Do you need a little help improving your rankings? Then you could use the services of an SEO consultant.

Chances are you already know the basics of SEO, but are maybe struggling to get the results you want, especially with all the other work you have on your plate.

An SEO consultant could be the answer. These are independent experts who provide a range of services to boost your rankings.

Being an SEO consultant is a multifaceted job that requires a lot of different skills. Unlike an agency, they typically work on their own and thus need to wear many hats. But they can be a perfect fit to businesses that are struggling to rank.

If you’ve ever asked yourself:

• What is SEO?
• What an SEO consultant does?
• Whether you need an SEO consultant?
• How to find a good SEO consultant?
• Should I see an SEO agency instead?

This is the article for you.

We answer all those questions and more. By the end, you’ll know everything you need to know about what an SEO consultant is and what they do.

What Does an SEO Consultant Do For Their Clients?

SEO consultants provide a range of services to their clients to help them get better rankings. They will implement a variety of strategies and best practices, including the following:

• Conduct an SEO audit. An SEO audit is an in-depth analysis of a website’s ability to rank in search engines. It will look at your site’s content, technical SEO, backlinks, competitors, and more. An SEO audit will highlight ways a site can improve its SEO and a strategy for how to achieve those improvements.

• Keyword research. Keyword research is the practice of finding relevant keywords that a website should aim to rank for. If a business hasn’t done any SEO before, it may not be targeting any keywords. Even if they have worked with an SEO agency in the past, it may not be targeting the best keywords.

• On-page SEO. On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the technical aspects of a website to meet Google’s best practices. This can include improving the site’s content, optimizing tags and metadata, improving site speed, and making the site more secure.

• Link building. The more and better quality links a website has, the easier it will be to rank for high competition keywords. If a site’s authority is low, an SEO consultant may create one or more link building campaigns to improve the site’s backlink profile.

An SEO consultant will also provide a monthly reporting service to clients. The report will cover current rankings, work completed by the consultant, and any subsequent improvements.

Signs You Need An SEO Consultant

It’s usually pretty obvious when you need an SEO consultant. If your website isn’t generating leads or conversions from organic traffic — and you consider Google and other search engines to be an important part of your marketing strategy — then it’s a good idea to work with an SEO consultant.

Here are some other signs it’s time to consult a professional:

Your Website Traffic is Flatlining

Traffic from search engines is the most basic indicator of whether an SEO strategy is working or not. If your traffic isn’t increasing over time (or it’s decreasing), then you either need to work with an SEO consultant or replace your existing one.

Search traffic won’t be important to some businesses. But those businesses are very rare. Even if you don’t think search traffic is important for your business, it probably is. Did you know that 51% of shoppers use Google to research an online purchase they will make? That’s a huge audience you are missing out on if you don’t rank in Google.

You’ve Been Penalized by Google

Have your rankings tanked after a Google core update? Google has likely penalized you for breaking its best practices. Google penalties are notoriously difficult to overcome without the help of a search professional, and there’s a risk you could do even more damage trying to fix the problem yourself.

If you get an email like the one below, hiring an SEO consultant may be your best bet.

As well as helping your site recover from a penalty, an SEO consultant can help you avoid getting hit with additional penalties in the future by abiding by Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Your In-House Team Isn’t Working

Some businesses try to build their own SEO team in-house or hire a marketing manager with experience in several areas of digital marketing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work out. Not only will an SEO consultant be more experienced than an in-house team, but they will also be cheaper — even if your SEO department is just a single person.

You’re Too Busy to Do SEO

Even if you or your marketing manager are SEO experts, there’s no guarantee you’re going to have time to implement strategies to improve your rankings.

SEO is an important marketing channel, but other tasks take precedence. If you’re rushed off your feet dealing with customers, suppliers, and shareholders, then outsourcing the work to an SEO consultant is a smart move.

How To Find An SEO Consultant

Finding an SEO consultant isn’t hard. But finding a good one is. First, let’s look at some of the most common ways to find an SEO consultant:

• Ask your network. Speaking to people you know and trust is one of the best ways to find an SEO consultant. If a fellow business owner or manager knows of a great SEO consultant, they’re usually happy to recommend them. As an added bonus, you’ll know they can deliver.

• Run a Google search. Unsurprisingly, Google is a great source for finding an SEO consultant. A quick search for “SEO consultant” serves up over 45 million results. If a consultant is ranking well on Google, there’s a good chance they know what they’re doing. This shouldn’t be the only factor you use in your decision, however. Just because they rank high on Google doesn’t mean they’ll be able to do the same for your business.

• Use online directories. There are several online directories that collect reviews about SEO professionals. Clutch, UpCity, and G2 are great places to start. Once again, take these reviews with a pinch of salt. Just because a consultant is topping the rankings doesn’t mean they are the best for you. Like Google, they are a great way to get a shortlist of suitable candidates rather than pinpoint one.

• Look through SEO blogs. Popular SEO blogs like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and The Moz Blog can be a great source of potential SEO consultants. They don’t just host the opinions of journalists; SEO professionals routinely write how-tos and thought pieces on these sites.

• Post on job boards. Job boards like Upwork, AngelList, and Dynamite Jobs are great places to post an ad. The beauty of this method is that SEO consultants will come to you, meaning all you have to do is interview them. What’s more, many of these job boards vet applicants before they can even apply.

Traits of A Good SEO Consultant

There are several traits that set great SEO consultants apart from the rest. I recommend you look for the following attributes when interviewing potential candidates.

Several years of experience. You don’t want a rookie SEO as your consultant. The longer an SEO consultant has been working in the industry, the better. They’ll have worked on more sites, have a better understanding of what works and have more case studies to back up their success.

Proven results. Any SEO consultant worth their salt will have a string of case studies to back up their work. They should be able to show exactly what they did to improve a previous client’s rankings and the impact they had. They should also be happy to put you in contact with previous clients.

A long-term vision. You want an SEO consultant that’s in it for the long haul, not someone who is going to leave you for a new client after a couple of months. So choose a consultant who explains the long-term benefits of SEO to your business and has a roadmap of how you can achieve them.

Sees the bigger picture. SEO is just one part of a holistic marketing strategy, and a good SEO consultant will appreciate that. As such, they should help you fold your SEO strategy into other marketing initiatives and be willing to work with other team members and departments in your company to improve your broader marketing goals.

SEO Consultants vs. SEO Agencies

SEO consultants aren’t the only professionals you can hire to improve your rankings. You can also work with an SEO agency. While SEO consultants are usually one-person companies, SEO agencies can have five, ten, or even hundreds of employees.

While there are similarities in the services both an SEO consultant and an SEO agency can offer clients, there are also some pretty big differences between the two.

SEO Consultants May Require Your Help, SEO Agencies Won’t

If you choose to work with an SEO consultant, then you’re probably looking for a personal, one-to-one service. What you might not realize is that they will probably need your help to improve your rankings, too. Because SEO consultants work on their own, they typically don’t have the resources to provide a done-for-you service. That means they could ask your team to write additional content, change your website or perform other SEO-related tasks.

That’s very different from an SEO agency that has the capacity to perform every SEO task in-house.

Agencies Cost More, But You Get More For Your Money

Agencies will usually charge more for their time than SEO consultants. That’s because they have staff to pay and overheads to cover, whereas SEO consultants typically work from home. For smaller businesses, that may mean an SEO consultant is the way to go.

But other businesses may want to pay more for an agency because they know they’ll get more bang for their buck. That’s because an agency gives you access to dozens of experts rather than just one. Having more people working on your project also means you get work delivered quicker. There’s a good chance you’ll see results faster, too.

Both Agencies and Consultants Offer Great Advice

At the end of the day, if you choose a good SEO consultant or SEO agency, you’ll still be receiving excellent advice. Most consultants and agencies are dedicated to their craft, go to the right conferences and test cutting-edge tactics. You may get access to a few more experts when you work with an SEO agency, but that doesn’t make an SEO consultant any less professional.

FAQs

Conclusion

SEO consultants can deliver incredible results to small businesses, helping them to improve every facet of SEO. From link building to on-site optimization, a good SEO consultant can do it all.

But they aren’t always the right choice for everyone. For some businesses, working with an SEO agency is a better choice. If you have the budget, an SEO agency will help you get more done in less time, supercharging your results in the process.

Whether you’re hiring an SEO consultant or an SEO agency, you can look in many of the same places and search for similar traits. Or you can ask my agency for help.

So what’s right for your business? An SEO consultant or an SEO agency?