Deciding whether to hire an SEO freelancer is an important consideration for anyone looking to improve their website’s visibility in search engine results. How do you find one that you know is competent? Should you hire a digital marketing agency instead of a freelancer? Or maybe even hire someone part-time that works in-house on your SEO strategy? As someone who’s navigated the digital marketing landscape for decades, I regularly help companies make this decision and understand how to make that decision and then how to implement it effectively, without wasting time and money hiring the wrong person. Today, let’s focus on the question “should I hire an SEO freelancer?”. In my experience, I have found that bringing a specialized SEO freelancer on board can offer a more tailored approach to enhancing your site’s performance in search rankings than some of the other options mentioned previously. When you hire the right person, these individuals often bring a wealth of experience and up-to-date knowledge on optimization strategies that can make a significant difference to your online presence.
From keyword research to on-page optimization and link building, a proficient SEO freelancer provides a comprehensive service that can pivot as needed to respond to the ever-changing algorithms of search engines and the day to day changing needs of your business. The flexibility in hiring a freelancer also means that you can align their services with your budgetary constraints and the specific requirements of your website, without the commitment of a full-time hire.
How to Choose an SEO Freelancer
The question is not just about whether you should hire an SEO freelancer, but also about who would be the right fit for your website’s unique needs. The process involves identifying the level of expertise required, understanding the specific goals you want to achieve, and ensuring the freelancer’s proficiency aligns with the demands of my website’s SEO challenges. However, in an industry with little regulation and such a low barrier to entry, determining an SEO freelancer’s proficiency can be challenging and I usually recommend that you get help from a qualified digital marketing consultant to help you make this important decision.
Understanding SEO Freelancers
SEO freelancers play critical roles in improving website visibility and traffic. They differ significantly from SEO agencies in terms of services and operational scale.
Roles and Responsibilities of an SEO Freelancer
An SEO freelancer is an individual expert responsible for optimizing websites to rank higher in search engine results. They typically handle a variety of tasks including:
- Keyword Research: Identifying the right keywords to target based on search volume and relevance.
- On-Page Optimization: Enhancing individual webpage elements like meta tags, headings, and content for search engines.
- Content Creation: Writing SEO-friendly articles to engage users and satisfy search intent.
- Link Building: Establishing quality inbound links to the site to improve domain authority.
- SEO Auditing: Analyzing websites to identify areas for improvement.
Difference Between Freelancers and SEO Agencies
The choice between hiring an SEO freelancer or an SEO agency boils down to the scope of work and available resources. Key differences include:
As someone that has provided SEO services for over two decades I am hyper-aware of the differences between an SEO agency vs an SEO freelancer. Among many other differences, some of which are mentioned in the infographic I have included above, SEO freelancers typically offer more dedicated attention that agencies might distribute among multiple clients. Additionally, when working with a freelancer, you are usually working with the person actually implementing the work, while when working with an agency you’re typically paired up with an account manager who is given reports from those that implement the work or even from those who are only overseeing the work, depending on the size of the agency.
The Hiring Process for SEO Freelancers
I understand that hiring an SEO freelancer requires identifying the right places to search for candidates, evaluating their abilities accurately, and conducting effective interviews to select the perfect fit for your business needs. That can be very tricky.
Where to Find SEO Freelancers
When starting the search for an SEO freelancer, many frequently turn to platforms like Upwork and LinkedIn. These sites allow you to connect with professionals who have a variety of skills and experience levels. On Upwork, you can browse through a plethora of SEO experts with ratings, which can help simplify the vetting process. LinkedIn, meanwhile, is excellent for a deeper insight into the candidates’ professional networks, endorsements, and work history.
Assessing SEO Skills and Expertise
To assess a freelancer’s SEO skills, I closely examine their portfolio and look for a proven track record. A robust portfolio should showcase successful SEO campaigns and include data-backed results. Moreover, I seek out client testimonials and reviews as they provide real-world validation of the freelancer’s expertise. Familiarity with essential SEO tools must also be verified, which indicates their competency in executing SEO strategies effectively. Most of their expertise, however, should be determined during the interview process by asking the right questions.
The Interview and Selection
During the interview, I focus on asking questions that reveal the freelancer’s thought process and problem-solving abilities. It’s crucial to discuss specific strategies they would implement for your company’s needs. I also request references to confirm their past successes. Finally, I take into account their communication skills and eagerness to collaborate, as these are key for a successful partnership. Finally, the most important part is making sure that you ask the right questions to determine how deep their knowledge and expertise go in SEO principles, strategies, and tools. After interviewing and reviewing all candidates, I trust my judgment and select the SEO freelancer whose skills, experience, and work ethic align with your business goals.
SEO Strategy and Execution
In devising an SEO strategy, it’s essential to focus on technical and on-page optimization, develop a strong content strategy backed by thorough keyword research, and implement robust off-page SEO and link-building practices. If your SEO freelancer is leaving any of these out, they may not be the freelancer you need.
Technical SEO and On-Page Optimization
Technical SEO lays the foundation for a website to improve its visibility in search engine rankings. They should ensure that your site’s technical elements are optimized, which includes site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability. On-page SEO is another critical factor where they should optimize individual web pages to rank higher and earn more traffic. This involves placing keywords strategically and ensuring that meta tags and URLs are search engine-friendly.
- Site Speed: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix slow-loading pages.
- Mobile Optimization: Implement responsive design to cater to mobile users.
Content Strategy and Keyword Research
A solid content strategy focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. For your content strategy, they should conduct comprehensive keyword research to understand what potential customers are searching for. This guides content creation to address user queries, target relevant keywords, and anticipate SEO trends.
- Keyword Tools: Utilize platforms like SEMrush, Moz, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, and others to uncover high-impact keywords.
- Content Creation: Draft content that provides solutions and information aligned with user intent.
Off-Page SEO and Link Building
Lastly, off-page SEO and link building are about enhancing a website’s credibility and authority. Your SEO freelancer should secure quality backlinks from reputable sites to signal trustworthiness to search engines like Google. They should focus less on link quantity and more on prioritizing link quality and relevance.
- Backlink Analysis: Regularly assess the backlink profile to weed out low-quality links.
- Guest Posting: Collaborate with authoritative domains to create content that includes backlinks to your site.
Measuring SEO Success
Effective measurement is crucial to evaluate the performance of SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions. Thoughtful analysis of specific metrics can lead to a deeper understanding of an SEO strategy’s impact.
Key Performance Indicators and SEO Metrics
Identifying the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential to track the success of SEO activities. Here’s a succinct rundown:
- Search Engine Rankings: The positions of web pages in search engine results play a key role. They should monitor where your pages rank for targeted keywords to gauge visibility.
- Website Traffic: An increase in traffic, particularly organic search traffic, indicates more potential customers are finding your website through search engines.
- Leads: The ultimate goal of increased visibility and traffic is to generate more leads. Tracking the quantity and quality of leads helps you to understand the ROI of my SEO efforts and their reports should contain this. This is skipped by most freelancers who focus almost entirely on organic traffic.
- Results: If they are really good, they will work with you to measure the impact of SEO on business objectives such as sales and revenue, which are indicative of the success of deployed strategies. This goes one step beyond just measuring leads and tries to tie those leads to actual business revenue and profits.
Using Analytics Tools for Tracking
The right SEO freelancer will use analytics tools like a compass. Here are a few that I find invaluable:
- Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a comprehensive tool that tells you about user interactions on your site, such as bounce rate and session duration.
- SEMrush: SEMrush offers insights into keywords and competitors, which is crucial for maintaining or improving my search engine rankings.
- Moz and Ahrefs: Moz and Ahrefs provide a broad range of data points from tracking rankings to backlink analysis, which should inform your SEO strategies and their execution.
I have used these tools for decades to create detailed reports that help me understand the effectiveness of my SEO strategies over time for my clients and ensure that my approach remains data-driven and result-oriented. Your SEO freelancer should do that as well. Determining their level of expertise and experience with these tools during the interview process is an absolute must if you want to ensure you’re hiring a competent freelancer.
Should You Hire an SEO Freelancer?
All of the information above has hopefully given you enough to determine if hiring an SEO freelancer is right for you, and if it is, how to vet them and make sure you don’t waste a lot of time, money, and resources on the wrong one (very common). Whether or not you should hire an SEO freelancer is up to you. If you’d like help making this decision or with making a hire, please don’t hesitate to reach out for some digital marketing consulting. Having hired dozens of digital marketing professionals myself, helping provide this type of guidance to companies and hiring managers is an expertise that I have shared for many years.
