6 Crucial steps to hire a SEO freelancer in Dubai

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In the digital landscape in Dubai to stand out among other competitors, it requires more than just a presence, it requires visibility. For many of the businesses the complexity of the SEO(Search Engine Optimization) can feel a difficult task. There are many agencies that provide comprehensive SEO packages, the number of businesses hiring freelancers is increasing. 

The question is, how can you find a reliable SEO freelancer who understands the unique and dynamic market in UAE and specifically in Dubai? It’s not about finding a freelancer that just knows keywords, it’s about finding a strategic SEO partner that can increase the digital presence. The dynamic and complexity of Dubai economy often requires experts in SEO where sometimes their performance is not matched by agencies. Offering the customized strategies to your business with limited budget, makes it an attractive option for the businesses.
In this blog we talk about 6 essential approaches to hire a SEO Freelancer in Dubai.

Step 1: Clearly define your goals and budget

Before you even start to look for a SEO freelancer, you need to define what success can be like to your business. Try to ask some of these questions, what do you want to achieve by hiring a  SEO freelancer? How much traffic are you aiming for by the end of the campaign? How many leads are you trying to generate? Do you want to increase the brand authority and online reputation?
On the other hand, you need to consider the realistic budget. How much are you willing to pay after you set your goals? Are you looking for a project-based fee, hourly or monthly retainer? Try to be transparent about your budget and set your goals realistic to that. This can help you filter out freelancers that are very expensive or even too cheap(often a red flag). The skilled freelancers in Dubai know their value and worth and the realistic budget shows the value of expertise. 

The timeline is one of the most important aspects of SEO. SEO can’t be done overnight and needs patience. Try to set your timeline because SEO is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Step 2: Look for Dubai specific experience and local SEO expertise

Try to look for Dubai specific experience and local expertise, because of the complexity of the market and other search engines nuances such as Arabic search queries and local business listings.
Some of the hottest topics in SEO are real estate, tourism and financing in Dubai. You need to make sure if the freelancer has experience in different types of industries. For any type of the business in Dubai with physical location, the Local SEO matters a lot. Try to check if a SEO freelancer provides GMB (Google My Business) optimization, local link building and geography keyword research. On the other hand, language skills in both English and Arabic are important.

Step 3: Explore their portfolio and case studies

A freelancer’s past work is the strongest indicator of future performance. Don’t just ask for a list of clients; request tangible evidence of results.

Try to review their past clients and work. Don’t just ask for their list of clients, instead figure out what campaigns they have run and what the achievement was by the end of each campaign. Look for case studies that are in the same niche as your business. Find out what metrics they improve, is it to increase organic traffic, improve keyword ranking or increase conversions? Ask for screenshots of Google Analytics, Google Search Console and other SEO tools. Try to gain some proof and not just by telling. If the freelancer has a diversity of clients, it shows that their portfolio is very adaptive.

Step 4: Assess their technical SEO knowledge

SEO is not only keyword research, it’s about having a website with the technical foundation for search engines. So many agencies overlook this but the freelancer usually comes up with website audits, technical areas and well communications. Get to know how they perform website audits, what tools they use for that( some common tools are Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush)? Ask about their experience with Site speed optimization, mobile responsiveness, crawlability, schema markup, URL structure, broken links and redirect.
Communication plays a big role and you get familiar if they can explain technical issues in a way that you would understand. 

Step 5: Understand their approach to content and link building

Two of the most important pillars of SEO are content and backlinks. You need to understand how the SEO freelancer approaches them. For the content strategy do they conduct keyword research that matches your target audience? Can they give you a monthly plan about the content development? Are they experienced enough to optimize the content for existing pages? Will they generate the content or do they hire the external to the copywriter works?

On the other hand, for link building following ethical approaches is very important for Google. There are many freelancers that cut corners here by using tactics called black-hat tactics that can penalize your domain and harm your growth. Ask about their approach for link building. Some of the white hat approaches are guest blogging on relevant and high authority websites, resource pages, local citation, broken link building etc. 

Step 6: Evaluate their communication skills and Reporting

As mentioned earlier, SEO is an ongoing process and communication and transparency are keys. You need to find a freelancer that is able to communicate effectively and provides you with the latest updates. Try to understand how often they communicate, is it weekly or monthly? What are their communication channels? How often do they provide you with reports? What kind of report do they provide, is it from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, keyword ranking reports, backlinks profiles? How’s their availability? Usually freelancers handle several clients at a time, so understanding their response time matters a lot.

Making the right investment

Hiring a top rated SEO freelancer in Dubai is an investment. The right expert can deliver significant results and which is boosting your online presence and increasing lead to your business. Now that you know how to vet a professional you can view our SEO freelancer in Dubai page for more details.