7 Best Sites to Hire a SEO Expert in 2023
As a content and growth marketer for several technology firms, I understand the value of good SEO and marketing services. This has often led me to hire a SEO expert from a freelancer platform or job board.
For me, freelance sites are the best place to look for affordable SEO experts, teams, and agencies (as an alternative to an in-house SEO team) for various campaigns.
A full-suite SEM/SEO agency may be better for a detailed campaign, but freelance SEO experts work better for more short-term SEO tasks.
Now, an online freelancer platform may seem like a strange place to hire a SEO expert.
However, a lot of times, I’ve found that these portals do host highly skilled and experienced SEOs.
This provides clients with a distinct advantage, in that they can judge the quality of SEO services they’ll get.
There is a degree of transparency with hiring SEO experts via freelance job sites.
However, on the other hand, the sites themselves and most of the SEO professionals on them all have some negative denominator between them that makes them less than suitable for your SEO plan.
This leaves the problem of finding the right freelancer site, with the right SEO experts that you can potentially partner with to create your next online marketing strategy.
Why Should You Use JoshFechter.Com To Hire a SEO Expert?
Implementing SEO requires thorough knowledge of all the elements that go into a successful campaign.
It’s really easy to find SEO professionals when you have their case studies at your fingertips. That’s why I included mine here.
A website like min is exactly what I had in mind when I wanted prospects to make an easy decision when hiring an SEO professional.
What separates me from similar consultants and hiring websites is the process I use to scale companies.
Instead of giving you someone who works with an agency that’s fresh out of college, you work with someone with over ten years of professional marketing and SEO experience. I take the time to understand your campaign requirements, content specifics, and overall internet marketing goals. Regardless of the size and scope of your SEO goals, I can help you scale just like I’ve done with the best technology companies including Webflow, Format, and Lumen5.
Top 7 Sites to Hire A SEO Expert
If you’re in the market for an SEO consultant or agency rep, here’s a list of the top 7 sites to hire a SEO expert.
1. JoshFechter.com
I’m a product marketer and growth marketer specializing in SEO.
I provide high-level SEO and marketing consultancy services to my clients. I only work with a few at a time and have never had a bad SEO case study – even after working with over 50 clients. I’ve taken a couple of websites to over 1 million visitors/month and over 10 websites to 100k+ monthly visitors – almost all from scratch.
I keep up to date with all changes in modern SEO and have many successful marketing campaigns. You can see a list of them here.
Clients are required to book a consultation session, during which I’ll provide all the relevant project details from you.
Then, I’ll evaluate the specific SEO services you need from backlinking, content creation, to on-page optimization.
Not only am I a consultant, but I’ve built several of my own companies (some of which I’ve sold) off of SEO including Product Manager HQ, Squibler.io, and more.
I ensure that my platform contains experts with a proven background in generating business success through effective growth marketing.
I use that same mindset when scale your company. This will ensure that you get not just someone who helps you just bring in more organic traffic, but generates actual marketing value and ROI from SEO.
Overall, if you’re looking for industry-leading outsourced SEO specialist and consultant, then book a consultation here with me for your best bet.
2. Upwork
Upwork is a massive online job portal with millions of freelancer profiles from across the world.
The highly popular platform has professionals possessing various SEO and marketing competencies such as email marketing, social media marketing for a small business, etc.
The profile sorting algorithm helps clients filter through the featured freelancers to find people with the expertise you’re looking for. The variety and range of profile levels help you make the right choice based on your budget and project complexity.
While it does give you a lot of profiles to choose from, Upwork doesn’t have a dedicated vetting process, so you’ll have to interview and vet the freelancers yourself.
However, it does generate a profile and project completion score which can help you make a better decision.
Overall, if you want the freedom to choose from highly detailed profiles, Upwork is a good platform.
3. Freelancer
Freelancer is one of the world’s biggest job marketplaces with more than 25 million registered users in a huge variety of professional areas.
It’s basically an eCommerce site with freelancers as the product.
You’re sure to find a professional for every SEO and content marketing-related competency out there. Unfortunately, with a large profile volume comes the difficulty of sifting through hundreds of profiles to find the right one.
Additionally, since it’s a site populated mostly by entry and mid-level SEOs, you’re better off looking elsewhere if you want to hire a SEO expert who can operate at a high-level.
However, if you’re on a limited budget and need one or two people for basic SEO implementation, Freelancer is a good place to look.
4. Guru
Guru is a freelancer network with profiles spanning 8 professional categories and various subcategories.
It’s one of the better platforms to find freelance SEOs and agencies since it has both in equal numbers. In fact, you’re more likely to hire the services of a full SEO agency, even if you select an individual profile.
Guru features a large number of global SEO experts offering a variety of services, from driving organic search, single-page SEO, and site-wide audits to full-scale SEO implementation. Plus, because it’s a freelancer site, you’re likely to get services at much more affordable rates than you would through a high-end SEO agency.
However, like Upwork, Guru doesn’t interview the profiles it allows on its platform. They let the client sort out the ones best for them.
Overall, if you want to be able to hire SEO experts and full agencies on the same platform, Guru is an ideal place to start.
5. People Per Hour
People Per Hour is another freelance marketplace for professionals but with a focus on hourly pay rates.
The site stays true to the freelancer formula of getting paid by the hour and a lot of the professionals on it prefer the model.
People Per Hour has grown over the years and now hosts millions of marketing and SEO professionals looking for brief technical gigs.
The platform has made it relatively easy to look for the right SEOs. It allows you to contact freelancers directly, based on the set hourly rates of their profiles, and interview them before you hire them for the job.
While the payment model is good for temporary or very brief work durations, it’s not ideal if you’re looking to give out more detailed work, such as a complete website SEO audit. This could place a burden on your budget, which is why it’s best to look elsewhere for more complex tasks.
Overall, if you’re looking for basic SEO service providers, People Per Hour is not a bad place to look.
6. Fiverr
Fiverr is a huge marketplace for freelancers that provide a massive variety of services.
It’s one of the most diverse freelancing platforms out there, with hundreds of professional categories and millions of members. This means that you’ll find beginners, as well as, seasoned SEOs on the platform.
Fiverr is known for featuring services that cost very little, which increases your chances of finding an affordable SEO service provider or agency among its profiles.
However, this also decreases your chances of hiring a seasoned SEO expert.
Just like People Per Hour, Fiverr is good for hiring people for short-term or one-off SEO gigs. Anything more detailed and you’re better off looking elsewhere.
Overall, if you’re only looking to hand a freelancer a minor aspect of a larger SEO campaign, Fiverr is a great platform to browse.
7. Facebook Careers
Facebook Careers is the newest freelancing platform and job board out there. It has gotten very popular with professionals who are active Facebook users.
Backed by a solid infrastructure, Facebook Careers hosts a comprehensive array of professional areas and job listings.
The interface is very easy to understand and has clearly defined sub-categories for digital marketing and SEO.
Facebook Careers is limited to mostly tech-based and technical areas of work with an extensive list of digital marketing competencies, from basic keyword research to full-suite search engine marketing.
Furthermore, because it’s so new, the platform hasn’t become overpopulated with subpar service providers yet, so you’re more likely to find an expert there.
Overall, if you’re looking for a streamlined hiring experience with a higher chance of finding an actual SEO and/or digital marketing expert, Facebook Careers is a good place to look.
How to Hire an SEO Expert in 2023
Ask any recruiter and they’ll tell you how difficult it is to find the right individual, group, and/or firm for a job, especially today.
With professional diversity growing by the day, and technology opening up new professional avenues, it becomes tough to find someone with the exact competencies that you and your project needs.
This is no different when it comes to high-quality SEO services.
The importance of SEO has grown over the years.
One statistical survey said that 70% of marketers claim SEO to be more important and effective than PPC.
With the SEO service industry growing consistently and marketers dedicating so much time and resources to effectively implement SEO, it’s no surprise that online marketplaces are full of individual SEOs and agencies alike.
However, there’s still the issue of sorting out the good ones from the bad.
Despite the variety of freelancer platforms, it’s always difficult to find a professional who is really as good as they advertise themselves to be.
Sites such as Upwork do require approval before a professional freelancer can set up a profile. However, because of the large number of already approved profiles and the somewhat ineffective profile scoring system, you’ll have to work with the person to discover their competency.
The same goes for platforms such as Guru, which does feature agency profiles, but still, you’ll have to work with them to gauge their expertise on the subject of practical SEO.
There are also some agency profiles on Guru that promise more than they deliver. Plus, a lot of the SEO services that they offer (such as link-building and search rankings analysis) are automated. Not to mention, some of their SEO techniques are not exactly white hat in nature.
These affect your conversion rate and could lead to your site being penalized by Google.
Lastly, platforms such as Fiverr and People Per Hour are too limited in terms of the SEO services you can hire. As mentioned earlier, they’re only good for basic SEO work on a limited budget.
All of these areas are where I excel.
I have a deep background in product marketing, growth marketing, and SEO. I know what it takes to successfully implement an SEO campaign and rank higher in search engine results in 2023.
From generating backlinks to effective conversion optimization, I know all the ingredients of a high-level SEO strategy that results in better search engine rankings.
The bottom line is, hiring an effective SEO service provider is important – but it’s equally important to first understand your SEO needs. When you know which services you’ll need to optimize your content, you’ll be better equipped to find the right professional for the job.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where do I find top SEO experts for my project?
These places have the top app developers for all applications in 2023:
- JoshFechter.com
- Upwork
- Freelancer
- Guru
These are some of the top sites to hire SEO experts in 2023. Check out the post above for the full list.
How do I hire an SEO expert in 2023?
Here’s a step-by-step guide to hiring SEO experts in 2023:
- Know your optimization strategy from the inside-out, including the size, scope, and potential for future implementations.
- Consult with me (or one of the other hiring sites) to hire high-level SEO professionals.
- Look for core skills such as understanding of modern content and design-specific SEO, goal-based optimization, etc.
- Discuss the project details with the shortlisted candidate(s).
If the candidate shows a complete understanding of your long and short-term goals, they’re ideal for your project.
How much does it cost to hire an SEO expert?
On average, SEO professionals charge anywhere from $100-150 or higher, per hour, with the standard monthly retainer for a high-level expert being $1,000-1,500 or higher. However, the overall cost depends on factors such as the size of the site being optimized, as well as the optimization timeline.
Rest assured though – hiring an experienced consultant such as myself is well worth the investment.
What skills should I look for in an SEO expert before hiring?
Any SEO expert you hire should have the following skills, at minimum:
- Expertise in and experience with several major optimization and analysis platforms such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Analytics, etc.
- Understanding of SEO based on user intent and experience.
- High-level awareness of Google algorithm updates and industry trends.
In terms of soft skills, the candidate should have the ability to completely understand the specifics of a project, and be willing to work with clients to take it to completion.
Where can I hire SEO experts in 2023?
You can hire the best SEO expert for your projects right here or on any of the other sites mentioned in the *full list* above.
Where do I find SEO experts if I live outside the US?
Right here at JoshFechter.com, you can hire an SEO expert as part of the remote community. Other than that, you can find international freelance SEOs on sites such as Stack Overflow and Upwork.
