How to hire a competent SEO specialist

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What a trained SEO specialist should know and be able to do and how he can help you promote your website.

The modern IT business acquired its modern appearance at the time of the emergence of fierce competition on the Web and a large number of Internet marketing "gurus". They know this, they know how to do that, their specialty is everything at once: from SMM promotion to SEO.

This article is just my opinion and experience that was gained after various events, including unpleasant ones. If you're doing well, congratulations. But if you have already had to work with such a "guru" or are just looking for a specialist, read on. Then you can share "funny" stories about these guys in the comments.

Reasons for the crisis of specialists

When search engine optimization was just in its infancy in Russia, thanks to Yandex, brave programmers tried to break the search results in different ways.

The first SEO specialists are site administrators, coders. They began to manipulate markup, tags, keywords, hiding tons of search phrases from human eyes, painting them over the background color of the page. In the future, the most successful optimizers migrated to work at Yandex - to create search algorithms and fight their former brothers.

This excursion into history shows how different the specialists in this field were before: they knew several programming languages and were fluent within the site. But SEO has changed, getting closer to content and a user-friendly interface. For the most part, it's not just code and text, now it's also marketing.

Many "gurus" of online advertising have heard the word "marketing" and ran into SEO. Among them there are also those who do not know the banal HTML language. But this is the basis for entering a university for a programmer, this is now even taught in schools.

What an SEO specialist should know and be able to do

Yes, in 2018 there is no need to hope that your future SEO specialist will know many programming languages and have layout skills. He is not obliged: if you need everything at once, go to a web agency or to the sites of freelancers - to look for a universal "fighter". But there are a few skills and abilities that an SEO specialist simply needs.

1. Know HTML and CSS

This is a must-have. He will have to shorten the code, "treat" it from errors, shorten the styles that brave layout designers like to leave right in the code, without transferring it to a special file.

2. Understand the principles of search engines

He should know the difference between Google and Yandex algorithms, what role assessors play. Maybe he even worked for a company that owns a search engine. After all, he will have to track changes in algorithms and understand them.

3. Analyze existing content

To understand the degree of its optimization. If something is wrong, he should be able to independently change the text (even if it is a static HTML site without an admin panel), meta tags, Title and Alt attributes of the image. Hence the next point follows.

4. Learn quickly

Algorithms change, previously irrelevant ranking points come to the fore, various CMS (site data management systems) are gaining popularity, and you need to remember all this, know how to work with it and what difficulties may arise.

5. Understand the ways of external optimization

So that it can form a divine snippet for you and distinguish crowd marketing from natural links. (By the way, if your SEO specialist buys them for Yandex, feel free to get rid of him.) He will also have to work with PR publications and set up cross-posting.

6. Collect semantic cores

Not from the bulldozer, but according to the needs of potential customers, setting and justifying a certain structure. Be able to cluster them.

7. Have your own software suite

Find out what your SEO candidate is using at work. If you only hear "Yandex. Webmaster" and "Google something there," drive away from your office. After all, there are so many cool and functional programs: Screaming Frog, "Semantic Calculator", RDS, Arsenkin's tools and so on. A professional should have his own set of software.

8. Understand UX design

It was said above that modern search engine optimization is not only about code, but also about design. The code may be poor, but a user-friendly interface can solve a lot. If you are not offered to change anything on the site, then either you have already had a redesign, or the site is beautiful - but only in your head, because you feel sorry for the money. In 2018, decides the content, appearance and behavior of people on the site. The latter follows from the previous two. It's time to realize this.

Is it possible to get a guaranteed result?

Of course, but with one caveat. An SEO specialist is unlikely to be able to name the exact time when the result will be achieved (approximately two months). Also, the above skills do not guarantee that the site will get to the top of the search results. Their presence with a specialist will only protect you from working with a liar or "guru" of Internet marketing.

From good search engine optimization, the site is transformed. Design, text changes, pages are added. You are constantly being offered something new. After all, SEO is primarily a strategy and optimization.

Every (very good) SEO specialist has a specific list of things that affect the search results. And it's big. Ask about it, ask for thoughts on the strategy. The answer must be confident, it must clearly indicate the work plan.

By the way, if you've hired an SEO specialist, offer him a percentage of the profit that his work will bring. Believe me, this will spur the person very well, he will have a desire to really help you.

Conclusion

Much depends on the person personally, on his qualities and performance. Even on whether he can only curb laziness.

The optimizer's job is strongly related to analysis and auditing. With the ability to draw logical conclusions from the data obtained and develop a promotion strategy. A novice specialist with such knowledge is already good. And a seasoned musketeer with cases and experience is generally a godsend! And of course, it is logical that such a specialist will cost you more.