Hiring an SEO consultant looks simple until you’re three months into a retainer, staring at a report full of impressions, and wondering what you paid for.
I’m a consultant myself. I know how the good ones work and how the bad ones sell, because I compete with both. So this guide is the vetting process Iβd want a marketing leader to run on me: where to find candidates, how to verify their case studies, the questions that separate strategists from report generators, and what a fair price looks like in 2026.
