Is It Worth Hiring an SEO Expert?

Yes! An SEO expert is worth hiring if you have a website or want to generate sales and leads from search engines.

An SEO professional improves a website so it shows up when some searches for a product or service. SEO is a part of digital marketing that involves optimizing websites for both users and search engines. If your website shows up on those keywords that people search online, you can get more sales or leads. So. investing in SEO is profitable.

However, hiring an SEO is a big decision because the right person can potentially improve your site and save you time, but the wrong person can damage both.

Now let's look at what you might expect from them and when and, the pros and cons of hiring someone.

7 Signs It’s Time to Hire an SEO Expert

Here are a few indications that suggest you should hire an SEO specialist for your company or hire someone to do SEO is worth considering:

1. Your website isn't getting visitors.

The most effective way to get free traffic is through Google.  According to a study by Ahrefs, 90.63% of web pages get no organic visitors from Google search engines. If your website belongs to that category then you should invest in SEO to increase your online presence. 

When you are not getting traffic (continuous) to your website, it means you are not ranking on search terms that people are searching online. There may be several reasons for that i.e

• Poor SEO strategy,
• Poor backlink profile,
• Webpage, content, or images  are not optimized for search engines,

Well, it's time to strengthen your SEO.

2. Websites and pages are not being indexed by Google.

One of the first steps to getting traffic from Google is indexing your content. 'Indexing' refers to the process of gathering information to create an index of pages or other information. Search engines use indexing to organize content before running a search so that queries can be answered quickly.

You can check the indexing status by using this advanced search parameter - site:yourwebsite.com. example site:lutforpro.com

If a page is not indexed it means, either, the search engines can't find and crawl that page, or they don't find your content worthy enough to index. In these cases, you will need an SEO to analyze and fix those problems.

3. Developing an SEO strategy.

SEO involves organizing content on a website by topic so that it ranks higher in search results. The goal is to increase organic search engine traffic through a systematic process. While the content and the backlinks are still the keys to success, several other things are important today. I.e. semantic SEO, structure data, technical SEO, user intent, UX, and many others.

As it is a long-term game and essential for driving traffic to your site. So, you need a solid strategy to beat your competition. You can work on improving your SEO strategies with the help of a professional.

4. Organic traffic has declined.

Site traffic declines for several reasons, and in many cases, the trend can be reversed.

• A sudden drop in website traffic usually occurs when search engine algorithms change.
• Website traffic can decline due to several factors, including penalties, redirections, and incorrect robots.txt rules.
• Human error, technical problems, or an error in the reporting system may be at fault.

The right way to address it is by working with an SEO professional. SEO specialists can identify the most likely reasons for your traffic loss, as well as outline an action plan to reverse it.

5. When you have a tight budget

You can support your internal SEO initiatives through a combination of in-house and external SEO if your SEO needs are growing and you don't want to hire more full-time employees.

The average monthly retainer for local SEO services ranges from $300 to $1,000, while the average monthly retainer for national or international SEO services starts at $2,000 and goes all the way up to $10,000.

6. You're redesigning your website.

Unintended consequences may occur when changes are made to a website's domain, content management system (CMS), design, layout, navigation, or permalink structure.

When revamping your website, keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. Your SEO strategy should be adjusted whenever your website is updated.

7. You are in a competitive niche.

You'll find fierce competition in any specialized field. However, when the market is oversaturated with competitors, it might be difficult to achieve success with minimal exertion. You may be a part of a highly competitive industry if you own a B2B, healthcare, or e-commerce company. In this scenario, you need a solid strategy and expert/s help to beat your competition.

When it's NOT Worth Hiring an SEO Expert

The following are reasons why you shouldn't hire an SEO expert:

• When you want to achieve quick results. For SEO to be successful, it requires consistent effort over time.
• You are not willing to make the necessary changes, like creating high-quality content, fixing technical issues, and building backlinks.
• Your website already receives a significant amount of organic traffic from search engines.
• You don't spend the time and money necessary to track and analyze the performance of your website and SEO campaign.

What SEO Experts Do

An SEO, sometimes known as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist, provides professional assistance in enhancing your website’s visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results.

An SEO can help you in the following ways:

Research keywords and search terms

While there are a lot of keywords out there, however, it is hard to find the right ones. An expert SEO can help you to do keyword research and pick the most profitable one by analyzing searchers' intent.

Link building

Increasing your search engine ranking through link-building techniques. Having a lot of links to a website indicates that its content is worthwhile. An SEO can help you create link-bait content, earned media and links, press releases, etc.

Take a look at the structure or content of your site

The structure of your site helps you understand your site better. Without a defined structure, your site will just be a random collection of posts and pages. To navigate your site, your users will need this structure.

Successful Content Development

SEO relies heavily on content. A quality content development strategy involves planning, researching, promoting, doing on-page seo, and analyzing performance. It creates a positive experience and builds trust between your brand and your potential customers.

Analyzing technical aspects of websites

An expert Technical SEO specialist can help find the issues related to indexing and also ranking. This includes auditing and finding issues in hosting, redirects,404 error pages, JavaScript, page speed, x-robot-tag, sitemap, robots.txt, etc.

Creating and managing campaigns for the growth of an online business

Every business needs a different approach and strategy. An SEO consultant can help you create the strategy and manage camping. This involves competitor analysis.

SEO training

The right seo strategist can teach you seo best practices to boost your website's ranking.

How To Hire an SEO or Agency?

Hiring an SEO firm doesn't always imply you'll get a good result. Because this SEO industry is full of scams. In other words, your SEO campaign will be worth it if you can hire experienced people or agencies.

Here are some tips that you should apply to get better ROI:

1. Set the goal: The first step before contacting an SEO expert is determining your plan. 
2. Conduct an interview: Describe your goal to SEO the professional you contacted. Also, ask questions like "How will they get you traffic?", " how much budget and time it may require?" etc. Also, do a background check.
3. Request an audit of your site: It is always a wise idea to request an audit of a person's website before committing to working with them. Take their advice into consideration before accepting it. Was a list of changes made by the specialist sorted by priority and difficulty? There is a general rule that the most critical tasks are the ones that are easy to complete and have the most impact for the most part.
4. Check online resources & references: Now you have the data to crosscheck. Take your time to go through online resources and the Google Webmaster blog to learn more details. This way you will able to find the right person.