Last Updated on September 15, 2023 by
The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary. The only place where the higher traffic is, the better is a website. Every company wants both success and high traffic. SEO services are the key to both.
A person needs a person. A business company needs an SEO services company. In such cases, companies often go by recommendations. If their partner hired develux.com and claims they know how to do SEO, this is the way to go. And yet, if you want to make sure yourself that the website SEO services are of high quality, check out the list of questions you should ask an SEO services agency before hiring.
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Getting Ready for a Job Interview – A Flashback to College
Getting ready for a job interview will remind you of a college exam. The only difference is that you are not a student anymore. You are a professor here. This means you should both prepare the questions about SEO research and get ready for possible answers.
What is your company’s rating on Google My Business?
Of course, you have already checked it. By asking this question, you are checking two things. The first one is the honesty of your interviewee. You do not expect 5 stars sharp. There is no way that an experienced company has no negative feedback at all.
It also matters how quickly they answer this question. If they monitor their own ratings regularly, the answer will come immediately. This is a good sign. It makes you think that they measure the efficiency of their SEO writing services as well.
What are your SEO techniques?
Request a breakdown of their SEO processes. And get ready for the next round of questions, depending on what you hear back.
Technical SEO (code, site structure, and speed)
Ask what this process consists of.
User experience (UX)
Ask how they analyze your website’s content, navigation, and keyword optimization.
SEO audit
Ask about their steps in the audit.
Keyword research
Ask how they find good keywords to target.
Off-page SEO
Ask how they are going to strengthen your brand online.
If you do not understand, ask for clarifications. An experienced specialist knows both how to do keyword research and conduct audits. Modern SEO requires a holistic approach.
How are you going to adapt these strategies to our business?
There is no universal approach for every business model or even industry. So if they are talking about a generic, one-size-fits-all solution, think twice.
What tools are you going to use?
It is not only important to know what tools the company uses. Understanding why they are using them is also crucial. If the people you are hiring are professionals, they have tested various tools. And chosen the best. Ask the following questions:
- What do you use to conduct competitor analysis?
- What tools do you use to do keyword research?
- What crawler do you use?
- What do you use to monitor rankings?
- What tools do you use to track backlinks?
And don’t forget to ask why. Every time you ask one of these questions, add a ‘why.’ It will show you whether an interviewee has an understanding of the bigger picture.
What are your expectations of your own SEO services?
You have once hired a local SEO services company. They promised to get you to the first page of Google search in a week. You learned your lesson. Yes, short-term results can be impressive. But SEO is a long-term game. Seeing good results within 6 months of getting started is a good achievement. So listen carefully this time.
How successful were your previous cases?
Case studies are great benchmarks. This question may be very awkward for a new SEO services agency. But experienced SEO services companies should not rest on laurels either. Even if they were pioneers in SEO writing services, ask them about their case studies over the last two years maximum. Their previous indicators might be irrelevant.
How do you report?
You can briefly discuss this during the job interview. But, most importantly, ask your interviewee to email you a sample report they send out to clients. Also, ask what tools they use. Expect to hear at least 2 to 3 from this list:
- Google Analytics
- Ahrefs
- Google Search Console
- Moz
- SEMRush
How much time do we have to commit?
One SEO services company may expect 10 hours of work on your end weekly. Another SEO services agency will find 10 hours per month enough. Before you ask this question and hear the answer, think of your priorities. Would you prefer deeper involvement or minimal time commitment?
What do you expect us to invest apart from time and money?
Legitimate SEO companies would request detailed information about:
- your audience and industry;
- goals and KPIs that you want to achieve;
- other marketing platforms you are using.
Measurable and impressive results require cooperation between multiple teams and company leaders. So be prepared for that.
Are you going to get reputable websites to link back to us?
If the answer is negative, immediately ask why not. If the reply is ‘This is too risky’, consider winding up the conversation. Search rankings and link building go hand in hand. If the answer was positive, continue ‘the interrogation’.
- Do you need our company email addresses for link outreach?
- How do you report on link acquisition?
- How do you assess website quality before requesting a link?
- How do you find new link-building opportunities?
An advanced professional might even correct you. It’s not link building but link earning. The best way to go is to produce high-quality content that drives incoming links organically. Establishing relationships with editors and influencers can be a good step toward earning links. Social media marketing activities can also be useful.
How has SEO changed?
This question might seem philosophical, but only at first glance. At the end of the day, if they know how to do SEO, they should also keep track of the changes in the industry. Ideally, you need someone who participates in industry forums or follows popular related blogs, or even organizes and runs them. Why not?
11 Questions But So Many Answers
Now, you probably realize that getting ready for an exam as a student was a piece of cake. Poor professors! They need to invest a lot more time and effort to be able to assess your knowledge and expertise.
The variety of answers you can hear is huge. So let us recap the questions and topics. Make sure you ask about:
- the company’s history and SEO philosophy
- processes and tools that are going to be used
- expectations (in terms of time, money, and cooperation)
- previous cases
- the transparency of their progress
- ways of reporting
- link earning and influencer marketing
- metrics defining success
- ways of staying up-to-date on industry changes
And every time you are uncertain, you see the point of the answer, do not feel shy to ask why. It is the twelfth question of this article.
Read More: The Best Ways to Find Low-Cost Organic SEO Services
