SEO is an enormous field that affects nearly every sector of online marketing. Here are the top services SEO freelancers usually provide.
Keyword Research
One of the foundational sources of SEO is keyword research. This is the method of finding search terms that users enter in search engines when finding something on the Internet. Identifying the keywords used to search for your products or services is essential to boosting your SEO.
SEO freelancers can help you find the most relevant keywords and search queries to your business rank well.
Content Strategy
Content strategy includes planning the complete process required to create content. It includes:
- keyword research
- understanding user intention
- crafting optimized headlines
- creating content plans
- determining content types
- determining the best platforms to publish the content
Developing a content strategy is key to helping your content rank well, especially in a space saturated with content on similar topics.Content is an essential part of SEO. Generating SEO content is an ability that not many people know. It needs knowledge of proper keyword position, structuring and formatting content appropriately, and writing in your audience’s fancied tone.
Link Building
Link building is also a part of SEO. Search engines use links to measure the authority of content and websites. The more trustworthy a web page is, the higher search engines rank it for queries associated with your keywords.
There are three types of links:
Internal links: These are links within the content published on your website. You can interconnect your blogs, internal pages by giving hyperlinks to your keyword.
Outgoing links: These are the links that you mentioned in your content to validate your facts, figures, and content.
Inbound links: These links point to your website, and search engines consider them a vote of confidence in your website. Backlink helps you improve your ranking on the search engine. Good SEO freelancers also know the value of watching your backlink profile. This is important because lethal backlinks could negatively affect your SEO.
Link building is a time-consuming process requiring knowledge of the correct links to build and tactics that work. For link building that will help your website rank better, you must need a professional that can perform this work for you.
How to Hire the Best SEO Freelancer
How to Hire the Best SEO Freelancer
Hiring a good SEO freelancer can be a tough job. You can only verify their knowledge or experience through their portfolio. Also, SEO is continually changing, so knowing which SEO freelancers’ knowledge and skills are relevant is almost impossible.
So how can you improve your chances of hiring the best SEO freelancer?
Here are a few simple tips:
Determine Your SEO Needs
The first step to finding the right SEO freelancer for you is to determine your exact SEO needs.
If you’re not sure how to do this, you may need to look for an SEO freelancer that has experience in conducting SEO audits. Of course, in most cases, this is an add-on service, so expect to pay for it separately.
Determine your SEO freelancer needs by conducting an SEO audit
However, if you want to do it yourself, check out my SEO checklist for direction.
Determining your SEO needs makes it easier for you to know what to look for in an SEO freelancer.
Features to Look For in an SEO Freelancer
Now that you’ve determined your SEO needs, the next step to hiring the best SEO freelancer is to know what to look for in one. Here are a few pointers:
Check their Track Record
Every SEO freelancer worth their salt has a track record that proves their knowledge and skill.
To be worth your consideration, they must have results to show their effectiveness in delivering the services you want.
So how do you check their track record?
ask to see a portfolio of their work
visit their website
ask for references from past or current clients
read reviews on their website or other platforms
Checking an SEO freelancer’s track record is critical because you want to hire someone who knows what they’re doing. Failing to do so could lead you to spend money on an SEO freelancer that won’t get you the desired results.
Interview Your Prospective SEO Freelancers
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential candidates, it’s time to find the best SEO freelancer for your business.
To do this, you might want to conduct an interview to get to know them better.
Thankfully, with technology like video calling software, you can conduct interviews from anywhere in the world.
Get to know them, their methodology, and how they plan to help your business rank well.
Give Your Prospective SEO Freelancer a Test Project
Another strategy that will help you find the best SEO freelancer for Non Profit Organization is to give your prospective candidates a (paid) test project.
This will help you:
gauge their skills
see what your working relationship will be like
Your test must be based on the core duties you’re hiring your SEO freelancer for. This way, you’ll know exactly what to expect from them in terms of performance.
When Not to Hire SEO Freelancers
Despite the benefit SEO freelancers bring, there are times you won’t want to go the freelancer route.
In those cases, you’re better off hiring an SEO agency.
Here are a few examples of such instances:
When Your Needs Exceed a Freelancer’s Capacity
Remember, SEO is a broad field. No one person can handle every SEO task you may need.
For example, if you want to execute a comprehensive on-page SEO campaign, you may require (among others):
a content strategist
an SEO writer
an editor
True, you may be able to find an SEO freelancer who can wear all three hats, but if your content strategy is extensive, you may need at least one content strategist, one editor, and a couple of SEO writers.
In this case, you’re better off going the agency route.
Carefully evaluate your SEO needs and determine if the scope of work is manageable by one person or if an agency better handles it.
When You Need Different SEO Services
If you need different SEO services, you’re better off going the agency route.
This is because agencies have different skill sets in their human capital, and all your SEO needs can be taken care of under one roof.
It makes for a streamlined and cohesive SEO campaign.
Giving different tasks to different SEO freelancers could result in a disjointed campaign, and in some instances, what one SEO does could conflict with what another has done.
When Stability is Important
An agency has all the resources (human and technological) needed to execute projects quickly. Because of this, you’re also assured of quality work because they have quality controls in place.
Another advantage of an agency that many people overlook is the fact that if a freelancer gets sick or if life happens, your project could be put on hold indefinitely. With an agency, however, there’s rarely any downtime as they can easily find a replacement.
Conclusion
With many people opting to ditch the 9 to 5 and work as freelancers, you’ll have plenty of choices when it comes to picking SEO freelancers for your business.
However, there are two sides to this coin.
In your quest to find the best SEO freelancers, you may come across a few bad ones that may cost you your reputation, rankings, or resources.
That’s why you must know how to hire an SEO expert that will help you achieve your business goals.
