15 questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant (and answers that should worry you)

These are the questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant, grouped by what they reveal: proof, method, AI search, reporting, ownership and day-to-day working. Each one comes with what a good answer sounds like and the answers that should worry you. I sell SEO myself, so treat this as the list I would want a careful client to put to me, and to everyone else on their shortlist.

Quick answer: the five questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant

If you only have time for five, ask these. They filter out most bad fits in a single call.

1. "What exactly will you do in the first 30 days, and what will I receive?" A good consultant names deliverables (an audit document, a fix list, a keyword map), not vibes.
2. "Can you show me a result and explain what caused it?" You want the reasoning, not only a traffic graph.
3. "How do you get links, and can you show me one you earned?" This separates real outreach from paid link schemes.
4. "Who owns the Search Console, analytics and content if we stop working together?" The only right answer is "you do".
5. "What can't you promise me?" An honest consultant will say rankings and timelines. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO (opens in a new tab) says plainly that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. For a realistic range, see how long SEO takes.

The rest of this guide expands those into 15 questions, adds the answers that should make you walk away, and ends with a scorecard you can copy.

Before you ask: know what you are buying

Most bad SEO hires start with a mismatch, not a scam. The owner wanted a fixed project and bought a vague monthly retainer, or wanted ongoing growth and bought a one-off audit that nobody implemented. Decide which of these you need before the first call, because the right questions differ.

A useful test: ask which of the three they would recommend for you, and why. A long retainer pitched before they have seen your site tells you something.

How to choose an SEO consultant: questions about experience and proof

1. "Can you show me a result for a site like mine, and explain what caused it?"

Google's own list of questions to ask an SEO starts here, with examples of previous work. A good answer includes a before-and-after view (ideally from Google Search Console, not a third-party tool's estimate) and a clear story: what was wrong, what was changed, and how long it took to show up.

Worry if all you get is a ranking screenshot for a phrase nobody searches, or a traffic graph with no explanation. Also note: some client work can't be shown publicly, and that is normal. A good consultant can still walk you through their method on a live example, such as their own website.

2. "What is your experience in my industry, country and type of site?"

A local plumber, a SaaS startup and an online store with 5,000 products need different SEO. Local businesses live and die by Google Business Profile and reviews. SaaS sites need comparison and integration pages. Large stores need crawl control and faceted navigation handled properly. You don't need someone who has done your exact niche, but they should understand what is different about it.

If you sell into another country, ask about that market too. Search behavior, spelling and competitors change between the US, UK, India and the UAE.

3. "Who will actually do the work?"

With an agency, the person who sells is often not the person who does the work, and junior staff may handle your account. With a freelancer, the person you talk to is usually the person doing it. Neither is automatically better, but you should know. I covered this trade-off in detail in freelancer vs agency.

A related question for any consultant: can you implement the fixes, or only recommend them? Many SEO problems are technical (slow templates, broken canonical tags, JavaScript that hides content). A consultant who can't touch code will hand you a document, and you will need a developer to act on it. That is fine if you have one. If you don't, budget for it or hire someone who does both.

Questions about method: technical, content and links

4. "How will you assess my site in the first month?"

You want to hear about crawling the site, checking indexing in Search Console, reviewing page templates, looking at Core Web Vitals field data, and comparing your pages to what actually ranks. A proper technical SEO audit ends in a prioritized list, not a 200-item export from a tool with every warning marked "critical".

Worry if the plan is "we run our tool and send you the report". Tools find symptoms. A consultant should explain which issues actually cost you traffic and which are noise.

5. "How do you decide which keywords and pages to target?"

A good answer mentions search intent, the type of page that ranks today, and whether a site of your size can realistically compete. It should end in a plan that maps keywords to specific pages. Worry about lists of hundreds of keywords with no pages attached, or targets chosen only by search volume.

6. "How do you get links, and can you show me one you earned?"

This is the most revealing question on the list. Good answers involve creating something worth linking to (original data, useful tools, expert commentary), digital PR, partnerships, and fixing broken or unlinked mentions. Ask to see an actual link they earned and how.

Google's spam policies (opens in a new tab) list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam. If the answer is "we have a network", "we place guest posts on our partner sites", or a package of a fixed number of links per month, you are paying for risk.

7. "What do you need from me, and what happens if I can't provide it?"

SEO stalls when the client can't approve content, give access, or get developer time. A consultant who asks for these up front has done this before. If they say they need nothing from you, they are either very self-sufficient or not planning to change much.

Questions about AI search and AI-written content

Most articles on this topic were written before AI Overviews, ChatGPT search and Perplexity changed how people find answers. Ask about them.

8. "How do you approach AI Overviews and AI search?"

A good answer is calm and specific: structured, well-sourced pages that answer questions directly, clear entity information about your business, schema where it fits, and making sure AI crawlers aren't blocked by accident. If you want to read the details first, I wrote a guide on how to get cited in AI Overviews.

Worry about two extremes: a consultant who dismisses AI search entirely, and one who sells a secret "GEO" formula that guarantees citations. Nobody controls what an AI model cites. If AI visibility matters for your business, ask what they would measure and how. This is the same ground I cover in AI search optimization.

9. "Do you use AI to write content, and how is it checked?"

AI-assisted research and drafting is now common, and Google doesn't ban it. What Google does target is scaled content abuse (opens in a new tab): generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings without adding value. A good answer explains who reviews each piece, who checks facts, and where real expertise comes in. Worry about "we publish 30 AI articles a month for you" with no editing step.

Questions about reporting and KPIs

10. "How will we measure success, and how often will you report?"

Rankings are a weak primary metric. They move daily, vary by location and device, and many queries now show AI answers and other features above the classic results. Better measures, in rough order of what a business cares about:

• leads, sales or sign-ups from organic search (tracked in GA4 or your CRM)
• clicks and impressions from Search Console, by page and by query group
• number of pages that receive any search impressions at all
• technical health that blocks growth (indexing errors, Core Web Vitals)

Monthly reporting is standard. More important than frequency: the report should say what was done, what changed, and what happens next, in plain language.

11. "What results do you expect, and in what timeframe?"

Google suggests asking exactly this. A good consultant gives a range with conditions ("technical fixes can show in weeks; new content usually takes months; it depends on competition and how fast we can publish") and won't commit to a date for a specific ranking. If they quote a timeline before they have looked at your site and competitors, they are guessing.

Questions about access and ownership

12. "Who owns the Search Console, GA4 and content accounts?"

You should. Search Console has distinct permission levels: owners can add and remove users, while full and restricted users cannot (Google's permissions page (opens in a new tab) has the table). Make sure you are an owner of your own property and the consultant is added as a user. The same goes for GA4: your business should own the account and grant the consultant a role.

If you don't have these set up properly yet, fix that first. It is a small job and it protects you whoever you hire. I do this as a standalone GA4 and Search Console setup.

13. "Will you tell me about every change you make to my site?"

This is another of Google's suggested questions, and it matters. You should get a change log: which pages were edited, which redirects were added, which plugins were installed. Without it, you can't tell what helped, what hurt, or how to undo something when a later developer breaks it.

Also confirm that the content written for you belongs to you, including drafts and keyword research, and that nothing they did depends on a tool or link network that disappears when the contract ends.

Questions about working together

14. "How will we communicate, and how quickly do you reply?"

Agree on the channel (email, Slack, calls), the update rhythm, and a realistic reply time. I work remotely with clients in different time zones and we agree on update times at the start, the same rhythm I describe in hiring a web developer in India. That one conversation prevents most frustration later.

15. "What is the minimum term, and how do we end it?"

Ask about contract length, notice period and what you get when it ends (reports, access, files). Long lock-ins with no exit clause are a warning sign. A confident consultant expects to keep you because the work is useful, not because the contract forces you to stay.

Hiring an SEO company instead of a consultant

Most of this list works unchanged as questions to ask an SEO company. Two more matter with an agency, because the person who sells you the work is often not the person who does it:

• Who will work on my site, and can I speak to them before signing? An agency should name the specialist, not just the account manager.
• What happens when that person leaves or is busy? Ask how work is handed over and whether you keep the same reporting and access.

If you are choosing a single freelancer, the questions to ask an SEO expert are the same ones above, and the work samples matter even more, because there is no brand to hide behind. Either way, how to choose the right SEO agency or consultant comes down to the same test: clear answers about method, proof you can check, and access that stays in your name.

SEO red flags: answers that should worry you

Some answers should end the conversation. Most of these come straight from Google's guidance or its spam policies.

One honest note: a confident answer isn't automatically a good answer, and a hesitant one isn't automatically bad. "I'm not sure yet, I'd need to look at your Search Console data" is often the most trustworthy thing a consultant can say.

A scorecard to compare SEO consultants

When you have talked to two or three people, score them the same way. Copy this table, rate each row from 1 to 5, and multiply by the weight.

The weights are a suggestion. If you have no developer, raise "ability to implement". If you are in a regulated industry, raise "method" and add a row for compliance review.

The winner is rarely the cheapest quote or the slickest deck. It is the person whose answers you could repeat to a colleague and have them make sense.

Frequently asked questions

What questions should I ask an SEO company?

Ask the same core questions as for a consultant, plus two more: who exactly will work on your account, and how many other clients that person handles. With a company, also ask what happens if your account manager leaves, and whether you can talk to the person doing the technical work directly.

What questions should I ask an SEO expert in the first call?

Start with what they would do in the first 30 days, what you will receive, and how they would measure success. Then ask how they get links and who owns the accounts. Those five answers tell you most of what you need to know before you share any data.

Should an SEO consultant guarantee rankings?

No. Google's own guidance says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and a consultant who promises one is either misleading you or planning tactics that put your site at risk. A good consultant can commit to work, deliverables and reporting, not to positions in Google.

How long should I give an SEO consultant before judging results?

Judge the work early and the results later. Within the first month you should see a clear audit or plan and the first fixes going live. Traffic changes from new content and links usually take several months, depending on competition, so agree on interim signals (pages indexed, impressions growing) at the start.

Is it better to hire a freelance SEO consultant or an agency?

It depends on scope. A freelancer usually means direct contact with the person doing the work and less overhead; an agency can cover more disciplines at once, such as paid ads and design. For many small and mid-sized businesses, one skilled consultant who can also implement technical fixes covers most of what they need.

If you'd like to put these questions to me, I'm happy to answer every one of them on a short call. You can read how I work as a freelance SEO consultant first.