01
Diagnosis and prioritisation
Working out what is actually capping the site and what each fix is worth against what it costs. The judgement half of the job, and the part that decides whether the rest is worth paying for.
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- SEO Consultant
United Kingdom
SEO consultant
Most agency engagements are sold by one person and delivered by another, and you find out which is which about three months in. Here you work with Darryn, who leads the engagement and stays on it, with our engineers behind him to make the changes rather than write them down for somebody else to action.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.
- One named person accountable for the work
- Engineers who implement, not only advise
- Reporting from your own Search Console, not ours
2020
Building since
1,000+
Clients served
UK
Registered company
4.6/5
Rated on Clutch
Quick answer
What does an SEO consultant do, and when is one better than an agency?
A consultant diagnoses what is holding a site back, decides what is worth doing about it, and stays accountable for whether it worked. The distinction that matters is not consultant against agency as a category; it is whether one identifiable person understands your account and answers for it.
A consultant suits you when the problem needs judgement more than hands: deciding which of forty findings are worth money, settling whether search is even the right channel, or arbitrating between what marketing wants and what the developers say is possible. Those are decisions, and decisions degrade when they pass through an account manager.
An agency team suits you when the work is largely volume: content produced at pace, many locations, several markets running at once. Spreading that across one person creates a bottleneck rather than clarity.
The arrangement here is deliberately both. Darryn leads the engagement and is the person you deal with. The technical work is done by our engineers, because a consultant who can only produce recommendations leaves you holding a list your development team never gets to, which is the most common way search budgets are wasted.
What consultancy covers
What you would actually get
Eight areas. Most engagements use three or four, and the audit says which.
02
Strategy you can defend internally
A plan in plain terms, with the reasoning attached, so you can take it to a board or a finance director without translating it first. Including what we recommend not doing, and why.
03
Technical direction
Deciding what needs changing in crawl, index, rendering and structure, then having our engineers do it rather than passing a list to your developers to schedule behind everything else.
04
Content direction
Which pages to write, which to refresh, which to consolidate and which to retire. Briefs built from what currently ranks, whether your team writes them or we do.
05
AI search direction
Where answer engines and assistants fit for your category, what being quotable requires, and whether it is worth prioritising yet. For some businesses it is not, and that is a legitimate finding.
06
Working with your team
Briefing your developers, your writers or your existing agency, and reviewing what comes back. Plenty of engagements are consultancy over an in-house team rather than instead of one.
07
Supplier and proposal review
Reading an agency proposal or an existing engagement and telling you plainly whether it is sound. Occasionally the answer is that your current supplier is doing fine and you do not need us.
08
Reporting and review
Monthly, from your own properties, written to be read rather than admired. What moved, what did not, and what changes as a result.
The gap
Sold by one person, delivered by another
The structural problem with most search engagements, and what changes when one person owns it.
The usual arrangement
- Pitched by a senior strategist you then rarely speak to
- Delivered by whoever has capacity that month
- Questions routed through an account manager who relays them
- Recommendations handed over for your team to implement
- Nobody who can say plainly why last month went the way it did
How this works
- One named person who leads the engagement and stays on it
- Direct contact rather than relayed questions
- Engineers who make the change, with your approval
- Decisions explained, including the ones we advise against
- A straight answer when something did not work
Not sure whether you need a consultant or a team?
The audit answers that before anyone quotes. If your constraint is volume rather than judgement, we will say so, and an agency retainer or an in-house hire is the better buy. Consultancy is not the right shape for every problem and we would rather tell you up front.
In practice
When people call a consultant
Six recurring situations. These describe the shapes of engagement rather than named clients.
Two agencies in, no clearer
Reports arrived monthly, traffic moved sideways, and nobody could explain in plain terms what was being done. Usually the first job is working out what was actually delivered before deciding anything new.
Marketing and development disagree
Marketing wants changes, developers say they are impractical, and nobody present can adjudicate. A consultant who can read both sides settles it faster than another round of meetings.
A budget approved, no plan
Money signed off for search with no diagnosis underneath it. The useful work is deciding where it goes before it is committed, which occasionally means telling you to spend less than you planned.
An in-house team that needs direction
Capable people without someone to set priorities or sanity-check the plan. Consultancy over the top of an existing team, rather than replacing it, is a common and inexpensive arrangement.
Reviewing a proposal before signing
An agency proposal that reads well and may or may not be sound. Reading it against what the site actually needs takes hours rather than weeks, and sometimes the conclusion is to sign it.
Traffic fell and nobody knows why
A replatform or redesign that lost rankings, where the first requirement is an accurate diagnosis rather than activity. Guessing at this stage usually compounds the problem.
How it works
Audit, decide, direct, review
The audit comes first and is free, because advising before diagnosing is guessing.
1. Audit
What you rank for, what is indexed, how the site renders, and whether assistants can find you. Plus what you have already tried, because repeating a failed approach is the most avoidable waste in this work.
2. Decide
A shortlist of what is worth doing, ranked by value against cost, with the items we recommend skipping named explicitly. You approve it. Nothing proceeds on assumption.
3. Direct
The work happens, either by our engineers or by your team with briefs from us. Darryn stays the point of contact throughout rather than handing you to someone else once the contract is signed.
4. Review
Monthly, from your own Search Console and analytics. Where something did not work we say so, say why we think it did not, and say what changes. That conversation is most of the value.
Clear scope · Regular demos · Full handover
Honest fit
When a consultant is the wrong buy
This shape suits some problems badly, and the difference is easy to predict.
A good fit when…
- You want one person accountable rather than a team you cannot see
- The problem needs a decision more than it needs hands
- You have been through an engagement that nobody could explain
- You want the technical work done, not handed to you as a list
- You are willing to hear that search is not your constraint
Not the right fit when…
- You need high content volume, where a team is the better buy
- You want someone on site, which we do not do
- Nobody internally can approve changes to the website
- You need results this quarter, where paid search is the honest answer
The options
Consultant, agency team, or in-house
Three shapes. The right one depends on whether your constraint is judgement or capacity.
| Consultant | Agency team | In-house hire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | The constraint is judgement | The constraint is capacity | Search is a primary channel |
| You deal with | One named person | An account manager | Your employee |
| Implementation | Our engineers, on direction | The agency's delivery team | Depends who you hire |
| Scales to volume | Less well | Well | Over time |
| Cost shape | Retainer or fixed project | Monthly retainer | Salary, fixed |
| Main risk | One person is a bottleneck | Distance from the decisions | Idle capacity, and one viewpoint |
Sectors
Where consultancy tends to pay
Categories where the decisions are harder than the execution.
B2B and SaaSLow volume, high value, long cyclesProfessional servicesExpertise that must be demonstratedEcommerce and retailCatalogue and platform decisionsHealthcare and clinicsRegulated claims and local demandFintech and financialCompliance shaping what can be saidProperty and lettingsListing structure and local pagesTrades and home servicesMap pack and review flowTechnology and AIWhether AI search is worth prioritising
FAQ
Consultancy questions, answered
What people ask before engaging a consultant. If yours is not here, put it in the form.
Still have a question?
Ask us directly. A senior engineer reads every question.
Ask about your projectWho would I actually be working with?
Darryn, SEO and Marketing Consultant, leads the engagement and is the person you deal with throughout. Technical changes are made by our engineers rather than handed to you as recommendations, so the diagnosis and the implementation stay connected.
How is a consultant different from an agency?
Mainly accountability and proximity. With a consultant one identifiable person understands your account and answers for it. An agency team spreads the work across more people, which suits volume better and puts more distance between you and the decisions.
How much does an SEO consultant cost in the UK?
Here it is a retainer from £1,500 a month, or a fixed-scope project from £2,500 where the work has a clear end. Rates vary widely across the market. We quote after the free audit, when the scope is actually known rather than estimated.
Will you do the work or just advise?
Both, and that is deliberate. Advice alone tends to become a list your development team never reaches. Our engineers make the changes in your codebase or ours, with your approval on anything touching live pages.
Can you work alongside our existing agency?
Yes, and it is a common arrangement. Consultancy over the top of an agency or an in-house team, setting priorities and reviewing what comes back, is often better value than replacing a supplier who is doing competent work.
What if you find our current agency is doing a good job?
We tell you that. It happens, and saying so costs us an engagement and earns the next one. The audit is free precisely so that this outcome is available rather than awkward.
Do you work with small businesses?
Yes, where search demand genuinely exists for what they sell. For very small sites in markets with little search volume, a one-off fix or no engagement at all is often the honest recommendation, and we would rather say so than sell a retainer.
How long is the commitment?
Projects have a defined end. Retainers run month to month after an initial period agreed up front, since search work takes months to compound and a one-month engagement cannot show anything useful. The terms are set before you commit.
Can you guarantee rankings?
No, and nobody honestly can. Results depend on competitors and on Google, neither of which anyone controls. What we commit to is explaining what we are doing and why, and reporting what measurably happened, including when something did not work.
What happens in the first month?
The audit, the prioritised shortlist and your decision on what proceeds. Often some technical fixes ship in that period too, because they are quick and remove obstacles. Nothing substantial starts before you have seen the reasoning.
Start here
Tell us what you are trying to fix
You will get questions back if something is unclear, the findings when they are done, and an honest view on whether consultancy is the right shape for your problem at all.
- You tell us what you needTwo minutes on the form, or a message on WhatsApp.
- A senior engineer reviews itAnd comes back with questions, a realistic range and an honest view on fit.
- Free 30-minute scoping callWe talk through scope, options and a realistic estimate, with no obligation.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.