Search Engine Optimization Consultant

Get to the top of search engine results and be seen as a trusted provider

Whether you’re an e-commerce brand or a professional services provider, you want to rank on the first page of search engine results. While SEO consultants can’t guarantee a top placement (if they do, you’ll be in for a surprise), they can help businesses reach their goals, like increasing website traffic, through search engine optimization.

Although this page is intended to persuade you to work with us, we believe that the best SEO consultants do more to help you understand the art and science of search engine optimization. On this page, you’ll find some best practices, advice on choosing a search engine optimization consultant and some rough figures regarding how much everything will cost.

Let’s get started!

What is an SEO consultant?

A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant specializes in helping businesses and website owners optimize their online presence to improve their visibility in search engine results.

The primary goal of an SEO consultant is to increase organic traffic to a website by improving its search engine rankings. SEO consultants work with three levers: technical SEO, content-related or on-page optimization, and strategic, off-site SEO activities like link building and digital PR that aim to make a website more appealing to search engines and visitors alike.

A note about our SEO process

At Jordan Stevens Digital Marketing Consulting, we focus on the three pillars of SEO. These are:

1. Technical SEO that ensures your website is accessible to search engines.
2. On-page SEO that includes a well-defined content strategy to increase your rankings and position your business as a thought leader in your industry.
3. Off-page SEO includes link building and digital PR that promotes your brand, drives traffic to your website, and increases your website’s ability to rank higher.

While other agencies may specialize in one of these areas, we believe all three must be addressed for maximal results.

How do SEO consultants work

SEO consultants often work independently or as part of agencies offering various digital marketing services. They need to stay current with the latest trends and best practices in the rapidly evolving field of search engine optimization to provide practical guidance. While an SEO consultant can provide valuable insights and recommendations to gain quick wins, achieving significant improvements in search rankings and organic traffic may take time and ongoing efforts.

What does an SEO consultant do?

SEO consulting services can vary but generally include:

1. Keyword Research: Identifying relevant keywords and phrases that potential customers might use to search for products, services, or information related to the website’s content.
2. On-Page Optimization: Optimizing various elements on a website’s pages, such as title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content, to align with targeted keywords and improve search engine visibility.
3. Technical SEO: Ensuring the website’s technical aspects are optimized for search engines, including site speed, mobile responsiveness, crawlability, and structured data markup.
4. Content Strategy: Advising on creating and optimizing high-quality, relevant, and engaging content that caters to the needs and interests of the target audience.
5. Link Building: Develop strategies to acquire high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, which can contribute to a website’s authority and search engine rankings.
6. Performance Monitoring: Using tools and analytics to track the website’s performance, analyze traffic trends, and identify areas for improvement.
7. Competitor Analysis: Researching and evaluating competitors’ online strategies to identify opportunities and stay ahead in the search rankings.
8. Algorithm Updates: Keep up-to-date with search engine algorithm changes (such as Google’s updates) and adjust strategies to align with the latest trends.
9. Local SEO: For businesses with a physical presence, ensuring that the website is optimized for local searches, including appearing in local business directories and maps.
10. Conversion Optimization: Advising on strategies to improve user experience and encourage visitors to take desired actions, such as making purchases, filling out forms, or subscribing to newsletters.

Link-building and content strategy tasks are of the utmost importance. Many of the other activities play a support role. And, despite what you may have heard, barring any giant holes, technical SEO often plays a minor role. Like the foundation of your house, your website needs to pass the foundational technical items so we can build on it, but that’s it.

Other tasks that a great SEO consultant will help with

• SEO tools selection: From keyword research tools to tracking your progress, your SEO consultant can recommend the best tools for your business. These often necessary tools will simplify your life by simplifying the steps needed to stay on top of your SEO strategies.
• User Experience (UX): Enhancing user experience is critical for SEO. A good user experience will keep people on your website longer and help them complete their tasks faster. Google is increasingly prioritizing a fast internet. SEO consulting services should be well-informed of best practices in this area.
• Content promotion: An SEO consultant will know how to promote your website to help it get the most out of the content being produced. They should also know about social media and how to best amplify your content on various platforms.
• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Most websites will have an ultimate goal: a conversion point. An SEO consultant should be experienced in optimizing your website for conversions, which will improve your ROI.

What is the best SEO process?

Like Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a good SEO process will help you get the most results at the lowest cost.

Search engine optimization involves managing three big buckets of tasks: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. A great process needs to consider these large pieces of the website traffic-building process.

First, your SEO consulting company should ensure your website is technically sound.

With a technically sound website, your SEO consultant can build a content strategy from keyword research. This involves researching your customers and industry to discover the unique challenges and questions your customers are asking. The goal should be to bridge the gap between your product and what your customers are searching for online.

A strong content marketing plan comes from a keyword strategy that uses SEO to beat your competition. As the content strategy evolves, we also look to create targeted campaigns and focus on things like SERP features and schema markup, reserved for top-ranking websites.

Once we have a solid technical SEO and on-page optimization foundation, we turn to off-site optimization. This usually takes the form of link-building and digital PR. However, this isn’t a separate task. As part of our content planning process, we look for ways to get people to link to your content naturally.

How long does it take to see the results?

After hiring an SEO consultant, the time it takes to see results can vary widely depending on several factors, including the competitiveness of your industry, the current state of your website, the quality of your previous SEO efforts, and the specific strategies you’re implementing. Generally, SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience and consistent effort. However, your results tend to be more stable with a long-term approach.

Here’s a rough timeline for seeing SEO results:

1. Initial Changes (1-3 Months): In the first few months of implementing SEO changes, you might see minor improvements. This could include changes in search engine rankings for less competitive keywords or increased visibility for specific pages.
2. Early Signs of Progress (3-6 Months): As you optimize your website and create high-quality content, you may see more noticeable improvements in search engine rankings. Your website’s overall visibility could increase, and you might see a gradual uptick in organic traffic.
3. Moderate Improvement (6-12 Months): If your SEO efforts are effective and consistent, you should see more significant improvements in search rankings and organic traffic around the six-month to one-year mark. You might rank higher for more competitive keywords, and your website’s authority could increase.
4. Substantial Results (12-24 Months): After a year or more of consistent SEO efforts, you could achieve significant results in search engine rankings, organic traffic, and online visibility. Your website’s authority and reputation in your industry might also grow, leading to more consistent and sustainable traffic growth.
5. Ongoing Growth (24+ Months): SEO is a continuing process, and your results will likely grow with time. As you consistently create valuable content, build high-quality backlinks, and adapt to changes in search engine algorithms, your website’s performance should continue to improve.

It’s important to note that these timelines are approximate and can vary depending on the factors mentioned earlier. Results may take longer in highly competitive industries. Additionally, algorithm updates from search engines like Google can impact rankings, which might require adjustments to your strategies.

Key factors that improve SEO performance

Consistency, quality, and a commitment to best practices are vital to achieving and maintaining positive results over time. While it might take some time to see the full benefits, the investment in SEO can lead to long-lasting improvements in your website’s organic visibility and overall online success.

All of our clients must see superior results. This is why we prioritize ongoing client engagements and work closely with marketing managers to ensure alignment with business objectives. While we may guide SEO campaigns, our expertise is with clients committed to long-term growth over short-term spikes.

SEO agency and in-house team support

Another aspect you’ll want to consider about SEO consultants and SEO consulting companies is that some work independently, and others work within the SEO agency model. Independent SEO consultants often provide a more hands-on approach and give you superior customer service. While their service levels are high, they may lack the resources of a well-backed agency.

Agencies, on the other hand, provide a wealth of resources and often specialized expertise. Many agencies will have one person dedicated to each of the three SEO pillars (keyword researchers, content strategists, data analysts, paid search, etc.). While their specialization is a benefit, their size can mean your company might not always be on their radar.

Who do we work with

At Jordan Stevens Digital Marketing, we support marketing agencies and direct clients. From B2B marketing to e-commerce SEO consulting, our expert SEO consultants have the skills and power to flawlessly execute search engine optimization campaigns.

Whether on the agency or client side, you can expect a service that will boost your business objectives and leave you feeling at ease. We want to be your digital marketing partner and work hard to exceed your brief and deliver exceptional results.

SEO consulting services

Our SEO consulting services include the following, but we go beyond the brief to consider why you’ve engaged us for a particular project. We may also support you with SEM consulting services or marketing strategies.

• Technical audits are an essential first step for any company looking to improve its SEO. This action item uses specialized tools to understand how well search engines can access and index your website.
• SEO strategy – Search engine optimization strategy is your high-level plan for how we’ll improve your web traffic and increase your sales. It involves keyword research, content planning and link-building and is designed to consider your resources and competition as part of your battle plan.
• Content marketing strategy and content production – With an SEO strategy, a more detailed content strategy is prepared. This plan will outline the specific content that needs to be created and the content production schedule that will be followed.
• On-page optimization—Here, we look specifically at the content on your website and find ways to optimize it. Sometimes, this means updating headlines and page titles. Other times, it means building new pages or splitting up content to ensure you’re ranking for as many keywords as possible.
• Off-page optimization—This step examines how other sites link back to you. It often involves building citations for local businesses and promoting strategies to increase website visibility.
• Link building is one of the ranking factors that started Google and continues to be an important factor in Google’s algorithm. It is simply the process of attracting other websites to link to your website. This could be through high-quality content you have produced or proactive outreach to related websites.

How much does SEO cost?

SEO Audits and campaigns

SEO audit pricing is based on your website’s size, starting at $1,250.

Most clients require an audit of their website to get started with SEO. This is often a springboard to understanding what needs to be done next. Our audits cover all technical foundations, a complete content inventory and primary keyword and backlink analysis.

Campaigns, on the other hand, are well-defined SEO consulting projects designed to address a specific need. These can be site migrations (see our case study on how we helped increase sales conversions by double digits), recovering from penalties, link building or one-time digital PR campaigns.

Managed Services

Depending on how big your website is and how fast you want to grow, our managed SEO consulting service starts at $1,250/month. There are no commitments (we believe in our work), so you can pause or quit at any time within a month’s notice.

As search is ever-evolving, SEO services are often best delivered over a long period of time. Our managed services include an initial audit, SEO strategy and planning, content production, and regular reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions about SEO Consultants

Will my rankings drop if I leave your service?

No. The great thing about SEO is that although it might take a bit longer to see exceptional results compared to paid ads, an excellent SEO service, like ours, will have you set up for the long run.

Black hat tricks are just that. It is meant to trick Google search into ranking your website higher, but these tactics are often short-lived. When you work with a reputable SEO company, they’ll use tried and true SEO strategies and tactics, such as providing outstanding content that has long-lasting value to users.

Does my company own all of the content?

You bet. We’ll never hold your content hostage. Any content produced for your website is yours to keep, update and reproduce.

Our services also look to provide you with off-page link building. This often requires content produced for other websites in the hope that we’ll get a link back to your website. With that in mind, you won’t be able to own that content. That said, we only work with reputable websites that will keep your links live for the foreseeable future.

How do you measure SEO results?

While rankings are something we look at, we want our services to lead to improving your sales pipeline and revenue. Some of the metrics we report on include:

1. Organic traffic
2. Leads generated by organic traffic
3. Sales generated by organic traffic

Part of our onboarding process will be determining the most critical measurement. Most of our SEO packages also include a dashboard so you can quickly see how your website performs at any time.

Will I be locked into a contract?

While covering our legal bases and ensuring everyone is aligned with what’s expected is essential, you are never locked into a contract. You can pause or cancel your monthly managed SEO consulting services service with just a month’s notice (we need time to stop content production since this is preplanned and scheduled).

Esteemed Clients

Client testimonials

As the leader of HR à la carte, I encountered challenges in navigating the complex realm of digital marketing. Fortunately, through a referral, I engaged the services of Jordan Stevens, whose expertise has been instrumental in establishing an online presence and effectively reaching our target audience. From devising a digital marketing strategy to enhancing website traffic, Jordan has provided invaluable support at every stage. His responsiveness, proactivity, and commitment to delivering results have been exemplary. Thanks to his efforts, our business has witnessed an upsurge in website traffic, lead generation, and conversions. I recommend his services to any individual or organization seeking to enhance their digital marketing initiatives.

Stephanie Messier, CEO, HR à la carte, Oakville, Ontario

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