The Ultimate Guide to SEO Consulting

Do you want to outrank all of your competitors on Google?

Of course, you do. After all, more traffic equals more followers, and more followers lead to more new customers buying your products and services.

However, outranking your competitors with well-optimized SEO pages takes work.

You need a proven strategy that suits your specific business.

Search Engine Optimization is a long-term commitment, but when used properly, you can maximize your results and see those necessary improvements. And you don’t have to do it alone.

There are two things you can do to maximize your SEO results.

1. Hire an SEO consulting services agency with a proven track record, like NP Digital.
2. Find an individual SEO Consulting expert who can build your entire SEO strategy.

Today, I’m focusing on the first option — How to choose the best SEO consulting services for your business.

Let’s get to it.

The Top 3 Options For SEO Consulting

Detailed below are three of the top options for SEO consulting.

1. NP Digital for the best Blog and Website SEO Consulting

I can’t write an article about SEO consulting without mentioning the award-winning NP Digital agency.

The agency has recently won the Global Performance Marketing Agency of the Year and Paid Search Agency of the Year. It’s also Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agency and was named Best Workplace by Inc Magazine. Pretty awesome, right?

Additionally, NP Digital has received recognition for the impressive ROI it delivers to clients, its paid search, and B2B SEO services.

I could go on, but I don’t like to boast.

Since the start NP Digital has offered a proven system to get your readers coming back for more content while also converting a high percentage of them.

Book a call with NP Digital today if you’re looking to outgrow all of your competitors and work with a well-established SEO consulting firm that brings consistent results.

2. Louder.Online for Dedicated Sales Funnel SEO Consulting

Are you more into Sales Funnels?

Do you want to optimize your Sales Pages for SEO while maintaining high conversion rates?

Then you should speak with an SEO consulting company specializing in bringing consistent, trackable results for your sales funnels.

In our experience, Louder.Online has been an atomic weapon.

Its SEO consulting experts have years of experience, and more importantly, they get results.

If you’re looking to optimize your sales pages, you should check out what Louder.Online has to offer.

Ecommerce Guide for Dedicated E-commerce SEO Consulting

E-commerce stores MUST optimize their website if they want to succeed long term.

As an e-commerce owner, you should optimize all of your pages and product descriptions to get all the traffic you can get your hands on.

The SEO strategy development here is far from simple.

To make things easier for you, here’s a detailed step-by-step guide on optimizing your E-commerce store’s SEO.

On the other hand, if you’re searching for an agency, E-commerce Guide is one of the top SEO consulting firms in the niche.

Contact them and get a full SEO audit to guide you.

How Do You Know You Need an SEO Consultant?

If you’re struggling to get your business where you want it to be or there are areas of SEO that you don’t have time for, an SEO consulting service can help you to improve your ranking in search engine results. This can help you to stay competitive, make it easier for potential customers to find you, and increase potential business revenue.

They can help you to resolve issues in multiple core areas of your online business, like:

• A lack of conversions or traffic to your website.
• Challenges keeping up with the newest search engine trends, techniques, and best practices. An SEO consultant can help keep you ahead of the curve and make informed decisions.
• Difficulties ranking for highly competitive keywords.
• You need to figure out what to take from your SEO analytics and want someone with the expertise to make data-driven decisions for you.
• You’re launching a new website, product, or service and want to target a new audience.

Really, though, deciding to hire an SEO consulting firm depends on your business goals, budget, and existing expertise.

SEO Consultants vs In-House Teams

For many companies, deciding whether to go with an in-house team or work with external SEO consultants is the challenge. As you’d expect, there are pros and cons to both options.

Clutch sums up some of the benefits of both choices in the chart below:

The most obvious benefit of working with an SEO consulting service is avoiding the steep learning curve of search engine optimization.

If you’re a small business and know it will take time before staff can get up to speed with SEO complexities, you can save yourself time (and headaches) by outsourcing. Agency staff can use their expertise and resources to get you better results than you would by yourself.

You could also use an agency to focus on growing your business. While your team focuses on the day-to-day tasks, SEO consulting experts can create a strategy that delivers results.

Doing SEO in-house has its advantages, too.

The most obvious benefit of going in-house is that the staff knows the business better than an outside consultant. They know the customers, the market, and what appeals to them.

You may also find it easier to collaborate and communicate when you keep your SEO in-house. Team meetings, sharing updates, and changing course, if needed, may be easier.

Then, of course, there’s the sense of having greater control and flexibility. After all, you’re working on your own terms.

Assuming you’ve decided to use an SEO consulting firm or an SEO freelancer, let’s move on to the process involved in selecting the right consultant for you.

The Process of Selecting An SEO Consultant

If you feel it’s time to bring an SEO consultant on board, you can follow some simple steps to slim down your selection.

• First, begin with some research. Look at websites, social media profiles, customer reviews, and testimonials. Ask around for recommendations, too.
• Ask for case studies. These tell you the results an SEO consultant can achieve for clients and give you an idea of their expertise.
• You should also check their certifications. However, remember certifications aren’t everything, as practical experience is equally as important with SEO.
• Once you find someone you like, schedule an appointment. Ask questions and give specifics.
• Before your consultation, ensure you know what you want to achieve and ensure you establish how the agency can help you.
• Be clear on your budget from the start. Ask the consultant if they can deliver the results you’re looking for on your available budget.
• Get an idea of timelines, how they work, and whether they’re a good fit for your team overall.

With the process selection narrowed down, it’s easier to find the ideal SEO consultant for you.

How to Choose The Best SEO Consulting Firm For You

You need to look at a couple of important factors if you want to find SEO agency consulting services to help rank your website optimally.

Many SEO consulting agencies offer multiple ways to improve your ranking. While there’s nothing wrong with that, you have to find the most suitable for you.

Feeling stuck? Here’s what to look for when searching for SEO consulting agency services:

1. Detailed SEO Strategy Development

Before you hire an SEO consultant, make an introduction call.

Your aim? Establish if the person speaking with you (and the company in general) has the expertise you are looking for.

How do you do that if you don’t understand SEO?

Simple!

See if the consultant on the other side is focused on helping you understand the process.

A true expert can explain the toughest methodology in layperson’s terms through simple and result-oriented language. If the SEO consultant can explain how they develop an SEO Strategy and get results, and cite examples, then you know you’re talking with a real professional.

If you feel like you’re speaking to a robot that just knows to recite his script, seek out other SEO consulting firms until you find one you feel comfortable working with.

Then you move on to the next step.

2. Monthly Content Calendar and Scheduling

How do you keep up with content? With a content calendar. If you find yourself getting lost in the tons of articles, blog posts, and pages you’re about to optimize, then a content calendar gives you the structure you need.

Content calendars help to ensure everything’s going according to plan at all times, especially when you’re trying to scale big time and get results.

I’m talking about 10-20 articles per week. One mistake in this process can delay months of results.

If you’re new to this, just ask an SEO consultancy agency for advice. For example, you could outsource scheduling and content creation to an SEO consulting firm (I know a good one I can recommend!).

However, if you want to create a content calendar yourself, several tools are available to help with this, like Evernote for managing notes, Grammarly for editing, and Canva for videos and images.

Then there are AI tools to help with outlining and research, significantly boosting efficiency.

3. Clear Expectations for Both Sides

Your SEO consulting firm should give you clear expectations regarding how long it might take for content to rank.

Sometimes it takes several months to get close to the results you envision right now.

It should also explain how consultants conduct keyword research and how competitive your niche is.

The more posts you rank, the better your domain rating gets. The better the domain ranking, the easier it gets to rank your future posts.

Have your consultant do a market and niche analysis and ask for their expectations. For example, they should be specific about which keywords you can see quick movement on and how long it takes for more competitive keywords.

They should also have a firm grasp on your previous marketing and SEO efforts to understand your current position. This way, you’re building a relationship built on transparency and trust based on realistic expectations.

4. SEO Software

SEO software is an SEO consulting expert’s right hand.

You have to make sure your chosen consultant uses the industry’s most up-to-date software.

Here’s a detailed list of the best SEO tools you should use to rank your posts on the first page of Google.

You can reasonably expect a serious business to use tools that cover the following categories:

• Content marketing
• Technical SEO
• Link building
• Rank tracking
• Keyword research (give them bonus points if they’re using Ubersuggest!).

5. Reporting/Accountability

SEO reporting and accountability are crucial aspects of SEO consulting. To be sure you’re on track, you need access to regular reports and check-ins to ensure you’re progressing toward your goals.

Likewise, reporting keeps your consultant accountable and shows they are delivering results or at least well on track.

Seeing progress also goes a long way to managing expectations.

Reporting may come in the form of:

• Spreadsheets
• Results pulled from various software
• Weekly updates/calls
• Monthly reports

By regularly reviewing results and ensuring your consultant remains accountable, you can be confident you’re heading toward your SEO goals and growing your online presence while keeping realistic expectations.

The Different Types of SEO Consulting

Now you know what to look for when searching for SEO consulting experts, here’s how an SEO consultant can help YOU rank your content.

Search Engine Optimization is not just writing text and using keywords.

There are countless factors when it comes to your ranking on Google, so before you begin, you need to clarify what exactly you need help with.

An easy way to find that out is to ask yourself — Which part of my business brings the most sales?

You’ve got the answer? Good!

Now, you can use an SEO consulting agency to help you with:

1. Conducting website audits: An SEO consultant analyzes your website’s technical and structural components and identifies areas for improvement.
2. Keyword research and optimization: You don’t just need keywords. You must also use them in the right way and optimize your content. An SEO consulting business can help with this.
3. Backlink building: Your online performance won’t come to life without high-quality backlinks to improve your website’s authority and visibility.
4. Local SEO optimization: Local search is everything nowadays, especially if you have a brick-and-mortar store or offer local services.

Let’s dive into the different ways SEO optimization can help your business.

Company Website SEO Optimization

If your website is responsible for most of your sales and market positioning, then there’s a high chance that it’s the best place to drive traffic.

What does that mean for you?

It means you have to start writing more and more relevant posts to drive people to your products and services.

Here are some examples you can start with:

• Product Reviews (in your niche — link your products)
• Step-by-Step guides that genuinely help the reader
• Tutorials and Walk-throughs for people just getting started
• TOP 3-5-7-10 lists (products, services, software, companies)

All of these can get you a lot of relevant traffic that you can redirect to your products and services.

E-commerce Store SEO Optimization

Are you in the e-commerce space? Then you need to optimize your business product descriptions.

Without effectively ranked products, you can forget about getting consistent sales from e-commerce.

That’s why you need to follow a proven SEO product description strategy you can implement for all your current and future products.

Sales Funnel SEO Optimization

Nowadays, many businesses are moving from traditional websites to sales funnels.

These funnels are made up of interconnecting pages that have buttons and links to guide visitors through the funnel.

However, while many people using sales funnels rely on paid ads to get targeted traffic, there may be better long-term approaches to scaling your business.

As an essential part of your sales funnel process, optimization can lead to increased conversions, better targeting, and improved customer loyalty.

If you’re already hitting the panic button, don’t worry. It’s less complicated than it sounds. Optimization just means tweaking your funnels to get the best possible results.

Let’s take an example from Adynamics. Just by changing the shade of its CTA button, it gained a 190 percent increase in conversions!

But there are many other ways you can optimize your sales funnel too, which can include:

• Running A/B tests
• Researching for keywords and optimizing throughout
• Adding internal links and getting backlinks
• Optimizing images and using alt text
• Ensuring you use mobile-friendly templates
• Nurturing leads and personalizing content according to the funnel stage
• Analyzing your stats and spotting trends or room for improvement.

B2B digital marketers also suggest you use conversion-boosting templates like Unbounce or Instapages.

Then, if you begin with ranking your sales funnel pages and then move on to paid ads, you can run multiple split tests and ad campaigns until something clicks with the market.

That can take from 1 month to 2 years — just like SEO ranking.

When you achieve the best version of your funnel, you’ll already have consistent SEO traffic on top of the ads you’re running; if you’re using lots of sales funnels in your business, you should look at SEO Consulting Services as your best way to scale optimally.

FAQs

Conclusion

No matter where you are right now, investing in SEO consulting is a must if you want to scale your business efficiently.

I’ve explained how to choose the right SEO consulting agency for your business and included a few agencies for you to check out.

Additionally, I’ve detailed the importance of setting expectations and the different types of SEO consulting services available.

You should now have enough information to make an informed decision about how to choose an SEO agency or how to work with a technical SEO consultant.

However, reading articles isn’t enough on its own, so what are you waiting for?

Spring into action and start seeking an SEO consulting firm to level up your business and get it where you want it to be.

Have you ever paid for SEO consulting services before? Were the results what you expected and why?