HOW TO FIND A GOOD SEO EXPERT – PART 3
So far we have discussed two crucial characteristics to look for when hiring a professional SEO expert: they need to have a track record and they need to have a clear strategy.
SEO doesn’t happen by chance; it requires knowledge and effort that most business owners don’t have the time or inclination to obtain. This is understandable – you are in your business because you are good at what you do – becoming a digital marketing expert yourself can’t be high on the agenda.
Search engines work by analysing content. Search engine providers are providing a service to the public: the service of providing the most relevant information to people seeking it, and search engine algorithms are being constantly updated to ensure that quality content wins the race.
Therefore, it makes sense that your SEO strategy should be based entirely around providing good quality content that is relevant to people searching. So – when hiring an SEO expert, how do you ensure that they won’t play tricks on search engines and get you blacklisted?
They play by the rules
All major search engines have published guidelines on best practices in SEO, along with warnings on what not to do. A good SEO expert will know these guidelines inside out, and not need to resort to “black hat” techniques such as keyword stuffing or meta tag manipulation.
The best way to discern this is to become familiar with them yourself. You will quickly learn that all search engines agree that content is king of how to get found online. Your future SEO expert should have a strategy founded on content, along with good back-end and off-site practices.
