Revised January 2, 2017.

Organic (non-paid) search is the largest single source of visits for most B2B websites. The majority of sites generate between 40% and two-thirds of their total traffic from search. Making sure your site is as highly visible as possible in search and maximizing visits requires professional SEO help—whether that comes from inside your company, or from an expert SEO consultant or agency.

If you’re hiring SEO expertise from the outside, how do you make sure you’ve found the best expert or agency for your needs?

First, ask other business owners and marketing leaders, in your network or your favorite LinkedIn group, for references. These are often your best leads.

Second, do some online research. But beware of guides written by SEO professionals that are really more about why you should hire them than about making the best choice. (Since I’ve now left the consulting world, nope, back at it—but this post is still my most objective guidance.)

Third, once you have a short list of SEO consultants or agencies to consider, ask them the following 15 questions to help ensure you select a resource who can both meet your needs and is someone you’ll enjoy working with.
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