An SEO questionnaire is a list of questions you ask your SEO clients when they start working with you.
The goal is to get a clear picture of their business and goals before creating their SEO strategy and campaigns.
You can use the answers to these questions to create your creative brief.
In this article, we will share the key SEO questions to ask clients to ensure a successful and tailored SEO campaign.
SEO Questions to Ask Clients
The following are the SEO questions that are divided by categories and that you can ask your SEO clients.
Business and Goals
Understanding the client’s business objectives is the foundation of a successful SEO strategy. Ask questions about their business and goals such as:
- What is the nature of your business?
- This will help you understand the products or services that the client offers, as well as their target audience.
- What are your short-term and long-term goals for your website and online presence?
- This will help you understand what the client hopes to achieve with SEO, such as increasing website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales.
- Are you seeking to boost sales, generate leads, or enhance brand visibility?
- This will help you determine the specific keywords that you should target with your SEO efforts.
- How many sales and leads would you like to get in the next year?
- This will help you set realistic expectations for the results that you can achieve with SEO.
Target Audience
The target audience is the group of people that you are trying to reach with your website.
Knowing the target audience helps shape the content and optimization strategies. Ask:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- What demographics do you want to reach?
- What are the common interests, behaviors, and preferences of your target audience?
Current Online Presence
Evaluating the client’s existing online presence provides insights into the starting point for optimization. Inquire about:
- Do you have a website? If so, what is the URL?
- Have you previously implemented any SEO strategies? If yes, what were the results?
- Are there any social media profiles or other online platforms associated with your business?
- What is your current website traffic?
- How many people visit your website every month?
- Have you planned any big changes in the next months? (Like migration)
- Do any core algorithm updates negatively impact your website?
Keywords and Search Intent
Keywords are the foundation of SEO.
Understanding your target audience’s search terms helps optimize your website content accordingly and boosts your website’s search engine ranking for the right keywords.
To find the right keywords, ask:
- What are your target keywords?
- What keywords or phrases do you believe potential customers would use to find your products/services?
- Are there any specific long-tail keywords that are important to your business?
- Can you identify any keywords that your competitors are currently targeting?
Competitor Analysis
Analyzing competitors helps identify gaps and opportunities in the market. Inquire about:
- Who are your main competitors in the industry?
- This will help you understand who you are up against and what they are doing well.
- What do you consider their strengths and weaknesses in terms of online presence?
- This will help you find ways to make your own SEO strategy better.
- Are there any specific strategies that your competitors are using that you would like to emulate or differentiate from?
- This will help you learn from what they did right and avoid their errors.
Content Strategy
Quality content is essential for SEO success.
Here are some SEO content strategy questions to ask your client about their content strategy:
- What are your content needs?
- What types of content do you need?
- How often do you need new content?
- What is your budget for content creation?
- Do you need help creating or optimizing content for SEO?
- Do you have any experience with SEO?
- What are your goals for SEO?
- Do you have a content marketing plan for your business?
- If so, what are your goals for content marketing?
- How do you know if your content marketing campaigns are working well?
- Are there specific topics or subjects that you believe should be covered on your website?
- What are your target keywords?
- What are your competitors doing with their content marketing strategy?
- Are you open to creating new, high-quality content for your audience?
- What are your expectations for the quality of your content?
- How will you measure the success of your content marketing campaigns?
SEO Consideration
Knowing what the client has already done for SEO and what they expect is really important.
These questions ask about their current strategy, past results, budget, expectations, and goals, which helps create a SEO plan that matches what they want.
- What is your current SEO strategy?
- What have you done for SEO in the past, and what are your results?
- What are your budget and expectations for SEO?
- How much money are you ready to use for SEO?
- What results are you hoping to achieve?
- Have you implemented basic SEO practices, such as optimizing meta tags and ensuring mobile-friendliness?
- Ask about their previous marketing efforts.
Technical Considerations
The technical aspects of a website play a significant role in its search engine rankings.
Ask following questions to your SEO clients:
- What are your technical limitations?
- This will help you understand what the client is working with and what they need to do to improve their website’s technical SEO.
- Are there any technical limitations on your website that could impact SEO?
- This will help you identify any potential problems that need to be addressed.
- What platform is your website built on (e.g., WordPress, Shopify)?
- This will help you understand the specific technical requirements of the client’s website.
- Are there any technical issues or challenges you’ve encountered with your website?
- This will help you find any issues that need to be solved.
SEO Link building Questions to Ask Client
Link building is a complex and ever-changing process.
By understanding your client’s link-building needs, you can develop a strategy that is effective and sustainable.
Ask these questions to your SEO client:
- What are your link-building needs?
- Do you want assistance in creating links to your website?
- Do you have the list of websites that you like us to start with?
- Has your website suffered any problems with link penalties?
- Have you ever bought any paid link or have you been part of any link schemes?
Reporting
Reporting helps track the progress of the SEO campaign.
These questions aim to determine how often your client wants these reports and what they wish to see in them.
Ask them the following questions and make sure you provide the useful information in the reporting they want.
- What are your reporting needs? (Track progress, identify areas for improvement, communicate results to stakeholders)
- How often do you want to receive SEO reports? (monthly, quarterly, annually)
- What information do you want to see in those reports? (Keyword rankings, organic traffic, backlinks)
- What format do you prefer for the reports? ( PDF, spreadsheet, presentation)
Necessary Access
To create a successful SEO strategy, you need access to your client’s existing data.
This data can be found on their platforms, such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads.
You can use this data to make a full site assessment, look at historical performance, and set up SEO reports.
If your customer isn’t a new company and has worked with other groups or independent workers in the past, it’s also good to have the documents they might have.
This documentation can include keyword research and reports, which can help you prevent duplicating any work that has already been done.
Key points to Create a Good SEO questionnaire for clients:
You can create a good SEO questionnaire when you follow these tricks.
- Keep the questionnaire concise and easy to complete.
- Use clear and simple language.
- Avoid using profession-related words that your client will not understand.
- Be specific.
- Ask open-ended questions that allow your client to provide detailed answers.
- Thank your client for their time and let them know how you will use the information they provide.
SEO Client Onboarding Questionnaire
Here is a sample SEO client onboarding questionnaire:
- Business information:
- Company name
- Website URL
- Industry
- Contact information
- Business goals:
- What are your business goals for SEO?
- What are your target keywords?
- What are your current website traffic numbers?
- Previous SEO experience:
- Have you worked with an SEO consultant before?
- If so, what were your experiences?
- Expectations:
- What are your expectations from me as your SEO consultant?
- What are your budget and timeline expectations?
- Technical information:
- What is your website’s CMS?
- What is your website’s hosting provider?
- Do you have any technical SEO issues?
- Content management:
- Who is responsible for creating and managing content on your website?
- How often do you publish new content?
- Budget:
- What is your budget for SEO?
- Timeline:
- When do you need to see results?
Conclusion
I hope you find our list of SEO questions to ask client informative and helpful.
An effective SEO questionnaire for clients serves as a roadmap for crafting a tailored and results-driven SEO strategy.
As an SEO professional, probing into business goals, target audience, online presence, keywords, competitors, content, and technical aspects reveals a comprehensive understanding of the client’s needs and objectives.
This, in turn, enables them to create a customized plan that enhances the client’s online visibility, drives organic traffic, and ultimately contributes to business growth.
FAQs about SEO Questionnaire for Clients
How do I get big SEO clients?
Here are some tips on how to get high ticket SEO clients:
- Build a strong portfolio of work.
- Get involved in the SEO community.
- Attend industry events.
- Network with other SEO professionals.
- Offer free consultations.
- Be patient and persistent.
It takes time and effort to build a successful SEO business.
But if you are persistent and deliver results, you will eventually be able to attract big SEO clients.
How do I talk to clients about SEO?
When talking to clients about SEO, it is important to be clear and concise.
Explain the basics of SEO in a way that they can understand. Avoid using jargon or technical terms.
It is also important to be realistic about the expectations.
SEO is a long-term process, and it takes time to see results. Don’t promise your clients the world, and be sure to set realistic expectations.
Here are some tips for talking to clients about SEO:
- Start by understanding their business goals. What are they trying to achieve with SEO?
- Explain the basics of SEO in a way that they can understand.
- Be realistic about the expectations. SEO is a long-term process.
- Set clear goals and objectives.
- Communicate regularly with your clients.
- Be transparent about your process.
- Track your progress and share your results with your clients.
What questions should I ask my SEO client?
Here are some essential questions you should ask your SEO client during the onboarding process:
- What are your business goals?
- What are your target keywords?
- What is your current website traffic?
- What are your top competitors?
- What are your budget and timeline expectations?
- What are your previous SEO experiences?
- What are your pain points with your current SEO?
- What are your expectations from me as your SEO consultant?
These questions will help you understand your client’s business, their goals, and their needs.
This information will be essential for developing a successful SEO strategy for them.
What is the best way to get SEO clients?
Here are some of the best ways to get SEO clients:
- Build a strong portfolio. Show what you can do by ranking well for relevant keywords.
- Get involved in the SEO community. Network with other SEO pros and potential clients.
- Offer free consultations. Show potential clients what you can do and learn about their needs.
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