While I’ve referred to myself and my business as a marketing consultant or marketing consulting firm, it never struck me that individuals would use the term “SEO consultant” to refer to someone who offers the SEO services (search engine optimization services) that I and my firm does.
Just by chance, while conducting some keyword research for a client that offers business and management consulting services, I stumbled across the term and the average monthly search volume for it. Did you know that 27,100 individuals a month, across the whole U.S., search on this term in Google? That’s a lot of searches on an annual basis!
So, I’m using this blog post as an example of how you can write a blog post to support being found for a term relevant to your business and services you offer, but also to explain to individuals who are searching on the term, what “SEO Consultant” means and what an SEO Consultant does.
An SEO Consultant is an individual or firm who can help your organization be found on Google and on other search engines for relevant terms, and in relevant geographies.
So, What Exactly Do SEO Consultants Do?
Every SEO consultant’s approach to SEO is likely slightly different, but, in general, SEO consultants not only help your website rank well “organically (via unpaid/non-advertising tactics)” in search engines, but also your Google My Business Profile or Bing Places Profile (collectively referred to in this post going forward as “Business Profiles”). In addition, they may also help you identify presences you can have on social media platforms and discussion forums, like Reddit and Quora, to support your organization being found in search engines, since social media presences and discussion threads can also be served up in search results — not just your website or Business Profiles.
We believe that, ideally an SEO assessment to arrive at an SEO state-of-the union (an understanding of how your website and Business Profiles already support or don’t support your being found on search engines) should be completed first. Hey, we and you don’t want to break something that’s already working and doesn’t need fixing, right? That, should, then, be followed by implementation of various SEO tactics and best practices, based on what the audit/assessment reveals is warranted and appropriate.
Step 1: Initial SEO Assessment/SEO State-of-the-Union Evaluation
To achieve the objectives above, common initial activities that an SEO consultant may complete to arrive at an SEO state-of-the-union include, but are not limited to:
- Conducting keyword research to identify what terms your target audiences are searching on most to identify someone who offers the services, products, and solutions to problems your organization offers — and in the right geographies.
- Employing website diagnostics tools to run reports that assess how well your website employs best practices, including what’s known as technical SEO practices (think your website performing well and loading quickly), and provides for a good user experience.
- Reviewing what’s known as your “behind-the-scenes” meta tags to ensure that they inform search engines and searchers what your website is all about.
- Analyzing your Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster data to see what percentage of your website traffic comes from search engines, and for what terms Google and Bing are serving up your website most.
- Conducting an SEO rankings audit to see just how well your Google My Business Profile and website rank on Google, and how well your website ranks on Bing.
Step 2: SEO Tactic Implementation To Address Areas For SEO Improvement Revealed By An SEO Assessment
Once the analyses listed above are completed, an SEO consultant will come up with a list of one-off/one-time SEO tactics and ongoing/regular/monthly tactics that should be implemented to support your website and various Business Profiles ranking better, plus your organization being found more online. These may include, but are not limited to the following:
One-Off/One-Time SEO Tactics To Support Being Found On Search Engines
- Making your Bing Places and/or Google My Business Profiles (Business Profiles) more comprehensive.
- Rewriting, or if they are missing, writing your meta tags for various website content (pages, posts, and images), and implementing and/or working with you or your website developer to implement them on your website.
- Suggesting and/or writing new blog, FAQ, or website content to support your site ranking better in search-engines for certain high-volume keywords (search terms.)
- Submitting any revised website pages and posts for indexing/crawling by Google and Bing by using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tools.
- Developing and implementing paid search/search-engine advertising via Google Ads, Microsoft Bing Ads, or both, for organizations who don’t have the luxury of the long window required to rank better in search results, and need to rank well immediately!
Ongoing SEO Tactics — Since SEO Is Not A One And Done Marketing Activity!
- Posting content regularly, including new blog post links, on Business Profiles
- Writing, or making suggestions for blog topics, plus ensuring meta tags are appropriate and new website blog content is submitted for crawling/indexing by Bing and Google
- Using Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster, and SEO rankings audit tools and diagnostic reports to monitor how your website and aforementioned Business Profiles are ranking in search-engines and making regular recommendations about tactics to improve rankings, as necessary
Speak With An SEO Optimization Consultant To Learn More
Want to learn more how we help and collaborate with organizations to ensure their websites, Business Profiles and other online presences are optimized for search? Reach out today to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation discussion with an SEO consultant!