SEO consulting - 2 keys that matter

There are hardly any companies left that are unfamiliar with the term SEO. After all, the fact is that the majority of companies are already investing in marketing and sales. Regardless of the internal marketing department, successful entrepreneurs are always looking for a conversation with an SEO consultant. This finally gives you the certainty that your own marketing is doing a good job and that the Google ranking is being improved. After all, more website visitors mean more hot ones Leads, sales and turnover.

In this article, you will learn exactly what makes a professional SEO consultant, how you can unmask a bad SEO consultant in a very short time and everything about SEO and consulting. We also clarify the question of how you really recognize a good SEO agency and how you can tell whether only hot air — or even worse — dangerous half-knowledge is being sold. Bad agencies give clear warning signs — we'll show you how to recognize them!

‍1. What is SEO consulting?

As the name suggests, an SEO consultation gives you advice on the subject of SEO in relation to your current presence. But there is the one-time SEO consultation And a permanent SEO support.  

In today's age, there are so many market players on the Internet that your own marketing strategy, a qualitative website and a clear message are essential for survival in order to be even noticed by your target group. Through a professional SEO consultant, you will receive expert advice on your website and learn how you can rank better and get more traffic (more website visitors) on your company website. In the end, you get more leads and selling Your product or service is better.

‍In short:

An SEO consultant analyses the following components:

• Your market and target group
• Your market players on the Internet
• The current Google ranking of your projects
• Your website (structure, technology, PR)
• Important keywords from your buyers
• Current Google trends (search engine trends)
• Development of a strategy for filling 1st place on Google

SEO consultants act according to your needs, which result from a detailed potential analysis. SEO analysis is the basis of the SEO strategy. Depending on your needs, a holistic strategy is either created for your online marketing presence or knowledge is offered to your existing marketing team.

Does a one-time SEO consultation make sense?

In a one-time SEO consultation, you will find out what you should implement if you want to become more visible on the Internet. You will therefore receive some kind of feedback on your previous appearance and a new strategy on how you could upgrade it.

SEO consulting mainly makes sense if you already have the means to implement it, i.e. a qualified marketing department.

More precisely, SEO consulting develops an SEO strategy that your marketing department can work on permanently and build on.

What is long-term SEO support?

In addition to a one-time SEO consultation, SEO consultants also offer other services, such as SEO support. This includes the SEO strategy and the support of figures generated by SEO consulting. SEO support is extended over a longer period of time, often even over several years.

What SEO consultations are there?

As the name suggests, SEO consultants advise you on the subject of SEO. However, there are also topic-specific consulting packages, such as link building, off-page and on-page measures, or technical SEO topics, in order to be able to get an even better overview of the niche. Therefore, in addition to classic SEO consulting, you can also book other packages that your company or industry needs.

tip: Many people assume that individual components need to be fine-tuned in order to do better in Google search results. But you also don't screw on the wheel if you don't have a car at all, right? SEO means holistic strategy. Therefore, you need a perfect plan from an SEO consultation to know which screws to turn and when.

2. What are the benefits of SEO consulting for you?

SEO advice is like a super speed boost that you have to inhale at the right time. With the boost, you are only able to reach even higher speeds. SEO consulting gives you a perfect strategy that you just have to implement correctly.

SEO consulting takes you on a whole new route to get to your destination. The goals are more and more visibility on the Internet, more customer inquiries and sales due to increasing relevance determine who is found — and who isn't.

Gain the right SEO mindset

In today's age, marketing means more success and more turnover. After all, the search for solutions has changed enormously in the era of the Internet. In the past, people liked to ask older people for advice or buy a guide for their next trip to the Baltic Sea.

Nowadays, we don't buy a book — we read an article on the subject on the Internet. A packing list can then be printed out immediately and you have to think as little as necessary to get to your destination. visibility and

The modern era of rapid search for solutions

We therefore live in the modern age of rapid solutions. At Google, we can see at a glance what the majority of people think and say about a specific topic.

If you don't appear as high as possible in Google search, it means that your company is not a relevant solution.

If you're not in the search results, that means:

• You don't get any website visitors.
• You're not getting any leads.
• The expected turnover is not achieved.
• They almost don't exist on the Internet.

tip: Marketing is essential if you want to be seen by your customers. Of course, you can also take individual SEO measures and create content. This makes you more likely to be seen by search engines and can also compete for a highly coveted spot in the top bar. However, an SEO analysis is essential for a better marketing presence.

3. 6 Indications: How to recognize bad SEO consultants

The SEO market is not only full of experts and experts — but also occasionally empty cases disguised in a suit. After all, the industry is impulsive and the requirements feel like they are changing every day in order to achieve greater visibility.

In the area of copywriting, just 10 years ago, you only had to use the keyword often enough. A copy-paste sequence that made no sense at all was enough to secure a place on the first Google page.

Today, the algorithm has changed — in favour of the searchers themselves. The quality of your content must match the intent of your visitors. Google regards too many keywords as useless content and duplicates are acknowledged with a poor ranking.

tip: Did you actually know that the relatively new job title SEO consultant is not protected by law?

5 signs of an unqualified SEO business consultant:

Due to the dynamic acquisition of knowledge in the area of SEO and marketing, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, with the following five signs, you will be able to unmask poor SEO advice within a very short period of time:

1. The protective cover: confidentiality agreement (NDA)

“I can't give you any information about this for NDA reasons” At first impression means something like: “I have to Google the question myself in advance so that I can give you useful information. ”

However, it should be noted that many industries are subject to data protection.

For example, if lawyers were to talk to third parties — or even worse — with the other party about the acts, the defendant could get into trouble. Confidential facts would finally be discussed.

However, an SEO consultant doesn't break his NDA if he talks openly with you about your issues — after all, this requires transparent communication in order to develop a good strategy.

Rather, this approach gives the impression that the SEO management consultant is unclear about the situation and therefore does not want to communicate openly.

Important note: If an SEO consultant has already signed NDAs in your industry, then we advise you to be very careful with your company information. It is best to sign a confidentiality agreement before working together.

‍

2. The approach is relevant

The way he works makes it easy to see whether these processes are common to him or not. Does the consultant or agency have a clear approach and can clearly show it to you? Then you can be sure that this consultant knows his job.

You can recognize professional SEO consulting from the following structures and processes:

6 elementary measures:

Questions to analyze:

1. Google ranking analysis

What is the current situation? Where is your company website currently ranked by Google? What about your competitors? Do you need a new website and do you need a new one Have a website created?

2. The technical SEO check

How appealing does your website currently look? Do you use link building? How good are your subpages? Is your advertising message clear?

3. Detailed keyword research

Are keywords being used? Are the right keywords being used? Does your target audience Google the search terms you use on your website?

The core of an SEO strategy is researching the right keywords.

4. Website structure analysis

What is the right strategy for placing keywords on your website in a Google-friendly way? Are you optimizing your sub-pages for specific keywords?

5. New content

What structure do your subpages need to have in order to generate more traffic? The pages must also be visually convincing and keep website visitors engaged as long as possible.

6. The plan: Die SEO strategy is in place — implementation

In the last step, you will receive a detailed SEO strategy with measures: What are the next steps now? What are the most important SEO measures?

3. Specialization: online shop or service

Not all SEO consulting is the same. After all, an SEO consultant for online shops will advise you differently than one who has gathered all his expertise in the areas of B2B and services. In addition to these, there are also many “Hobby SEO consultant“, who run their own projects, but for the most part only generate affiliate or money income through recommendation.

Specialization is urgently needed — preferably one who has experience in your field.

It is similar if the consultant has only worked with large companies. His processes and approach will not match your company if they do not offer the same conditions as the big players. After all, this consultant thinks in other categories and the work approach is different.

4. Network of proven service providers

SEO consultants are coordinators for various areas that interact with search engine optimization. As a result, professional SEO consultants have a huge network of copywriters, web developers, and content creators.

Of course, there are also freelancers in the area of SEO consulting. However, this does not mean that this working group has a smaller social network of experts.

However, you should be suspicious if your SEO consultant does not have any proven service providers. This shows that this consultant himself has not been doing his job as long as he might advertise.

5. Wrong key performance indicators

Some SEO consultants promise low bounce rates from a page. But that has absolutely nothing to do with whether a site performs well or not. When they artificially drive up user numbers on Google Analytics, it gets adventurous. So avoid any micromanagement based on pseudo-goals and discuss your goals with the SEO agency. In the end, you probably want more revenue and you won't be able to do that with topics that bring traffic but not revenue. It is therefore important to define common goals in order to be able to make the right optimizations.

Here's what you can do:

During the initial consultation, ask sufficient questions, preferably industry-specific ones. In this way, you can find out whether your industry and needs even match the skills and expertise of the SEO consultant. Is the consultant more likely to B2B-sector — or has he only advised online shops in the B2C sector so far?

By the way, it is not a good idea to involve internal employees in the conversation with the SEO consultant. Put yourself in the advisor's shoes. He wants to talk about your SEO strategy from entrepreneur to entrepreneur and must at least prove himself. And now an entire team is coming to talk, all of which, of course, have different opinions. The individual SEO consultant must now prove himself before being appointed. This is unfair and also casts a bad light on you as an entrepreneur.

4. More success & sales: 7 signs of professional SEO consulting

An SEO consultation gives you a clear guide on how you can rank better on Google in the long term. This service is crucial in entrepreneurship and gives you a forecast of how you can grow through visibility.

You need to realize that there are consultants who focus exclusively on technical or thematic optimization, while others delve into content marketing or link building. So first clarify which type of service is needed for your individual situation.

If you use the SEO consulting service, you must of course know as precisely as possible. That is why you will find the most important clues here to distinguish professional SEO advice from bad SEO advice.

6 steps to find a professional advisor:

How to recognize a professional advisor:

1. The Google search

A professional SEO consultant ensures greater visibility on the Internet. Ideally, he also works on his own visibility himself. See how well he himself ranks with his service.

An SEO agency should understand their business well enough to be found on Google. After all, that is their core competence.

2. Examine references

Similar to applicants, you should also look more closely at an SEO consultant whether they already have a certain level of expertise — or whether you may be their first customer after all. Ask for corroborating references and research the testimonials.

3. Test his industry expertise

Ask for case studies on how other of the consultant's clients are achieving success. Use industry language and it is best to conduct the conversation in such a way that you match the expertise of the SEO consultant with the needs in your company.

4. Lack of monitoring

Communicate clearly that you have access to ”Would like to get an Analysis & Reporting” tool so that you can also see the figures for yourself. Quality SEO advice will provide you with transparency right from the start.

Pay attention to the progress you've made so far and whether there's been any movement at all.

5. Are only the SEO tools working or is the SEO consultant also working on your problem?

Bad SEO consultants simply send out automated reports and basically don't look at the page at all. Even the best SEO tools are sometimes unable to identify problems directly. The human eye looks at the page from different perspectives and looks at usability, the correctness of the content, on-page and off-page optimizations, and technology, for example.

6. CEO and SEO

An excellent sign that an SEO consultant is professional is the fact that he is an entrepreneur himself. He therefore has an entrepreneurial mindset and you communicate on equal footing.

5. Can you influence Google rankings?

If you want to rank well on Google, you should be a master at understanding the search intent of the target group. After all, search engine optimization means optimizing content and traffic factors so that the website visitor stays on your website longer. On the other hand, it means that he finds what he was looking for on your website.

Search engine optimization therefore comprises various measures and means considering why Internet users are looking for a specific term. In the SEO strategy, the appropriate content is designed and created, which is finally offered and can therefore ensure a good position in the ranking. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?

There is a lot of fluctuation in search rankings. But this is basically the normal state of affairs — after all, everyone wants to be seen and found. By publishing high-quality content, you can secure yourself a place in the top league. By distributing this content, the Google algorithm recognizes in which niche you have positioned yourself.

Is there any other way you can rank well on Google?

In principle, the measures that serve to improve the Google ranking can be divided into two categories:

7. What does search engine optimization cost?

SEO is a strategy that generates long-lasting success. The SEO consultant simply shows you the path to fame. After all, the strategy is the key that boosts the organic search option on Google so that you're likely to rank well.

However, the approximate price range can be calculated. All you have to do is define what your goal is. The path to rowing to the agreed goal is defined as part of SEO consulting.

Costs and SEO: the 3 pillars of search engine optimization

The exact price that you will ultimately pay for your individual SEO consultation is derived from the following three components:‍

search engine optimization

Onpage optimization (includes everything you can do directly on the website)

• Meta title and meta description
• Internal and external links
• Page title
• Keywords
• Readable content with added value
• charging time
• FAQ section
• XML site map
• URL optimizations

Offpage optimization (includes external influencing factors)

• backlinks
• click-through rate
• Bounce rate
• Social Signals

1. Your strategy: How would you like to proceed?

SEO consulting is highly recommended for your strategy, as this shows you why your market competitors rank better than you, what they do differently and how to find your company website on Google in the first place.

These are the basic questions you need to ask yourself if you want to start with search engine optimization. Basically, you're no longer groping around in the dark this way. You can see your options clearly and only decide with the SEO consultant which direction makes the most tactical sense in order to be able to generate more traffic.

2. What are your resources? What can be implemented and how?

This step is actually about the technical requirements, the programming for the redesign of the website. Implementation and resources are important aspects in order to be able to estimate costs more precisely in advance. After all, not every company has hired programmers, copywriters, etc. who can create content directly. If your internal team is not enough, freelancers must be hired to implement the necessary workload.

tip: If you enlist the help of a local SEO agency, you should check beforehand whether working with your industry, service, or product and niche may be new territory for the SEO agency. Does this SEO agency already have experience in building a website with, for example, 20 other sub-pages? Check the references and be more likely to ride horses that have already won races.

3. Ongoing optimization: increasing popularity

By taking this step, your aircraft has already taken off. Now all you have to do is make sure you're always on track. SEO is ultimately an ongoing process. Now that your redesign website has been launched, it's time to get on with it. Through link building, new posts and expanding sub-pages, you will always remain popular with your website visitors.

So what does SEO consulting cost?

In the last three points, you have learned which steps are necessary to implement the search engine optimization process. If you have a strong internal team that can help you implement it, you will be significantly more cost-effective than an entrepreneur who has to buy each service separately.

The costs of an external SEO agency look similar. The price varies depending on requirements. If you need a new website on a new domain with 50 sub-pages, the price will of course skyrocket accordingly.

tip: Working with freelancer SEO consultants is not recommended compared to SEO agencies. As the name suggests, a lone fighter fights alone.

8. Conclusion

In this post, you've learned what SEO consulting is, how you can unmask a bad SEO expert, and what makes a good SEO consultant. With this knowledge, you are well prepared to tackle the search engine optimization project. After all, the right SEO strategy is the key to success!

We have already been able to show over 200 entrepreneurs the right path to greater visibility. Our focus is always on a good Customer journey. We create this through flawlessly functioning technology, a modern website and readable content — tailored to your target group and industry.

With an excellent strategy, we are also happy to advise you in order to generate maximum visibility on the Internet. Ask here gladly after a non-binding consultation.