Hiring an SEO consultant is easier when you know what the work looks like before you sign. This guide explains what happens at each stage of an engagement, from the first call to the monthly reviews, based on how I run my own consultancy. It should help you judge any consultant’s proposal, not only mine.
What happens before an SEO consultant makes recommendations?
A good consultant starts by understanding the business, not the website. Expect questions about your services, your best customers, your margins, the areas you cover and what a new enquiry is worth to you. Without that, it is impossible to know which searches are worth chasing.
Next comes access. You will usually be asked to share Google Search Console, Google Analytics, your Google Business Profile if you have one, and read-only access to your website. Your accounts should stay in your name; a consultant only needs to be added as a user.
What happens during the first month?
The first month is mostly diagnosis. In my case it covers:
- A technical audit: crawling the site to find indexing problems, broken links, redirect chains, duplicate pages, slow templates and Core Web Vitals issues.
- A performance review: which pages and searches already bring traffic and enquiries, what has changed over time, and where rankings have been lost.
- Keyword and competitor research: the searches your customers actually use, and who currently wins them.
- Quick wins: fixes that can be made straight away, such as titles, internal links or pages Google cannot index.
At the end of the month you should have a clear picture of what is holding the site back and a prioritised plan for the months ahead.
What should you receive from an SEO consultant?
The deliverables should be practical documents your team can act on, not a generic report. Typically:
- an audit with every issue ranked by impact and effort
- a keyword map showing which page should rank for which search
- briefs or rewritten copy for priority pages
- a list of technical fixes written so a developer can implement them
- a monthly report tied to enquiries and sales, not only rankings
If a proposal does not say what you will actually receive each month, ask before you agree to it.
Who implements the SEO recommendations?
This varies more than most people expect, so agree it at the start. Some consultants only advise, leaving your team or developer to make the changes. Others, including me, can implement much of the work directly: editing pages in WordPress, fixing technical issues, writing content and setting up redirects. Where a change needs a developer, a good consultant writes the specification and checks it once it is live.
How does the strategy develop after the first month?
From month two, the work moves from diagnosis to delivery. A typical rhythm is technical fixes and quick wins first, then improving the pages that already rank on page two, then new pages for searches you do not yet target, and finally earning links and mentions that build authority. The order changes with the site, but the principle is the same: fix what is broken before building more.
How is progress reviewed?
Expect a monthly report and a call to go through it. The report should show the work completed, movement for the searches you agreed to target, organic traffic, and most importantly enquiries or sales from organic search. A good consultant will also tell you plainly when something has not worked and what they will change.
How long before you see results?
Technical fixes and improvements to pages that already rank can show results within weeks. For competitive searches, three to six months is a realistic time to see meaningful movement, and sometimes longer. Anyone promising first place in a few days is not being straight with you. You can see realistic timelines in my client case studies.
Can priorities change during the engagement?
They should. A Google update, a new competitor, a new service you want to promote or a page that suddenly takes off can all change what deserves attention next. A rigid twelve-month plan that never changes is a warning sign. The plan should be reviewed every month and adjusted to what the data shows.
What does working with an SEO consultant cost?
Costs depend on how competitive your market is, how much work the site needs, and whether the consultant implements changes or only advises. Projects such as an audit are usually priced once, while ongoing work is normally a monthly retainer. My guide to SEO consultant fees in the UK breaks the figures down, and if you are still deciding between the two models, my comparison of a consultant and an agency explains where each fits.
What do you need to provide?
The best results come when the client is involved. You will be asked for access to your accounts, a contact who can answer questions about the business, feedback on content before it goes live, and help from your developer if changes need one. A few hours a month from your side usually makes a noticeable difference to how quickly things move.
What are the warning signs of a poor engagement?
- no clear list of deliverables each month
- reports full of rankings for searches nobody uses
- links bought in bulk, or methods the consultant will not explain
- accounts, content or data kept in the consultant’s name rather than yours
- long contracts with no way out if results do not come
My article on the qualities to check before hiring an SEO expert covers the questions to ask at the start.
Is an SEO consultant the right choice for you?
A consultant suits businesses that want senior experience and direct contact with the person doing the work, without paying for an agency’s overheads. If you are unsure what the role covers, start with my explainer on what an SEO consultant does, or see how I work as an independent SEO consultant with businesses across the UK.
If you would like to know what an engagement would look like for your own website, book a free SEO review and I will tell you what I would do first.