What aspects do I have to take into account when hiring a trusted SEO consultant?

My advice, putting myself in the shoes of my clients, is to consider these four main factors.

Knowledge

Although you as a client do not have to know how seo services guide works or its jargon, surely you do have experience in dealing with your suppliers and knowing how to penetrate a person through how they speak to you, how they express themselves and what commitments they acquire with you.

I advise you not to get carried away by the type of super offer. For example, "I position you in the first position for the keyword such and such."

Professional SEO doesn't work like that. No professional will promise you never to position yourself for any specific word or sell you the bike. Instead, you will surely be in the Top 3 in X term.

I encourage you to hold a personal meeting, online or at least by phone, where you ask all your questions and get answers to your questions; in this way, you can gauge the confidence that inspires you.

Experience

Ask what references he can give you about his SEO projects, and do not trust the references that may appear from very happy people who are talking wonders about him on his website.

Sometimes it is true that we cannot reveal clients with whom we work because we are required to do so. But there are always a few references that can surely be offered to you for work done.

Ask about those references that give you information on the volume of positioned words, how many are in the top 10, and how many are in the top 3.

If possible, once you receive that information, do that research yourself. 

There are free tools that can help you at a basic level. For example, take a look at the volume of keywords positioned on a certain website and thus get an idea if the data that has been passed to you is real or not.

Versatility

In a constantly changing digital world, it is very important to be versatile and agile. 

In other words, working on local SEO is not the same as positioning an Ecommerce, or SEO in a sector such as Dental Clinics, Plumbers, Lawyers, etc.

Each sector has its characteristics. So SEO success in one sector does not have to be the same in another, repeating the same pattern of success used previously.

For this reason, check that the experience of the SEO specialist is contrasted in different areas and sectors.

Another aspect that I want to highlight is that in every SEO project, certain relevant keywords are always positioned within the top 10 of the Google search engine.

For these lower positioned relevant words, it is always important to accompany them with an SEM (Google Ads) campaign that will make your online presence stand out above that of your competition both for your SEO positioning and the traffic captured from your advertising campaign. SEM.

Here I have to tell you that I do not know many SEO colleagues who control the SEM facet. In my case, I am both a specialist in SEO positioning and an expert in SEM and Social Media. In other words, I dominate both facets to get qualified traffic to your website.

Although it is the only non-technical feature I include, it seems important to take into account. 

Understanding how things look from your point of view helps to have fluid communication.

It happens a bit like with lawyers, who speak in a technical language only they understand.

Well, in SEO it happens sometimes the same. For example, when presenting reports to our clients, some get lost in the immensity of the data and pass on the information you don't have to be an engineer to understand.

Evaluate this aspect and I assure you that it will be much easier for you to be in tune with your SEO advisor.