What Exactly is SEO

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. One of the key goals for any business owner is getting their website to show up when people search for products and services they provide. 

There are many different steps involved in achieving that goal, including good web development and excellent content, but those can’t happen without someone doing on-page optimization (aka on-site optimization). 

Someone who specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) makes sure that your site works well with search engines like Google, which is by far one of—if not the—most important sites users turn to when they want to find something online.

An SEO professional will make sure your website follows all of Google’s guidelines as part of creating a positive user experience. 

They also research keywords and write copy that aligns with what Google wants to see from a page in order to rank your website higher than your competitors. 

With hundreds of thousands of web pages competing for top spots, it takes more than just having great content; it takes someone who understands how Google and other search engines evaluate and analyze its results.

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For example, using very specific keyword phrases over general ones is likely going to improve ranking because it shows users searching exactly what they want: fewer options equal fewer competitors potentially bumping you out of top spots. 

Make sure you understand how much work goes into creating great on-site optimization before hiring a freelancer or agency to help you create one!

How Will SEO Improve My Website?

SEO is a marketing strategy designed to increase website traffic by obtaining higher search rankings in online search results. 

By employing effective SEO techniques, websites are able to achieve a higher page ranking than their competitors. 

The ultimate goal of many businesses investing in SEO is to secure first-page rankings on all major search engines for their most important keywords—keywords that closely correspond with a business’ core offerings and products. 

Even though there are more expensive, quick-fix ways to get your search engine ranking up through advertisement or by hiring an agency/consultant, it is possible to increase organic traffic and improve your site visibility without spending too much money. 

It can be hard to decide what will work the best to increase your search engine ranking.

Some agencies offer free first-time consultation to business owners (link)

What You Need to Know Before Hiring an SEO Specialist

Asking what someone does on a daily basis is a good way to figure out if they’re right for you. 

For instance, if you know that your daily tasks involve content creation and management, but your candidate says their tasks involve writing press releases, speaking with bloggers and developing landing pages for clients, you might want to think twice about hiring them. 

The reason: your needs likely differ quite a bit from theirs—you need someone who can help you with day-to-day content management issues and not necessarily someone who develops entire online marketing campaigns. 

After all, if you're interested in paying for long-term SEO solutions and aren't willing to work with people who specialize in web development, your SEO consultant's role will likely be very limited.

Make sure you know your needs before speaking with potential consultants. If you’re not a techie, you may be better off speaking with an agency, generally agencies have an excellent overall knowledge of a website's SEO requirements and can customize services to your exact needs. 

Some agencies will include strategic services in their portfolios while others will specialize on implementing technical solutions; make sure to clarify what kind of company you're talking to so that you can compare apples-to-apples when it comes to choosing the best candidate. 

At one end of the spectrum, there are companies that have no web development experience whatsoever and won't be able to help your website if it's something like design changes or making new functionalities.

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5 Things You Need to Know Before Hiring an SEO Specialist

1.        Are they a fit for your brand/business?

2.       Do they have case-studies, examples, or testimonials they can show you?

3.       How many programs do they work with and how much does it cost? Are you the one paying for these software costs or them?

4.      Does their plan of SEO improvement require research on your end?

5.  And finally, if they automate the process or offer a maintenance plan?

Once You Hire an SEO Specialist, Here is What to Expect

Your new SEO specialist will make sure your website is optimized to work well with search engines such as Google. 

Learn about Ultimate SEO Tool for Your Website in 2022 (Google Analytics)

They’ll ask you a lot of questions in order to figure out how your business works, and then they’ll start making suggestions for changes to your site. 

Once you’ve agreed on some changes, they’ll make them for you, tweak things until everything looks just right, and double-check that everything still works well. 

An SEO specialist will check and make sure your website's load speed is fast; especially on mobile, reading and translating ranking analysis over a period of time. 

They might even suggest different ways of doing things if it seems like it would be better for your business in general. 

That could mean changing up some code or rearranging some pages; it might mean completely redesigning part of your site or creating a whole new area.

Conclusion

Every online business needs improvement. Keeping up with search engine optimization and guidelines is a lot of work – in fact it is a full-time job. 

By hiring an SEO agency or an expert you will invest in your business and create visibility in the online world. After all you will be ranking higher than your competition and getting all the attention and traffic if your SEO is done right.