The document outlines five red flags for small business owners when hiring SEO consultants, emphasizing the importance of a coherent strategy, regular updates, reasonable pricing, and a stable client base. It highlights common pitfalls like reliance on spammy backlinks and the unrealistic promise of fast rankings. Key questions to assess a consultant's competence and approach are also provided.

1. 5 RED FLAGS FOR SMALL BIZ OWNERS
WHEN HIRING SEO CONSULTANTS

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WHY SMALL BUSINESS
HIRE SEO CONSULTANTS
•Want to be on page one to Potential Customers
•Alternative to paying lots of Ads
•No time or expertise

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PROBLEM: HOW TO HIRE
THE RIGHT SEO
CONSULTANT
• Don't know what SEO is or Can Do
• Fear of being overcharged
• Don't know if the SEO consultant is really competent
enough

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5 RED FLAGS WHEN HIRING
A SEO CONSULTANT
1. They Don't have a Coherent SEO Strategy
2. They Spam Backlinks and say They can Get you to
Page One Fast
3. There is no process for regular updates &
Performance Review
4. They Charge too Little
5. They have an irregular Client Pool

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THEY DON'T HAVE A
COHERENT SEO STRATEGY
• SEO usually involves:
Website Audit: load speed, mobile responsive, backlink penalties
Competitor Keyword & back-links research: look for long-tail or less competitive
keywords to rank
On-Page and On-Site Optimization: meta tags, schema markup, anchor text,
internal links
Off-Page link building with Good Content vs Quantity
Local Search, Citations and Reviews Building

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QUESTIONS TO ASK
ABOUT SEO STRATEGY
"Can you briefly tell me what's your
recommended SEO strategy for my business?",
"If I have Google penalties, how do you resolve
them?"

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THEY TALK ABOUT BUILDING
HUNDREDS OF BACK-LINKS AND
GETTING TO PAGE ONE FAST
• More is NOT BETTER
• Google does not like unnatural link-building
• Google algorithm looks for low-quality content
• Get to Page One FAST is not always achievable
• Spamming SEO articles, comments may work for a while
• You have to overcome incumbent competitors who have
more back-links
• Question: "Do you guarantee that I will be on 1st page?
How?"

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THERE IS NO PROCESS FOR
REGULAR UPDATES &
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
• "How would you measure success?", "What metrics do
you track?"
 Traffic, Keywords ranking, Conversion
 "What reports will I receive regularly?“
 - Updates of what actions they took, problems they encountered, how
to solved them
 - Reports of backlinks built, blog or forum comments, articles
distribution list
 - Reviews of performance statistics, feedback
 "What tools do you use for SEO?"

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• Typical overheads: each articles range from $20-$80
• Single project for on-site/ on-page audit, optimization usually
$4,000-10,000
• Retainer for building backlinks and reports/update can range
from $500-$5,000
• Reference: http://seogoodguys.com.sg/why-seo-expensive/

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IRREGULAR CLIENT POOL
• "Who are your longest active clients? How long?"
• SEO is an on-going battle with Competitors for keywords
• Requires articles, link building, optimization all the time
• Good SEO Consultants should have long-time clients

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FINDING A GOOD SEO
CONSULTANT
• Track Record & Case Study
Systematic Process, with Regular Reports/Updates
Charge Reasonably
Good Coherent Strategy
Can relate to other marketing strategies like Social Media,
PPC etc.

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Thank
You