Best SEO Consultant? 7 Questions To Ask Before You Hire

The best SEO consultant for most business owners is me, Julian Goldie, and you can start with a free SEO strategy session before you spend a penny.

Yes, this is my own list, and I'm putting myself at number one, so read it with that in mind.

I've been doing SEO for over a decade, and I built Goldie Agency from a solo operation into a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.

Below my entry, you'll find seven independent SEO consultants I genuinely respect, with only verified public facts about each one.

This page is written for operators, so it's a hiring walkthrough rather than a fan list.

You'll get the ranked list first, then the exact steps, questions and red flags I'd use to hire an SEO consultant this week.

The Best SEO Consultant Picks At A Glance

If you only have five seconds, here's the answer.

🥇 Julian Goldie (Goldie Agency) is my pick if you want a strategy call first and a team that can actually do the work afterwards.
🥈 Aleyda Solis (Orainti) is a strong pick if you want a senior strategic SEO consultant with a big focus on AI search visibility.
🥉 Glenn Gabe (G-Squared Interactive) is a strong pick if a large, complex site has dropped after a Google update.

The full list of eight is right below, and the hiring steps come after it.

How I Ranked These SEO Consultants

I used four simple criteria, and I kept them the same for every name.

I looked for a long public track record that you can check yourself, such as published research, newsletters or talks.
I looked for a clear speciality, because a consultant who does everything usually does nothing brilliantly.
I looked for a way to start small, such as a strategy call, an audit or an advisory session.
I looked at whether they talk openly about AI search, because that's where SEO is moving right now.

I did not rank anyone on price, because most consultants don't publish fixed prices and I won't invent them.

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The 8 Best SEO Consultants To Hire In 2026

1. Julian Goldie (Goldie Agency) — my own entry

I'll be upfront that this is me, and I've ranked myself first on my own site.

I started in SEO with a cryptocurrency website while travelling in Asia, and I got zero Google traffic for months.

That forced me to learn link building, it worked on my own affiliate sites, and I realised I could sell it as a service.

That's how Goldie Agency started, and today AI handles roughly 80% of our internal operations.

The easiest way to work with me is the free SEO strategy session, where we look at your site and map out a plan.

If you'd rather learn to do it yourself alongside other experienced operators, the SEO Elite Circle is my SEO mastermind.

Best for: Business owners who want one call to get a plan, and then a team that can execute the content and link building.

Price: The strategy session is free, and any paid work is quoted after we talk.

→ Book a free SEO strategy session

2. Aleyda Solis (Orainti)

Aleyda Solis is the founder of Orainti, a boutique SEO consultancy.

She runs the Crawling Mondays video series and podcast, the #SEOFOMO newsletter and the free learning roadmap LearningSEO.io.

She was named European Search Personality in 2018, and she speaks at events like SMX, BrightonSEO and MozCon.

Her recent episodes cover AI search roadmaps and how to measure AI search visibility.

Best for: Brands that want a senior strategist to set SEO direction, including for AI search.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so ask Orainti for a quote.

3. Glenn Gabe (G-Squared Interactive)

Glenn Gabe runs G-Squared Interactive (GSQi), a consultancy known for Google algorithm update work.

GSQi offers algorithm update recovery, technical audits, migration support and training.

He has published his analysis on his blog, The Internet Marketing Driver, since 2006, and he posts core update notes during rollouts.

Best for: Larger and more complex sites that have lost rankings and traffic after a major Google update.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so ask GSQi for a quote.

4. Marie Haynes (Marie Haynes Consulting)

Marie Haynes runs Marie Haynes Consulting, which has helped businesses with Google's algorithms since 2008.

Her work is best known for Google updates, penalties and the quality ideas in Google's rater guidelines.

She keeps a public timeline of Google updates on her site, and she publishes a newsletter and a course.

Best for: Site owners who want to understand how Google judges quality and helpfulness.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so ask her team for a quote.

5. Kevin Indig (Growth Memo)

Kevin Indig has been an independent growth advisor to fast-growing startups since mid-2022.

Before that, he led SEO and growth work at Shopify, G2 and Atlassian.

He writes the Growth Memo newsletter about SEO, organic growth and AI-driven search.

Best for: Venture-backed startups and in-house teams that want a strategic advisor rather than a hands-on doer.

Price: I couldn't verify a current advisory price, so ask him directly.

6. Cyrus Shepard (Zyppy SEO)

Cyrus Shepard is the founder of Zyppy SEO, and he previously worked as an SEO at Moz.

Zyppy says its best-fit clients are B2B SaaS companies, tech companies, later-stage startups and mid-market brands.

He also created Zyppy List, a directory of vetted marketing agencies and consultants, and he is trained as an SEO expert witness.

Best for: SaaS and tech companies that want a consultant who focuses on satisfying the user.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so check Zyppy's site or ask.

7. Barry Adams (Polemic Digital)

Barry Adams founded Polemic Digital in 2014 as a specialist SEO consultancy for news publishers.

He says he has been an active SEO practitioner since 1998, and he writes the SEO for Google News newsletter.

His speaker bio lists publisher clients such as The Guardian, News UK and Condé Nast.

Best for: News and media publishers that rely on Google Search, Google News and Discover.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so ask Polemic Digital for a quote.

8. Jason Barnard (Kalicube)

Jason Barnard, known as "The Brand SERP Guy", founded Kalicube.

His work covers Brand SERPs, which are the results people see when they Google your brand name, plus Knowledge Panels.

He also focuses on how brands are described by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode.

Best for: Founders and companies that care most about what Google and AI tools say about their brand.

Price: I couldn't verify a public price, so ask Kalicube for a quote.

The Best SEO Consultant Options Compared

|---|---|---|---|---|

If you want the wider list of people to follow and learn from, read my companion post on the best SEO professionals.

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→ Get access here

SEO Consultant vs SEO Agency: Which One Do You Need?

This is the first decision, and most people get it wrong.

An SEO consultant is usually one expert who diagnoses problems, sets strategy and tells you what to do.

An SEO agency is a team that does the work, such as writing content, fixing technical issues and building links.

A consultant is great when you already have people who can implement the advice.

An agency is great when you don't have the time or the team to do the work yourself.

| Question | SEO consultant | SEO agency |

|---|---|---|

| Who does the work? | You or your team usually implement the plan. | The agency's team does most of the work. |

| What you mostly pay for | Expert judgement and a clear plan. | Ongoing execution at volume. |

| Best when | You have a developer, writers or an in-house marketer. | You're a small team without SEO staff. |

| Typical risk | A great plan that never gets implemented. | Lots of activity that isn't tied to a clear strategy. |

My setup is a mix of both, because the strategy session is consulting and Goldie Agency is the execution team.

How To Hire The Best SEO Consultant In 6 Steps

This is the operator walkthrough I'd follow if I were hiring someone tomorrow.

Step 1: Write down the one outcome you want

Pick one outcome, such as recovering from an update, getting more leads from local search or launching a new site.

A consultant can only be judged against a goal, so write yours in one sentence before you talk to anyone.

Step 2: Match the speciality to the problem

Use the table above to shortlist two or three consultants whose speciality matches your problem.

A news publisher should talk to a news SEO specialist, and a SaaS company should talk to someone who works with SaaS.

Step 3: Give read-only access first

Google's own advice is to give a new SEO read-only access to Search Console while they audit your site.

Don't hand over full access to your server or website on day one.

Step 4: Ask the seven questions below

Ask every consultant on your shortlist the same questions so you can compare their answers fairly.

Step 5: Agree the scope and the success measure in writing

Get the deliverables, the timeline and how success will be measured written down before you pay.

Step 6: Review progress monthly

Check the agreed numbers every month in your own Search Console and analytics, not just in their report.

The 7 Questions To Ask An SEO Consultant Before You Hire

Google publishes a list of questions to ask a potential SEO in its guide on whether you need an SEO, and I've built on it here.

Ask them to show you examples of past work and real success stories.
Ask whether they follow Google Search Essentials and Google's spam policies.
Ask what results you should expect, on what timeline, and how success will be measured.
Ask what experience they have in your industry, your country and your type of site.
Ask how long they've been doing SEO and what they specialise in.
Ask how you'll communicate and whether they'll explain every change they make and why.
Ask how they use AI in their process and what a human still checks before anything goes live.

The seventh question is mine, and in 2026 I think it's the most revealing one on the list.

Typical SEO Consultant Engagement Types

Most SEO consulting work falls into a handful of shapes, and knowing them helps you ask for the right thing.

| Engagement type | What you get | When it fits |

|---|---|---|

| Strategy call | A short session to diagnose the site and agree priorities. | You're not sure what's wrong yet. |

| One-off audit | A written review of technical, content and link issues with fixes in order. | You have a team ready to implement. |

| Recovery project | A focused investigation after a traffic drop. | You were hit by an update. |

| Migration support | Planning and checking a redesign, replatform or domain move. | You're about to change the site. |

| Monthly advisory | Regular calls and reviews over time. | You have in-house people who need guidance. |

| Training or mastermind | Teaching your team to do the work. | You want to build the skill internally. |

I haven't put prices in this table because consultants rarely publish them and I won't make numbers up.

Always ask for a written quote that matches one of these shapes.

SEO Consultant Red Flags To Walk Away From

These warning signs come straight from Google's own hiring advice, plus a couple I've seen myself.

Walk away if anyone guarantees you a number one ranking on Google, because nobody can promise that.
Walk away if they claim a special relationship with Google or a priority way to submit your site.
Be careful with unsolicited emails offering to fix your SEO.
Be careful when someone is secretive about what they're changing on your site.
Walk away if they push link schemes or mass-produced pages, because those break Google's spam policies.
Be careful if they ask for write access before they've even finished an audit.

How AI Changes What A Good SEO Consultant Does

Google now lists optimising for generative AI as one of the services an SEO may provide.

That tells you how much the job has shifted in the last two years.

A good consultant in 2026 should be thinking about two kinds of search at once.

The first is classic Google rankings, and the second is getting cited in AI answers from tools like Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity.

AI also changes how the work gets done behind the scenes.

At Goldie Agency, AI runs roughly 80% of our internal operations, and my own sites are researched, written and published by AI agents that I supervise.

That speed is a huge advantage, but it's only safe when a human sets the strategy and checks what goes live.

The lazy version is pasting chatbot output onto your site, and that's exactly the kind of scaled content Google's spam policies warn about.

If you want to see what an answer-first, AI-assisted SEO setup looks like in practice, my King of AEO post walks through the loop my agents run.

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My Verdict On The Best SEO Consultant

The best SEO consultant is the one whose speciality matches your exact problem and who is honest about timelines.

If you've been hit by an update, Glenn Gabe and Marie Haynes are names I'd look at.

If you're a publisher, Barry Adams is the specialist, and if your brand's search results are the issue, Jason Barnard is the specialist.

If you want a plan and a team that can execute it with AI, that's what I do, and the first call is free.

Also On Our Network

FAQ: Best SEO Consultant

Who is the best SEO consultant?

On my own list, I rank myself and Goldie Agency first, and I say that openly because it's my site.

The best SEO consultant for you is the one whose speciality matches your problem, such as Glenn Gabe for update recovery or Barry Adams for news publishers.

What is the difference between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency?

An SEO consultant is usually one expert who diagnoses problems and sets strategy, while your team implements the plan.

An SEO agency is a team that does the work itself, such as content, technical fixes and link building.

What should I ask an SEO consultant before hiring?

Ask for past results, whether they follow Google Search Essentials, what results to expect and when, their experience in your industry, how they'll communicate and how they use AI.

Google publishes most of these questions in its own guide to hiring an SEO.

Can an SEO consultant guarantee first place on Google?

No, and Google says plainly that nobody can guarantee a number one ranking.

Treat any guarantee like that as a reason to walk away.

How is AI changing SEO consulting?

Google now lists optimising for generative AI as a service an SEO may provide, so good consultants plan for AI answers as well as rankings.

AI also speeds up research and writing, but a human still needs to set the strategy and check what goes live.

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About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, an SEO entrepreneur, author and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.

I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.

I started Goldie Agency on my own, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people.
I've grown my YouTube channel to 400,000+ subscribers.
I wrote "Link Building Mastery".
My Udemy courses have taught 29,000+ students.

→ Get my best AI training inside the AI Profit Boardroom

Ask the seven questions, give read-only access first, and you'll find the best SEO consultant for your business without getting burned.

Best SEO Consultant? 7 Questions To Ask Before You Hire

The Best SEO Consultant Picks At A Glance

How I Ranked These SEO Consultants

The 8 Best SEO Consultants To Hire In 2026