Creating a strong online presence is crucial if you want to run a successful business and maintain growth. However, competition in the online space is constantly increasing and challenging, and it is important for all businesses to effectively take advantage of their SEO. And when it comes to search engine optimization, an SEO consultant can be a huge help. Below,  we will discuss 5 signs that may indicate that you should hire an SEO consultant to help you achieve better search engine rankings for your website.

But first, before taking a look at each sign, let’s see what an SEO consultant is and how they can help you improve your Google ranking.

What is an SEO consultant?

An SEO consultant is a search engine optimization specialist who develops and implements comprehensive SEO strategies. Their tasks include on-page and off-page SEO, as well as the technical optimization of the website. Their goal is for their clients to achieve (and maintain) the highest possible ranking in the results of Google and other search engines.

Similarly to marketing consultants, SEO consultants offer their services to their clients as freelancers or on the basis of contracts. Although an employer may consider the SEO expert employed by their company to be an “SEO consultant”, this position actually covers something else.

Both new businesses and the biggest global brands need SEO consulting. SEO consultants can also specialize in multiple fields, such as healthcare or e-commerce. Most consultants offer their services as freelancers, on online platforms, or as members of an SEO agency, and these two positions are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

How can an SEO consultant help you improve the success of your business?

 While not necessarily a cheap decision, hiring an SEO consultant is always a worthwhile investment. If you want to make your company successful, an SEO consultant can help you with the things listed below:

• improve your ranking in Google results for keywords that are important to you
• help you drive more organic traffic to your website
• strengthen your brand’s online presence, making it more authentic in the eyes of your target audience
• create a positive user experience that increases customer loyalty

Of course, all this will result in stronger brand awareness, customer activity, and better conversion rates. An SEO campaign aligned with your existing marketing strategy can do wonders for your company, but only if you entrust it to an experienced professional (or agency).

Responsibilities of an SEO consultant

At first glance, it may seem that every SEO consultant has one main responsibility: getting a client’s website to rank high in organic search results. Well, it is correct, but things are more complicated than that. Below, we are going to discuss the duties and responsibilities that an SEO consultant will handle for you:

 #1 Getting to know the company

First of all, a good SEO consultant takes some time to get to know the client (be it a company or an individual entrepreneur), the market niche it represents, and its strategic goals. Consultants therefore often work with key stakeholders in the company, such as the managing director, marketing director, etc. The knowledge gained in this way helps to put together a strategy that uses only regular methods, yet offers promising results. In this planning phase, the consultant also discusses the SEO goals (which are, of course, aligned with the company’s general business goals) and outlines the cooperation schedule. 

#2 Keyword research

One of the main tasks of SEO consultants is keyword research. In this case, the SEO expert identifies different words and phrases that the client’s target audience often uses for their relevant searches. For this, many people use different keyword research tools, which help to collect, select and evaluate such terms. 

#3 Preparation of the content strategy

After choosing the keywords, the consultant compiles the content strategy, which includes several tasks:

• Gathering new content ideas for the website (e.g. blog)
• Creating a content calendar that helps you create and publish content regularly and evenly
• Determining the resources needed for guest posts

The consultant makes sure that the prepared content is not only optimized but also adapted to the search intent of the users.

#4 On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to SEO work performed on the client’s website. The main goal of on-page SEO is to create a high-quality user experience, in which, among other things, technical search engine optimization plays an important role. Here are some more important on-page SEO tasks: 

• Checking source codes (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) for mobile and desktop SEO.
• Identifying and fixing problems affecting the speed of the website and various web pages.
• Matching of relevant pages and keywords
• Identify and troubleshoot indexing issues
• Checking of security factors (e.g. SSL certificate).

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to all of this, the SEO consultant will also request access to the website’s Google Analytics and Search Console accounts, or help set them up if they have been missing from the strategy until now.

#5 Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to search engine optimization tactics performed outside of your website, mostly about getting backlinks. These backlinks are extremely important for your website content to rank highly for relevant terms. Why? Because if Google sees that your content is being linked by other reputable websites, then your website will receive some of that authority.

There are several methods of acquiring valuable, authoritative links that an SEO consultant can use:

• writing guest articles
• rebuilding broken links
• placement of mentions
• offering content to other websites
• requesting links to unlinked brand mentions
• receiving and recycling contents

The 5 signs that it’s time to hire an SEO consultant

Now that you understand how an SEO consultant can help you, we are sure you are asking yourself whether or not you should opt for professional help to improve your ranking and increase your revenue. Well, here’s the good news, you don’t need to wait any longer to find your answer! Without further ado, let’s take a close look at the 5 signs you need to keep in mind that might indicate that it is time to hire a professional SEO consultant!

 Low conversion rate

If your website visitors are not converting into customers or contributing to your goals, this may indicate that your website is not properly optimized for your target audience. An SEO consultant can help you optimize your content and target your target audience more precisely to increase conversion rates.

Missing online presence

If your business is hardly or not at all visible online, an SEO consultant can help you create an online presence. He can help you with content strategy, social media optimization, and link building to increase your visibility and online presence.

Declining attendance

If the traffic to your website suddenly drops or does not reach as high a level as before, then this may be a sign that your website is not well-optimized for search engines. An SEO consultant can help you with analysis and optimization to get back lost visitors.

Poor keyword rankings

If your website’s keywords do not appear on the first page of search engines or achieve low rankings, it may be important to engage an SEO consultant. He can help you with keyword research, content optimization, and link building to improve rankings and increase organic traffic.

Outdated or bad technical elements

Technical aspects of a website, such as speed, mobile-friendly design, and search engine-friendly structure, are important for ranking. If your website is outdated or has bad technical elements, an SEO consultant can help you optimize it to provide a better user experience and increase the website’s ranking.

Conclusion 

In online marketing, search engine optimization plays a prominent role in successful businesses. If you notice these signs, it may be time to hire an SEO consultant to help you optimize and improve your website’s ranking. An experienced and expert SEO consultant can contribute to your success and increase the effectiveness of your online presence. What do you think? Is it time for you to hire an SEO consultant? Also, if you want to learn more about search engine optimization tips and tricks, do not hesitate to click here and here!