Everybody wants to be at the top of Google Search Results.
And with SEO being the essential driving factor for this, many business owners are turning to SEO consultants to optimize their sites for Search Engines so that they can get their business found on Google and ultimately gain more customers.
These services don’t come cheap. According to Ahrefs, $2,563.20 per month is the most popular monthly retainer rate for SEOs who’ve been in business for 2+ years.
But what does an SEO consult do?
What it is that you are paying for when employing their services?
In a nutshell, an SEO consultant’s job description is to analyze, review and improve websites, provide expert advice and actionable recommendations to achieve higher Google Rankings, and monitor SEO performance.
In this article, we are going to break things down a bit and take a closer look at some of the main duties and responsibilities that SEO consultants assume as part of their job description.
Let’s get to it.
Analyze, Review and Improve Websites
One of the first things SEO consultants will do is to generate a Site Audit.
This is the step where they figure out the most pressing issues that need to be fixed, what’s broken or missing from your site (from an SEO-standpoint) and also where they identify areas of opportunity they could execute on.
Then comes the part where actions are taken to improve your website.
Some consultants will just make recommendations, while others may work with teams to also implement the necessary fixes or improvements.
This part is different depending on the business goals of each client and the site’s needs, but some of the most common tasks performed at this stage include:
- Fixing technical SEO issues (such as broken links, duplicate content, poor SEO speed, missing ALT Attributes, incorrect sitemaps, and many others);
- Keyword research and analysis;
- Keyword planning/mapping (where keywords are organized into specific groups);
- Web page optimization;
- Content creation;
- Off-site SEO and link-building development.
Provide Expert Advice and Actionable Recommendations
With Search Engines algorithms becoming more and more sophisticated, the job description of SEO consultants has transformed to also include content strategy advice, social media strategy advice, as well as counseling related to link-building outreach.
So, for example, an SEO consultant could suggest creating new blog categories to fill current content gaps or advise reaching out to specific types of publications to get links. Or they could indicate ways to use social media to get the amplification your content needs to rank higher.
SEO consulting can also incorporate advice on advanced SEO techniques that can be used to maximize a site’s visibility in Search Results. Examples include: targeting multiple keywords on a single page, optimizing for Featured Snippet and Google’s Quick Answers box.
Verify Results and Evaluate Performance
To monitor Search performance and determine the impact of implemented actions, SEO consultants will analyze traffic sources and generally look at metrics such as keyword rankings, organic traffic, conversion rate, linking domains, and more.
Based on that data and what they learn from it, they will often then generate an Analytics report which can include a new set of recommended actions to be taken on a client’s site to maintain or increase performance.
Now Ask Yourself This…
Not all SEO consultants will provide the full package of services listed above.
However, there is no denying the fact the work they do is complex, as it incorporates a wide array of activities that require strong analytical, strategic and tactical skills.
There are a lot of boxes listed under the SEO consultant job description.
But what if there was a single piece of software that acted like a private SEO consultant and provided the same level of guidance?
Sit with that question for a bit.
Imagine all the incredible opportunities that would open up for your business.
Soon, you will no longer have to imagine it in your head, because we’re working to be the first company to turn that into a reality.
