Hiring your next in-house SEO specialist will not be easy, but we will show you what to look for when interviewing and what everybody needs. SEO specialists are very important nowadays. They are the most crucial part of your digital marketing strategies. There is no way to avoid having an in-house specialist nowadays if you are serious. It pays off, in the long run, to have a qualified professional working for you (or with you) on marketing campaigns in order to make your website relevant on Google. Because that’s what this is all about. Being on the first page on Google, because let’s face it – when was the last time you checked page 8 on Google search?
Basic skills to look for in your in-house SEO specialist
There are so many SEO marketing strategies now. Almost as much as SEO experts. But there are some universal things you should look for. We will show you the basics of what every good SEO expert needs to know. SEO knowledge tree is the most important. Typically they specialize in one area but it’s important that your experts know the basics too by that we mean on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. On-page SEO is everything on a website that you have control over from keyword optimization to internal linking. Off-page is all about the popularity of your website and finally, we have Technical SEO. This one is a bit more complex. To put it simply this has a lot to do with optimization and special features. For example, if your website is optimized for smartphones.
Personality traits and skills your in-house SEO specialist needs to have
When you start interviewing there will be a lot of experts knocking on your door looking for a good opportunity. Many of them will be young and skilled professionals that are very ambitious. This is great. But, there are personality traits like empathy and critical thinking that are also important to have so let’s not forget those two. Of course, a person can have all the right personality traits but also needs to know :
- Data analysis
- T-shaped marketing expertise
- The ability for strategic planning
- Technology skills necessary for this job
Those are just basics that a person you are hiring needs to know (and possess) the rest you can agree on, and of course, it might be smart to invest in the education of your in-house SEO specialist every now and then. This field is always changing and developing so freshening up their knowledge and learning something new will be good for you too!
The interview
When the time for an interview comes you need to be prepared as well. This concept is still quite new in the grand scheme of the internet – it only began in the early 2000s so this is not the same as hiring a lawyer where all you need to see is their previous work and school and that’s all. You need to test your potential hire but also being fair is very important. You need to be very clear about what you want and what you need. It’s important to show them everything that might be relevant to them about your company. Show them the areas you want the focus to be on.
Ask for their portfolio so that you can see their previous work. See if that fits your needs. You need to assess their SEO know-how during an interview but if you don’t know how and you are not in this line of work you can find another SEO specialist for this task. To help you with interviews. Seeking advice is always a good option if you are unsure.
A trial test
As we stated before there is no specific school for this line of work. This is fairly new. So a trial test is the best option. Of course after the basic interview. You need to see how they will handle it and what they really know. Make your test to be similar to the work they will be doing for you. You may want to ask them about link building (like the skyscraper technique) or about toxic backlinks and how they would handle finding them on your website. Just make a mini SEO audit and see if this person fits.
The importance of hiring an in-house SEO-specialist
SEO can change your whole business and make a really big impact. But that is only with the right person and the right strategies ( yes, you need a few different strategies that will bring results over time). That’s why it’s important to find the right person and invest some money and time in this person in order to make your website more visible and get more organic views. This won’t happen overnight. It takes time and some skills for this to happen. So, don’t rush the process.
Checklist for skills of your SEO specialist
In case you need to put everything in one place all the skills and traits, we will make you a list or better yet a checklist and then you can start working from there. Of course, it’s important to add some things that are important for your website. The most important is to see if this person knows enough about basics like on-page and off-page SEO since that is very important for you. Of course, Technical SEO is very important, just like the knowledge of the most popular link-building techniques.
You want someone who knows a lot about different approaches because it’s important to try a few of them over time. That’s how you get results. Don’t forget to check if your in-house SEO specialist has good data knowledge and is very quick to figure out the best approach for your next step when it comes to trying out new link-building techniques.
