Hire SEO consultant with 15+ years of experience

Looking for ways to make your website really findable in Google? Then you are not alone. As many as 75% of online visitors never get beyond the first page search results. An SEO consultant can make the difference between being invisible and scoring at the top. In this article you will discover exactly what an SEO consultant can do for your business, what the costs are and how to find the right expert to take your online findability to the next level.

As a business owner, you don't just want to rank somewhere on page 4 in Google. You want to rank for the search terms that matter to your business. A professional SEO consultant has the expertise, tools and proven methods to make this happen. Without expensive advertising campaigns or tricks that backfire in the long run. In this complete overview you can read how we structurally improve your website's performance in Google.

Why hire an SEO consultant?

Online competition gets fiercer every year. While you keep focus on your core business, other companies are constantly working on their online visibility. An SEO consultant is your specialist who makes sure you don't fall behind. With up-to-date knowledge of Google's ever-changing algorithms, data-driven analysis and years of hands-on experience, a consultant ensures that your website performs optimally in search engines. Unlike Google Ads, where you pay per click, an SEO builds sustainable, organic results that continue even when you're doing nothing for a while.

Concrete benefits of hiring an SEO consultant:

• You save valuable time that can be spent on your own expertise
• You get instant access to specialized knowledge and tools
• Your website becomes structurally more findable for your target audience
• You gain valuable insights into the search behavior of potential customers
• You avoid costly SEO mistakes that can hurt your ranking
• You achieve measurable results that directly impact your revenue

The reality is that effective SEO requires more than just working some keywords into your texts. An experienced consultant takes a holistic approach: from technical optimization and contentstrategie to building authoritative backlinks. This interplay of factors ultimately determines your success in Google.

There is not a very clear difference between a consultant and a specialist. Still, you often see a consultant doing other companies' SEO, either freelance or at an agency. A SEO specialist often works in-house at a company and thus only works on one or a few websites. Expert has no one job title as far as we know.

What does an SEO consultant do?

An SEO consultant is much more than just a "keyword expert. It is a strategic partner who improves your online findability through various specialties. The work can be roughly divided into three core areas:

1. Technical SEO optimization

A consultant usually begins with a thorough technical analysis of your Web site. This involves looking at:

• The loading speed of your pages
• The mobile accessibility
• The structure of your website and internal link building
• XML sitemaps and robots.txt files
• HTTPS security and SSL certificates.
• Correct implementation of structured data

2. Content Optimization

Content is king, but only if it matches what your target audience is looking for. An SEO consultant:

• Does extensively zoekwoordenonderzoek
• Analyzes the search intent of your target audience
• Optimizes existing content
• Advises on new content opportunities
• Provides SEO-friendly meta-titles and descriptions
• Structures content with appropriate headers and formatting

3. Off-page SEO & Authority

Your online reputation is partly determined by what others say about your website. That's why a consultant works on:

• Developing a healthy link profile
• Identifying relevant link-building opportunities
• Monitoring and improving your domain authority
• Optimizing your local findability
• Strengthening your online brand presence

We work with modern tools and analytics to accurately measure progress. You will receive regular reports on:

• Your positions on important keywords
• The development of your organic traffic
• The quality of incoming links
• The technical health of your website
• Your visitors' conversion rates.

Most importantly, a good SEO consultant will bring all these elements together into one cohesive strategy that fits your business goals and budget.

On-page and off-page SEO

An SEO consultant can distinguish between on-page and off-page optimizations.

On-page by an SEO consultant

By on-page SEO, we mean optimizing the website itself. In doing so, you want to make the website as user-friendly for not only your visitors, but also for Google. To optimize your on-page SEO, a consultant is concerned with the following points:

• Using the right keywords
• Improving and adding site content
• The title tags and meta descriptions are filled in correctly
• Make good use of headers (H1, H2 etc.) to add structure to your page
• Use short URLs that make it clear what the page is about (in this case, for example, seo consultant)
• Adding internal links: make sure your pages link internally to each other
• Adding external links: increase user experience and increase visitor confidence
• Making sure your website is fast (enough)
• Use of Schema Markup
• Add supporting images

Off-page by an SEO consultant

In addition, the SEO consultant also deals with off-page SEO. Here, we look precisely at how the online findability of your website can be improved by things outside the website itself. To optimize your off-page SEO, a consultant is mainly concerned with the following:

• Link building: collecting links to your website to gain higher authority from Google
• Local SEO: de lokale vindbaarheid of your business
• Managing social media accounts

How does Google work?

To increase your local findability, it is also good to know how Google works. Google uses a Googlebot (both desktop and mobile) that visits your website from page to page. The Googlebot does this through the hyperlinks on your pages. So if you have a page where nothing links to it, the Googlebot, like the Internet user, will never find the page.

Google is increasingly using the mobile version of a website to crawl, index and rank your pages (mobile-first indexing). While it is not mandatory to have a mobile version of your website, we (and Google) recommend it.

How do you choose the right SEO consultant?

Choosing an SEO consultant is an important decision that can have a big impact on your online success. Here are the essential points to consider during your search:

Experience and track record

A good SEO consultant:

• Can show concrete results from similar projects
• Has at least 3-5 years of experience in the field
• Is transparent about results achieved
• Has references you may approach
• Works with different industries and types of websites

Methodology and transparency

Pay attention to these important signals:

• The consultant does not use 'black hat' SEO techniques that go against Google's guidelines
• You will be shown a clear roadmap
• Realistic expectations are set (be careful with promises for #1 positions)
• The consultant is open about methods and tools used
• You get regular insight into progress through clear reports

Communication and collaboration

A professional:

• Asks the right questions about your business and target audience
• Speaks in understandable language, without drowning in jargon
• Is easily accessible and responds to inquiries in a timely manner
• Thinks about your business goals
• Provides a clear project schedule

Pricing and contracts

Be alert to:

• A transparent pricing structure with no hidden costs
• Flexible contract forms (e.g., terminable monthly)
• A clear description of the services to be provided
• No unrealistic promises of quick results
• A healthy relationship between price and expected results

Red flags to watch out for

Be careful as a consultant:

• Guaranteed number one positions promises
• Maintains extremely low prices
• Is not transparent about method
• Unable to show references
• Only talks about keywords and not strategy

A good SEO consultant sees you as a partner and invests in a long-term relationship. It is important that there is a click and that you trust the approach.

What does an SEO consultant cost?

The cost of an SEO consultant can vary considerably, but it's important to think of SEO as an investment that pays for itself. Here's a realistic overview of fees and what to expect:

Rate structures

Hourly rate:

• Junior SEO consultants: €75 - €100 per hour
• Medior consultants: €100 - €125 per hour
• Senior consultants: €125 - €175 per hour
• SEO specialists at large agencies: €150 - €200+ per hour

Monthly retainers:

• Basic SEO package: €500 - €1,000 per month
  Suitable for local businesses and small websites
  Focus on essential optimizations
  Monthly reporting
• Standard SEO package: €1,000 - €2,500 per month
  For medium-sized businesses
  Extensive technical optimization
  Content optimization
  Link building activities
• Premium SEO package: €2,500 - €5,000+ per month
  For large websites and e-commerce
  Complete SEO strategy
  Content creation
  Intensive link building
  Weekly reports

What determines the price?

Costs are affected by:

• The size and complexity of your website
• The competition in your market
• The current state of your SEO
• The speed at which you want to see results
• The amount of content to be optimized
• The intensity of the desired link building

Return on Investment (ROI).

A good SEO investment pays for itself by:

• More quality visitors
• Higher conversion rates
• Lower cost per lead than paid ads
• Long-lasting results, even after collaboration
• Improved brand visibility

Tips for budgeting

• Start with an SEO audit to determine priorities
• Choose a flexible contract to test
• Demand for outcome measures and KPIs
• Discuss the expected timeline for results
• Allow at least 6-12 months for significant results

Working as an SEO consultant?

At Tasmanic, we are constantly looking for the best SEO consultants. Check out onze vacatures and respond immediately.