10 questions for the SEO contractor or how to find a specialist in website promotion

Searching for a contractor to promote your website is always a difficult task. But before that, the question arises whether to look for a company or a specialist in website promotion on the SEO side?

Many companies do not have enough of their own funds and time to develop and put into practice a good strategy for website promotion. Therefore, we are forced to hire contractors to perform this type of work, or to go in a more complicated way by training an employee. The problem is how to determine which SEO company or specialist can be trusted, and who of them can cope with the task.

Today, there are a huge number of companies offering their promotion services, each of them declares that he has some special skill or knows some " secrets " that will inevitably lead to success, but how true this is is still a big question.

Your ultimate goal is to see your websites in the first positions of the sickle of all major search engines. If you entrust the promotion to non-professionals, in the end everything may end up being banned by search engines.

intellect.icu : I don’t quite agree about "goal = position", after all traffic is a broader concept that includes positions. And the goal is final, it is in converting visitors into buyers, then the customer will be satisfied.

In this article we want to present you 10 questions that should be asked to your potential partner before you entrust him with the promotion of your site.

1. What are the guarantees that my site will be in the TOP?

The answer should be "no". None of the owners of search engines, of course, except the most search companies. Algorithms for ranking change daily , so no one should give you promises that can not keep.

If you turned to true professionals, then they will tell you that they cannot guarantee the first positions, but thanks to the optimization carried out, at least the website will increase the flow of traffic, respectively, and increase the level of product sales. Often it is much more important than holding the first position in the search engines.

intellect.icu : but at the same time it is necessary to prescribe in the contract what the executor will do, and also for how long a certain result will be achieved. If it is not achieved - a certain responsibility. It should be noted that 90% of companies offer financial guarantees, and also note that the devil is in the details of the contract and only 10% of them will actually be able to keep these financial obligations in case they do not comply with the terms of the contract, let alone freelancers. The main thing that needs to be done is to read the contract and negotiate all the difficulties at once, and not after the start of work on the site.

2. Will you make changes to my website?

In order to get the maximum SEO effect , your site should be subjected to site optimization, that is, changes will be made to its internal structure and content. To assess how professional the company you are planning to hire will do, visit one of the sites they promoted before.

What to look for when assessing the level of site optimization: first, this site should not be oversaturated with flash animation and superfluous graphics. The presence of dynamic drop-down menus and complex tree-like hierarchical navigation is also highly undesirable, search engine robots poorly index such sites.

You should pay attention to how well the semantic core of the site is composed, it should contain words and phrases for which visitors most often type in search sites on a given topic.

intellect.icu : but if you don’t have any experience in evaluating a site for certain parameters (the customer probably doesn’t have such experience), then it’s best to just read the text, if it’s not spammed, and also check if the site is in the top for the intended semantic core.

3. How will my website be promoted by links?

Long-term promotion success is impossible without external links to your site. You can use specialized programs to see who is linking to you (the number of incoming external links), which link text to your site, and more. And you can use the online service Seo-Budget to determine the number of links and the semantic core.

A good SEO company will inform you about each step in the process of working with your site, including a weekly report with a list of external links received. You should be presented with a detailed analysis of the link mass to your site, and a plan for obtaining new high-quality links from thematically close reputable sites, directories and social networks.

While the exact number of links is difficult to name, you should be familiar with the preliminary predictions of link promotion.

intellect.icu : at the moment I do not know any company operating in runet that provides such a weekly report. This is due to many factors. Although many agree to go for the option of paying for work separately, but the account on the reference exchange remains for the customer and he can at any time familiarize himself with the situation. SEO specialist is engaged in the site, buys and monitors links.

4. How will we keep in touch and in what form will I receive reports?

Real professionals will constantly inform you about the work done, what they did and why they did it.

Thus, you should receive a report on the position of your site on the promoted keywords in the desired search engines and a detailed analysis of the promotion process : weekly and every quarter. Reports must be presented in an understandable form, so that you have a clear idea of ​​what has been done.

You have to remember that SEO does not give an instant effect , it is hard work for a long time, but at the same time be demanding of your contractors and demand only high results of work.

5. What do I get for the money that I pay you? What can you offer me?

It should be clear to you what you get in return for the price you pay. Less reputable firms will be very dull to tell you about the specific benefits you will receive, and their pricing process will not be completely clear.

Do not fall for such frauds on a hook. You must clearly understand how much and for what you pay, and what specific benefits you will receive as a result.

Some companies offer only one kind of Internet marketing services: promotion in search engines, contextual advertising, e-mail marketing or social media marketing. At the same time, other companies can immediately make a whole range of these services in the package, this can save you money because In this case, you work with only one company.

6. Why is the Paige Rank of your own site so low?

Sometimes it happens that a company that provides SEO services Paige Rank own site is low, although in general the site looks very decent and full of useful information.

Paige Rank in itself is not yet an indicator of the professionalism of the company. There may be various reasons why it is not high, for example, a transition to a new site or a new domain.

Or even because the company was so loaded with work on customer sites that it did not have enough time to take care of its own website.

intellect.icu: maybe this item is relevant for burzhunet, but for Runet you can "score". Although customers are always interested in the TCI, which should also be cut off at the root, if only the site is not in the Yandex.Catalog and you plan to receive traffic from there.

7. Who are your competitors?

A good company without any embarrassment will tell about its competitors, it will also explain how their services differ. But do not expect them to direct you to other SEO companies if your collaboration does not develop.

intellect.icu: on the other hand, if they start telling how bad competitors are, it’s better not to start working with this company. After all, it is necessary that they tell about their advantages, and it is bad to say “behind the eyes” about a competitor - this is not ethical at least.

8. How can you prove your qualification?

Even if you turned to a young company, this does not mean that they have insufficient qualifications in the field of SEO .

Ask to present you with diplomas and certificates confirming the qualifications of the employees of this company. If you want to order contextual advertising also ask if they have the appropriate certificates.

intellect.icu: As a rule, if a person has been trained in specialized companies, then he has certificates of attendance of any of the courses, and you can also pass certification in a specialized company (this is not just listening to the course, this is almost passing the exam). Although there are a lot of self-educated people who, even without certification, can give many odds, consider the availability of a certificate as a plus.

9. Can you show me the sites that you have promoted to the TOP?

The best way to find out if this or that company is suitable for you is to hear feedback from former and current customers about their collaborative experience.

When you make an assessment of search queries on which this company made the promotion of sites before, first of all, pay attention to their relevance to the theme of the site.

Even if you see that the site has been promoted by not the most popular requests, this does not mean non-professionalism, perhaps it was part of a long-term promotion strategy or another semantic core was chosen.

intellect.icu: reviews can be read online, only here you need to be careful. Lime positive and fake negative reviews online enough.

10. How much promotion will I have? How long should I wait for the results of your work?

High-quality search engine optimization (SEO) can not only be determined by money. But that is not the opinion, usually you get the result corresponding to the investment.

Promotional prices range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. With regards to traffic, it all depends on the following factors: the words on which the promotion will take place, market saturation and the level of competition.

Now ask yourself the question: Will I be a good customer?

If a company has a level of responsibility to you, then you, as a customer, should have responsibility to them.

You will not be a good partner if : you are too petty, you cannot make decisions in time, you will not sign contracts in time and demand everything in advance.

Also, it is not necessary to set non-realistic tasks, such as getting to the top positions in highly competitive words in a very short time. The company that you hire to optimize and promote your website (SEO) will of course as a result move it to the top, but it will take some time.

As a client, you should also devote a certain amount of your time for the project, and follow the recommendations that the specialists will give you.

From the very first days of work you will receive a detailed analysis and a plan for future progress, so that you can determine your role in this project.

Attraction to an SEO company or an "from the outside" specialist has a number of advantages, firstly, it will save time and resources of your own company, secondly, they are guaranteed (?) To have the necessary qualifications and experience for this type of work, which as a result greatly will accelerate the achievement of the desired results.

intellect.icu : I’ll add from myself when the customer doesn’t need a website - the artist will not need it either. I can say this from my own experience. When the client scored on the site, he was not interested in anything, did not make the necessary changes in time - as a specialist, the site also became indifferent to me, as a result, the contract was terminated. Strangely enough, the promotion of a client’s business requires not only a performer, but also a customer in the process.