Comments on: How to Hire a SEO Firm – According to Google

By: Social Media Marketing Blog

Social Media Marketing Blog — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:15:33 +0000

well, I’m an SEO expert myself and when I ask myself all these questions, I feel bit difficulty in answering them. Thanks Lee, I will prefer them for my next job

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Nice article, I enjoyed what you said on the timeframe of SEO. This is an grey area in SEO. But I think I understand it a little better now.

By: Vernon Riley

Vernon Riley — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:15:09 +0000

A couple of other considerations / questions that are worthwhile :
- will the SEO tell you what they are doing off the site.. it isn’t just changes to your website that affect the visibility in search engines..
- will the SEO be rewarded by and or be concerned to make sure the traffic doesn’t just reach the website but converts ( i.e. signs up / buys )

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:04:03 +0000

On top of the great questions to ask above, I would also like to see a partial client list with testimonials and even references.
Also, how ethical are you? (I’m sure most are, but I do know a few who walk on the grey area as well!)
Nice list, how about a top 10 questions seo’s ask their clients?

By: Ranjana

Ranjana — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:57:15 +0000

Hi,

That was a really very well put. Very comprehensive.
Covers almost all the questions possible.

Thanks,
Ranjana

By: patrickd

patrickd — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:15:41 +0000

very nice article! seo seekers read this!

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:21:05 +0000

Good article… for the most part, Google is definitely on point.

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:05:32 +0000

Hi. Just to let you know that I added 10 of your blog posts to spotlightideas.co.uk Top 250 Blog Posts – advertising, marketing, media & PR.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:05:04 +0000

And the one fundamental question for clients:

Why would I pay you to do something that I can do myself with available information from the search engines?

By: Marcos Azaro

Marcos Azaro — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:38:04 +0000

Great article. I would add the following two questions:

1 – Who is going to do the actual work?

I would ask this question because many SEO firms have a high profile SEO with strong industry experience, yet they have junior/intermediate SEOs doing the actual legwork.

Clients should expect to receive personalized attention from the SEO expert they think they are hiring.

2 – Are you going to consult with me all the way through to the end until the recommendations are implemented?

Best practice recommendations in a well designed PDF template won’t add value to any business. Recommendations need to be implemented for any benefit to occur. I’ve seen many big companies struggle to implement basic On Page SEO recommendations because they get stuck with their dev teams. In many occasions the solution is for the SEO firm to send someone to spend a few days a week inside the clients premises and liaise with the development team at a very detailed level.

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:15:01 +0000

nice link drop – even with a liberal imagination, I can’t imagine what Martin Bowling liking Zima has to do with this post

By: paisley

paisley — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:45:25 +0000

interesting answers.

By: James Paden

James Paden — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:41:59 +0000

Great post! So many seo-seekers need to read this article.

By: Santiago Martinez

Santiago Martinez — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:23:22 +0000

Excellent Article!!

in this moment, my job here in our design agency is buy this services, but here in Argentina we have very few agencies specialized in SEO, this post is the best to me in this moment.

Thanks!

By: How to Hire an SEO Firm (Advice from Google) | SoloSEO Blog

How to Hire an SEO Firm (Advice from Google) | SoloSEO Blog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:21:04 +0000

[...] Lee at TopRankBlog provides some more detailed discussion on the questions. [...]