When Should You Hire an SEO Specialist?

1. You’re Redesigning Your Website or Making Other Major Site Changes 

Changing your site’s structure, moving from one site platform to another, changing domains, or otherwise making fundamental changes to your business’s website can have an immediate (usually negative) effect on your SEO. 

While a web designer may reassure you they’ll take care of the SEO aspect of things, this isn’t something you should count on. 

An SEO expert can provide you with a detailed explanation of how your site’s optimization should be adjusted and what impact you can expect. They’ll also closely monitor your site’s organic traffic during and after changes are implemented and help you address any drop in ranking. 

2. Your SEO Strategy Isn’t Working

You may have developed a well-researched SEO plan, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. Or perhaps your marketing team’s SEO strategy isn’t getting the results you want. SEO is always evolving, so performance lags can happen—but the root cause and fix aren't always easy to figure out.

In these cases, it’s best to bring in an expert. An SEO professional has the time and tools necessary to dig deep and find the root cause of your underperforming SEO. They’ll help you make adjustments to your current strategy or, if needed, work with you on building an entirely new plan that will boost your rankings. 

3. Your Organic Traffic Suddenly Decreases 

If your organic traffic has taken a sudden nosedive, you may need a professional to understand why. 

Your drop in traffic and/or ranking could simply be due to a change in Google’s algorithms. Or it could be a more serious technical issue with your site. The decrease in traffic could be due to any number of things. 

An SEO specialist is not just privy to Google updates and algorithm changes, they also understand trends that may affect your ranking and traffic. And just as important as identifying the cause, a professional knows how to adjust your strategy to account for the changes. 

4. Your Site Isn’t Being Recognized by Google 

In some cases, Google’s search engine doesn’t index a website at all, which means the site doesn’t show up anywhere in search results. This is obviously the worst-case scenario for a local business owner who is working to build an online presence. 

A variety of issues could cause Google’s inability to index a website. A simple change in your site’s settings may fix the problem. Or the issue could run deeper. There may be a problem with your site’s structure or perhaps an issue with the content on your site. 

An SEO professional will know exactly how to research and identify the problem with your site and how to fix it. 

Turn to the Professionals

As a local business owner, you don't have unlimited time and energy to devote solely to SEO. Fortunately, SEO professionals are available to help you fill the gap.

If you experience any of the issues we’ve outlined here, or you simply want to build on the strategy you already have in place, reach out to someone who is an expert in the field. 

Need help managing your SEO? Locallogy can help! We're experts at helping local businesses boost their search engine ranking and attract more organic traffic.