What Should I Look for When Hiring an SEO Consultant?
If you’ve decided your business needs help with SEO, the next question is usually: what should I look for when hiring an SEO consultant?
There are plenty of SEO consultants and agencies out there, all offering slightly different services, approaches and prices. And if you’re a small business owner, knowing who to trust can feel particularly overwhelming.
You don’t necessarily need the biggest agency or someone promising to get you to number one on Google.
You need someone who understands your business, understands your customers and can create an SEO strategy that helps you get found by the right people.
So, what should you actually look for when hiring an SEO consultant?
1. Someone who understands your type of business
SEO isn't the same for every business.
A local florist looking for wedding enquiries has very different needs from an online coach, a yoga teacher, a creative business or a shop with a physical location.
When you're speaking to an SEO consultant, ask whether they've worked with businesses similar to yours.
Have they worked with small businesses? Service-based businesses? Local businesses? Businesses that rely on enquiries and bookings rather than selling products online?
Someone who understands the realities of running a small business is likely to give you much more relevant advice.
2. Someone who understands local SEO
If you want customers from a particular area, local SEO should be part of the conversation.
For example, you might want to be found for searches such as:
wedding florist in Stockport using sustainable techniques
yin yoga classes in Cheshire for beginners
tattoo shops also offering piercings
A good local SEO strategy isn't simply about putting your town name on every page of your website. It’s about being specific and being you!
It can involve your Google Business Profile, location-based searches, your website structure, relevant content, reviews, local links and making sure Google understands where you work and who you serve.
Your SEO consultant should be able to explain how they would approach this for your particular business.
3. Someone who focuses on enquiries — not just traffic
This can sometimes get forgotten.
More website visitors aren't necessarily the goal.
Imagine an SEO consultant tells you they've increased your website traffic by 200%.
That sounds fantastic. Brilliant!
But what if none of those visitors are interested in buying from you?
For a small business, I'd much rather have 50 people visiting your website who are genuinely looking for what you offer than 5,000 people who aren't.
When interviewing an SEO consultant, ask:
“How will you measure whether SEO is actually working for my business?”
Ideally, the conversation should include things like enquiries, bookings, sales and the quality of the traffic you're attracting — not just rankings.
4. Someone who does proper keyword research
A good SEO consultant shouldn't simply ask you what keywords you want to rank for and then build everything around them.
They should be researching what your potential customers are actually searching for - the intent.
And sometimes the best opportunities aren't the biggest keywords.
For example, ranking for:
“wedding cake”
could be incredibly difficult and may not tell you much about what the person actually wants.
Whereas:
“wedding cake for a small wedding Stockport”
could indicate a much clearer intention.
The right consultant will look at search volume, competition, relevance and — most importantly — search intent.
It's about getting your business in front of people who are looking for exactly what you do.
5. Someone who can explain SEO without making your head hurt
SEO can get technical.
But that doesn't mean your consultant should bombard you with jargon you don't understand.
You should be able to ask:
“Why are we doing this?”
and get a straightforward answer.
You shouldn't need to become an SEO expert yourself just to understand what you're paying for.
Look for someone who can explain what they're doing, why it matters and how it connects to your business goals.
Clarity is a very good sign as is making the process straightforward.
6. Someone who takes time to understand your business
Before recommending an SEO strategy, your consultant should want to know about your business.
Who are your ideal customers?
Where are they based?
What services or products make you the most money?
What makes you different from your competitors?
Which services would you like more enquiries for?
What have you already tried?
These questions matter because good SEO isn't about applying the same checklist to every website.
It's about finding opportunities that make sense for your business.
7. Someone who understands that SEO takes time
Be wary of anyone promising instant results.
SEO is a long-term strategy. Some changes can have an impact relatively quickly, while others can take weeks or months to show results.
That doesn't mean you should pay someone indefinitely without seeing progress. It means you should have realistic expectations about what SEO can achieve and when.
A good consultant should be able to explain what they're going to work on first, what they're hoping to improve and how they'll monitor progress.
8. Someone who isn't obsessed with ranking for number one
Of course, appearing at the top of Google can be brilliant.
But number one isn't always the ultimate goal.
The more important question is:
Are you appearing when your ideal customer is searching for what you offer? This is appearing in traditional Google search and AEO (AI Overview)
You could rank number one for a keyword that generates very little business.
Or you could rank in several different positions for highly relevant searches and receive regular enquiries from people who are genuinely interested in working with you.
That's a much more useful measure of SEO success.
9. Someone who looks beyond your website
Your website is important, but it's only one part of local SEO.
If you're trying to attract customers in a particular area, your consultant should consider your wider online presence too.
That might include:
Your Google Business Profile
Reviews
Local citations
Relevant directories
Links from other websites
Local PR
Location-specific content
Your social presence
Your overall brand visibility
The aim is to build a consistent online presence that reinforces who you are, what you do and where you operate.
10. Someone who gives you a clear plan
Before you start working together, ask:
“What would you recommend we do first?”
You don't necessarily need a 50-page strategy document.
You do need to understand what the priorities are.
Perhaps your website has technical issues that need fixing.
Perhaps your service pages aren't targeting the right searches.
Perhaps you're missing important local keywords.
Perhaps your Google Business Profile needs attention.
Perhaps you have lots of useful knowledge that could be turned into content your ideal customers are actually searching for.
A good consultant should be able to identify the biggest opportunities and explain what they would tackle first.
11. Someone who is honest about what they can and can't do
SEO consultants don't control Google.
Nobody can guarantee a particular ranking.
Nobody can honestly promise that you'll receive a specific number of enquiries from SEO.
And anyone telling you otherwise deserves a second look.
Instead, look for someone who is honest about what they can influence: improving your website, targeting the right searches, creating useful content, strengthening your local presence and continually refining your strategy.
12. Someone you actually like working with
This might sound less important than keyword research or technical SEO.
It isn't.
If you're a small business owner, your SEO consultant may become someone you work with for months or even years.
You want someone who listens.
Someone who understands your priorities.
Someone who explains things clearly.
Someone who doesn't make you feel silly for asking questions.
And someone who understands that you're running a business — and probably have approximately 47 other things on your to-do list.
So, what should you look for?
When you're choosing an SEO consultant, don't just compare prices or promises.
Look for someone who:
Understands your business and your customers
Has experience with small or local businesses
Understands local SEO
Carries out proper keyword research
Focuses on relevant traffic and enquiries
Can explain SEO in plain English
Sets realistic expectations
Gives you a clear strategy
Reports on meaningful results
Takes a long-term approach
Is transparent about what they're doing
Most importantly, choose someone who wants to understand your business before telling you what you need.
Good SEO shouldn't feel like a mysterious technical exercise happening somewhere behind the scenes.
It should feel like a strategy that's connected to your business, your customers and the enquiries you want to generate.
Looking for SEO support for your UK small business?
If you're a UK-based small business and you'd like help getting found by the right people on Google, I work with small and service-based businesses on local SEO, website optimisation and content strategy.
The focus isn't on chasing vanity metrics or promising overnight results. It's about building a website and SEO foundation that works harder for your business and helps the right people find you.
If you're considering hiring an SEO consultant, it's worth starting with a conversation about where you are now, what you want to achieve and whether the SEO consultant is the right fit for your business.
“Clare supported me with SEO related to my website and blog and the whole experience was brilliant.
She’s so kind and clearly knowledgeable and translates this in a way that is empowering and encouraging.
I often feel overwhelmed by technical things like SEO and Clare was able to make it feel easy and expansive. I felt able to be completely myself and very quickly felt at ease.
I ask a lot of questions and Clare was happy to answer all of them. I highly recommend connecting with her about your work!”
