Expert SEO Consulting
That Actually Moves the Needle
Whether you need a one-time technical audit, ongoing strategic guidance, or an expert to rescue a campaign that’s gone off the rails — KeyStar’s SEO consultants have seen your problem before and know how to fix it.
Consulting vs. Managed SEO: What’s the Difference?
Both involve SEO expertise, but they serve completely different needs. Choosing the wrong one wastes budget.
| SEO Consulting | Managed SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Expert diagnosis, strategy, and recommendations | Full execution of SEO strategy by our team |
| Who does the work | Your team implements; we guide and advise | We build, write, optimize, and report |
| Best for | Companies with internal marketing teams, one-time problems, or pre-launch decisions | Companies without in-house SEO capability or bandwidth |
| Engagement length | Can be a single session or ongoing advisory | Typically 6–12+ month campaigns |
| Cost structure | Hourly, project-based, or monthly advisory retainer | Monthly retainer tied to scope of work |
| Speed to insight | Fast — expert diagnosis within days | Slower ramp-up; execution takes time to compound |
A common pattern: businesses start with a consulting engagement to get a clear diagnosis and roadmap, then either hand that roadmap to their internal team or convert to a managed SEO campaign with us. There’s no pressure to do either — the consulting deliverable stands on its own and can be executed by any qualified team.
The 6 Types of SEO Consulting We Provide
“SEO consulting” covers a lot of ground. Here’s what we actually do, and what each type is designed to solve:
Technical SEO Audit
A deep diagnostic of your site’s technical health — the issues that are silently blocking your rankings regardless of how good your content is. Every finding is documented with severity rating and a specific fix.
- Core Web Vitals & page speed analysis
- Crawlability, indexation & robots.txt audit
- Site architecture & internal linking review
- Schema markup & structured data check
- Mobile usability & HTTPS audit
- Duplicate content & canonicalisation issues
Traffic Drop & Penalty Recovery
If you’ve experienced a sudden rankings decline after a Google update or received a manual action notice, this is where we start. We identify the exact cause and build a recovery roadmap.
- Google core update impact analysis
- Manual action diagnosis & reconsideration strategy
- Toxic backlink identification & disavow strategy
- Content quality assessment vs. E-E-A-T benchmarks
- Comparison of pre- and post-drop ranking data
Site Migration Consulting
Migrations are the single most common cause of catastrophic, avoidable rankings losses we see. A domain change, CMS switch, or redesign done without proper SEO guidance can erase years of ranking authority overnight.
- Pre-migration SEO checklist & risk assessment
- URL mapping & redirect strategy
- Canonical & hreflang configuration
- Post-migration monitoring & issue triage
- CMS platform selection advice (WordPress, Shopify, HubSpot, etc.)
Keyword Strategy & Content Roadmap
If your content team is producing but not ranking, the problem is usually strategy, not execution. We diagnose why your current content isn’t ranking and build a keyword map and content roadmap your team can execute.
- Competitive keyword gap analysis
- Search intent mapping by funnel stage
- Topic cluster architecture
- Prioritised content calendar (3–12 months)
- Title tag & meta description optimisation
Local SEO Consulting
If you serve customers in specific geographic markets and aren’t showing up in the Local Pack or Maps, this engagement diagnoses and fixes the specific issues holding your local visibility back.
- Google Business Profile audit & optimisation plan
- Citation consistency review across 80+ directories
- Hyperlocal landing page strategy
- Review acquisition & management strategy
- Local competitor benchmarking
Ongoing SEO Advisory Retainer
For in-house marketing teams that need a senior SEO expert available on-demand — to review plans, answer questions, validate decisions, and provide strategic oversight without the cost of a full managed campaign.
- Monthly strategy call with a senior consultant
- Unlimited email/Slack Q&A within scope
- Review of all major SEO decisions before execution
- Quarterly priority review & roadmap update
- Access to consultant for stakeholder presentations
Who SEO Consulting Is Right For
Consulting isn’t the right fit for every business. Here’s who benefits most:
In-House Marketing Teams
You have the bandwidth to execute but lack a senior SEO strategist. We provide the expertise and direction; your team does the work.
Pre-Launch Businesses
Getting your domain, URL structure, CMS, and site architecture right before launch avoids years of structural SEO problems. One early consultation is worth more than months of retrospective fixing.
Sites That Lost Rankings
A sudden traffic drop after a Google update is not self-diagnosing. You need an expert to identify the exact cause before you can fix the right thing.
Pre-Migration Planning
Any domain change, redesign, or CMS migration. This is the highest-risk SEO event most businesses face and the most preventable source of major rankings loss.
Agencies & Freelancers
Digital agencies that don’t have in-house SEO depth use KeyStar as a white-label consulting resource for their clients. Confidential and discreet by default.
Businesses Scaling Fast
Rapid growth creates SEO complexity — new locations, products, content teams, and technical decisions all compound. A consulting layer keeps strategy coherent as you scale.
How a Consulting Engagement Works
We’ve designed our consulting process to deliver clear, actionable value as quickly as possible — not to run an endless discovery phase that pads hours.
- Initial Scoping Call (30–60 min, free)
We understand your specific situation, goals, and what you’ve already tried. Based on this, we propose the most appropriate type of engagement and give you a written quote within 24 hours. No pressure, no hard sell.
- Access & Data Collection
You grant read access to Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and your site (we never need edit access for an audit). We also review your site directly and pull competitive data from our own toolset. Most audits require 5–7 business days to complete properly.
- Analysis & Findings
We work through your data systematically — not with an automated crawler that outputs a 200-item list of theoretical issues, but with an experienced consultant who distinguishes the problems that are actually holding you back from the ones that don’t matter for your situation.
- Written Deliverable
You receive a written report — not a slide deck or a call recording. Every finding includes: what the issue is, why it matters, its severity, and the specific steps to fix it. Prioritised by impact so your team knows where to start.
- Walkthrough Call
We walk through the report with you on a video call, answer every question, and make sure your team understands not just what to do but why. Additional implementation support is available if needed.
- Follow-Up (Included)
Two weeks after delivery, we do a brief follow-up to answer implementation questions and check on progress. If issues have come up in executing the recommendations, we’re available to help resolve them.
What You Actually Receive
Every consulting engagement type has a defined set of deliverables. Here’s what to expect from our most common engagements:
| Engagement Type | Core Deliverables | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Technical SEO Audit | Prioritised issues report (50–80 findings), implementation checklist, Core Web Vitals scorecard, technical recommendations doc | 7–10 business days |
| Traffic Drop Analysis | Root cause diagnosis report, update correlation analysis, recovery roadmap with 30/60/90 day actions | 5–7 business days |
| Site Migration Plan | URL mapping spreadsheet, redirect rules file (.htaccess or equivalent), pre-launch checklist, post-launch monitoring protocol | 7–14 business days |
| Keyword & Content Strategy | Keyword research spreadsheet (300–1000+ terms), intent-mapped content roadmap, topic cluster diagram, editorial calendar template | 10–14 business days |
| Local SEO Audit | GBP audit report, citation gap list, competitor Local Pack analysis, hyperlocal content recommendations | 5–7 business days |
| Advisory Retainer | Monthly written strategy brief, meeting notes with action items, on-demand Q&A responses within 1 business day | Ongoing monthly |
The 6 Most Expensive SEO Mistakes We’re Called In to Fix
These are the situations we see most often when a client comes to us after something has gone badly wrong. Every one of them was preventable with an earlier consultation.
Migration Without a Redirect Map
A domain change or site restructure with no redirect strategy. Old URLs return 404s, inbound links point to nothing, and years of accumulated ranking authority evaporates within weeks of launch.
Blocking Googlebot During Development
The disallow: / line in robots.txt gets removed post-launch — except when it doesn’t. We’ve seen sites go weeks post-launch completely de-indexed because nobody checked. Search Console catches it eventually, but the damage is real.
Thin Content at Scale
Programmatically generated location pages, product pages with duplicate descriptions, or hundreds of near-identical service pages. Google interprets the entire domain as low-quality, not just the thin pages.
Targeting the Wrong Keywords
Ranking #1 for a term that generates zero leads because the intent was informational, not transactional. We see this constantly — high-traffic keywords that attract the wrong audience and contribute nothing to revenue.
Ignoring Core Web Vitals
A beautiful redesign that tanks page speed. LCP scores above 4 seconds on mobile. After the Dec 2025 update, poor Core Web Vitals contributed to 20–30% greater traffic losses than competitors with equivalent content quality.
Reacting to Algorithm Updates Without Diagnosis
Making sweeping content changes or deleting pages in response to a rankings drop, without first identifying the actual cause. We’ve seen businesses make their situation significantly worse by fixing the wrong thing.
Results From Past Consulting Clients
These outcomes came from consulting engagements — our expertise applied to problems the client’s own team then executed. Results reflect what well-directed in-house teams can achieve with the right strategy.
E-commerce retailer brought us in before a Shopify migration. Proper URL mapping and redirect strategy preserved all ranking authority and the new site outperformed the old one within 6 months.
Migration ConsultingSaaS company lost 70% of organic traffic after the August 2024 Core Update. Our recovery roadmap, executed by their content team, recovered 62% of lost traffic within two update cycles.
Traffic RecoveryLaw firm whose content team had no keyword strategy. Our content roadmap delivered 28 new page-one rankings in 90 days — executed entirely by their existing team with our written recommendations.
Content StrategyNational franchise brand with 200+ location pages rebuilt their entire site under our migration supervision. Zero rankings lost at launch — the first time they’d done a major redesign without a traffic impact.
Migration ConsultingKeyStar’s consulting team is made up of senior SEO professionals with 20+ years of experience each — not junior staff trained on a playbook. Every consulting engagement is led by someone who has personally managed hundreds of campaigns, survived every major Google algorithm shift since 2003, and has hands-on experience with the specific problems most likely to cause major traffic losses. If you need a second opinion on an important SEO decision, or need someone to tell you what’s actually wrong before you spend another dollar, we’re the team to call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Project-based engagements like a Technical SEO Audit or Migration Plan typically run $750–$3,500 depending on site size and complexity. Hourly consulting rates are $150–$250/hour for senior consultants. Ongoing advisory retainers start at $800/month for a mid-market scope. We provide a written quote within 24 hours of a scoping call — no obligation.
Yes. We work with digital agencies, web development firms, and marketing consultants who need SEO expertise for their clients without the cost of an in-house team. All work is fully confidential — we don’t communicate with your clients directly, and our branding doesn’t appear in any deliverables unless you want it to. Pricing for white-label work is the same as direct client work.
The main difference is depth of bench. A freelance consultant brings one person’s experience to your problem. KeyStar brings a team that collectively covers technical SEO, content strategy, local SEO, e-commerce, and algorithm recovery — all reviewed and stress-tested internally before delivery. You also get continuity: if your primary consultant is unavailable, your engagement doesn’t stall. Pricing is typically comparable to senior freelance rates.
Yes, and it happens often. Clients who start with a one-time audit or recovery roadmap frequently choose to have us execute the recommendations rather than handing them to an internal team. When that happens, the consulting work is credited against the first month of the managed campaign — you don’t pay twice for the same discovery work. There’s no pressure to convert; the consulting deliverable is complete and standalone.
For a scoping call, nothing — just your website URL and a brief description of what you’re trying to solve. For an active engagement, we’ll request read-only access to Google Search Console and Google Analytics. We never require login credentials to your CMS or hosting for a consulting engagement — only managed SEO clients grant us edit access, and only after a formal agreement is in place.
Scoping calls can typically be scheduled within 2–3 business days. For urgent situations — a migration that’s gone wrong, a manual action that just arrived, or a launch deadline in 48 hours — we accommodate same-day consultations at an expedited rate. Contact us directly by phone for time-sensitive issues: (702) 482-8334.
Ready to Talk to a Real SEO Expert?
Tell us what you’re dealing with. We’ll give you an honest assessment of what it will take to fix it, a written quote within 24 hours, and zero pressure to sign anything.