Struggling to crack the SEO code and watch your website languish in the search abyss? You're not alone. Organic traffic is the lifeblood of any online presence, but with algorithms constantly evolving, keeping up can feel like chasing a moving target.

That's why we've listed the top 10 SEO specialists who can wield their expertise to supercharge your website's ranking and bring a flood of qualified visitors this year. From technical wizards to content gurus, get ready to discover the perfect SEO partner to propel your online presence to new heights!

Our top picks of the best SEO specialists to hire

1. Derek V. - Best overall

2. Edward H. - Best for SEO audits

3. Zachary P. - Best for on-page SEO

4. Teodor R. - Best for technical SEO

5. Sam Y. - Best for keyword-optimized content

6. Chris T. - Best for optimizing websites

7. Sonia B. - Best for eCommerce brands

8. Albert M. - Best SEO specialist for startups

9. Mayank J. - Best SEO specialist for niche businesses

10. Tiffany D. - Best for enterprise companies

What is an SEO specialist?

An SEO specialist is a digital marketing professional focused on improving your website's visibility in search engine results. They achieve this by using various strategies and tactics to ensure your website ranks higher for relevant keywords and search terms.

In simpler terms, an SEO specialist helps more people find your website organically, through search engines, instead of relying on paid advertising. They essentially act as traffic magnets, attracting potential customers who are actively searching for products or services related to your business.

Supercharge your site with organic traffic

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most technical aspects of digital marketing and perhaps the most misunderstood. Though a lot of brands are putting all their money in social media and paid advertising, SEO still remains a solid marketing channel that can bring a ton of targeted, high-quality traffic.

SEO is often more effective in bringing organic search traffic than social media. For example, a shoe company could hire 100 influencers on Instagram and YouTube that bring 20,000 unique visitors to the site. A well-developed SEO strategy can increase search engine traffic to 100,000 monthly visitors in 6-12 months.

Grow your leads and sales with the right SEO marketing strategy

Way before a customer actually buys your product, they go on Google, type in a question, and start their search. The challenge is that most people only click on the first three results that show up, okay, maybe the fourth one too. Rarely do people visit the second page of the search engine results.

That’s why you need a really good SEO marketing strategy to ensure that your content ranks for the right keywords and shows up in the top 3 search results. However, SEO isn’t a cookie-cutter solution—it highly depends on the type of content that you create, your customer personas, your marketing funnel, and the industry you’re in.

A good SEO strategy should have the following elements:

• Thorough keyword research
• Technical SEO
• On-page optimization
• Site audit
• Backlink strategy

The right strategy with the right execution can have a really powerful impact on a business, bringing in a steady stream of traffic and leads for months and years to come. But what if you're struggling to do this yourself?

How to find the right SEO consultant

You might need to hire the right SEO consultant with proven industry experience as well as content and technical SEO skills to really move the needle. With Google changing its algorithms several times per year lately, a good SEO marketer needs to be on top of all the latest industry trends. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t, and you won’t find that out until after you hire them.

That’s where Mayple comes in. We're veteran marketers ourselves and we’ve built an extensive community of marketing experts. We can match your brand with the perfect vetted SEO marketer with proven industry results that will bring your brand to the next level.

The skills that every great SEO marketer should have

Analytical skills 

A good SEO marketer should analyze your site and traffic via Google Analytics and Google Search Console to know exactly:

• Which content can be optimized
• Which content requires more keywords
• What website sections to work on to get the maximum results

Link building

Outreach and using white-hat strategies to increase the number of sites that link back to your brand is critical. This requires a lot of PR, relationship-building, creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking. For example, content marketing and blog writing could be roped in here. 

Research skills

New trends emerge every year, and a good SEO marketer needs to stay on top of them by reading industry news and insights and translating them into actionable changes for the brand’s SEO campaign. They also need to be a keyword research master and know which search terms to target to hit all the various segments of your marketing funnel based on the user's search intent. 

Technical SEO

The last piece of the puzzle is the technical knowledge needed to make sure that your site’s code is up-to-date and search engine-friendly. New, rich snippets are constantly coming out, and it’s important to have an expert SEO marketer to know how to implement all the code correctly.

It goes without saying that a good SEO consultant should also have excellent communication skills and all the necessary soft skills to work with your team. 

When should you hire an SEO marketer?

In an ideal world, all of your content should be optimized for search engines. Yet, you might be busy and haven't had a chance to hire an SEO expert. You’ve been focused on other things—product, dev, fulfilment, and paid search campaigns. Your team is cranking out content but it doesn’t get displayed on Google search results. So, what’s the point?

Hire a best-in-class SEO marketing expert to optimize your site and get you found on Google. An SEO marketer can assess what your team is doing and create an SEO checklist for them to follow, potentially bringing you massive results in the short and long term.

Alternatively, you might have a marketing team or a digital agency that handles your SEO but you’re not sure if they're optimizing enough or using the best tools and strategies to get the most traffic and brand awareness for your business.

Hire an expert SEO marketer to give you a clear picture of how everything is going and what actions you need to take to bring your brand to the next level.

Hire an SEO marketer with proven results

The SEO industry started out having a really bad reputation because there were a lot of shady companies using black-hat tactics to boost their search rankings artificially. There was also a lot of ambiguity since it usually takes several months to build up enough SEO juice to improve your keyword rankings.

Finding the perfect SEO expert can still be a challenge, even in today's market. That's where Mayple simplifies your search.

Extensive vetting process

Gone are the days when you had to look through phoney testimonials and call professional references. Mayple’s vetting process is unlike any other. We extensively assess the marketer’s skill, look at their data and track record, and have them pass a preliminary assignment or mini-project.

Unbiased monitoring

We don’t just lump your brand with an expert marketer, we monitor their progress and have regular calls to make sure you're satisfied with their work. Joining Mayple is like having a team of marketing veterans at your side. We brainstorm solutions, send ideas to the experts, and do everything we can to make sure you meet your ROI goals.

Full visibility and transparency

One of the greatest challenges of working with agencies and freelancers is that it’s hard to view all the data in one place. This is especially true of SEO. Sometimes, asking for a better dashboard is like pulling teeth. With Mayple, we’ve built a system to display all the relevant data for you in one place, making it easier for both the brand and our expert marketers.

A fraction of the cost of an agency

Marketing agencies often charge an arm and a leg and have a ton of other clients they're servicing. At Mayple, you can get an SEO marketer with proven industry experience at a fraction of the cost. And you also get a dedicated member of the Mayple team to monitor your project and make sure that everything is firing on all cylinders. With Mayple, your brand gets the expertise and attention it deserves to succeed.

Mayple makes it easy to find the perfect SEO marketer

Our onboarding process is very simple:

• Step 1: You fill out a quick marketing brief about your business. You provide information like your ideal customer personas, business goals, campaigns you’ve done so far, and what you're looking to achieve.
• Step 2: We match you with an expert SEO marketer.
• Step 3: Mayple’s SEO marketing expert presents their marketing plan for your business.
• Step 4: Once you approve the plan, we get to work. Sit back and watch the magic happen.