How to Hire an SEO Team Remotely

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The search engine optimization industry is growing at an extremely fast rate. In fact, it’s one of the fastest-growing digital fields and continues to expand as more businesses and websites continue to accept the need to accommodate search engines.

However, if you’re a Canadian-based business then you have extra considerations when it comes to SEO. Most significantly, the fact that Canada is a country with two official languages (English and French) means your strategy may need to be carefully formed. For that reason, hiring a remote SEO team in a country like France could be a smart idea.

Hiring remote teams has become an increasingly popular choice for many businesses, not only because it’s now fairly easy to do with the help of onboarding services but also because it’s a great way of diversifying your team with amazing talent.

Let’s delve into this a bit more, then get into the details of how you should approach hiring a remote SEO team from Canada.

Is it practical to have a remote SEO team?

SEO is such an important part of any online strategy. Whether you’re a small business trying to gain more website exposure or you’re an agency working on behalf of online clients, SEO efforts will make a big difference to your overall success. But can you get the most out of SEO planning and implementation when your team is remote?

Yes! Having team members scattered locally, nationally and even internationally may seem impractical, but if you can maintain good lines of communication then there’s no reason why it can’t work. In most cases, the benefits of having talented employees in more than one place outweigh the challenges that you may face. Remember, SEO is a collaborative effort. As long as everyone puts the work in and communicates with each other, hiring an SEO team remotely from Canada can work very well.

What are the benefits of hiring a remote SEO team?

There are a number of benefits to hiring an SEO team that works remotely, which is why so many businesses have started to use this model of working. The benefits of hiring a remote SEO team include the following:

- Through taking advantage of lower costs overseas and fixed-term arrangements, you can hire a large team of remote workers for the price of a single SEO expert working full-time in your office, allowing you to complete more projects more quickly.

 - Having people placed around the world gives you remarkable operational flexibility, allowing you to have people working on SEO around the clock. For example, a team based in France can keep working once your Canada-based team has clocked off.

 - You can save money on office space and overhead costs. Depending on the type of work your SEO team does, you might not even need any dedicated office space for them at all, taking a huge burden away from your finances.

 - Hiring international employees positions you to gain valuable insight into other markets and fresh tactics, leading to key strategic enhancements. 

As well as the benefits that remote working provides for you as a business owner, being more flexible with where your employees work can improve their job satisfaction. And since happy employees produce better work and stay in their positions for longer, you can build a much stronger team in the long term by being open to hiring remotely.

How to hire an SEO team remotely

Many businesses are put off from hiring remotely as they believe the process is too complicated, especially when it comes to onboarding international employees. In truth, though, there are many services available that can make remote hiring stress-free and simple. Using an employer of record service like Remote means that local compliances, taxes, payroll and more are all taken care of for you, leaving you to concentrate on helping your new employee get up to speed. No matter what size your business is, you can employ and pay your workers in other countries quickly with greater peace of mind.

How should you advertise a remote position?

When hiring for your remote SEO team, you might want to start by concentrating on using online job boards and LinkedIn. Since remote work has become incredibly popular, you can attract more interest by adding a ‘Remote’ tag to each job listing so those searching for these types of roles can find your positions more easily through filtering. 

In your job description, be sure to highlight again that the position is remote, and cover the key skills that you’re looking for in an SEO team member. Perhaps you’re looking for a certain proficiency in particular tools: if so, make sure that’s included and you’ll increase the number of high-quality applicants that match your needs.

What should candidates know about SEO in Canada?

Depending on your business, industry, and location, the way you do SEO will change. If you’re thinking about hiring remotely for a business in Canada, then recruiting people who already have good knowledge of the Canadian market is a smart move. Each country has its own cultural specificities, shopping patterns and values that need to be addressed in the SEO strategy. Of course, there’s plenty to learn on the job too. 

Here’s what ideal candidates should know (or be willing to learn) about SEO in Canada:

- How Canada’s use of two languages impacts searches. Canada has two main languages: English and French. Therefore, everything from link building to keywords should factor this in, considering how search queries differ between languages.

- How Canadians tend to look for different things. Google may dominate most of the world, but there are different ways to search within Google, plus there are other search engines within retail sites. Like any country, Canada has its well-established tendencies, and a good candidate will be interested in them.

- How e-commerce is changing within Canada. Much of SEO is inevitably about e-commerce, as that’s where the money is. So which online retailers are picking up steam in Canada? And which products are trending?

You may want to consider the above points during your interview stage and ask relevant questions to gauge each candidate's level of knowledge. It’s important to consider the type of role you’re recruiting for, though. If you’re hiring a junior SEO team member, you won’t need anywhere near as much experience as you will if hiring a senior SEO strategist.

What are the challenges of hiring remotely?

Of course, there are challenges to hiring remotely. Many of these can be overcome very simply, but it’s nevertheless important to be aware of them to avoid any unnecessary problems. Here are some of the top challenges of hiring remotely and how to overcome them:

- Poor communication between teams: Working remotely means a team member can’t pop over to someone’s desk for a quick chat. Instead, communication tools such as Slack or Google Hangouts can connect remote team members so projects can be discussed and questions can be asked quickly.

- Difficulty collaborating: SEO requires many different areas to work in sync to achieve the best results, so ensuring that everyone is on the same page is key. Remote teams should not only be communicating throughout projects but also using tools such as Asana or Monday.com to work on tasks together so everyone can see exactly who is doing what.

- Loss of company culture: It may be harder to create the company culture you envision when your employees are spread around the globe. However, something as simple as a coffee morning or virtual team quiz can encourage employees to get to know each other and feel like more of a close-knit team. 

Although remote hiring has its challenges, it is well worth the effort. You can complete the hiring process with little or no stress if you have the right tools, proper planning, preparedness, and a backup plan. 

You can easily adjust and close gaps in technology, communication, and team building to make hiring and onboarding go as smoothly as possible for both you and the new employee. Recruit a team to assist you in making the process more comfortable, and use available technology to simplify complex processes.

When hiring an SEO team remotely, it’s important to remember that you’re hiring individuals, not offices. This means that you’re hiring a team of individuals with their own personalities, work ethics, and communication styles. Remember that hiring remotely requires patience. It may take longer to get responses from your candidates, and they may take longer to complete projects based on their own schedules.

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