Examples of questions for SEO Client Onboarding

When onboarding a new client for SEO services, it's essential to gather as much relevant information as possible to create an effective and tailored strategy. The onboarding process is the foundation of the entire SEO campaign, and the questions you ask during this stage can significantly impact the success of your efforts. In this article, we will explore the importance of a well-structured SEO client onboarding process, provide two detailed examples of questions you might ask, and explain how these questions can help you understand your client's needs and goals.

The Importance of SEO Client Onboarding

Before diving into specific examples, let's discuss why SEO client onboarding is so crucial. The onboarding process serves several essential purposes:

• Understanding the Client's Business: Every business is unique, with its own set of goals, target audience, and competitive landscape. Onboarding allows you to gain a deep understanding of these factors so that you can tailor your SEO strategy accordingly.
• Setting Expectations: Clear communication during the onboarding process helps set realistic expectations for both you and the client. This includes discussing timelines, potential results, and what the client can expect from your services.
• Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): By asking the right questions, you can identify the metrics that matter most to your client, whether it's organic traffic, lead generation, conversion rates, or something else. This ensures that your efforts are aligned with the client's business objectives.
• Avoiding Miscommunication: A thorough onboarding process minimizes the risk of miscommunication and misunderstandings. It helps both parties get on the same page regarding the scope of work, deliverables, and deadlines.
• Building Trust: The onboarding process is your first opportunity to build trust with your client. By demonstrating that you understand their business and are committed to achieving their goals, you lay the groundwork for a successful long-term partnership.

With these benefits in mind, let's explore two examples of questions you can ask during the SEO client onboarding process, along with an explanation of why these questions are important.

Example 1: Understanding the Client's Business and Goals

One of the most critical aspects of SEO client onboarding is understanding the client's business and their goals for the SEO campaign. Without this understanding, it's challenging to create a strategy that aligns with their needs. Here's an example of a question you might ask:

Question: "Can you describe your business, including your primary products or services, target audience, and main competitors?"

Why This Question Matters:

Business Description:

By asking the client to describe their business, you gain insight into what they do, which products or services are most important to them, and how they differentiate themselves from competitors. This information is crucial for keyword research, content creation, and overall strategy development.

• Example Response: "We are an e-commerce business specializing in eco-friendly home products, such as reusable kitchen items, organic bedding, and sustainable cleaning supplies. Our target audience is environmentally conscious consumers who prioritize sustainability in their purchasing decisions. Our main competitors include [Competitor A] and [Competitor B]."

Analysis:

This response tells you that the client operates in the eco-friendly niche, which may influence the keywords you target (e.g., "eco-friendly kitchen products" or "sustainable home goods"). It also provides information about the target audience, which can guide your content strategy and outreach efforts. Knowing the competitors allows you to analyze their SEO strategies and identify opportunities to differentiate your client.

Target Audience:

Understanding the target audience is vital for crafting content that resonates with potential customers and drives conversions. The more you know about the client's audience, the better you can tailor your SEO efforts to meet their needs.

• Example Response: "Our target audience is primarily women aged 25-45 who are interested in sustainable living and often make purchasing decisions based on environmental impact. They are tech-savvy, frequently shop online, and value quality over price."

Analysis:

This response provides a detailed demographic and psychographic profile of the client's target audience. It highlights the importance of focusing on high-quality, environmentally focused content that appeals to this demographic. Additionally, understanding that the audience is tech-savvy suggests that optimizing for mobile and user experience will be critical components of the SEO strategy.

Competitor Analysis:

Knowing the client's main competitors allows you to perform competitive analysis, identifying what strategies are working for them and where there may be gaps in the market that your client can exploit.

• Example Response: "Our main competitors are [Competitor A], who focuses on affordable eco-friendly products, and [Competitor B], who has a strong social media presence and a loyal customer base."

Analysis:

This response indicates that you should examine the SEO strategies of these competitors, such as their keyword targeting, content themes, and backlink profiles. If one competitor has a strong social media presence, you might consider how SEO and social media can be integrated into your client's overall strategy.

Example 2: Identifying Key SEO Goals and Metrics

Another essential aspect of onboarding is understanding what the client hopes to achieve through SEO. This involves discussing specific goals and identifying the metrics that will be used to measure success. Here's an example of a question that can help with this:

Question: "What are your primary goals for SEO, and which key performance indicators (KPIs) are most important to you?"

Why This Question Matters:

Goal Setting:

Clearly defined goals are the cornerstone of any successful SEO campaign. By asking the client to articulate their goals, you can ensure that your strategy is aligned with their expectations.

• Example Response: "Our primary goal is to increase organic traffic to our website by 50% over the next six months. We also want to improve our search engine rankings for key terms related to eco-friendly home products and drive more conversions from organic search."

Analysis:

This response sets a clear target for increasing organic traffic, which can guide your efforts in areas like content creation, link building, and on-page optimization. It also highlights the importance of keyword rankings and conversions, indicating that your strategy should focus on not just driving traffic but also ensuring that this traffic leads to meaningful business outcomes.

KPIs:

Different clients prioritize different metrics. Some may be most concerned with traffic, while others might focus on lead generation, sales, or even brand visibility. Understanding which KPIs are most important to the client allows you to tailor your reporting and ensure that your efforts are delivering the results that matter most.

• Example Response: "The most important KPIs for us are organic traffic, conversion rate, and the number of new leads generated from our website. We would also like to track our keyword rankings for specific terms and monitor our site's bounce rate to ensure we're attracting the right audience."

Analysis:

This response highlights the need to track multiple metrics, including traffic, conversions, and lead generation. It also suggests that the client is interested in ensuring that their SEO efforts are attracting a relevant audience, as evidenced by the mention of bounce rate. This information can influence how you structure your SEO campaigns, ensuring that you focus on driving high-quality traffic that is more likely to convert.

Realistic Expectations:

Discussing goals and KPIs during onboarding helps set realistic expectations. It allows you to communicate what is achievable within the client's budget and timeframe, helping to avoid misunderstandings or disappointment down the line.

• Example Response: "While we want to see improvements in traffic and conversions, we understand that SEO is a long-term strategy. We would like to see gradual improvements over the next 12 months, with significant gains by the end of the year."

Analysis:

This response shows that the client has a realistic understanding of how SEO works, recognizing that it is a long-term investment. It also provides a timeline for expected results, which can help you plan your strategy and manage the client's expectations effectively.

Example 3: Understanding the Client’s Content Strategy

Content is a fundamental component of any SEO strategy. Knowing what content the client has, how they produce it, and what their goals are for future content creation is essential for building an effective SEO plan. Here’s an example of a question that can help you gather this information:

Question: "Can you describe your current content strategy, including the types of content you produce, how frequently you publish, and who is responsible for content creation?"

Why This Question Matters:

Current Content Landscape:

Understanding the client's existing content strategy gives you insight into what types of content they currently produce and how it aligns with their SEO goals. This includes knowing whether they focus on blog posts, videos, infographics, or other formats.

• Example Response: "We currently publish two blog posts per week on our company blog, which mainly focuses on tips and advice related to sustainable living. We also create monthly video content that we share on YouTube and our social media channels. Our in-house marketing team handles all content creation."

Analysis:

This response reveals that the client is already producing a substantial amount of content, which is a good foundation for SEO. It also highlights the focus on sustainable living, which suggests that the content is likely aligned with their target audience’s interests. Knowing that content is handled in-house provides clarity on who you'll be working with for content-related SEO activities.

Content Frequency and Consistency:

Frequency of publication is an important factor in SEO. Regularly updated websites tend to perform better in search engines because they signal to Google that the site is active and continuously providing fresh information.

• Example Response: "We aim to maintain a consistent publishing schedule, with new content being added to the site every Monday and Thursday. However, we sometimes struggle to keep up with this schedule due to other business priorities."

Analysis:

This response indicates a commitment to regular content production but also reveals potential challenges. You may need to discuss ways to streamline their content creation process or suggest additional resources to ensure consistency, which is crucial for maintaining and improving SEO performance.

Content Creation Responsibilities:

Knowing who is responsible for content creation helps you understand the workflow and potential bottlenecks. It also allows you to assess the client’s capacity for implementing content recommendations or adjustments based on your SEO strategy.

• Example Response: "Our marketing team is responsible for creating all content, but we occasionally work with freelance writers for specialized topics. We also have an in-house graphic designer who assists with creating visual content."

Analysis:

This response shows that the client has internal resources for content creation, which is beneficial for quickly implementing content-related SEO strategies. However, the reliance on freelancers for specialized content may present opportunities to introduce more consistent SEO practices across all content, such as keyword optimization or internal linking strategies.

Content Goals:

Understanding the client’s goals for their content is critical for aligning your SEO strategy. Whether they aim to increase brand awareness, drive traffic, or generate leads, their content objectives will inform your approach.

• Example Response: "Our primary goal with our content is to build brand authority in the sustainability space and drive traffic to our e-commerce store. We also want to increase engagement on social media platforms."

Analysis:

This response highlights the importance of creating authoritative, high-quality content that positions the client as a leader in the sustainability niche. It also suggests a need for content that not only drives traffic but also encourages social sharing and engagement, which can be integrated into your SEO strategy through content optimization for both search engines and social platforms.

Example 4: Exploring the Client’s Technical SEO Challenges

Technical SEO is the backbone of a well-optimized website. Understanding any existing technical issues or challenges the client has faced can help you prioritize areas that need immediate attention. Here’s an example of a question that can uncover potential technical SEO problems:

Question: "Have you encountered any technical issues with your website that you believe may be affecting your SEO performance? For example, slow loading times, mobile responsiveness issues, or indexing problems?"

Why This Question Matters:

Identifying Technical Barriers:

Technical issues can significantly impact a website’s SEO performance. Common problems like slow loading times, poor mobile optimization, or indexing errors can prevent a site from ranking well, regardless of the quality of its content or backlinks.

• Example Response: "We’ve noticed that our website tends to load slowly, especially on mobile devices. We’ve also had issues with some of our pages not being indexed by Google, despite being live for several months."

Analysis:

This response immediately flags two critical areas that need attention: site speed and indexing. Slow loading times, particularly on mobile devices, can lead to higher bounce rates and lower rankings, as Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing. Indexing issues could indicate problems with the site’s structure, the presence of crawl errors, or issues with the robots.txt file or sitemap. These are all areas you would need to investigate and address early in your SEO strategy.

Understanding the Impact of Previous Efforts:

If the client has previously attempted to address technical issues, it’s important to know what has been done and whether it was successful. This helps avoid redundant work and allows you to build on existing efforts.

• Example Response: "We tried to improve site speed by compressing images and enabling browser caching, but the improvements were minimal. We haven’t been able to identify the cause of the indexing issues."

Analysis:

This response indicates that the client has already made some attempts to improve site speed but with limited success. You may need to look into more advanced solutions, such as reducing server response times, minimizing CSS and JavaScript files, or considering a content delivery network (CDN). The unresolved indexing issues suggest a need for a thorough technical audit to identify and fix any underlying problems.

Mobile Responsiveness:

With the increasing importance of mobile-first indexing, ensuring that a client’s website is fully optimized for mobile users is critical. This question helps you identify whether mobile optimization needs to be a priority.

• Example Response: "Our site was designed a few years ago, and while it’s responsive, we’ve received feedback that it’s not as user-friendly on mobile devices as it could be. We’re concerned this might be affecting our mobile traffic."

Analysis:

This response suggests that while the site is technically responsive, it may not provide an optimal user experience on mobile devices. You might need to evaluate the site’s mobile usability, looking at factors such as touch-target size, navigation simplicity, and overall user experience. Improving mobile responsiveness could lead to better user engagement, lower bounce rates, and higher rankings in mobile search results.

Indexing and Crawlability:

Ensuring that search engines can effectively crawl and index a website’s content is fundamental to SEO. Understanding any indexing issues can help you prioritize technical fixes that could have a significant impact on visibility in search engines.

• Example Response: "We’ve checked Google Search Console, and there are several pages listed as ‘Discovered - currently not indexed.’ We’re not sure why this is happening or how to fix it."

Analysis:

This response indicates a specific technical issue that needs immediate attention. Pages that are not being indexed by Google may be due to a variety of reasons, such as thin content, duplicate content, or issues with the sitemap. Conducting a comprehensive technical audit to diagnose and resolve these indexing problems would be a key initial step in your SEO campaign.

Example 5: Understanding the Client’s Past Marketing and SEO Efforts

To create an effective SEO strategy, it’s important to know what the client has done in the past in terms of marketing and SEO. This knowledge helps you avoid repeating past mistakes, build on previous successes, and understand what has worked or not worked for them. Here’s an example of a question that can help uncover this information:

Question: "Can you provide an overview of your past marketing and SEO efforts, including any challenges or successes you’ve experienced?"

Why This Question Matters:

Learning from Past Efforts: Understanding the client’s previous marketing and SEO activities can provide valuable insights into what has worked for them and what hasn’t. This historical perspective allows you to make informed decisions about how to proceed.

• Example Response: "We’ve invested in various marketing channels over the years, including PPC, social media, and content marketing. We did some SEO work a couple of years ago but didn’t see significant results, so we shifted our focus to paid ads. One challenge we faced was getting quality backlinks, and we struggled with creating content that resonated with our audience."

Analysis:

This response highlights several key points: the client has a history of using multiple marketing channels, has attempted SEO before but with limited success, and has faced specific challenges with backlink acquisition and content creation. Knowing this, you can tailor your SEO strategy to address these challenges directly. For example, you might prioritize building a more effective backlink strategy or creating content that better aligns with the client’s target audience.

Avoiding Redundant Efforts:

If the client has already tried certain SEO tactics without success, it’s important to understand why those efforts didn’t work. This can help you avoid making the same mistakes and ensure that your strategy is more effective.

• Example Response: "We previously hired an SEO agency to optimize our website, but the results were disappointing. They focused heavily on technical SEO but didn’t pay much attention to our content strategy or user experience, which we believe are critical for our audience."

Analysis:

This response suggests that the previous agency may have had a one-dimensional approach, focusing only on technical aspects while neglecting content and user experience. Knowing this, you can emphasize a more holistic strategy that balances technical optimization with content creation and UX improvements, aligning more closely with the client’s belief in the importance of these areas.

Building on Past Successes:

If the client has experienced success in certain areas, it’s important to understand what led to those successes so you can replicate or build upon them.

• Example Response: "We had some success with a blog series we ran last year, which brought in a lot of traffic and engagement. However, we didn’t see a corresponding increase in conversions, and we’re not sure why."

Analysis:

This response indicates that while the client has had success driving traffic through content, there may be an issue with converting that traffic into customers. You might look into optimizing the conversion paths on the website, such as improving call-to-actions (CTAs), enhancing landing pages, or conducting A/B testing to determine what elements resonate best with visitors. Additionally, you can investigate the type of content that drove the most traffic to ensure that future content efforts replicate this success.

Understanding Challenges:

Every client faces unique challenges, and understanding these early on helps you develop a strategy that addresses them head-on. Whether the issues are related to budget constraints, resource limitations, or past experiences with other agencies, knowing these challenges allows you to approach the engagement with sensitivity and a clear plan.

• Example Response: "One of our biggest challenges has been a lack of internal resources to manage ongoing SEO tasks. We’ve also struggled with maintaining consistent messaging across our various marketing channels."

Analysis:

This response highlights two significant challenges: a lack of internal resources and inconsistent messaging. This suggests that the client might benefit from a more hands-on approach where your agency manages the majority of SEO tasks, or you might need to provide training and support to help their team manage these tasks. The issue with inconsistent messaging also indicates a need for a more integrated strategy that aligns SEO with other marketing channels, ensuring a cohesive brand voice.

Example 6: Exploring the Client’s Expectations and Concerns

Understanding the client’s expectations and concerns is crucial for setting the stage for a successful working relationship. This includes clarifying what they hope to achieve, any worries they might have about the process, and their expectations for communication and reporting. Here’s an example of a question that can help you uncover this information:

Question: "What are your main expectations for this SEO partnership, and do you have any concerns or specific expectations for how we’ll work together?"

Why This Question Matters:

Clarifying Expectations:

It’s essential to understand what the client expects from your services, both in terms of results and the working relationship. This helps ensure that you are both on the same page from the beginning and can prevent misunderstandings later on.

Example Response: "We expect to see a significant increase in organic traffic and leads within the next six months. We also want to ensure that our website ranks in the top three for key search terms related to our business. Additionally, we value transparency and want to be kept informed about the progress of our campaign."

Analysis:

This response sets clear expectations: the client wants to see tangible results within a specific timeframe and prioritizes certain keyword rankings. It also indicates a desire for transparency, which suggests that regular, detailed reporting will be important. Knowing this, you can tailor your approach to focus on delivering quick wins where possible, while also setting up a robust reporting system to keep the client informed about progress and any challenges encountered along the way.

Addressing Concerns:

Many clients have concerns about SEO, especially if they’ve had negative experiences in the past or are new to SEO altogether. Addressing these concerns early on helps build trust and demonstrates that you understand and respect their perspective.

• Example Response: "We’re concerned about the long-term commitment required for SEO and whether we’ll see a return on investment. We’ve also heard horror stories about agencies using black-hat techniques that could get our site penalized, so we want to ensure that everything is done above board."

Analysis:

This response reveals concerns about the time it takes to see results from SEO and fears about the use of unethical practices. Addressing these concerns directly is crucial. You might need to explain the long-term nature of SEO and how it can deliver sustainable results, as well as reassure the client that your agency only uses white-hat techniques. Providing case studies or examples of past successes can also help alleviate concerns about ROI.

Establishing Communication Preferences:

Understanding how the client prefers to communicate can help ensure a smooth working relationship. Some clients may want regular updates, while others might prefer less frequent check-ins but more detailed reports.

• Example Response: "We prefer to have bi-weekly meetings to discuss progress and any adjustments to the strategy. We’d also like a monthly report that highlights key metrics and any recommendations for improvement."

Analysis:

This response indicates that the client values regular communication and detailed reporting. Setting up a bi-weekly meeting schedule and preparing comprehensive monthly reports will help meet their expectations. It also suggests that the client is interested in being actively involved in the process, so you should be prepared to collaborate closely and make adjustments based on their feedback.

Setting Realistic Expectations:

Sometimes, clients may have unrealistic expectations about what SEO can achieve, especially in terms of timelines or outcomes. Discussing these expectations during onboarding helps you set realistic goals and avoid potential dissatisfaction later on.

• Example Response: "We’re hoping to see our site ranking on the first page of Google for multiple competitive keywords within the next three months. We also want to double our organic traffic during this time."

Analysis:

This response highlights potentially unrealistic expectations, especially if the keywords are highly competitive. It’s important to manage the client’s expectations by explaining the typical timeline for SEO results, especially for competitive terms, and discussing what can realistically be achieved in the short term. Setting more achievable milestones and explaining the step-by-step process can help ensure that the client understands what’s involved and remains satisfied with the progress.

Conclusion

SEO client onboarding is a critical process that lays the foundation for a successful campaign. By asking the right questions, you can gain a deep understanding of the client's business, goals, and expectations, allowing you to create a tailored strategy that delivers results. The examples of questions provided in this article—understanding the client's business and goals, and identifying key SEO goals and metrics—are just two of many potential questions you can ask during onboarding. However, they illustrate the importance of gathering detailed information and setting clear expectations from the outset.

By investing time and effort into the onboarding process, you not only improve the chances of a successful SEO campaign but also build a strong, trusting relationship with your client. This, in turn, can lead to long-term partnerships and continued success for both your agency and your clients.