As you know, SEO is a long process, and the results can not be seen in the first days and weeks. For this reason, when selecting a set for the SEO consulting department or even in the early months of the selected team, it is impossible to quickly be informed of the proper functioning of the SEO consulting team. This can cause a lot of damage to your business in the long run, and after months, you will be aware of the poor performance of the selected team. To prevent this from happening, you need to consider certain factors and evaluate the team’s performance from the very beginning and even before starting work by carefully examining those indicators in the version of SEO consultants. In this article, smart strategy blog, we will look at ten essential factors for successful SEO consulting by the SEO management team. Join us at the end of the article.

 

Ten items to be considered for having a successful SEO consulting

To evaluate the performance of groups and agencies active in the field of SEO consultants, carefully review these ten items and view them:

1- Develop a detailed SEO strategy

You need to make a phone call before you start working with an SEO consulting agency. The purpose of this telephone call is to assess the level of expertise of the respondent in the field of SEO and its process. However, the more critical question may be, how do you consider the other person’s level of expertise if you have no expertise in the field?

The answer to this question is also straightforward; In this section, pay attention to how the expert and agency representative describe the SEO process to you and to what extent they try to make it easier for you to understand all the specialized parts of the process.

The important thing is that even the most brutal methods can be explained to others in simple language and meaning. If you feel that this person, like a robot, reads only parts of a pre-prepared article and makes no effort to simplify the matter, you should know that this group and the SEO consulting agency are not suitable for you. On the other hand, if this person explains the SEO process to you in the same phone conversation, you will find that you are talking to professionals and extraordinary experts, and you can trust that institution and go to the next steps.

 

seo consulting team for business | smart strategy

 

2- Setting goals

At the beginning of the SEO consulting process, you need to set goals precisely and precisely. Only then will all those involved in the process come to a clear and accurate understanding of their current mission, identify logical and achievable issues, and ultimately work towards that. Without setting goals, determining the success of the  SEO project or even achieving them will be very difficult and impossible. Therefore, specify the goals and criteria in the SEO consulting session and then ask the consulting agency to give you a complete and accurate report on these criteria at specified intervals. Of course, you should know that the SEO process is a two-way street. As the collection manager, you need to know exactly what the SEO consultants want from you and do the same. Usually, the SEO consulting team and the digital marketing agency do not have the executive part of the work in hand. If you, as the executing department, do not do the set tasks correctly, it will be impossible to achieve the goals. Therefore, setting goals in this initial part will be essential for both parties to the contract, i.e., you as the business manager and the SEO consulting team.

3- Learning in the SEO consulting process

Teaching and learning are a big part of the relationship between the customer and SEO consultants in the digital space. During this process, the SEO consulting team should teach you the most critical and central things and update your information in this area; Because even if you have a primary and relatively complete acquaintance in this field, after only about six months to a year, all the knowledge in this field has changed. It is natural that you from all different aspects of SEO as the latest way to search for the keyword. However, I do not know the latest Google algorithms, on-page, off-page SEO, and dozens of other items. In this case, monthly explanations and reports in SEO consulting sessions are not very profitable because you, as an employer, will not clearly understand the site optimization or performance of SEO criteria. Therefore, an effective SEO consulting team should inform you about the most important and latest changes during your employment contract and increase your knowledge in this field. The main sign of this issue will be the initial questions of the SEO consulting group from you. In the first business meetings, an experienced team should ask you the following questions: What is your background in digital branding and marketing? What is your job position in the collection, and what are your duties? How familiar are you with SEO and related processes? What have you done in the field of SEO so far?

The SEO consulting team will use these questions to gauge your familiarity with the field and begin basic training based on your answers. If a business manager does not understand SEO, you will not understand its value; Therefore, the consulting team should explain the various SEO details well and show you the importance of SEO in achieving goals. Therefore, it is better to work with a group that observes this and, according to your knowledge, provides you with the latest information in the SEO field.

4-     The amount of follow-up and expertise of the SEO consulting group

An experienced SEO consulting team will not only ask you various questions about your business area at the beginning of the collaboration. Still, the review process will continue until the end of the contract. Some SEO consulting teams will only do necessary research related to your field in the first few weeks and then work with the same raw data for months or even years. Like everything else in the real market, it is natural that your area of work is constantly changing. A strong SEO consulting team should follow the latest and most important changes related to your labor market monthly, along with specific reports. In addition, the SEO consulting team should review the performance of your competitors at regular intervals, analyze keyword changes in your field, and, most importantly, share this data with you. In this case, and only with these simple cases, you will realize that the group and agency of your choice are reliable and can contribute to the progress and success of your collection.

 

seo consulting group | smart strategy

 

5-     How the SEO consulting group answers your questions

This may seem obvious, but we’ve seen it in most of the dysfunctional relationships between businesses and the SEO consulting team. An excellent consulting team should answer all your questions accurately, completely, and without ambiguity. Of course, this does not mean we should expect a group to have complete control over all the information available in this field. However, an experienced team will give you the best and most precise answers to your questions, and even if you do not have enough information, they will explicitly state this and tell you that after reviewing this, they will give you the complete answer, and most importantly They will give you the answer soon.

6-     Cooperation of SEO consulting group in the implementation department

In general, the primary nature of counseling is that the person or group of counselors only reminds you of the essential points and leaves the implementation to you. However, sometimes the SEO consulting team is the same group to which you have outsourced your digital marketing. However, an SEO consulting team should also tell you the essential tips for getting things done right and helping your internal resources. Therefore, in the implementation section, the SEO consulting team should determine the following:

  • Prioritize the most critical executive orders

    Naturally, the internal group of the collection does not have a precise understanding of the prioritization of tasks. Meanwhile, the SEO consulting team should identify the essential activities and, with accurate prioritization, tell your staff which items should be implemented as soon as possible and which items can be postponed. In this way, people will have a complete focus on essential and influential issues, and the success rate of your business in the field of digital marketing will increase;

  • Encourage troops to carry out orders.

    An effective SEO consulting team should be able to articulate its most essential and core commands and strategies in a way that encourages the internal forces of the group to perform those tasks;

  • Having an alternative strategy

    In any program or strategy, there is a possibility of failure, and it is natural for an SEO consulting team to fail in achieving their customers’ goals. But the difference between an experienced SEO consulting team and a novice team has an alternative strategy and plan. Has the selected SEO consulting team considered the possibility of failure? What alternative method do they have to achieve important goals? What approaches have they chosen to implement SEO operations?

Based on the above, you should know that an SEO consulting team not only provides you with the best and most practical advice but also often helps to ensure that the implementation is done in the best way and will cooperate with you in the implementation process if needed.

 

7- Monthly content calendar and planning

A monthly calendar is the best way to avoid confusion between thousands of articles, articles, and posts. The first part of this step is to agree with the SEO consulting team on a precise strategy and then specify the more detailed ones, such as publishing 10 to 20 articles and articles per week.

The slightest SEO mistake in this area can delay achieving the desired goals for months. There are several software that you can use to promote your content calendar. If you are currently using specific software, continue working with the same software and do not change it. Of course, if you do not have any particular software, get help from the SEO consulting team and use the same software they offer. These tools are usually relatively straightforward, understandable, and easy to use.

 

seo calender | smart strategy

 

8-     Determining the expectations accurately by the parties to the contract

You should not expect to be at the top of the search engine rankings in the first week; it may take months to get just a little closer to your desired results. Therefore, thorough research is needed to find the best keywords that increase traffic with the least amount of content possible. For example, if your goal in this project is to get the most sales, you should contact the best ranking among all kinds of sales-related keywords. However, all businesses associated with selling services or products also pursue such a goal, and you can not quickly achieve the desired ranking in this area. The more orders your site posts, the better your site’s domain ranking will be. So in this section, first let your SEO consultants do their research and studies in full, then ask them to tell you exactly what to expect in this section. Ask them which keywords will rank fast. Or, on average, how long will it take for high-demand keywords to rank? At this stage, all the answers should be clear and precise, and there should be no ambiguity. You should feel that your consultants have a clear understanding of the process, and only then can you renew the contract between them and sign a long-term contract with them that will benefit both of you.

9-     Appropriate tools and software

SEO software is the principal assistant and so-called right hand of the SEO consulting team. In this regard, it is better to make sure that the SEO consulting agency uses the best and most up-to-date software in this field. If you find in this section that the SEO consulting agency does not use any tools or software, we must tell you that you have not chosen a good group, and it is better to look for a more suitable group. In general, these tools are currently the best in the field of SEO:

Interaction and communication section: Google Hangouts Chat،, Slack،, Teams, and google docs.

Project Management Department: Basecamp ،, Trello،, Asana،, OneDrive, and Monday.

Other digital marketing tools: SEMrush، Moz، Screaming Frog، BuzzSumo، Buffer، BuzzStream, and Dozens of other titles.

In this section, we can not introduce only one of these as the best and best software. As a business manager, you should do the necessary research with the SEO consulting group, and according to your needs and, of course, the work expertise of that group, choose the most appropriate tool and start your work with it.

One of the signs you should pay attention to when evaluating the performance of the SEO consulting team is how well the SEO team knows its audience. After completing the initial parts of the work and concluding the contract, the SEO consulting team should have a precise and complete understanding of the different members of your group, the position of each person, the degree of influence, and finally, the wishes of each person. Then, they can only set a complete and accurate strategy and help you achieve your business goals.

As one of the clients of the SEO consulting team, you should fully understand the performance of the collection and know precisely what method this group uses to achieve these results. Most SEO consulting teams face many problems in reporting to business executives. That’s why you need to work with a team that explains and presents the key metrics and data well to you. They need to tell you precisely what the benchmark data in the report shows. Which part of the strategy and plan is ineffective? What is the next step to achieving the set goals?

Keep in mind that goal setting is only part of the way and that the SEO Consulting Group interacts well with your team concerning the results achieved, complementing this process and achieving the goals.

conclusion

In this article on smart strategy, we will look at ten essential factors for having a successful SEO consulting. By looking at these 10, you, as a business manager, now know exactly what an SEO consulting team should look like and the essential characteristics of an experienced SEO consulting agency. Regular digital marketing agency in the field of SEO consulting also offers valuable services to their customers and can be with you in this direction. The critical question in the last part of this article is what benefits will the regular SEO consulting agency provide to you?

If you have questions or want to speak with our digital marketing strategist,  request a free proposal in our smart strategy SEO services, or contact us. Visit our LinkedIn profile to have more digital marketing infographics and summarized articles.