If you are looking to hire the services of a search engine optimisation freelancer or company, you are going to be spoilt for choice. For you to be happy with and decide who to entrust your funds and website with, you are of course entitled to ask as many questions that you can think of.

Legitimate SEO people will be more than happy to answer your questions to help promote their services, so don’t be afraid to ask any questions that you have. With the search engine optimisation industry being in it’s relative infancy though, there are many people who are yet to truly understand the process and what to expect. With this in mind, here are a few questions that you could ask us, or anybody offering SEO services. If you are a novice to this and wouldn’t know what answers to expect, we have included a brief guideline for you!

1. How long have you been providing search engine optimisation services?
With this question, don’t automatically be put off from hiring the services of a newly formed company, instead enquire about the individuals history in terms of SEO and website marketing.

2: Can you name some of the changes to my website that you may make?
The standard response should include changes to the Meta data (such as Title and Description tags) on your website. You could also look to see if the answer will include changes to the content, and even structure of the website.

3: Can you name some of the methods used for building links to my website?
Standard answers are likely to include article marketing and press releases. Where directory submissions and contacting webmasters of relevant websites are also likely responses.

4: Can you provide examples of your previous clients and the results you achieved?
While some will prefer not to place details of their clients on a website for various reasons, you should always be able to be given past examples and even contact information to gain references of sorts.

5: What Kind of Tracking or reporting do you provide to your customers?
If you are paying money for services, then you are entitled to evidence that work is taking place - especially if an increase in rankings isn’t particularly forthcoming. Tracking and recording of work performed on spreadsheets is fairly common.