Google’s Advice On Hiring An SEO Consultant

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 3 of July , 2008 at 8:02 am

Google have never really openly endorsed search engine optimization consultants - until today that is. The Google Webmaster Help Center finally has an advice piece on how to hire a consultant - a change from their previous stance of simply warning against ‘black hat’ SEO operators.

Google’s advice is fairly reasonable too and includes:

Before beginning your search for an SEO, it’s a great idea to become an educated consumer and get familiar with how search engines work.

They include a short description on what a search engine optimization consultant does although there is no ‘how they go about’ description. They also advise to read Google’s own material first as organic search results provide free traffic. What I did find interesting was the following admission:

If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

So hiring your search engine optimization consultant right from day one could now be considered a Google ‘recommendation’. Google also provides a list of questions to ask any proposed consultant.

The former warnings about black hat search engine optimization techniques is still there but at the bottom of the advisory. So there you have it - Google’s advice on hiring a search engine optimization consultant.

Category: SEO

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