Seems like everyone’s an ‘SEO expert’ these days. Before spending thousands of dollars for SEO services, you owe it to yourself (and to your organization) to make sure your so-called SEO expert is not just an SEO salesman. Here are 10 easy ways to test if your SEO expert is all that and a bag of chips. Best of all, you don’t need to understand the questions OR the answers. Your objective is simple: make them squirm.

What’s It To You?

There are thousands of definitions for the term search engine optimization, unfortunately most are misguided. Ask your potential SEO experts what the goal of SEO is. Then ask how that will affect you and your company. Short answer: conversion. Longer answer: generating and converting more visitors. The failure to mention conversion is a giant red flag.

Ask: What is the goal of SEO?

What Is Up With It?

True SEO’s are up to date on any and all recent developments, technologies, languages and trends. The world of online nerderie is never-ending, so a few minutes of entertainment is not too much to ask for. You are not required to understand news from the SEO world but rather be convinced that your expert is, in fact, an expert.

Ask: What’s new in the SEO world?

Embarrassing First Website Story

An SEO expert with real experience started building websites by the mid 90’s. During that time websites were quite different from the spanking sites we see today. Your SEO professional should be able to quickly describe his/her first website and how horrible its design and functionality was. Definitely embarrassing by today’s standards but quite impressive for 15 years ago.

Ask: Can you tell me a little about the first website you ever designed?

Original Weapon of Choice

Adobe’s Dreamweaver software dominates today’s market. Most web developers use it at least in some form or another, often combined with other popular Adobe products. Dreamweaver was only released in December of 1997 and didn’t gain real steam until a year or two later. Ideally, you want an SEO expert that’s been online and designing websites during the days of notepad. You can also accept programs like Hotdog and Coffee Cup. If their first weapon was Dreamweaver, they have limited battle experience.

Ask: What program did you use to design your first website?

Octolingualism

SEO experts speak many languages. If your ‘expert’ is unable to immediately list off at least 5 or 6 programming languages, there’s a problem. You’re looking for answers like: PHP, CSS, Javascript or JSP, HTML, XML, AJAX, Flash, ASP or ASPX. Spanish and Portuguese are not acceptable answers.

Ask: What web design programming languages are you fluent in?

Semi-Shameful Past

SEO experts learn from experience. So-called ‘Black-Hat’ SEO techniques are easily detectable by robots now, but back in the day… that’s when abuse originated. Picture the Wild West- filled with computer nerds. Off the record, real SEO experts have a bit of a wrap-sheet. Years ago, the rules and regulations weren’t as clear cut- just like many of today’s accounting practices . Some stories are pretty amazing. In order to get an honest answer, be sure to tread lightly without passing judgment.

Ask: Off the record, have you ever abused the Internet to make a quick buck? I won’t judge.

Pop-Quiz

An effective way to assess your SEO ‘expert’ is to ask a few highly-technical questions that only a real expert would be able to answer. You don’t need to understand the answer; you just need to see if they squirm. It’s important to ask a specific question with an absolute answer. Otherwise, they may sing and dance.

Ask: You mentioned you were multilingual, what does [PHP, AJAX, XML] stand for?
Ask: What is an Expires Header?
Ask: Our host said we can’t gzip. What are our alternatives?

Speak My Language

A legitimate SEO professional has intricate knowledge of web design and ranking online. Your ‘expert’ should be able to adequately explain even the most complicated concepts in a way you can understand. An SEO salesman will either convince you it’s out of your league or throw buzzwords at you until you until you can’t take it anymore. Ask a question about something you don’t understand. Win-win.

Ask: Can you explain how PageRank is calculated?
Ask: Why is it beneficial to block certain pages from search engine robots?
Ask: What is it about blogs that search engines love so much?

Grill Away!

Your SEO professional should never shy away from questions or concerns. This is especially true for decisions or actions he/she is recommending. If you can find a website that directly contradicts your expert, send it to them and gauge their response. If you are trying new things, you owe it to yourself to play devil’s advocate. Be sure to email them the link.

Ask: I found a page that says [change 12] can lead to a penalty. Why did you recommend it?

SEO Expert vs SEO Consultant The major difference between an SEO expert and an SEO consultant is their level of business knowledge. An expert has an understanding of web design and SEO. A consultant has that same understanding in addition to a thorough business background. Don’t expect your SEO to be an MBA but you should count on significant experience.

Ask: What is your business background?

 

Dealing with ‘SEO experts’ can be quite intimidating considering the level of technical expertise required. Appreciate the fine line between SEO expert and SEO salesman and don’t be afraid to inform yourself. These 10 tests are a breeze for real experts and professionals. On the other hand, if you’ve never witnessed a self-proclaimed SEO expert sing and dance, now is the time!