IGN
Site audit, architecture and crawl fixes, SEO built into the proprietary CMS with IGN’s programmers, and training for writers and page developers.
2x unique visitorsWithin two months after optimizationRead the case study →
SEO Inc. / Search consulting since 1997
SEO Consultant
Senior search consultants who diagnose what is holding your site back, hand your team a prioritized roadmap and stay close while it gets built. Led by people with 29 years in search, from the early paid search era to AI Overviews.
Take action
Request a consulting call
Share your website and the problem you need solved. A senior consultant will reply.
29 yrsIn search since 1997. Founder Garry Grant has worked online since 1993.
2xUnique visitors for IGN within two months of the SEO program, built with its in-house developers.
30,000Linking sites contacted to lift a Google penalty for a national carpet cleaning franchise.
2010Built a first-in-the-nation college-credited SEO & SEM course for UC San Diego.
The engagement
What an SEO consulting engagement includes
You get senior judgment on the decisions that move rankings and revenue, and a plan your developers, writers and vendors can execute.
Audits & analysis
A technical SEO audit covering crawlability, indexation, site architecture, page speed and Core Web Vitals, structured data, on-page metadata and image optimization, paired with a competitive analysis of who outranks you and why. See our SEO audit and analysis service.
Roadmaps & prioritization
Findings become a ranked roadmap: what to fix first, who owns it, the expected impact and how we will measure it. Keyword research and strategy map pages to search demand so content and development effort go where revenue is.
In-house team coaching
Consultants work directly with your developers, content writers and marketers. At IGN we worked on site with the in-house programmers to build SEO best practices into their proprietary CMS and trained writers and page developers on SEO content practices.
AI search & GEO readiness
We review how your brand appears in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and other answer engines, then recommend changes to entity data, schema markup, content structure and authority signals so your pages are easier to cite. See AI SEO services.
Site migrations & redesigns
Redirect mapping, pre- and post-launch crawl comparisons, metadata and schema carry-over and analytics verification, so a redesign, replatform or domain change does not erase years of earned rankings.
Penalty recovery & link risk
Link profile audits that separate legitimate links from harmful ones, outreach for removal, disavow files and documentation for Google. See backlink removal.
Measurement & implementation QA
GA4 configuration, conversion tracking and QA on every change your team ships, verified in production.
Choosing the right model
How consulting differs from full-service SEO management
With consulting, your team or your existing vendors do the hands-on work while our consultants set strategy, prioritize and check quality. With full-service management, SEO Inc. runs the program end to end.
Need us to do the work? See full-service SEO.
| SEO consulting | Full-service SEO management |
|---|---|
| Your team or vendors implement | SEO Inc. implements |
| Senior strategy, roadmap and QA | Strategy plus ongoing execution |
| Builds in-house SEO skill | Frees in-house time |
| Project, augmentation or retainer | Ongoing monthly program |
| Works alongside your current agency | Single accountable team |
Flexible consulting models
Engagement models built around your team
Introduced in 2026, three ways to bring a senior SEO consultant into your business, plus training for teams that want to own SEO long term.
Project-based consulting
A defined scope with a clear end: a site migration, a technical audit, penalty recovery or a product launch. You get findings, a prioritized plan and QA through launch.
Dedicated expert augmentation
A senior SEO expert works directly with your in-house staff as part of the team, joining standups, reviewing tickets and pairing with developers and writers on implementation.
Long-term strategic retainer
Ongoing guidance for leadership and marketing teams: quarterly roadmaps, monthly reviews, algorithm-update response and a consultant on call when decisions come up.
Team training & workshops
Hands-on SEO training for developers, writers and marketers, grounded in the curriculum experience behind the college-credited SEO & SEM course we built for UC San Diego in 2010.
Our process
How a consulting engagement runs
Four stages, each with a deliverable your team can act on.
Comprehensive analysis
Site, competitor, analytics and Search Console review to find what limits growth.
Strategic planning
A ranked roadmap with owners, effort and the metric each item should move.
Implementation oversight
We guide your team or vendors and QA every change before and after it ships.
Continuous refinement
Results are measured, the plan is updated and new search changes are folded in.
Consultant vs freelancer vs new hire
Why companies hire an SEO consultant
Hover, tap or tab to a card for the answer.
Freelancer or consultant?
Why not just hire a freelancer?
Freelancers can be unvetted and hard to replace. Our consultants are vetted senior specialists backed by a team, and their work is accountable to an agency that has protected its reputation since 1997.
New hire or consultant?
Why not hire a full-time SEO?
A senior hire takes months to recruit and ramp. A consultant brings 29 years of agency pattern recognition on day one, and you can scale the engagement up or down as needs change.
Your team
Will a consultant replace my team?
No. Consultants act as an extension of your in-house team. The goal is a team that understands why each change matters and can keep the gains after the engagement ends.
Implementation
Who actually makes the changes?
Your team or vendors implement, and we review every change. If you want hands-on help, we can scope implementation or full-service management for specific workstreams.
Leadership
Who leads the work?
Engagements are led by senior people, including founder and CEO Garry Grant, who has worked online since 1993 and did hands-on SEO strategy for Apple Leisure Group travel brands.
Consulting in practice
Work alongside in-house teams
Engagements where our consultants worked with a client’s own developers, writers and leadership. Follow each link for the full story.
Entrepreneur
Starting from about 5% of the site optimized, a three-stage program covered core pages, the article archive and SEO built into business processes. Website traffic grew from about 2 million to 7 million visits.
$2M+ per monthSEO Inc.’s estimated return in a typical monthRead the case study →
National carpet cleaning franchise
A link audit and cleanup after a franchisee’s DIY vendor triggered a Google penalty, then a non-branded keyword strategy.
1,000+ keywordsNon-branded terms on page 1 or 2; traffic more than doubled in 12 monthsRead the case study →
Results belong to each client’s own engagement and measurement period. See all client case studies.
Make every recommendation someone’s responsibility
Senior advice produces more value when the client team knows who approves, builds and checks each change. Set those responsibilities at the beginning of the engagement so the roadmap can move through your organization.
The decision owner
Identify who can approve changes to content, site structure, measurement and priorities. Record the business constraint the recommendation needs to respect, such as a release schedule or a regulated review process.
The implementation owner
Assign the work to the developer, editor, analyst or internal team that will carry it out. Give that person enough context to understand the problem and the expected result.
The validation owner
Agree on the evidence that will confirm implementation and on the reporting period for evaluating outcomes. A completed development ticket and an improvement in business performance are different milestones.
Use the consulting roadmap as a working document. Revisit dependencies and decisions as the team learns, while keeping the approved scope and responsibilities clear.
SEO consultant FAQ
Straight answers to the questions companies ask before hiring an SEO consultant.
What does an SEO consultant do?
An SEO consultant diagnoses what limits your search visibility, builds a prioritized roadmap and oversees implementation by your team or vendors. SEO Inc.’s consultant-led growth plan includes 16 offerings, from technical SEO audits and keyword strategy to GA4 setup and WCAG 2.1 accessibility recommendations.
How is SEO consulting different from full-service SEO management?
In a consulting engagement your in-house team or existing vendors implement the work while our consultants set strategy, prioritize and QA every change. In full-service management SEO Inc. executes the program. At IGN, consultants worked with in-house programmers to build SEO into the proprietary CMS, and unique visitors doubled within two months.
What SEO consulting engagement models do you offer?
Since 2026 we offer three models: short-term project-based consulting for migrations, audits, penalty recovery or launches; dedicated expert augmentation, where a senior SEO expert works directly with your in-house staff; and a long-term strategic retainer for ongoing guidance.
Can an SEO consultant help with a site migration?
Yes. Migration consulting covers redirect mapping, pre- and post-launch crawl comparisons, metadata and schema carry-over and analytics checks. Analytics verification matters because Google stopped processing Universal Analytics data on July 1, 2023, so every migrated site needs working GA4 conversion events.
Do you consult on AI search and GEO?
Yes. Google rolled out AI Overviews to all US users in May 2024, and answer engines such as ChatGPT and Perplexity now cite web pages directly. We audit entity data, schema markup, content structure and authority signals so your pages are easier for these systems to cite.
Can you train our in-house SEO and content team?
Yes. Coaching is part of most engagements. SEO Inc. built a first-in-the-nation college-credited SEO and SEM course for UC San Diego in 2010, and at IGN we trained content writers and page developers on SEO content practices.
Can a consultant help recover from a Google penalty?
Yes. For a national carpet cleaning franchise penalized over low-quality backlinks, we audited the link profile and contacted 30,000 linking sites for removal. After reinstatement, the site reached page 1 or 2 for more than 1,000 non-branded keywords and more than doubled traffic in 12 months.
What does a technical SEO audit check?
Crawlability, indexation, site architecture, page speed, structured data, on-page metadata and Core Web Vitals, including Interaction to Next Paint, which replaced First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital on March 12, 2024. Each finding is ranked by impact and effort in your roadmap.
Who leads SEO consulting engagements at SEO Inc.?
Senior consultants backed by a team that has worked in search since 1997, led by founder and CEO Garry Grant, who has worked online since 1993. SEO Inc. is a Google Partner, and our team is Google Ads AI-Powered Performance certified.
Will you work with our current agency or developers?
Yes. Our consultants collaborate with your existing vendors and resources to build one scalable SEO and PPC strategy. On the Entrepreneur engagement, SEO was integrated into the publisher’s own business processes as the third stage of the program.
Ready for a senior second opinion?
Tell us what you are trying to fix: a migration, a traffic drop, AI search visibility or a team that needs direction. A consultant will recommend the right engagement. Prefer to talk? Call 877.736.0006.
