Hire an SEO expert
SEO specialists grow organic traffic and signups by fixing what stops search engines from understanding a site and by building pages people are searching for. Here's when you need one and how to hire well.
When to hire an SEO specialist
- Organic search should be a top channel for you (people already search for what you sell) but traffic is flat
- You're planning a redesign, migration or replatform and can't afford to lose rankings
- You have content or data that could become hundreds of useful pages
What it costs
We don't have enough published salaries for this role yet to give a range.
- Job post
- Free
- AI Talent Agent
- $399 per role
- Concierge recruiting
- $6,000 flat
Recruiting agencies typically charge 20–25% of first-year salary.
How competitive it is
6 SEO roles are open on HeyMarketers right now, 33% of them remote. Companies hiring include Yotpo, Airbnb, Chime Financial, Inc, Datadog, Stripe. Good candidates have options, so move quickly and publish your pay range.
What to look for
- Before-and-after results with dates, tied to signups or revenue rather than traffic alone
- Technical depth: they can explain crawling, rendering, canonicals and indexation without notes
- A point of view on AI search and how they measure it
- They ask about your customers and business model before your keywords
Red flags
- Guaranteed rankings or a fixed number of backlinks per month
- Reports that only show traffic and keyword counts
- No questions about your engineering resources
Questions to ask
How would you prioritise a backlog of 200 SEO issues?
Listen for: An impact and effort framework, and starting with what blocks indexing of money pages.
Walk me through a site migration you've run.
Listen for: Redirect mapping, a pre-launch crawl, monitoring after launch, and what went wrong.
When would you not create a page for a keyword?
Listen for: Cannibalisation, intent mismatch, or no way to make the page better than what ranks.
How do you report SEO to a CEO who only cares about revenue?
Listen for: Attribution to signups or pipeline, with honest caveats.
See all SEO specialist interview questions · Job description template
The first 90 days
- A technical audit and a prioritised fix list your engineers have agreed to
- Keyword and page plan for your most valuable commercial searches
- Weekly reporting on organic signups, not just sessions
Full-time, fractional or freelance?
Full-time when organic is a core channel and you publish steadily. Freelance or an agency works well for a one-off audit or migration. A fractional head of SEO suits companies that have writers but no strategy.
Questions
How much does it cost to hire an SEO expert?
Hiring through HeyMarketers: posting a job is free, the AI Talent Agent is $399 per role, and Concierge recruiting is a flat $6,000 per full-time hire, compared with the 20–25% of first-year salary agencies typically charge.
Should I hire a full-time or fractional SEO specialist?
Full-time when organic is a core channel and you publish steadily. Freelance or an agency works well for a one-off audit or migration. A fractional head of SEO suits companies that have writers but no strategy.
How long does it take to hire?
With Concierge you get a shortlist of three screened candidates within 10 business days. Job posts and the AI Talent Agent depend on the role and how quickly you review candidates.
Are you an SEO specialist yourself? Read the career guide.