Successful SEO Consulting for @Hubspot #AgencyExpertSeries Webinar

#SuccessfulSEO by @aleyda from @orainti for #agencyexpertseries
Successful  
SEO Consulting

I’m Aleyda Solis

+10 Years of SEO experience in the agency side, in-
house specialist and as an independent consultant

I own a boutique SEO consultancy called Orainti

Helping brands that you likely know

Achieving organic search visibility increase

Driving scalable organic search growth

That ultimately achieves a positive ROI

As well as happy clients

How can you do the same and develop  
a successful SEO consulting business?

Start by establish
your USP in SEO:
Why they should
hire you specifically
and not another
agency or
consultant?

Start by establish
your USP in SEO:
Why they should
hire you specifically
and not another
agency or
consultant?
๏ Trust: Ethical principles as
a consultant, that will not
put in risk your clients
business and will keep
complete transparency in
the actions to be
implemented.
๏ Convenience: Offering all
digital marketing or SEO
capabilities?
๏ Specialization: Offering
specific SEO services and
in-depth knowledge and
experience?

Verify that there’s a
fit with the type of
client and project
before pitching,
accepting or
signing a new deal

Verify that there’s a
fit with the type of
client and project
before pitching,
accepting or
signing a new deal
๏ Size of business: Do you
target a high volume of
small clients or low
volume of big clients?
๏ Type of business: Do you
target B2B or B2C
clients?
๏ Type of industry: Do you
specialise on businesses
of certain industries?
๏ Type of projects: Do you
specialise on projects
that cover certain SEO
activities or specific
markets?

Set the right
expectations early
on about the SEO
process times,
resources and
flexibility required
to make things
happen

Set the right
expectations early
on about the SEO
process times,
resources and
flexibility required
to make things
happen
๏ Access to internal data in
order to have required
information to advise
๏ Minimum expected time
to see improvements
*after* recommendations
are executed
๏ Flexibility & resources
required by the client to
implement
recommendations
๏ Involvement from the
client teams to execute
and align efforts

Have someone from
the client side to be
the “SEO champion/
owner” who should
be your main
contact point and
should help to
coordinate and get
things done

Have someone from
the client side to be
the “SEO champion/
owner” who should
be your main
contact point and
should help to
coordinate and get
things done
๏ An internal SEO project
manager who should
have necessary capacity
“approve” actions and
goals
๏ Someone who can
internally communicate
and coordinate to make
things happen across
different areas

Ask (and validate
yourself) about any
previous SEO
activities or changes
that could influence
the current site
rankings and can also
serve as an input for
the process

#SuccessfulSEO by @aleyda from @orainti for #agencyexpertseries#SuccessfulSEO by @aleyda from @orainti for #agencyexpertseries
๏ Check what worked well
and what didn’t in the
past
๏ Verify if the site has
suffered from
penalisations
๏ Obtain information about
former structural Web
changes as migrations or
redesigns
๏ See if the business has
other Web properties in
production or for test
purposes
Ask (and validate
yourself) about any
previous SEO
activities or changes
that could influence
the current site
rankings and can also
serve as an input for
the process

Start with a
complete audit &
research to
understand the
business  
& site status &
context in the
industry, as well as
situation and USP vs
competitors

๏ Even if you’re focusing
on a specific side of SEO
is critical to have as much
understanding as
possible of the context to
identify opportunities
and establish an effective
strategy
๏ A technical, content, link
popularity analysis,
audience search
behaviour vs.
competitors should be
required to start
Start with a
complete audit &
research to
understand the
business  
& site status &
context in the
industry, as well as
situation and USP vs
competitors

Always develop
your own keyword
research, to validate
the audience
behaviour yourself,
even if the client
already provide
their own data, to
identify
opportunities

๏ Take client “off-line”
market knowledge into
consideration
๏ Use former SEO process
or PPC campaigns
keyword and competition
research as an input
๏ Always validate yourself
by developing your own
keyword and competition
research as these can
easily change over time
๏ Don’t use only a single
data source, verify with
as many sources as it is
viable
Always develop
your own keyword
research, to validate
the audience
behaviour yourself,
even if the client
already provide
their own data, to
identify
opportunities

Replicate the
audit and
research to be
“mobile
targeted” in
order to validate
for the upcoming
mobile first
Google index

Replicate the
audit and
research to be
“mobile
targeted” in
order to validate
for the upcoming
mobile first
Google index
๏ Use the “smartphone”
crawler when doing the
technical audit and
“mobile” segmentation
for keyword and content
research
๏ Identify potential gaps
between the desktop and
mobile optimisation
status that should be
closed before the release
of Google’s mobile first
index

Prioritize your
topics/terms/
keywords targets not
only based on
volume, relevance,
competition and
seasonality but also
their potential
profitability towards
the business

Prioritize your
topics/terms/
keywords targets not
only based on
volume, relevance,
competition and
seasonality but also
their potential
profitability towards
the business
๏ Check with client to align
the keyword research
outcome based on
business criteria: if there
are categories or types of
services or products that
they want to prioritise
due to profitability, a
new release or
competition reasons
๏ The final selection should
be balanced to cover
both low-hanging fruit as
well as highly beneficial
but more competitive
topics

Establish relevant
& reasonable kpis
as well as goals
along your client
based on what’s
feasible to
implement and the
desired ultimate
business outcome

๏ For the KPIs: Which are
the different aspects,
areas and activities that
you will be working on
for which you can easily
obtain reliable “success
indicators”?
๏ For the Goals: What’s the
final outcome that the
client is looking to
achieve from a business
perspective?
Establish relevant
& reasonable kpis
as well as goals
along your client
based on what’s
feasible to
implement and the
desired ultimate
business outcome

Develop actionable
SEO
recommendations
based on the audit
findings, specifying
the required
technical, content or
promotional
resources to
implement them

๏ For every identified issue
in the SEO audit an
actionable
recommendation should
be made to implement
the solution
๏ Every recommendation
should specified if it’s
going to require
promotional support
from the client, in order
to coordinate well its
execution
Develop actionable
SEO
recommendations
based on the audit
findings, specifying
the required
promotional
resources to
implement them

Take screenshots to
every SEO issue
identified to
document them,
and provide
examples of every
relevant scenario,
as well as all the
identified instances
to be fixed

๏ Taking and including
screenshots of the
identified issues in the
SEO recommendations is
critical so is easier to fix
them as well as to
document them in case
there are doubts in the
future about their
previous status
๏ Do the same every time
you validate an
implementation
Take screenshots to
every SEO issue
identified to
document them,
and provide
examples of every
relevant scenario,
as well as all the
identified instances
to be fixed

Prioritize SEO
recommendations
based on the
identified issues
and opportunities
taking into
consideration their
potential impact to
achieve the
desired goals

๏ Assign a priority to each
recommendation based
on how critical it is to
achieve the desired goals
๏ Priorities should be
updated when
recommendations are
shared with the client
based on the effort
required to implement
them
๏ Highest impact, easier to
implement actions should
then be first
Prioritize SEO
recommendations
based on the
identified issues
and opportunities
taking into
consideration their
potential impact to
achieve the
desired goals

Agree on a clear and
“agile”
implementation
roadmap, with
specific deadlines to
launch the established
activities that you
should follow-up  
with the client

๏ Development and launch
times should be agreed
along the client for each
recommended action,
following the agreed
priority.
๏ Follow an “agile”
approach to launch fast
with an “iterative/
incremental” thinking.
๏ All the required
stakeholders involved in
the process should agree
and approve the
established roadmap.
Agree on a clear and
“agile”
implementation
roadmap, with
specific deadlines to
launch the established
activities that you
should follow-up  
with the client

Get early involvement
from all the relevant
stakeholders who
should also include
SEO goals as part of
their own areas ones

Get early involvement
from all the relevant
stakeholders who
should also include
SEO goals as part of
their own areas ones
๏ The different areas
involved in the SEO
related implementations
should also make them
part of their goals, in
order to obtain their
actual attention and care
๏ Each stakeholder
involved in each task
should attend the calls &
meetings around them,
and understand the
desired final outcome as
well as the reason behind

Keep an on-going &
transparent
communication with
the client about your
work status with
frequent calls to
“touch base” and
clarify any doubts
during the
implementation
process

๏ A fluid communication is
critical to make sure that
you clarified any doubts
that the client might have
and recommendations
are implemented as
expected instead of
finding issues at the end.
๏ It’s also important that
the client knows the
status of the tasks that
you are in charge of
execute to effectively
align each other and keep
updated.
Keep an on-going &
transparent
communication with
the client about your
work status with
frequent calls to
“touch base” and
clarify any doubts
during the
implementation
process

Document all the
the findings,
deliverables and
communication with
the client in a
project
management
system that will also
facilitate the
process
coordination

๏ Use a project
management system for
every interaction with
the client so is easier to
share after with other
team members if
necessary or follow-up.
๏ From Basecamp to Jira,
use a system that better
fit to the SEO process
characteristic.
Document all the
the findings,
deliverables and
communication with
the client in a
project
management
system that will also
facilitate the
process
coordination

Always validate
yourself the
implementations
before and after
they are launched to
make sure they have
been executed as
specified

Always validate
yourself the
implementations
before and after
they are launched to
make sure they have
been executed as
specified
๏ Enable a “test”
environment that
replicates the one in
production to validate
and approve directly
every implementation
before it is released.
๏ Always check yourself
again after each
implementation is
executed to check it has
been effectively taken to
production.

Report about the
KPIs, goals and
activities status
every month,
suggesting
improvements
based on the
current situation

Report about the
KPIs, goals and
activities status
every month,
suggesting
improvements
based on the
current situation
๏ Share monthly reports
during “formal” clients
follow-ups showing the
advancement from an
implementation
perspective and their
impact in the KPIs and
goals.
๏ Make the reports
actionable, so you
recommend on actions to
take additionally or
change based on the
results achieved until
then.

SEO is an iterative/
incremental
process: if you
identify that
something is not
working, be flexible
to pivot or change
and viceversa, if
something works
better, to focus or
expand

๏ Re-Prioritize the process
recommendations &
connected actions based
on the identified results if
you see that something is
not working as expected
or working better than
what you planned.
๏ Re-align and agree with
all the stakeholders so
they are aware of the
changes and the reasons
behind.
SEO is an iterative/
incremental
process: if you
identify that
something is not
working, be flexible
to pivot or change
and viceversa, if
something works
better, to focus or
expand

Parallel to your
client work, keep
updated by
following up with
Google updates,
SEO related news
and findings from
industry
publications and
twitter

Parallel to your
client work, keep
updated by
following up with
Google updates,
SEO related news
and findings from
industry
publications and
twitter
๏ Due to the continuous
changing nature of SEO is
critical to keep updated.
๏ Follow main industry
publications like SEL, SEJ,
SERoundtable, as more
reliable sources.
๏ Twitter offers a great way
to keep updated as well as
interact and promote your
own content and findings.
๏ Take with a “grain of salt”
what you read, double
verify with more and
reliable sources, your own
tests and “common sense”.

Drive tests with
your own sites to
validate hypothesis
on what is working
applied to the
different scenarios
you have with your
clients

Drive tests with
your own sites to
validate hypothesis
on what is working
applied to the
different scenarios
you have with your
clients
๏ It’s critical that you double
verify yourself what you
“read” from others, even
reliable sources.
๏ Remember that there are
usually many ways to
implement and achieve the
same results and they
might change based on
each site context.
๏ Develop your own tests
with a purpose, to validate
the viability to achieve
results in other ways that
are feasible to implement.

Share about your
experiences in your
own blog, as well as
third-party
platforms that can
drive you more
visibility as LinkedIn
or industry blogs to
develop your
authority

๏ Sharing about your own
experiences is one of the
best ways to receive
feedback, additional ideas
or confirm your findings.
๏ Publishing will also bring
your business visibility and
authority, as well as could
be a potential client driver
or get you invite to share in
events.
๏ Use third-party platforms
along your own blog in
order to reach a wider
audience, especially at the
beginning.
Share about your
experiences in your
own blog, as well as
third-party
platforms that can
drive you more
visibility as LinkedIn
or industry blogs to
develop your
authority

Go to digital
marketing events to
network with other
SEOs, stay updated
and if possible
share by speaking
about your
experiences with
the community

Go to digital
marketing events to
network with other
SEOs, stay updated
and if possible
share by speaking
about your
experiences with
the community
๏ Learn and ask directly to
industry leaders that you
might not have access to
otherwise.
๏ Expand your network,
exchange ideas, learn and
even identify business
opportunities or bring new
leads in a more “personal”
setting with people who
you might not have known
otherwise or only seen
online… make friends.
๏ Meet clients or partners in
a different and funner
environment.

You can also go to
other industries
conferences to
network,
inspiration, share
about your SEO
knowledge and
get potential leads

You can also go to
other industries
conferences to
network,
inspiration, share
about your SEO
knowledge and
get potential leads
๏ Great to get out of the
“echo chamber” and bring
new ideas to your SEO
activities.
๏ They are better settings to
get leads from, as you will
be interacting with a non-
SEO audience and
community, that could
become potential clients.

When you achieve
the expected results,
ask for clients
testimonials or
success stories that
you can publish in
your site, proposals
and share with
potential clients to
establish trust

When you achieve
the expected results,
ask for clients
testimonials or
success stories that
you can publish in
your site, proposals
and share with
potential clients to
establish trust
๏ “it's not bragging if it's
true”, ask permission to
your clients to share about
the SEO results you have
helped to achieve
(anonymizing sensible
data) and/or get a
testimonial from them.
๏ Your happy clients will also
likely become a main
source of leads with
spontaneous referrals, let
them know they will be
appreciated.

Establish your
USP
Verify Client &
Project Fit
Set right client
expectations
Have a client-side
SEO Champion
Check for old
SEO activities
Start with an
audit & research
Develop your
own KW research
Make your SEO
mobile first
Use business
criteria for KWs
Use business for
KPIs & Goals
A recco for each
found issue
Take screenshots
to document
Prioritize SEO
recommendations
Set agile schedule
to execute
Share SEO goals
& involvement
Keep an ongoing
communication
Use PM system
for coordination
Always validate
implementations
Actionable results
reports
Be flexible to
change strategy
Keep updated
with SEO news
Develop your
own tests
Share & blog  
your experiences
Network by going
to conferences
Go out of the SEO
echo chamber
Ask for
testimonials
Let’s wrap-up!

It’s time to grow your SEO Consulting

Thanks! 
Questions?

Successful SEO Consulting for @Hubspot #AgencyExpertSeries Webinar

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