What not to ask when hiring an SEO

Are you looking to hire an SEO consultant or in-house staffer? Then do me a favour, don’t even bother asking an SEO about what keywords they have ranked in the past… and screw the references while we’re at it ok? No really, I mean it.

After an idea born on Twitter took grasp and I found myself writing a resource post on places to find work in SEO, I read a lot of job postings. And the variety of questions, il informed employers and business folks were asking, had me shaking my head. Allow me to explain…
Why rankings and references are dirty signals

Yes, we all know that these are things to ask a potential SEO… but let me burst that bubble right here and now. No one is going to show their failures and all rankings were not created equal.

For example;

Rankings – that SEO company you’re thinking of hiring is showing you all kinds of pretty first page rankings, or even worse ‘#1’ rankings (which is a bit of a stretch). Why? Because without the accompanying analytics, it means little or nothing. Any seasoned SEO has targeted terms they thought were killers just to find out the traffic (and conversions) were minimal compared to other terms in the program.

This means that your prospective SEO company are going to show you magical SERPs that may or may not be successful. And I’d add that any trustable company isn’t about to start showing you their clients data due to non-disclosure agreements. So what does this leave you? Not enough to be getting excited when hiring an SEO.

References; I was listening to a career coach on the boob-tube the other day whom used to be in the HR dept and read thousands of resumes. What he said about references makes as much sense here as anywhere;

“People aren’t going to put the problem people in there. I spend very little time looking at them because these are people they know speak highly of them”

The cards are stacked essentially. I can easily drum up a ton of people to sing my praises, but it is not ultimately going to show the truth, or at least the full picture. Thus this is another area you should put minimal weight on.
How would I hire someone?

I really find talking to them is the best way to go about it. One wants to see what type of grasp and enthusiasm they have for the project. This once more highlights the need to be an educated consumer and at least learn the basics of SEO. It enables you to more readily understand what you’re looking for and what constitutes common practices.

To me, flowery rankings and slanted referrals make for a ‘noisy signal’. Sure, I’d ask what query spaces they’re played in. What they’re favourite tools and methods are… strength’s and weaknesses. These are important factors when hiring an SEO; experience and knowledge.

I will come up with a ‘Questions to ask an SEO prospect’ in the near future – seems a good idea.