325%
increase in search traffic for a personal injury firm, with ninety-one percent more cases signed.
SEO Consulting
SEO consultant. Seventeen years. The Sommelier's specialty.
SEO is where I made my name, and it's where the sommelier metaphor was born. A wine list with four hundred bottles is useless without someone who knows which one is right for you. SEO is the same: an overwhelming menu of tactics, tools, and advice, most of it wrong for your situation. My job as an SEO consultant is to pour the one thing that's exactly right, and tell you what to skip.
01Method
The Sommelier methodology.
Most SEO consulting fails the same way: it starts with tactics instead of diagnosis. Someone sells you content before checking whether your site converts. Someone sells you links before your business deserves them. The result is spend without compounding.
My approach runs in a fixed order, and the order is the method:
Diagnose before prescribing. Where does your business actually stand: authority, relevance, trust, conversion? What's the real constraint? Sometimes it's not SEO at all, and I'll say so.
Foundation before amplification. SEO is an amplifier, not a validator. It surfaces credible, well-positioned businesses to the top when people search. It cannot manufacture authority that doesn't exist. If your positioning or your website's trust signals are the problem, we fix those first, or the SEO spend is wasted.
Durability over tricks. I optimize for rankings that survive algorithm updates: semantic clarity, topical authority, genuine expertise signals, content no competitor could have written. Like wine, SEO gets better with time, but only if the vineyard's healthy.
AI-era readiness. Search is splitting across Google, ChatGPT, and AI assistants that cite sources. The businesses winning AI visibility are the ones with real authority signals: reviews, community presence, citation-worthy content. I build for where search is going, not where it was.
02Scope
What SEO consulting includes.
SEO audits. A full diagnosis of your site, your authority, your competitors, and your conversion path, delivered in plain English with a prioritized action list. Not a hundred-page PDF of tool exports.
SEO strategy and roadmaps. What to do, in what order, and what results to expect on what timeline. Short-term wins, mid-term positioning, long-term authority, clearly separated so you can budget honestly.
Vendor evaluation and oversight. Already paying an SEO agency? I'll tell you whether the work is real, whether the reporting is honest, and what to demand next quarter. I ran an agency for years; I know the difference between activity and progress.
AI search visibility. How your business shows up when clients ask ChatGPT or Google's AI for a recommendation, and the review, listicle, and community strategy that actually drives those citations.
Second-opinion engagements. One focused session before you sign an SEO contract, launch a redesign, or make a decision you can't easily undo.
03Engagements
How we can work together.
The one-time audit. A complete diagnosis and roadmap, delivered and walked through live. You execute with your own team or vendors.
Ongoing consulting. Monthly strategy and accountability while your team or agency executes. I steer; they build.
Inside the Sprint or Fractional CMO engagement. SEO strategy as part of your complete marketing plan, which is where it usually belongs, because search rarely wins alone.
04Results
What search strategy produces when it's done right.
60%
increase in relevant search traffic for a family law practice, feeding five new retainers per month.
95%
increase in search traffic for a criminal defense firm, with website authority up one hundred fourteen percent.
The word "relevant" matters in those numbers. Traffic that doesn't produce clients is a vanity metric, and I don't optimize for it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
- What does an SEO consultant do that an SEO agency doesn't?
- An agency executes: content, links, technical fixes. A consultant decides what's worth executing, in what order, and whether the execution you're paying for is any good. Many of my clients keep their agency; they hire me so someone on their side can read the reports.
- How long does SEO take to work?
- Honestly: months, not weeks. Quick wins exist, technical fixes and conversion improvements can move numbers in weeks, but rankings that produce clients compound over two to four quarters. Anyone promising page one in thirty days is selling you something that won't last. I'll give you a timeline by phase before you spend a dollar.
- Is SEO still worth it with AI search?
- More than ever, but differently. AI assistants cite sources, and they cite the businesses with the strongest authority signals. The foundation work, real expertise, real reviews, citation-worthy content, now pays twice: in Google rankings and in AI answers. What's dying is commodity SEO: generic content, bought links, tricks. Good riddance.
- Do you do the SEO work yourself?
- I consult, audit, and direct. For execution, I either steer your existing team and vendors or help you choose the right ones. If you want full execution under one roof, my agency, Digital Neighbor, does that, and I'll tell you plainly if that's the better fit.
Let's look at your search presence together.
One thirty-minute call. Bring your current rankings, your vendor reports, or nothing at all. I'll tell you where you stand, what the real constraint is, and whether SEO consulting is even the right next investment for you.