need time to build up speed, but after that, you’re unstoppable.

Expect to invest between six and 12 months for SEO to work its magic for traffic, lead generation, conversions and other long-term goals. Short-term keyword “sprints” can boost search rankings for targeted ad campaigns faster, but even they take about 12 weeks.

2. What Link-Building Techniques Do You Use?

Google places significant emphasis on backlinks — links to your content from well-known, respected sites. You can go in two directions for link building: white hat or black hat.

White-hat link-building techniques follow Google’s best practices. They earn authentic links by creating amazing content that users love and professionals respect.

Black-hat techniques try to manipulate algorithms by breaking the rules:

• Paying for links
• Building a shady network of fake websites
• Using AI to create thousands of low-value “articles”
• Repeating keywords in the same article

Black hat never pays, because Google eventually hits your website with severe search penalties. Look at it this way: If you built a new property, would you hire the contractor who cuts corners or the one who does exceptional work?

3. What Type of SEO Services Do You Offer?

To reach different SEO objectives, you need a variety of services. An important part of what to ask SEO consultants is to discover exactly how they can help with your site. 

Content Creation

Rich content provides an excellent foundation for your keywords. It answers questions, provides helpful tips and shows users how to solve problems. Good SEO content naturally ranks higher.

Website Optimization

Details such as title tags, meta descriptions, site layout and images can have a huge impact on search results. Optimization also means choosing the right keywords for your target audience.

Technical SEO

Given that over 60% of all Google searches happen on mobile devices, every website should be mobile-friendly. Technical SEO can improve page loading times, fix broken links and enhance the user experience.

Local SEO

Do you only sell locally? Local SEO is the key to maximizing rankings for location-based searches, such as “best roofing company in Phoenix” or “dentists near me.”

4. How Much SEO Experience Do You Have?

Search optimization is constantly evolving. SEO professionals should have plenty of experience, preferably at least a few years. They should also stay up to date with the latest changes to search algorithms.