Hiring an SEO consultant can mean the difference between a 3x boost in revenue from organic search and a 10x increase in useless keyword rankings.
Which would you prefer?
I’m picking those sweet closed-won deals every day of the week.
SEO consultants bring clarity, expertise, tactical recommendations, and most importantly, let you stay in your zone of genius while they do the heavy lifting in theirs.
With an SEO specialist, you can focus on the broader marketing strategy while they dive deep into the details—meaning you sleep easy, knowing you’re covered without having to spend hours learning, testing, and experimenting on your own or hiring an in-house team before proving out your SEO approach.
The ultimate goal of SEO is to drive your business’s growth by showing up in Google Search when your target customer has a need, giving them the right content to solve it, and inspiring them to act with your unique approach to the solution.
When you hire the right SEO consultant, it’s a complete win win.
What is a Search Engine Optimization Consultant?
A search engine optimization (SEO) consultant is an expert who enhances a company’s online visibility, improving its ranking in search engine results.
This specialist leverages years of experience to optimize content, keywords, and technical elements, making it easier for potential customers to find the company’s products online.
In essence, they make it seamless for new people to discover you through a Google search and optimize your site to turn those discoveries into actual users (without using paid advertising).
3 Signs You Could Benefit From an SEO Consultant
If you’re unsure whether your company needs the expertise of a search engine optimization consultant, there are key indicators to look out for. An SEO consultant isn’t just for those completely new to growth marketing; even established companies can benefit from some SEO direction.
Here are three signs that might convince you it’s time to consider partnering with someone for their SEO consulting services.
- Your website isn’t ranking for key search terms: If your content isn’t appearing on the first page of search results for relevant keywords, that means clicks are going to your competition — and it’s a clear sign you could benefit from an SEO consultant’s expertise.
- Stagnant or declining web traffic: A noticeable plateau or drop in your website’s traffic indicates that your current SEO strategies might not be effective or up-to-date with the latest search engine algorithms and best practices.
- Low conversion rates: If your site is getting traffic but not converting visitors into users or customers, an SEO consultant can analyze and optimize your site’s content and user experience to improve engagement and conversion rates.
Do any of these ring a bell? Then it might be time to get serious about your SEO.
What Will a Search Engine Optimization Consultant Do For You?
An SEO consultant will do their best to understand your company’s goals, review your existing SEO campaign, examine data available to them in orer to complete a thorough analysis, and create an overarching SEO strategy to help you improve your organic sourced pipeline and revenue.
Here are the key things that SEO consultants do:
1. Help you solidfy your company’s key messaging and value proposition
It doesn’t matter if your SEO consultant creates the best sounding strategy in the world if it doesn’t align to your business model, your target customers, and your unique positioning in the market. Every SEO worth their enterprise Ahrefs annual subscription wont even talk about doing an audit without getting crystal clear on these considerations. Even if they have to help you craft them for the first time.
2. Conduct a Competitor gap analysis and develop a real strategy
A real strategy is more than “writing blog posts” or using Yoast to light up WordPress with green lights.
An SEO consultant’s strategy will be a well documented, actionable plan with a single primary goal, clear reasons why that goal matters for your business, and exact steps to hit it. It includes measurable KPIs to track progress, along with everyone involved—your team, tools, resources, and budget.
Sound different? It should. There’s a world of difference between SEO services using random tactics that hope for results and a well-structured, reliable strategy that delivers sustainable growth.
A key part of this strategy is analyzing the competitive landscape to uncover your unique opportunities. By examining competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in search, SEO consultants help shape a plan that aligns with your company’s size, budget, current content, topical authority, and growth targets.
This competitive insight allows you to prioritize easy wins and deploy optimizations that immediately leverage your strengths against their gaps, creating a roadmap for both quick and sustained wins.
3. Intent based keyword research to determine what you have the right to own
Modern SEO is all about understanding and matching search intent. Understanding what the human being the keyword wants to accomplish and the type of solution they need to solve their problem is the entire game.
Your SEO consultant should understand the following when doing effective keyword research:
Intent. The search intent of the keyword – informational, transactional, commercial, and navigational
Difficulty. No, this isn’t simply pulling an arbitrary score from Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs. It’s deeper than that.
- They should look at the search results themselves to see what companies are currently owning the terms.
- Have they dedicated a few resources to the content or spent thousands of dollars year after year perfecting the content asset to rank #1.
- Is the page dominated by established brands or a few newcomers?
- How many rare domains are linking to the top results?
All of these questions are simply a starting point to figuring out how difficult a keyword will be to rank for.
Information gain. As they are doing research they should be identifying the angle that your company can take to stand out from the competition. Google states directly in their documentation that users want expert opinions and that they will reward unique and useful information added to their index. Also known as information gain.
Existing performance. The best place to start improvements is with existing content assets. Even if they are underperforming, making strategic improvements to them could yield quicker results. Also, knowing you’ve developed significant topical authority in one area over the other should clue the consultant in to starting with your area of strength and building from there versus starting from scratch.
4. On page SEO and conversion rate optimization
That’s right, attracting new website visitors from organic search means nothing if they aren’t your target customer. So a skilled consultant or advisor will ensure that your high conversion pages and calls to action are optimized towards encouraging your users to convert into a sales opportunity.
Yes, of course they will help you optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, H1-H3 headings, and all of the other key on page SEO considerations.
The difference is that they don’t stop there with the basics. They won’t only consider gaming Google’s algorithm. Every suggestion that make should have user engagement in mind on top of important ranking factors. That’s how you turn Google Search Console clicks into CRM closed won deals.
In short, a professional SEO consultant will make your brand’s online presence better and more accessible. With their help, you’ll more effectively cater to your target audience via proven inbound marketing strategies, which results in more leads and revenue for your company.
5. Authority building and digital PR
Link building in competitive industries is non-negotiable, but it has to be quality over quantity.
SEO consultants develop digital PR strategies that get your content in front of industry-relevant audiences.
Through epic content that naturally attracts links, co marketing, targeted outreach, guest posts, and leveraging partnerships, they build high-quality links that boost authority without putting your site at risk.
Each of these areas isn’t just about visibility; it’s about creating an organic strategy that fuels a meaningful pipeline and, ultimately, revenue.
SEO advisory can make or break a business, as effective SEO strategies distinguish a visible, easily discoverable company from one lost in the depths of search results — especially since 53% of consumers in the U.S. report researching products on a search engine before making a purchase decision.
By employing a targeted approach, an SEO consulting company can ensure your product is found for relevant keywords and stands out among competitors.
Reasons Why You Should Hire an SEO Consultant
For the right companies who are looking to get a positive return on investment from their SEO efforts, an SEO marketing consultant can be a complete game changer.
Here are the main benefits of getting help from a professional SEO:
Save Time and Money by Avoiding the Wrong Tactics
Not all SEO efforts are created equal. Spending two weeks hand-rewriting old meta descriptions won’t have the same impact as improving load speeds on your key service pages for mobile.
One of the biggest advantages of working with someone who has real experience is their ability to quickly spot wasted spend and effort. That alone can make the partnership worthwhile.
You’ll also save money by avoiding the need to hire and train two or three full-time roles just to cover what an experienced consultant can do alone.
Full-time employees aren’t cheap, and even an aggressive consultant retainer is typically cheaper than hiring and training internally without a solid SEO strategy.
Results-Driven Focus
Some companies get tangled up in technical SEO details and lose sight of the main mission: business growth.
SEO consultants are laser-focused on proving their value. They’ll push back on any tactic that doesn’t align with your key offers or most lucrative customer segments, ensuring your SEO efforts are strategically aligned with your business goals.
Their incentive is to help you grow so you continue wanting to work with them. Consultants can only work with a limited number of clients, and constant client turnover isn’t something anyone wants.
Stay Up-to-Date on Best Practices
Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, and buyer behavior doesn’t stand still either. What worked six months ago in search might be obsolete today. Staying on top of these changes is practically a full-time job.
When you hire a consultant, you’re working with someone whose exact job is not only to keep up with changes but also to proactively plan and future-proof your strategy. This way, your rankings stay strong, and your SEO is built to last.
What Makes a Good SEO Consultant?
Now that we know what a professional SEO consultant is and why you should hire one, how do you find the right consultant for your team?
Look for these traits to choose the right SEO consultant:
- Plenty of SEO experience: Many people work in SEO, but that doesn’t necessarily make them an expert in the field. When looking for a professional SEO consultant, be sure they have several years of experience, a strong track record of past results, and references or testimonials.
- An understanding of the three main SEO aspects: Your consultant should be an expert in on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. They should have a deep understanding of SEO and how to work with everything from keywords and tags to site architecture and page structure.
- Great communication skills: You want a consultant who’s skilled in clearly communicating what changes need to be made, why, and how they will make them.
- Clear reporting and accountability. Transparent and frequent reporting is non negotiatble. Your SEO consultant should be on top of target keyword rankings, clicks from the SERPS, website visitors from organic search, qualified leads, closed won deals, and revenue generated. If they aren’t, or get shy around these topics, keep looking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is SEO consulting?
SEO consulting is the process of an SEO consultant helping a client on figure out the best and most cost effective way to increase their organic search sourced revenue. An SEO consultant steps in to guide clients on best practices, spotting the gaps, and providing clear recommendations to make sure their site isn’t just found but converting.
How much do SEO consultants charge?
SEO consultants all have their own way of charging for their services and differ in how they prefer to get paid. Options include:
- One time projects, like an SEO audit. These can cost anywhere from $850-$2000 depending on your needs and complexity of your website.
- Monthly retainer. This option is for companies that want to turn SEO from a set of tactics into a long term revenue generating strategy and want a partner to build their foundations with over time. These retainers can cost between $3500-$7000 on average
So, Are SEO Consultants Worth It?
Given that 70% of marketers think SEO is more effective at driving sales than PPC, we would dare to say yes: search engine optimization consultants are definitely worth the investment.
The right SEO strategy can drive thousands of qualified leads to your site.
At RevenueZen, we’ve used our SEO expertise to grow organic traffic by 400% and revenue by 300% for our clients. Learn more about what our top SEO consultants can do for you today.
