How to use these questions
A hiring call goes better when you lead it. Most providers have a script, and the script is designed to make them look good. Specific questions pull the conversation onto your site and your needs. This page gives you twelve, in the order they tend to be useful. For each one, we say why you are asking, what a good answer sounds like and what a weak one sounds like.
You do not need to ask all twelve of every candidate. Use the first four on a first call, and the rest as you narrow down. If you are still deciding between kinds of help, our guide to the three kinds of Wix SEO help comes before this one, and the step-by-step on how to hire one shows where these questions fit.
Take notes, and send every candidate the same questions in the same words. Then you can compare the answers side by side. A candidate who gets annoyed by questions is telling you how the next six months will go.
Questions 1 to 4: fit and approach
1. What would you change first on my site, and why?
Why ask: it shows whether they have looked, or are about to recite a pitch.
Good answer: names a specific page or problem. "Your catering page has the default title and no description, and your services sit on one long page." Weak answer: "We would start with a full audit," with nothing about your site.
2. What do you do on a Wix site that Wix does not already do?
Why ask: Wix handles titles fields, sitemaps and the setup checklist. You want to know what the human adds.
Good answer: writing pages, deciding which searches to target, fixing structure and redirects, linking, reading Search Console. Weak answer: "we optimize your SEO settings," which are settings you can edit yourself. Our page on Wix SEO tools shows what is built in.
3. Have you worked on Wix sites specifically, and can you show me one?
Why ask: platform knowledge shortens mistakes.
Good answer: a named site with a description of the work and what changed. Weak answer: general experience across all platforms with no examples.
4. Do you give advice, or do you do the work?
Why ask: it settles the issue we cover on the Wix SEO consultant page.
Good answer: a direct reply with what is included. Weak answer: "it depends" with no follow-up, or a promise to do everything without a list.
Questions 5 to 8: scope and proof
5. What exactly will you deliver each month?
Why ask: a fee should buy a list.
Good answer: numbers and types. "Four rewritten service pages, two articles of about 1,500 words, and a redirect clean-up in month one." Weak answer: "ongoing optimization" or "content as needed".
6. How will I know it is working, and when?
Why ask: it forces them to name the measure.
Good answer: Google Search Console, clicks and impressions for the pages that changed, compared against a baseline recorded in week one. They say honestly that real movement takes a few months. Weak answer: a date for a ranking, or a promise of page one.
7. Can I see results from a client, in their Search Console?
Why ask: clicks from a client's own account are hard to fake.
Good answer: a screenshot or a call with a client, with the work described. Weak answer: only rank-tracker charts or logos.
8. What will you need from me, and how much of my time?
Why ask: the real cost includes your hours.
Good answer: a short list. Access, answers to a few questions, a monthly check-in. Weak answer: a long, vague list of approvals, or no answer at all.
The costs behind these answers are covered on what drives Wix SEO cost.
Questions 9 to 12: working style, ownership and exit
9. Who will actually work on my site?
Why ask: the person who pitches is often not the person who writes.
Good answer: a name, a role and whether they are in-house. Weak answer: "our team" with no names.
10. How do you handle a change that does not work?
Why ask: everyone makes changes that fail, and what they do next is the test.
Good answer: they check Search Console, say what they would try, and describe a past example. Weak answer: "that doesn't happen".
11. Who owns the accounts and the content?
Why ask: a surprising number of owners find their Search Console or domain is under someone else's login.
Good answer: everything is in your name, they are added as users, and anything written for your site is yours. Weak answer: hesitation, or "we manage the accounts for you".
12. What happens at the end of the contract?
Why ask: a clean exit tells you they are confident.
Good answer: a short notice period, a review at month three, content stays on your site, and access is removed on the last day. Weak answer: a long lock-in, automatic renewal with a price rise, or content that is removed if you leave.
For how to set up access safely, see the access section on hiring a Wix SEO expert.
Follow-ups that reveal more
The twelve questions are a start. A few follow-ups tend to separate real experience from a script.
After any answer, ask "can you show me?" A real expert has an example ready. A script has a story.
Ask what they would not do. Good providers have opinions. "We would not buy links for you" or "we would not rewrite your homepage first" shows judgment. A provider who would do anything for any budget has not thought about your case.
Ask what they would do with half your budget. The answer shows how they rank their own services. If the first thing cut is the content, they do not value it. If the first thing cut is reporting, they may value results over paperwork.
Ask about AI answers. Buyers now use ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini to find businesses. A good answer is calm and specific, and does not promise you will be named. Our Wix AI search citation guide gives you enough background to judge it.
Finally, notice how they handle "I do not know." The best providers say it, then say how they would find out.
A simple way to score the answers
After each call, give every answer a mark of 0, 1 or 2. Zero for vague or evasive, one for acceptable and two for specific and checkable. Twelve questions gives a score out of 24. The number is not magic, but writing it down makes you read the answers rather than the mood of the call.
Pay more attention to the pattern than the total. If someone scores two on questions about their work and zero on ownership, that is a risk you should fix in the contract or walk away from. If someone is strong on everything but the cost, you know what to negotiate.
It also helps to check a candidate's own site against what they say. A provider who talks about clear titles and fast pages should have them. Run their homepage through Google's PageSpeed Insights, which is free, and read how their pages look in search. If they cannot do for themselves what they sell, you know what to expect. Our page on Wix site speed and SEO shows what the numbers mean.
What to do with the answers
After the calls, take your two best candidates and run a small paid test. A single rewritten page or a short audit costs little and shows you the real work. Then compare proposals using the method on how to compare Wix SEO companies.
If none of the answers satisfied you, that is information too. You may be better off doing the basics yourself with the Wix SEO guide until you can ask sharper questions, or looking at a different kind of help.
Six questions to ask yourself before any call
The best answers come when you know what you want. Before you speak to anyone, settle these.
What would success look like in six months? Say it in business terms, such as more booked jobs or more online orders. A provider can only aim at a target you have named.
What have we already tried? Include things that failed. It saves repetition and tells the provider about your site.
Who owns this on our side? One person. If nobody does, the first problem is not SEO.
How much of my time can I give? Count it in hours a week. It decides whether advice, a company or a done-for-you service is realistic.
What is the most we will spend, and for how long? A ceiling and a review date. See what drives Wix SEO cost to set it sensibly.
What do we not want? Perhaps no work on the blog, no changes to the design, or no phone calls. Say it up front.
Having these answers also lets you spot a provider who does not listen. If they recommend a package before they ask about your goal, the question list above will bring that out fast.
The questions a good expert asks you
A call is a two-way test. Notice what the expert asks. The best ones ask a lot, and the questions are specific.
They ask what you sell and who buys it, and which products or services earn you the most. SEO effort should follow the money.
They ask whether Search Console is connected, and for how long. If you have never connected it, they tell you to do so first. See Google Search Console for Wix for how.
They ask what has changed on the site lately and whether any pages have been moved or deleted.
They ask who your competitors are, and often which one you most want to beat.
They ask whether you serve a local area, and if so whether you have a Google Business Profile.
They ask what you can commit in time and in budget, and they are comfortable if the answer is small.
If a candidate asks none of this and goes straight to a pitch, treat the call as a sales call. If they ask the questions above, you are speaking to someone who plans to look at your actual situation.
What a good call feels like
You can learn a great deal from how a conversation goes, apart from the words. A good call tends to feel like this.
You come away knowing something new about your own site. The expert pointed at a page or a number you had not seen. Even if you never hire them, the call was useful.
They speak in plain words. When they use a term, they explain it without being asked. A provider who hides behind jargon either does not know or does not want you to.
They say what they cannot do. "We do not do paid ads" or "I would not touch your design" is a good sign, because it shows they have a defined service.
They are honest about timing. Real movement in search takes weeks to months, and they say so even though it makes the sale harder.
They do not rush you. They are happy for you to speak to others and to run a paid test.
A bad call feels the opposite. You are talked at, the deadline is short, the numbers are large and the specifics are few. When in doubt, trust the calmer provider.
After each call, write down three things you learned and one thing that bothered you. The pattern will help you choose. For how to compare the options that result, see the Wix Marketplace versus other ways to hire.
How RunOctopus handles this
We hold ourselves to the same questions. Here is how we would answer the ones about deliverables and measurement.
RunOctopus is a done-for-you service. Its AI, Ollie, researches your business, then writes and publishes pages directly on your own website. A team plans, writes, reviews and publishes alongside Ollie. It works with Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce and Wix. You install nothing, approve nothing, upload nothing and schedule nothing, and pages go live on their own.
The first week brings 8 long-form articles, 6 pages and a custom interactive tool built for your niche. After that it is 175+ pieces of content a month, written, published and linked. You also get reports on where ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini name your business. The promise is more visibility on Google and in AI answers within 90 days, measured against the 90 days before you joined, or every dollar back.
You can see what Ollie would do for your site before you decide anything. Paste your address into the free site read. Ollie reads the site and shows the plan. No account, no call.