Understanding the Scope: Is This a Genuine SEO Assessment or Unpaid Work?
In the competitive realm of digital marketing, it’s not uncommon for prospective employers or clients to request comprehensive evaluations as part of the interview or onboarding process. Recently, I encountered a situation where an organization asked for an extensive SEO analysis, resembling a full-fledged consultancy project, before offering a role. Naturally, it raises a pertinent question: Is this a standard technical assessment or an invitation for free consulting?
Breaking Down the Request
The assignment included a multi-faceted review entailing the following components:
- Website Evaluation
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Analyzing site architecture, on-page SEO elements, content quality, technical health, and backlink profiles.
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Competitive Analysis
- Identifying key competitors within the trading niche.
- Scrutinizing their SEO strategies, including content approaches, backlink profiles, and keyword focus.
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Highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and potential areas for opportunity relative to the brand in question.
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Keyword Research & Strategy Development
- Conducting keyword research targeted at their services.
- Recommending primary and secondary keywords for various pages such as the homepage, product pages, and blogs.
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Suggesting keyword mapping and identifying new opportunities.
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Content Strategy Formulation
- Reviewing existing content and proposing enhancements.
- Recommending blog topics, resource centers, and landing page ideas.
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Developing a content calendar approach to streamline content releases.
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Technical SEO Audit
- Detecting critical technical issues affecting site performance and visibility.
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Providing recommendations for improvements related to crawlability, Core Web Vitals, schema markup, and other technical factors.
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Team Leadership & Workflow Strategy
- Designing an optimal SEO team structure including roles and workflows.
- Suggesting leadership strategies, team training, development plans, as well as KPIs and reporting frameworks.
What Are the Expectations?
The deliverables included an SEO Analysis Report and a Leadership Strategy Document, effectively creating a comprehensive consultancy package.
Is This Typical or Excessive?
While thorough evaluations are often part of SEO audits conducted by professionals for clients, requesting such an in-depth analysis as a pre-employment assessment, without any compensation or clear scope of ongoing work, can be a grey area. In many cases, this level