To Hire or not to Hire an SEO Consultant

It is crucial that a small business online’s website appears as a top search on the SERP or search engine results page. The importance of a website’s seo also known as search engine optimization to satisfy search engines like Google and Yahoo is apparent.

Keywords, unique page titles and link building are helpful in meeting this. To push these forward into effect depends on the resources that manage internal matters and to know what needs to be outsourced according to Gord Hotchkiss, CEO and president of Enquiro, a search marketing agency, and the chairperson of SEMPO, a non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry.

Hotchkiss adds that outsourcing for seo should not let small business owners lose control over their website. Optimizing a website has an all-inclusive quality which normally leads these small businesses to lose their command on their online sites. Hotchkiss believes that management of these sites should be done in partnership without sacrificing control. He also adds that seo consultants can contribute a lot to small business owners in improving their websites.

Website managing director of Last Night of Freedom, Matt Mavir agrees with Hotckiss, saying that business involving seo takes up so much time with the constant algorithmic changes in Google. He trusts that seo consultants are very beneficial for businesses rooted in highly challenging and aggressive fields. Mavir recognizes the steep competition in being on top of the search engine lists.

However, founder of S&A Industries with 23 employees and six websites, Aaron Rubin doesn’t find having an seo consultant beneficial. Rubin admits that seo work is vital in his business since search engine ranking is important in generating their sales. He finds the contributions of seo consultant as nearly insignificant as they can only alter keywords and page titles. Editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land and Web consultant, Danny Sullivan agrees with Rubin. Sullivan believes that a small business doesn’t necessarily need an seo consultant for as long as they are willing to do the job themselves.

Editor in chief of the Click Z Network that manages the Internet marketing industry, Rebecca Lieb advises that employing an seo consultant should be based on a business’s ROI and it is also important to be updated on the continuous change in algorithms of search engines.

President of Michigan Integrated Solutions, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Web design and hosting company, Meg Geddes presents the benefits of an seo consultant in an online business. She says that she understands the business first and foremost to be able to provide relevant search phrases. Geddes says that their company can provide the time to look after the changes in algorithms at Google, MSN and the like search engines for the companies that can even barely upgrade their Web content.

Hotchkiss emphasizes the significance of the relationship with an seo consultant. He says that finding the right one for the company is very important in improving online content and presentation. Along with this is an outsider’s perspective that can truly help in improving a company’s Website through receiving an expert’s advice in technical matters of seo.

However, he also shows no guarantee especially since it is almost unpredictable to know what Google presents as top search. Lieb agrees and says that no optimizer can make a promise in giving an assured seo that can result to a top search.

Current editor of Search Engine Watch, Elizabeth Osmeloski warns that there are a lot of scams and incompetent seo consultants. She emphasizes how crucial it is to identify an effective consultant for a company and in finding one; a company must avoid a hard sell and should be able to give queries on the service offered. Hotchkiss adds that a good consultant should have a keen interest in understanding the business to be presented on the Web.