Hiring an SEO Expert: How to Find, Vet and Work With One

Hiring an SEO expert can be one of the best decisions for your website, or an expensive lesson. The difference is rarely luck. It’s knowing what to look for, which questions to ask and which promises to walk away from.

I’ve worked in SEO since 2012, so I know what a good SEO hire looks like from the inside. In this guide I’ll walk you through when to hire, where to look, how to vet candidates, the questions to ask, the red flags, and what the first months should look like. Let’s dig in.

When is the right time to hire an SEO expert?

The right time to hire an SEO expert is before a big change, not after the damage. A redesign, a move to a new domain or platform, or a new website are the moments when expert help pays off most, because mistakes made then are hard to undo. A steady drop in traffic you can’t explain is another clear signal.

Google agrees on the timing. In its own guide for site owners, Google says a great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, and the earlier, the better.

Google is also honest about the stakes. Google says deciding to hire someone to do SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site’s visibility and save you time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. That’s why the rest of this guide is mostly about vetting.

Not sure you need outside help at all? I wrote a separate article on the signs that you need an SEO specialist (and when you don’t).

What should you prepare before you start looking?

Before you contact anyone, write down your goal, your most important pages and who on your team can make changes. Then make sure you can give access to your data. With those four things ready, every conversation with a candidate becomes concrete, and you’ll quickly hear who understands your business and who doesn’t.

Here’s what I’d prepare:

1. Write down your goal. More sales, signups, calls or bookings? “More traffic” on its own isn’t a goal, because traffic that doesn’t convert doesn’t help you.
2. List your most important pages. The products, services or categories that bring in the most money.
3. Collect your history. Earlier SEO work, a redesign, a domain change, a drop you noticed and when.
4. Name who can make changes. A developer for technical fixes and someone who writes or edits content. If nobody can, you need an expert who does the work, not only advises.
5. Arrange access to your data. Ahrefs writes that most SEO consultants may ask for access to Google Analytics and Google Search Console. If you haven’t set up Google Search Console yet, here’s what Google Search Console is and how to use it.

Freelancer, agency or consultant: which kind of SEO expert do you need?

The kind of SEO expert you need depends on how much work there is and who will do it. A freelancer gives you one senior person who knows your website inside out. An agency gives you more hands. A consultant advises and trains your own team. Pick the model that matches your team, not the one with the nicest website.

Many businesses combine these. A consultant or freelancer sets the strategy, and the team or an agency does the execution. As a freelance SEO specialist I often start with advice and add hands-on work where it makes sense. If your team wants to do the work itself, look for someone who offers SEO consulting and team training.

Where do you find a good SEO expert?

The best SEO experts are usually found through people you trust, not through ads or cold emails. Ask other business owners who they worked with and whether the results lasted. Look at the expert’s own content: someone who explains SEO clearly in public will usually explain your situation clearly too.

Ahrefs writes that often the best way to find a decent SEO consultant is to connect with them on LinkedIn or go with a personal recommendation from another website owner. I agree. A recommendation tells you something no portfolio can: what it’s like to work with that person on a bad week.

And the inbox? Google advises to be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue. Good SEO experts are busy. The ones who send mass emails promising page one are rarely the ones you want.

How do you vet an SEO expert?

You vet an SEO expert in three steps: an interview, a reference check and a small technical audit. The interview shows whether they understand your business. References show whether their results held up. The audit shows how they think, and whether their priorities make sense for your website and your customers.

This isn’t my invention. Search Engine Journal reported in 2020 that Google provides a three-step process to vetting an SEO before hiring them: an interview, a reference check and a technical audit. Here’s how I’d run each step:

1. Interview. Pay attention to who asks the questions. A good SEO expert asks about your customers, your margins, your competitors and your team before talking about rankings.
2. Check references. Ask past clients what changed, how long it took, how communication went and whether they would hire this person again.
3. Ask for a short audit. Not a long export from a tool, but a short list of what they would fix first and why. According to the same Search Engine Journal report, the SEO should come back with a prioritized list of what should be improved, targeted toward providing a better experience for human visitors (not just search engines).

Want to see what a useful audit looks like before you hire anyone? Have a look at what’s included in my SEO audit.

Which questions should you ask an SEO expert?

The most useful questions ask for proof, process and communication: examples of earlier work, how they measure success, what results they expect and when, and how they will keep you informed. Vague questions get vague answers, so ask about your own website and listen for specifics instead of buzzwords.

Google publishes its own list. Google suggests asking a potential SEO: Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories? Do you follow the Google Search Essentials? What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success? What’s your experience in my industry? How long have you been in business? How can I expect to communicate with you?

I’d add a few of my own:

• What would you do first on my website, and why? A good answer is specific and admits what they don’t know yet.
• Who does the work? You want to know if the person you’re talking to is the person doing the work.
• What do you need from my team? SEO always needs something from you: access, approvals, a developer’s time, input on content.
• How do you get links? You want to hear about content worth linking to and real relationships, not bought links. More on that in my guide to link building.
• What happens if we stop working together? Your accounts, your data and your content should stay yours.

What are the red flags when hiring an SEO expert?

The biggest red flags are guaranteed rankings, secrecy about methods, and tactics that break Google’s rules. An SEO expert who promises page one, won’t explain what they change on your website, or talks about quick tricks is putting your website at risk. Good experts talk about plans, priorities and how they measure progress.

Here’s what to watch for:

• Guaranteed rankings. Google states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. On Google’s Search Off The Record podcast, John Mueller said that if an SEO makes any promises with regards to ranking or traffic from Search, that’s usually a red flag.
• Secrecy. Google says an SEO should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site, and to be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do.
• Tricks that break the rules. Google warns that some unethical SEOs use techniques that violate its spam policies, and that your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index. If someone talks about “secret methods” or huge numbers of links in a short time, walk away.
• No interest in your business. If the first call is all about their tools and none about your customers, the strategy will be generic too.
• Reports full of rankings, but nothing about sales or leads. Rankings are a means, not the goal.

What happens in the first months after hiring an SEO expert?

In the first months, a good SEO expert learns your website, fixes the biggest problems and builds a plan with clear priorities. You’ll see work and progress before you see big traffic changes, because search engines need time to crawl, process and reward the improvements. Judge the first months on clarity and progress, not traffic alone.

Patience is part of the deal. Ahrefs writes that SEO is a long-term game, and you rarely see any significant changes in organic traffic in the first months of cooperation.

A healthy start usually looks like this:

1. Onboarding. You give access to your data, explain your goals and introduce the people who make changes.
2. Audit and priorities. The expert reviews your website and your search data, and tells you what to fix first.
3. Quick fixes. Technical problems that block search engines get solved first, because everything else builds on them.
4. A plan for content and links. Which pages to improve, which new pages to create, and how your website earns links and mentions.
5. Regular reporting. A short update on what was done, what changed and what’s next, in plain language.

If you get none of this in the first months, ask why. A good SEO expert will happily explain.

Mistakes to avoid when hiring an SEO expert

Most bad SEO hires come from a few avoidable mistakes. These are the most common ones:

• Choosing on promises instead of process. The candidate with the boldest promise is rarely the best one. Pick the one with the clearest plan.
• Hiring without anyone to implement. If an expert only advises and nobody on your team has time to make changes, nothing happens.
• Not giving access. An SEO expert without access to your data and your website is guessing.
• Judging too early. Stopping after a few weeks means you pay for the groundwork and never see the results.
• Hiring for tasks instead of goals. “We need more blog posts” is a task. “We want more demo requests from search” is a goal, and a good expert will tell you whether more posts are the right way to get there.

Your next step

Start with your goal and your most important pages, then talk to two or three SEO experts you found through people you trust. Ask each one what they would do first on your website, and why. The answers will tell you more than any sales page. Choose the person who asks the best questions about your business, explains things clearly and never promises page one.

Looking for an SEO expert who works this way? Get in touch with me and tell me about your website.

A note on how I write: I use AI tools as part of my writing process, for example to help with research, drafting, and a final check of spelling, grammar and punctuation. English isn’t my first language. I use it every day, at work and at home with my American husband, but I like a second pair of eyes on my writing. I review every article myself before it’s published, and every statistic links to its source.