How to Hire SEO Experts Who Deliver Results (with Free Checklist)

Many companies that have invested in SEO support still feel uncertain about the outcome. That’s because while rankings and traffic improved, revenue didn’t move as they had expected.

Over time, that gap creates skepticism. Not because SEO “doesn’t work,” but because the connection between effort and results often isn’t defined, measured, or explained well. Even experienced marketing teams can hesitate to hire SEO experts again after not seeing a significant revenue impact.

This guide focuses on how to hire SEO experts who can actually deliver results, by aligning strategy to business goals, communicating clearly, and helping you make better decisions over time. Instead of generic advice, you’ll learn how to evaluate SEO partners, spot red flags, and use a practical checklist to guide your hiring process with confidence with these topics:

• What an “SEO expert” actually means today
• How to evaluate SEO experts without getting misled
• Questions to ask an SEO expert before you hire them
• FAQs

If you’re an SMB, this framework will help you avoid common missteps early. If you’ve hired SEO help before, it will help you approach your next decision more deliberately and with better outcomes in mind.

What “SEO expert” actually means today

Before evaluating providers, it helps to align on what an “SEO expert” can look like in practice. An SEO expert can be a freelancer, in-house SEO professional, or an SEO agency. The right choice often depends on how much support you need and how your internal team is structured.

Below is a practical way to think about the three most common options:

Freelancers: Best for defined scopes of work

Freelancers can work well for defined scopes, audits, or tactical execution. They’re often effective when SEO needs are narrow and expectations are clearly set.

They tend to fall short as complexity increases. SEO often requires coordination across content, development, analytics, and other marketing efforts.

When the coordination work increases, a freelancer may be pulled in different directions and stretched thin, as they lack the bandwidth, tools, and cross-functional support.

In-house SEO: Best for organizations with large volumes of SEO work

An in-house SEO hire offers close alignment with internal teams and greater day-to-day control. This model can work well for organizations with the budget and workload to justify a full-time role focused on SEO.

For example, large ecommerce brands with thousands of product pages or media companies publishing high volumes of content often benefit from having in-house SEO teams. In these environments, SEO touches nearly every team (content, development, product, and analytics), making close internal collaboration especially valuable.

The tradeoffs include ramp time, limited coverage outside the individual’s core skill set, and reliance on a single perspective, especially as search algorithms, content formats, and reporting expectations evolve.

Agencies: Best for businesses that need access to various specialists

Agencies provide scale, established systems, and access to multiple specialists. They’re often better equipped to handle technical SEO, content strategy, analytics, and ongoing optimization in parallel as algorithms and the search landscape evolve.

The effectiveness of an agency partnership depends on process maturity, communication, and how well the agency aligns its work with your business goals. Strong agencies act as strategic partners, not just execution vendors.

How to evaluate SEO experts without getting misled

Most SEO agencies look qualified at first glance. The real differences show up when you ask the right questions and know what to look for before you sign a contract.

Use the steps below while you’re evaluating SEO experts (during sales calls, proposal reviews, and site research) to understand how they work and whether they’re set up to deliver results for your business. You can also download our checklist below!

1. Define what success looks like for your business

Many SEO partnerships fall apart because the goals are not clearly defined.

Before you talk to agencies, clearly define your SEO goals. What do you want your SEO efforts to achieve?

Rankings and traffic can be useful indicators, but they’re not goals on their own. What matters is how SEO drives qualified leads, sales inquiries, or revenue growth over time.

Here’s what you can do:

• Write down one to two business goals you want SEO to support: If you’re marketing SaaS for dental clinics, an example of a business goal is increasing demo requests from organic traffic.
• Decide what progress would realistically look like in the first six to 12 months: Early progress might mean improved visibility for branded keywords or better lead quality.

Here’s what you can ask an SEO expert:

• “How would you define success for a business like ours?” SEO professionals must be able to tie results to your business goals and not just rankings or traffic. They must consider sales inquiries and demo requests from organic search traffic, and even revenue influenced by organic traffic.
• “Which metrics would you prioritize, and why?”: Be cautious if the answer focuses only on site traffic metrics. Look for explanations that connect metrics to decision-making and long-term growth.

Pro tip: Be cautious if an agency focuses only on rankings, total traffic, or impressions without explaining how those numbers support your business goals. Those metrics can be useful, but they don’t tell you whether SEO is actually working.

2. Look for strategy, not just a list of tasks

Strong SEO experts can explain why certain work comes first, what will have the biggest impact, and what can wait. Their recommendations should feel specific to your business and not recycled from a template.

Here’s what you should look for:

• Recommendations that are tailored to your site, industry, and goals
• Clear explanations of why certain actions matter now
• An SEO roadmap tailored to your goals and what you must expect at different stages

Here’s a list of what to ask and how you can evaluate their responses:

• “How do you decide what to work on first?”: An SEO expert explains priorities and tradeoffs, and not just a checklist of tasks. Agencies usually start with an SEO audit that can help them identify quick wins before moving onto bigger optimization tasks.
• “What would you prioritize in the first few months, and why?” Be wary of vague responses or promises that sound identical across industries.

3. Pay attention to how they communicate

How an SEO expert communicates during the sales process is often how they’ll communicate after you hire them.

Good SEO partners explain things in plain language, answer questions directly, and adjust their explanations based on your level of experience. They’re also comfortable slowing down when something isn’t clear.

In addition, good SEO agencies will be transparent with you when they don’t have all the answers.

4. Evaluate reporting before you ever see a report

You need to understand how an agency thinks about reporting. Reliable SEO experts talk about reporting as a tool for decision-making, not just a record of activity.

If reporting is framed as something that’s delivered rather than discussed, it often becomes a formality instead of a planning tool.

When an SEO expert explains their reporting approach, listen for whether they:

• Talk through how they review performance, not just what they report
• Explain how trends or changes influence priorities
• Describe specific actions they take based on results
• Reference ongoing discussion, not one-way reporting

5. Ask how they handle process and change

This is an important one. Successful SEO strategies have robust systems in place to ride the waves of change in SEO and your industry.

SEO is always evolving. And your business may pivot strategies to adapt to industry shifts.

Professional SEO agencies must be able to adapt to trends throughout your partnership and still deliver results.

Here’s what you can ask them:

• “How do you onboard new clients?” This question reveals their process (or lack thereof) when you hire them. They must have a solid onboarding system that keeps you in the loop and considers how involved you want to be in the SEO activities.
• “How do you handle website changes or shifting priorities?” SEO experts must be able to explain how they adapt their strategy while keeping goals and timelines in mind.

6. Watch out for red flags early

Some warning signs are easy to spot during early conversations. Watch out for these:

• Guaranteed rankings or timelines
• Heavy jargon without clear explanations
• Tactics presented without tying them to your business goals
• Vague answers to direct questions
• One-size-fits-all recommendations

Questions to ask before hiring an SEO agency

Once you understand what to look for in an SEO partner, the next step is putting that framework into practice. We have listed and grouped the questions below to help you get started as you compare SEO agencies and evaluate whether their approach aligns with your goals.

You don’t need to ask every question. Use the ones that help you feel confident about how an SEO expert thinks, communicates, and plans to deliver results.

Choosing the right SEO partner for your business

Once you’ve evaluated SEO experts and narrowed your options, the final decision often comes down to fit.
At this stage, you’re likely choosing between providers who are all capable. What matters most is how well their approach aligns with your business.
As you decide, consider:

• Whether the agency understands your growth stage, constraints, and budget realities
• How comfortably you can communicate and collaborate with their team
• How much strategic guidance versus hands-on execution you actually need

The right SEO partner helps you understand what’s realistic within your resources (which include time and budget) and how to prioritize work to support your goals over time.

The most effective SEO partnerships are built on shared expectations, clear communication, and a working rhythm that supports long-term growth. In that context, the “best” agency is often the one that fits your business best.

FAQs

Meet WebFX, your award-winning SEO experts

For 29 years, WebFX has been focused on driving quality results for our clients through data-backed SEO services. As a result, we’ve helped clients generate over 24 million qualified leads.

Are you ready to hire an award-winning SEO agency? Call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to get started.