Honest Advice From an SEO in Montreal
About 2 years ago, I wrote about what it’s like working as a freelance SEO in Montreal. Here are some tips for the folks looking to hire a freelancer in this field now. I wrote this quick article to explain to folks looking to hire an SEO expert in this town what they should expect. There are benefits to working with freelancers in this field. However, you should be aware of a few things if you want to ensure you work with the right person.
The Benefits of Working With a Freelancer to Optimize Your SEO
Wondering if you should go with a freelancer or an agency? First off, congratulations, because this often means that you have a substantial budget. Most folks tend to look for freelancers because they image they are cheaper. That’s not always true but there’s some truth to it. Working with a freelancer means that you work with someone that isn’t dealing with the massive overhead agencies have to face. We’re more flexible and tend to work closer with our clients.
Questions You Should Ask Your Future SEO Specialist
Here are a few questions you should ask your potential SEO partner:
How many years of experience do you have?
It’s important to know if the person is an optimistic newbie overestimating their skills, a seasoned senior with years of experience or a person who used to do SEO a decade ago and never kept up with the changes.
What kind of client or projects have you worked on lately?
You can ask this or some variant of this question to get a clearer view what types of clients or contracts this freelancer tends to work on. This is important because SEO content experts aren’t interchangeable with technical SEO specialists.
What tools do you use?
SEOs always have a toolkit. Some common names you should hear: Screaming Frog, Moz, SEMRush, Google Search Console, Google Analytics. Some less common but great names to hear: SERPStat, Sitebulb, AWR among others. Hint: most SEO tools have weird names, the weirder it sounds, the most likely it is to be an SEO tool!
Describe how you would audit my website
You are not asking the person to do the audit (aka work for free). You are just going to check if they communicate what they do in a manner you understand. If you don’t understand, ask questions. If you still don’t understand…maybe it’s not this SEO is not the right fit for you. Also, if it sounds like utter bullshit, feel free to go with your gut and move on to the next person.
How Much Does SEO Cost in Montreal?
Honestly, it all depends on what your objectives are, how difficult the project is, what the scope is, etc. etc. However, I’m going to be honest here, most SEO experts I know are in the $70 to $300 an hour bracket. Yes, the scale is that wide. Be careful because in this industry, you don’t always get what you pay for. Ask the right questions and ask for the hourly rate to help you decide who to work with.