If you are looking to hire an SEO freelancer, then stop and read this first. If you’ve never hired an SEO freelancer before and don’t have a lot of experience with this service, I will lay out how to do it without being ripped off. While there is no need to be an expert on the subject to understand how to hire, it’s good to have a basic understanding of SEO so you can confidently ask questions of potential freelancers. Read my What is SEO? guide, to learn some of the basic concepts and practices.
What are you looking to hire an SEO Freelancer?
The first thing to define is what are you actually looking for from a freelancer. The best way to define what you are looking for is to actually look inwards and see where specifically you need help in your business from an SEO perspective. SEO is a wide skill set and some freelancers specialise in certain aspects of it while others take a more general, consultative approach. The question here is, do you know the specific SEO services you need to improve your business or do you need more guidance from a consultant?
- If you have a plan in place already but you need someone to implement it, you should look for an SEO freelancer that has experience in that field. You may want an on-page optimiser, a content writer or a technical SEO or someone who combines these skills together.
- If you don’t currently have an SEO plan and don’t know where to start, you are probably looking for someone to provide consultation. To break down the consultancy aspect further;
- Some SEO freelancers provide just the consultancy, usually for staff to implement the techniques.
- While others provide both consultancy and implementation.
Resources
Review Potential SEO Freelancers.
Once you have an idea of what type of freelancer you need for your business, you can start researching the particular field you are interested in. Using Google, social media or through recommendations, ask for the specific type of SEO freelancer. By being a little bit more specific about your requirements you can wheedle out any freelancers that will not fit the bill. For any freelancer you find within the right field, check out their website and see how they sell themselves. You want to find someone who is confident in their work, can explain their services in an easy to understand way and they should be easily contactable.
Once you have a list of potentials, it’s time to reach out and set up a meeting. By having a face to fact or zoom meeting you will be able to judge;
- Whether they turn up on time and have all the relevant information which shows their organisation.
- How well they prepare for your meeting which shows diligence.
- If you get on with them and trust their approach. Being able to trust and communicate effectively is the most important part of your relationship.
- Are able to answer questions confidently and put your mind at ease.
Their experience should be talked about and they should be able to display their knowledge without trying to sell sell sell. But ultimately, utilising freelancers is about finding working relationships that fit within your company. So if you get on well and there are no red flags, you’ll know the one that clicks best with you and your organisation.
Avoid SEO Freelancers that promise…
Here are a few red flags and words of warning, so you can avoid SEO freelancers that are inexperienced, overconfident and worse of all could damage your site and its reputation.
Guaranteed Rankings
This should be your first big red flag. Rankings are not the be-all and end-all of SEO, they should be utilised as guideline stats to help you measure other SEO tactics. Keyword rankings only show averages of searches within the location and search engine that you are focusing on. They are not guaranteed because every single search results page is unique every single time. If an SEO freelancer guarantees number one positions in certain terms, you can guarantee they don’t understand the use of rankings in SEO analysis.
Prices that are too good to be true
Every freelancer will price differently but if a price seems too good to be true, it probably is. A good SEO strategy and the work involved to implement it takes time and skill. Not only will you likely receive poor results but you very well might see no return on investment. From an ethical perspective too, you don’t want to provide what could surmount to a slave wage. When other companies choose low prices over quality, they limit experts in the field and reduce their ability to thrive and grow their business.
Beware anyone selling fast results
SEO is a long process. It’s not a quick fix to your marketing efforts but with dedicated effort over many months and years, the return on investment vastly outweighs the costs. There is a huge list of factors when it comes to how quickly SEO works for a website, but most [agencies generally agree you can see improvements from 4 to 6 months.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2015/02/07/how-long-does-seo-take-to-start-working/#:~:text=Many SEO firms will tell,re getting at 12 months.) Anyone who guarantees results in a shorter period of time is lying, end of. Even if you chucked all the money in the world at your website and produced tons of content within a few weeks, you are still not going to see an instant boost. Search engines still need time to decide whether your website is worth showing over others. It’s a learning process and domain authority is not built in a day.
No testimonials
While many SEO freelancers can talk the talk, have you seen evidence they can walk the walk? Do they have reviews, testimonials or a portfolio on their site? If not, can they provide contacts to previous clients who will vouch for them. Just like with a regular job interview, ask for references. A successful freelancer will be happy to have their past customers sing their praises. If they have no evidence of any work, that’s probably because there isn’t any.
Hire an SEO Freelancer
Now, of course, I have to have a shameless plug at the end. If you are looking to hire an SEO freelancer, then let’s have a meeting and find out if we can grow your business together. I offer a variety of consultancy and implementation SEO freelancer services, so I can fit into your business needs.
I work with businesses who want content writing, provide consultancy for staff that are ready to do it themselves and provide a full consultancy and implementation service to get your business growing. I am a friendly but firm marketer who doesn’t over-promise and will always be realistic about what we can do to improve your business. Fancy a chat? Get in touch.