Hiring SEO Expert !!!
With the growth of internet and mobile users, the way business happens has dramatically changed with worldwide implications, especially during the past few years. Digital marketing plays a major role in the way business happens in the current scenario. This being the case, many Digital Marketing Agencies have mushroomed of late. But the major challenge many entrepreneurs face is hiring the right talent, especially hiring SEO expert. It’s always a bottle neck for the digital marketing companies to hire people possessing right skills, and several reasons can be attributed to this. The hiring process itself is a major cause of worry. Having more than 4 years of experience in running a successful digital marketing company, I have a very useful idea to share with you. This will really ease the process of hiring the right talent, especially an SEO expert.
Questions to ask when hiring SEO Expert
1. Can you guarantee # 1 position in popular search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo?
If the answer is a confident and spontaneous YES you need to be extra cautious. This is because no one can ever guarantee # 1 position in any search engine because the string lies with the relevant search engine itself. However, with meticulous efforts and best SEO practices (forget Black Hat) it is possible to achieve numero uno status.
Our team has got #1 results for more than 100 keywords (a perfect mix of short and long-tail keywords), and one such example is for the keyword ‘tshirts’ – www.tshirts.in has achieved the first position in Bing and Yahoo as well. (This was achieved after a gruelling 100-day marathon effort). In short, no one can promise results off-hand. The next time someone makes a tall claim like this you need to be wary.
2. What will he/she do to improve the web rankings?
This is a very generic question that helps you understand the candidate’s knowledge levels. The most appropriate answer would be when he or she talks about On Page Optimization, Off Page Optimization, SEM and SEO. You know he or she has some stuff.
3. Would they stray beyond the guidelines just for the sake of producing results?
SEO can be broadly classified into two types. White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO, and as the names suggest, White Hat is desirable and Black Hat should be avoided at all costs. Google, which is the undisputed ruler of the web has given some wonderful guidelines to help websites achieve good ranking by legitimate means. These guidelines are spelled out in Google Webmaster Guidelines. If anyone violates these guidelines, especially the Quality Guidelines, just for the sake of producing results, you certainly don’t want to hire this person. Remember, once Google penalizes you for Black Hat SEO practices, it is almost impossible to regain status quo for your website. Hence, ensure that the person you are looking to hire involves in only legitimate activities that help you achieve good ranking, and can never jeopardize your website.
These questions are kind of essential in the process of Hiring SEO Expert.
The ultimate tool for testing and Hiring SEO experts
Many a time it happens that the person conducting the interview is not as competent or well-informed as the candidate (in that particular field). This is often true with small startups and small or medium sized companies.
There is an effective solution for this too.
This is apart from the questions you ask, a trump card in Hiring SEO Expert.
The next time someone walks into your office looking for the job of an SEO analyst don’t hesitate to ask the person to complete this comprehensive 50-question SEO quiz by MOZ. Allow not more than 30 minutes, which is actually double the time MOZ allows.
If the candidate manages to score 60% and was able to reason out the choice of answers, well yeah! You can hire the person as he or she knows the stuff.
This quiz apart from using it in the process of Hiring SEO Expert, it can also be used as a litmus paper test to test your knowledge in SEO.
Below is the link for the MOZ SEO Expert Quiz
http://moz.com/seo-expert-quiz
Well, hope this information would ease up the process of Hiring SEO Expert, the next time.