Climb Google With A
WordPress SEO Consultant
I’m Paul Hoda, a WordPress SEO consultant optimising websites since 2005. I untangle heavy themes, clashing plugins and indexing mistakes so your WordPress site can finally compete. Dental and health SEO is my specialism, and no project is ever delegated.
Why Hire a WordPress SEO Consultant?
WordPress powers a huge share of the web because it is flexible, and that flexibility is exactly where SEO goes wrong. A premium theme, a page builder and thirty plugins can quietly produce slow pages, duplicate archives and conflicting meta tags. My role as a technical SEO consultant is to find which of those layers is costing you rankings and put it right.
On a WordPress site, the work falls into three connected areas:
- Technical SEO: trimming theme and plugin bloat, passing Core Web Vitals, and controlling which URLs WordPress lets Google index.
- Content and on-page SEO: posts, pages and product listings rewritten around real search intent, with Yoast or Rank Math configured properly rather than chasing green lights.
- Authority: earning genuine links and mentions from respected sites, so your domain carries weight beyond its own pages.
Usually one of these is the real bottleneck. I identify it, deal with it first, then strengthen the other two. If the role is new to you, start with what an SEO consultant actually handles.
Is your WordPress site showing these symptoms?
- Traffic slipped after a theme, plugin or core update
- PageSpeed scores are red despite caching plugins
- Yoast or Rank Math says all is well, yet rankings stall
- A rebuild, new host or domain move is on the way
- Tag, author or attachment pages are flooding the index
- Spam URLs or odd foreign pages appear in Google
Any one of these is worth investigating before it spreads. Lost positions recently? These are the usual causes of falling Google rankings.
Proven Growth From a WordPress SEO Consultant
The figures here are pulled from client Search Console accounts, set side by side for the months before and after I started. They track real clicks from Google, not plugin scores or traffic estimates.
Meet Paul Hoda, Your WordPress SEO Consultant
My name is Paul Hoda. I work independently from London, helping WordPress site owners all over the UK. My route into SEO in 2005 came through repairing computers, writing code and building websites by hand, so I approach a slow or poorly indexed site the way an engineer would.
In WordPress terms, that means I can open a child theme, see which plugin is loading scripts on every page, and tell your developer exactly which hook or template to change. No generic audit exports, just specific fixes.
My own site runs on WordPress too, and it has stayed on page one for years for contested terms including SEO expert and SEO consultant UK. It is a working example of what a well-tuned WordPress install can do.
- 2005 start in SEO
- 5.0 average Google review
- Family-run and independent
- +250% mean organic growth
A Selection of Past and Current Clients
What Does a WordPress SEO Consultant Deliver?
Each WordPress project starts from what your install actually contains: the theme, the builder, the plugin stack and the hosting. These are the services I draw on, all delivered by me rather than passed between departments.
WordPress SEO Audit
A crawl of every URL WordPress generates, a review of the plugin stack and templates, plus content and links compared with the sites above you, sorted by what will move rankings.
Keyword Research & Strategy
Finding the phrases customers type, gauging how hard each is to win, and assigning every one to a single post, page or product so nothing competes with itself.
On-Page SEO
Permalinks, titles, descriptions, heading order and internal links set up correctly in Yoast or Rank Math, with templates fixed where the theme gets headings wrong.
Technical SEO & Page Speed
Unused CSS and JavaScript, render-blocking builder assets, caching and image delivery, plus sitemaps, robots.txt and schema. I fix much of it myself in code.
Content Strategy
Pruning or merging thin posts that WordPress blogs collect over the years, then briefing new pieces that cover each topic thoroughly.
Local SEO & Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile tuned, NAP details made consistent, LocalBusiness schema and location pages built cleanly in WordPress so you can compete in the map pack.
Link Building & Digital PR
Editorial links and brand mentions won through outreach and useful content, plus a review of any risky links a previous provider may have built.
AI Overviews & Chatbots
Clean markup, accessible pages and clear answers so ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews can read your WordPress content and cite it.
Ranking Loss Recovery
Whether the fall came from a core update, a botched migration, a hack or a penalty, I trace the cause and lay out the steps to recover.
Industries Served by Your WordPress SEO Consultant
My clients run WordPress because it gives them control, and they want someone who understands the platform as well as Google.
Dental & Cosmetic Clinics
Dental and medical practices on WordPress whose implant, Invisalign and cosmetic dentistry pages must load quickly, carry correct schema and appear in local map results.
Ecommerce Brands
WooCommerce stores battling faceted filter URLs, thin product variations and slow cart scripts, which need categories and products indexed cleanly.
Software & SaaS Companies
Software firms using WordPress for their marketing site, needing feature, integration and comparison pages that bring in trial and demo sign-ups.
Local & Professional Services
Trades, firms and practices across the UK whose brochure sites were built on a page builder and now need to rank for local service searches.
In-House Teams & Agencies
Web design studios and in-house teams who build in WordPress and want an SEO specialist to check launches, migrations and ongoing changes.
Should You Hire a WordPress SEO Consultant or an Agency?
Many WordPress agencies are, at heart, build shops, with SEO added as a monthly bolt-on. That can work, but it helps to know whether the person touching your rankings understands search as deeply as they understand themes.
A WordPress agency fits when
- You need a redesign, development and hosting from one supplier
- Your site needs constant new features and custom builds
- You are happy to pay for design and project staff
- SEO is a small part of a much wider brief
An independent consultant fits when
- Organic search is a major source of your customers
- You want one technical specialist who knows WordPress and Google
- Your site already exists and needs fixing, not rebuilding
- You prefer monthly terms over a fixed contract
Keeping your developer?
Good. I write precise tickets for your developer or agency and check each change on staging before it reaches the live site.
| Comparison | Paul Hoda, Independent | WordPress Build Agency | Marketplace Freelancer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | I handle your site personally | A developer with SEO as a side task | Unknown, may resell tools |
| Experience | SEO specialist since 2005 | Strong on builds, lighter on search | Often a plugin settings checklist |
| Communication | You talk to the person making changes | Tickets via a project manager | Hard to reach once the gig ends |
| Contracts | Monthly, cancel with notice | Retainers often bundled with hosting | Fixed gigs, no follow-through |
| Technical SEO | Theme, plugin and template fixes for speed and indexing | Solid, but not always SEO-led | Another optimisation plugin installed |
| Cost | From £1,000 a month, nothing bundled in | Fees cover design and dev teams too | Low cost, risk of broken settings |
What Is the Process of Working With a WordPress SEO Consultant?
Five stages, from the first look at your install to steady monthly gains, with nothing changed on the live site until you have seen why.
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1 Day 1
Free Site Check
I review your theme, plugins, speed and rankings, and explain plainly what seems to be dragging the site down.
You get: a short list of first priorities, free and without commitment.
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2 Weeks 1–2
Crawl & Stack Review
A complete crawl, plugin and template review, content inventory and look at competing sites.
You get: a written audit plus a snapshot of current clicks and positions.
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3 Week 3
Fix List & Plan
Issues are ranked by likely gain and effort, so quick wins on speed and indexing come first.
You get: a sequenced plan for six to twelve months ahead.
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4 Ongoing
Staging & Rollout
Changes are tested on a staging copy where possible, then released by me or your developer.
You get: faster templates, tidier indexing, improved pages and new links.
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5 Monthly
Monitor & Improve
I watch Search Console after every plugin or core update and adjust the plan as results come in.
You get: a monthly summary of clicks, rankings and leads.
Case Studies: Steady Growth and Penalty Recovery
Two long-running clients, one growing steadily and one recovering from a penalty. Tap a keyword to see the live Google result, or open the write-up.
Chris Bowers & Sons®: 300% Growth
Top Google position for:
apple trees for saleSee it on Google ↗A specialist nursery selling fruit trees to gardeners nationwide. Across two years of consistent work, visits from organic search climbed by 300%, and the site now holds page-one spots throughout its niche for hundreds of related searches.
Total K9®: 200% Growth
Top Google position for:
protection dogsSee it on Google ↗This business reached me after its rankings collapsed under a Google penalty. With the penalty lifted and the drop reversed, organic visitors and enquiries rose by 200%, and they keep growing by roughly 30% a year.
How Much Does a WordPress SEO Consultant Cost?
Ongoing SEO from an experienced independent consultant in the UK tends to cost between £1,000 and £5,000 a month, depending on the size of the job. Retainers for my WordPress SEO begin at £1,000 a month; the precise fee follows a free check of your site.
Monthly WordPress SEO
from £1,000/month
- Planning plus hands-on fixes each month
- Theme, plugin and speed fixes, content and links
- Optimisation for AI answers as standard
- A monthly update on clicks, rankings and leads
- You deal with me, not a support desk
What shapes the monthly fee?
- How fierce competition is for your searches
- How many URLs, plugins and templates are involved
- How much content and outreach the site needs
- How fast you want to see progress
What you can count on
- Monthly terms, never a long tie-in
- Every fix stays on your site if you leave
- Notes on every change and the reason for it
- Candid advice, even if it shrinks my role
Can a WordPress Site Appear in AI Search and ChatGPT?
More searches now end with an AI summary instead of a click. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode answer questions on the results page, and people increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity which business to choose.
WordPress sites can do well here, provided the basics are sound. AI systems lean on pages that already rank, that render without heavy scripts, and that carry accurate structured data. A bloated builder page or a broken schema plugin can keep you out of those answers.
AI visibility is built into each WordPress project, and I report on it alongside your standard positions.
How I prepare WordPress sites for AI
- Your business named by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
- Posts laid out so AI Overviews can quote them
- Direct answers to the questions people search
- Valid schema and crawler access in robots.txt
- Mentions of your brand on reputable sites
- Reporting on AI and classic search side by side
Read more: SEO consultancy and artificial intelligence
Where Does a WordPress SEO Consultant Add Most Value?
Most WordPress SEO trouble is self-inflicted, usually by well-meaning additions. A page builder that wraps every heading in five divs, two caching plugins fighting each other, or an SEO plugin left on default settings can all undo good content. Typical examples are CLS layout shift errors on mobile, a failed Core Web Vitals assessment despite a high PageSpeed score and pages stuck in Discovered, currently not indexed.
Some issues only appear at scale. WooCommerce filters can create thousands of near-identical URLs, old migrations leave redirect chains behind, and a single compromised plugin can fill Google with spam pages in your name.
The WordPress problems I deal with most often include:
- Page builder bloat
- Core Web Vitals failures
- Plugin conflicts
- Yoast and Rank Math setup
- WooCommerce indexing
- Tag and archive bloat
- Hacked spam pages
- Migration redirects
- Missing or broken schema
- Hosting and caching
- Oversized images
- Stray noindex tags
How WordPress projects run
The work is done remotely with the access you choose to grant: an editor or administrator login, Search Console and, ideally, a staging site. You get written notes on each change, and nothing goes live on your site without your approval.
My base is London, while the WordPress sites I look after belong to owners all around the UK. Because every fix happens inside your dashboard, your code and your Search Console, where you are located makes no difference to the results.
Want to know what your install is hiding? Ask for a free check and I will show you the main technical issues, how your pages compare with the sites outranking you, and what to fix first.
WordPress SEO Consultant: Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a WordPress SEO consultant cost?
For ongoing work from an experienced independent consultant, expect roughly £1,000 to £5,000 a month in the UK. My WordPress SEO starts at £1,000 a month on monthly terms, with the exact fee set after a free look at your site.
Is WordPress actually good for SEO?
Yes, when it is set up with care. The core software handles clean URLs and markup well. Problems usually come from heavy themes, page builders, unchecked plugins and default settings that let Google index pages nobody needs.
Should I use Yoast or Rank Math?
Either can do the job. What matters far more is the configuration: which archives are indexed, how canonicals and sitemaps behave, and whether the schema output is accurate. I work with whichever you already have unless it is causing a real problem.
Can you speed up a site built with Elementor or Divi?
Often, yes. Removing unused widgets and scripts, tidying fonts, improving image delivery and setting up caching properly can make a large difference. Where a builder is the main obstacle, I explain the trade-offs of rebuilding key templates.
Is a WordPress agency or an independent consultant better?
If you need design, development and hosting together, an agency may suit you. If your site exists and you need the search side fixed and grown by a specialist, an independent consultant is usually better value. I will tell you honestly which fits.
Will a redesign or migration hurt my rankings?
It can if URLs, content or internal links change without a plan. I map old URLs to new ones, check redirects, metadata and indexing rules on staging, then monitor Search Console closely after launch so problems are caught early.
My WordPress site was hacked and Google shows spam. Can you help?
I can help with the SEO side: finding injected pages, getting them out of Google’s index, handling any Search Console warnings and recovering lost positions. The security clean-up itself is best done with your developer or host, and I will coordinate with them.
Do you optimise WordPress sites for ChatGPT and AI Overviews?
Yes, as part of every project. That covers clean, fast pages, valid schema, crawler access and content written to be quoted. More detail sits on the ChatGPT optimisation page.
What access do you need to my WordPress site?
Google Search Console and Analytics are essential. For hands-on fixes, an editor or administrator account and a staging site are ideal. If you prefer, I can work only through your developer and supply detailed instructions instead.
How do I choose a WordPress SEO consultant?
Look for checkable case studies, long experience and their own rankings for competitive phrases. The right person discusses templates, indexing and enquiries rather than plugin scores. I expand on this in my SEO expert hiring checklist.
Ready to Work With a WordPress SEO Consultant?
If you have read this far, your site probably deserves a closer look. WordPress owners around the country already hand me their organic search, and yours would get the same attention.
Being a family-run business, we keep clients by delivering, never by locking them in. You will deal with me directly, and each change I suggest is weighed against the leads and sales it should bring.
A cluttered WordPress install frustrates visitors and confuses Google alike. I want your site lean, quick and clearly structured, so it can hold its ground on the first page of Google.
Request a free WordPress SEO check to learn what is slowing your site down in search.
With respect,
Start With Your WordPress SEO Consultant
Tell me a little about your WordPress site: the theme or builder you use, the plugins you rely on and what you want it to achieve. I will review it and come back with a clear plan to improve rankings, speed and enquiries.