Where can you find a good SEO specialist?

First of all, I agree that Jessica Bowman is a good recommendation.

But I think for us to tell you what you really need, you need to tell us a little bit more about your business and site. For example, if you are a small business with a brand new site, going out and spending a ton on a A-name SEO isn't going to move the needle much. If you have an older website and some trust to play with, that's when you'll start to see some return on investing in one of the more expensive SEO's. Or you may just need to spend more time educating yourself now so you can be prepared to leverage SEO when your business is better prepared to employ it.

There is no umbrella answer. Every single SEO engagement is unique.

I suggest you forget that you don't know much about SEO, and evaluate service providers based on what they suggest they will do for you. Avoid term contracts... make it clear you want someone to work for you on a recurring basis, to achieve results. Be willing to pay them for the time they have to spend asking you specific questions and helping you refine your answers. If you don't make progress after spending money, evaluate why (you can even ask your consultant why that's happening).

If you know your business, you know enough about SEO to hire a consultant.

If you go in hoping to pay sub-professional rates, however, you will have a hard time navigating the waters. The players in that space are excellent sales people and the products often well below par.

Hi David - I worked with Jessica Bowman of SEO-inhouse. Very professional plus they train you to take the work inside so you're not paying a consultant forever. http://www.seoinhouse.com/ Good luck - Jennifer

Personally I think SEO should be considered in most things you do on your site as well as in all your marketing efforts and other activities you do off site.

Content created for your site that you havent optimized for SEO purposes is a bit of a wasted effort.. Same with marketing and PR efforts, these, if handled correctly, can get you a lot of SEO benefits out of work you are already doing anyway. Remember that all your efforts work towards building your page rank, therefore its important to plan everything from a 360 degree point of view, rather than just focussing on one piece of the puzzle at a time.

Initially I would start by reading up a bit about SEO. You dont need much information to get a somewhat ok grip of what its all about and what YOU can do yourself to improve things. I suggest reading up about the SEO success pyramid here http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/the-seo-success-pyramid/971/ for a good overview on what building blocks you should be focussing on.

Simultaneously, I would get agencies to evaluate your site and see what they say about it. I would ask them for a basic evaluation (the cheapest quick fix solutions they suggest) as well as a thorough one (the lets go all out solution) and then use these bench marks to evaluate costs from min spend to max. This will also give you an overview of all the options you have available, and provide them to you in a "pick and mix" package, where you can prioritize and pick the most important bits first from everything they could be doing for you.

Do remember that working with an agency will be complicated if you are not willing to make changes to your site structure based on their suggestions. The same applies if you are in a "authorization needed"- situation with your own internal IT department or in a "is this part of our strategy" - situation with senior management. In these situations SEO can be very difficult, and this is why I favour always including SEO in every field.

I have worked with Niall O' Gribin (can be found on LinkedIn, profile key=11725968) and he has provided me with an excellent (although sometimes a bit harsh) reality check on what the SEO status is of my website and what I urgently need to do to improve it. He has also helped me prioritize the most important things out of all the things you can do.

According to me, SEO is not a separate part of the puzzle anymore, it needs to be considered in everything you do and if you start taking it into consideration in everything, you will start seeing excellent results in no time!
Another good group you can check out is the SEO In House (group id 2451693 on LinkedIn) - hosted by another great SEO expert Thierry who is usually very quick on getting back to you with any questions or comments you have..

I posted this answer to another question, but it seems appropriate to share it here as well:

All the books and all the courses would like you to believe that all you have to do is follow their steps and you will show up at the top. If that worked, wouldn't everyone be at the top?

I'm sorry, but it just isn't so. You can read a book on brain surgery, but I doubt the patient will live if you try to do it. I have 12 books on plants and landscaping, but I still don't know how to do it the way a pro does. No one with a course under their belt, a certificate in SEO, or who has read a bunch of books can compete with 20 years of experience in marketing and success in SEO.

Truth of the matter is that there are very few people in SEO who can perform. And even those who can perform have a tough time explaining it, especially since every case is different. The public doesn't understand it and it is easy to pull the wool over naive business owners. The problem is that they don't know how to evaluate a strategy proposed by someone selling SEO.

If it is any help, in my practice I only accept clients that I know from experience I can get on the first page of Google for the important keywords that people actually use to search for their services.

For a professional for whom clients have a lifetime value over a few thousand dollars, it is a no brainer and they know it is the best investment they could ever make. They earn it back in the first dozen clients and the work keeps on performing for years to come.

At $4,000 (and up, depending on the site), it isn't inexpensive, but it is extraordinarily valuable. Every single one of my clients is on the first page of Google and has been for years. And, I don't charge a maintenance fee. There is no need.

Find a professional with a similar track record and let them do their magic. The time you waste trying to do it yourself will more than cover the cost of doing it right in the first place.

Hi David/ SEO Fellows ;)
I specialize in SEO myself; and would love to think that I'm GREAT ;)
But I still find this specific question hard to answer.
There are many things to take into consideration before Hiring an SEO person, or a company... This is basically the first question, some sites need a person while others need an agency...and why...because there are different type of SEO,
which leads me to my second question: Do you need content SEO; meaning to maximize the content in your site to fit with the Search Engine quarries, or maybe you need incoming link building??? or it could be Technical SEO Which is cleaning your site from Broken links, setting up XML site map, making sure that the page sources written accurately etc..
I hope I that I didn't confuse you ..
let me summaries with clarifying...just in case
You should choose 2-4 People/ Agencies to research before making a decision..and a good amount of patience ... SEO takes time ..(Results I mean)
I would choose companies base on the website that I know that are doing well SEO wise, check who is their marketing person/ agencies.. get recommendations.. you may check them online by looking at their customers results on the web...
then ask for a plan...6 months preferably, you will probably know while reading the plans, who covered it all and the final decision should be base on price,
if there are two equals, choose the less expensive one, even if he has a bit less customers to show off with, if he has one or two very good results ones..it's more than enough. You will probably get better customer service from a smaller agency/ a Freelance ...but again, it's only a thought ...

Good Luck!!!

Wow so many answers and yet it doesn't seem that anyone is pushing the good old fashion referral. All of my SEO clients have come through knowing my work online or via referrals. One client refers me to four clients who also refer me. I believe that a referral based on prior performance is one of the best ways to find a quality consultant in just about anything.

Think about friends and associates you know that obtain business over the internet. Who do they use and what resources have helped them succeed?

Once you have a few names, ask for specific examples of the SEO consultant's work and prior performance. In particular, what clients were helped, for what keywords, how much did traffic increase, and most important, how much did the SEO services help that organization obtain tangible increases in revenue.

SEO services and additional traffic are only relevant if it converts to revenue. If an SEO consultant cannot provide real-world examples of success for real people, don't bother talking to them.

SEO,Web design,Web marketing,Search engine marketing service with affordable price in UK from Ictinsite.Get more information from www.ictinsite.com

If you're thinking about hiring an SEO specialist, here some useful questions to need to ask an SEO specialist:
1.Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
2.Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
3.What are your most important SEO techniques?
4.How long have you been in business?
5. What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?

google the keyword 'neal rodriguez' shoot an email to the webmaster of the first website;

or visit the Adwords keyword tool - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

1. query keywords related to your industry;
2. copy and google the most popular keywords based on search volume.
3. try to reach out to the companies holding the top spot and find out who does their optimization; most companies will keep it close to their chest like it's a best kept secret; so...
perform a link operator query on Yahoo! - link:websiteattop.com
if you visit some of the links pointing back to the site you may find a name of an author of links pointing to the site; google the name of any authors to see if you find any association with a search company.
just one way

once you do find one; ask them to show you what websites the SEO has ranked

I believe everyone else has said pretty much everything you need to know. I would like to add one point. Always ask the SEO engineer what strategy they are going to utilize, if they are not transparent about their strategies then stay away as they could hurt your business in the long run.

If your in the UK there are lots of SEO specialist companies who can deliver results, I've worked with a couple including http://www.btwsearch.co.uk and maximumhit.co.uk

David,

You have had lots of great comments posted for the discussion.

Our business specializes in helping small business market themsleves with guaranteed results for Google first page, all top social media sites, all top directory sites, text messaging and geo-mapping services all at affordable prices.

I would be happy to provide a free soncult and porposal if you are interested as we are Google Qualified and our SEO guys could work with your needs.

Thanks and I hope to be able to assist further.
Linda

My company used The FarPoint Alliance, http://www.farpointalliance.com - they are considered ONLINE MARKETING EXPERTS for Small Business especially in Better Search results in Search Engines.
We were very happy with our selection.
My opinion.. If the company does not appear in the top 5 within a search engine page, how can they help you?

David, there is the saying "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". I would seriously look at carving out time where you can learn SEO...if not the details at least the basics. Don't leave Social Media out of the equation.

Look for a company that gives FREE webinars and teaches before it asks you to open your wallet. You can learn the basics and keep this in-house. Only outsource for specialty items.

If you are looking for a good company take a look at http://www.crexendo.com. We have used them and they were great.

You are a pilot, so think about who you want flying your family around. Are you happy with a private pilot with 40 hours, who has just enough experience to be really dangerous? Or perhaps you want someone with a commercial and instrument ticket? Or, a CFI? Same thing in SEO.

If you are in a business with very little competition, you can do it yourself. Anything more and you may need an experienced SEO company. To reiterate, if you are in a business for which each new customer is worth more than $1000 over the life of the customer, you best find an experienced expert. In that case, every month you waste time trying to do it yourself costs you several thousand dollars in lost business. Don't be afraid to ask for evidence of their success, like this: http://www.topspotters.com/successes.pdf .

There is already some great advice in this discussion, but I thought I'd include my $0.02.

SEO - Anyone Can Do It!

SEO is not a science that only a few can master. Anyone can do it! There are countless books, white papers, and blogs that provide SEO information and advice. However, the reason SEOs, such as myself, exist is because businesses, both small and not so small, lack the time and resources to implement it themselves.

Our most valuable resource is time, right? Self-learning or training employees unfamiliar with SEO takes a lot of time and effort! Implementing an effective SEO strategy is a full time job and requires an internet marketing plan that goes beyond just changing a few meta tags.

I am in no way discouraging business owners from delving into SEO themselves, but SEO practitioners can help alleviate the time and stress involved in a full-time SEO job and allow businesses to stay focused.

Picking an SEO Firm

As for how to sort through the "weeds", if you will, of SEO firms, you can ask to see the results they've received with various types of clients. You want a variety because you don't want a list of 10 clients that do localized SEO when your company needs national SEO.

Lastly, an indicator of the SEO's abilities is how well they're ranked themselves! Where do they come up in a Google search?

My company, byteLaunch, has over 50 first page results for the company alone.

I hope this helps!

While I agree that "anyone can do it," that doesn't mean they can do it well. It is as much an art as a science. There is a difference between what to do and how to do it well. I would agree that there are no secrets on what to do. But there is certainly experience-based knowledge that addresses the how-to-do-it question. I have seen many business owners decide to do their own SEO and do all the right things the wrong way. It usually starts with optimizing for the wrong things.

Richard is right on about relevance and that it is the most challenging aspect. Understanding marketing is valuable in SEO.

I don't know that the selection criteria stated above make sense. There are lots of SEO experts who don't bother trying to compete on the web pages for business. I agree that seeing similar work that they have done well on is a good test. I also think that if you can do good SEO that you can probably do good SEO for any business type that you understand.

I find the disparity in the answers to be troubling...
Not just anyone can do SEO. It is an art, and it takes much trial and error that is specific to the particular niche or subject matter at hand. Granted, anyone can go and buy some backlinks and jamb them at your website, but more likely than not your website will slowly drift further and further down the rankings...
Notwithstanding proper on-site structure and meta data, any SEO strategist that has an ounce of credibility will honestly admit that the primary means of fist page ranking is backlinks from other sites that are trusted and have a Page Rank of 4 or higher.
I just wish to note that if the SEO your considering to hire does NOT offer a money back guarantee, then do not hire them. You can get your site on the first page - guaranteed, and with the right resources it will stay there as long as it is a legitimate, branded business.
Don't believe anything to the contrary David.
And by the way, my services are $350 quarterly!

There is an arguement that business people should learn to do their own SEO, obviously if you do not have enough time tuition from an SEO expert with a proven track record is useful, but at the end of the day you have more knowledge about your industry and more incentive to make your business prosper. How is that for shooting myself in the foot as an SEO consultant!

You have done everything wrong. Read a good book and do what it says.

Hi,
I'd suggest searching for a suitable SEO company as you would for any other service provider.

There aren't any guarantees however I'd want to see some facts and figures;

1) How many clients do they have?
2) Are they happy for you to ring some at random for testimonials?
3) Are they able to measure success - For example are they able to demonstrate how many average hits per day a few clients were getting before using their services and then how many they were getting afterwards?

Personally I like to know exactly what I'm getting for my cash and so if a prospective provider cannot back up their claims with cold hard facts I tend to go elsewhere.

Just my thoughts,

Andy.

Hello again Rachel,

There are guarantees with SEO. That is increased opportunities to rank better. Anyone can get to #1 on Google for any keyword if they have the time and resources to do it. You simply have to be more relevant for a particular term.

How to weigh an SEO success against the hype? Show me results? What websites have you worked for that you have increased rankings on? You could pay a small fee to have an initial site evaluation done prior to a exhaustive review.

If you are hiring an high level SEO, then this person should be mentioned on several blogs. Ask your SEO candidate if they have any citations like being an Expert on Focus or SEOmoz. But really, require a list of work done and do some DD on that person.

NO SEO should hide what they are doing, or tell you they have secrets. There are NO secrets

Richard

You need to find a company that focuses on the small business owner. I also have to agree with Richard that their are no secrets. Their are only experts and those who want to spend that time doing the SEO.
http://kyleclouse.com/small-business-fluid-marketing-solutions-for-seo/

I can't agree more with Larry- techies and "Everyday Joes" claiming to be SEO wizards! But how to choose good SEO expert without the selection criteria?
This is a little embryonic at the moment but my idea is to put a panel of recognised 'experts' in SEO together. Their role would be to decide relevancy and accuracy of questions submitted by others and themselves.
I am thinking in the first instance of forming a panel and asking the community to submit questions. Obviously, anyone whose question is included would receive a credit and link-back etc.
Most importantly, this will be free to all to use. I do not want to profit from this - just make everyone's job easier when it comes to selecting search professionals. Sounds good?

Hi David,

Make sure you ask below questions before hiring a seo specialist:

1) What techniques they are going to use for Link Building, because many times they do not follow white hat techniques.
2) Ask for client reference along with URL and Keyword so that you can check their work.
3) How many links they are going to build. Don't put effort on no. of links, try to get quality back links.
4) If you are ok to outsource then search for 'seo specialist' or 'seo expert' kind of keyword on google, this will give you fair idea

Best Regards
Ayush Kumar

Hi David,

I'd recommend checking out my portfolio and then decide whether I'm a good SEO specialist:

http://www.marketingsutra.com/action/

Cheers,

Alex

SEO is an over-hyped deal, most SEO you can do yourself - easily, quickly and cheaply. Thanks to google adwords providing a tool to show not just the rankings of your preferred search terms, but also the associated terms - you can quickly keyword optimise your own site without too much hassle.

Most search engine placement however is based on recipricol linking, and that takes time and effort to achieve, and no SEO is going to work on a solely performance based deal for that unless you operate in a very specific niche market.

But as with all providers, the best source of data is their customers, ask for references and talk to them about what has been achieved by the SEO.

My name is Dave Everett. I work for Website Talking Heads / Pro Video SEO. We are a professional online video production and video SEO consulting firm. I would be more than happy to spend a few minutes with you on the phone discussing how you might go about solving your dilema. No obligation. I just want to help the group members anyway I can. Dave Everett (801) 748-2281 www.websitetalkingheads.com Live long and prosper!

There is lots of information on the interent which can help you do your own SEO, but we have been using http://www.webmsuk.com which makes life easier for us.