When people ask what I do, I say "SEO" less and less often. Not because it's a bad word — but because it no longer captures the full picture. Search is no longer just Google with ten blue links. AI generates answers, ChatGPT has become a de facto search engine for millions of users, and "ranking on the first page" is now just one of several places where your brand can — or can't — be found.
An SEO consultant in 2026 does something different from an SEO consultant in 2019. If you're considering working with one and want to know what to expect — this article is for you. No marketing fluff, just concrete examples from my day-to-day work.
What is an SEO consultant?
If I had to put it in my own words: an SEO consultant selects the right actions for visibility in search engines and language models — based on data, experience, and current best practices — and then translates those into real implementations and measurable impact on business results.
That's not a textbook definition. It's a description of what I actually do.
What's the difference between a consultant and a "positioning specialist"?
A positioning specialist works from a checklist. Optimises meta tags, writes category page copy, builds links to a template. That can work — up to the point where the situation demands thinking outside the schema.
A consultant starts with a different question: what is actually blocking this business's visibility? Sometimes it's technical SEO. Sometimes content that doesn't answer users' real questions. Sometimes site architecture that confuses Google. And increasingly — absence from the places where AI delivers answers.
Experience makes all the difference here. It's not about knowing every tool. It's about looking at data and knowing what to skip and what to address first — because you can't do everything at once, and not everything has the same impact.
Freelancer or agency?
I wrote about this in detail in a separate article, but briefly: working with a freelancer means direct contact with the person actually running your project. At an agency you may deal with different specialists at different stages — and not necessarily the senior who pitched the proposal. Both models work — in different situations.
What does an SEO consultant actually do? A week in my work
Agency websites all sound similar: audit, strategy, optimisation, reporting. True enough — but it doesn't show what the work actually looks like from the inside.
Here's what I do in a typical week:
Data. I start by reviewing Google Search Console and Ahrefs across several projects. I check trends, look for anomalies, verify whether recent implementations have moved the needle. No report generates itself — you need to know what to look for and how to interpret what you see in context of what's changed on the site. Google Analytics adds another layer: user behaviour, conversions, paths.
Technical work. Site crawls, server log analysis, architecture mapping — these aren't one-off tasks. I revisit them regularly because sites are living things: new products get added, categories shift, developers ship things that can unexpectedly affect visibility.
Content. Keyword research, copywriter briefs, reviewing finished texts. When writing briefs these days I'm increasingly looking beyond Google — does a given query appear in AI Overviews? How do ChatGPT or Perplexity describe a given service or product? That shapes how I write content guidelines.
New tools. A fair chunk of the week goes on testing. SEO in 2026 isn't just GA4, GSC, and Ahrefs — it's a growing set of tools for monitoring LLM visibility, like Chatbeat and similar platforms just entering the market. Staying current here matters because this part of the field moves fastest.
People. Client meeting, call with a developer about shipping technical changes, message to a copywriter. A lot of communication — and it's not the "soft" part of the job. The ability to explain why the priority is X and not Y determines whether recommendations actually get implemented.
Automation. I spend a meaningful amount of time in Claude — testing prompts, building shortcuts for repetitive analyses, finding ways to compress work that used to take hours. This isn't a gadget. It's a real part of my toolkit now.
What's not here: one-time "optimisation" and done. SEO consulting is ongoing work with data, prioritisation, collaboration — and the readiness to change course when the algorithm, the market, or the client's strategy evolves.
How a typical project unfolds
There's no single engagement model. How I work depends on what a business needs. But certain stages appear in every project, regardless of scale.
Onboarding and understanding the business
Before I open any tool, I want to understand: what the company does, for whom, how it makes money, and what success looks like. "More traffic" isn't a goal — it's a means. The goal might be more leads, more sales in a specific category, better visibility in a market you're entering.
This first conversation sets the entire direction. If someone arrives with a list of "keywords to rank for" — my job is to turn that list into a strategy with a rationale.
Audit
Depends on the project — it might be a quick technical audit, a full architecture and content analysis, or a focus on one specific problem (traffic drop, site relaunch, entering a new market). The output isn't an 80-page report full of tables. It's a prioritised list of what to address first and why.
Strategy and roadmap
I translate audit findings into a concrete plan: what we tackle in the first 4–8 weeks, what comes next, what we leave for later. Some things can be done immediately (on-page changes, meta data, internal linking structure). Some require a developer. Some require content production and a link building budget.
External budgets — for content or links — I run transparently. If you need an account on a sponsored content platform, you set it up in your name, pay directly, and see every invoice. No markup on client budgets.
Implementation
This is where the real work happens — and where delays most often appear. Technical changes need a developer and a sprint slot. Content needs a copywriter and a brief. I coordinate, review, and maintain quality — but I don't work in a vacuum.
Depending on the project, I work alone (for smaller sites where I implement changes in the CMS directly) or as an external consultant supporting an internal marketing team.
Reporting and iteration
Once a month — sometimes more — I review results: what worked, what didn't and why, what we're adjusting. SEO isn't a campaign with an end date. It's a continuous process of optimisation based on fresh data.
Sprint or retainer?
For smaller projects or one-off tasks (audit, strategy, competitive analysis) I work in a sprint model — defined scope, fixed price, deadline. For projects requiring ongoing presence — a monthly model with no long-term contract. I don't sign 12-month agreements upfront. If the collaboration makes sense, it continues. If not — we part ways without complications.
What clients don't know before the first conversation
Over years of working with clients on both sides of the table, I see the same misunderstandings surfacing again and again. Clearing them up early saves frustration for everyone.
- "We want to rank first for [keyword]." That's the most common opening line — and it's the wrong goal. Not because rankings don't matter, but because this isn't a business objective. Before we talk about phrases, I want to know: how many leads do you need per month? From which market? What's your average order value? A ranking is a means, not an end.
- "SEO is a one-time job." SEO isn't a campaign with a start and finish date. It's a continuous process — algorithms change, competitors don't stand still, the site evolves. Clients who expect a one-time "permanent optimisation" are often disappointed when results slide back after six months without ongoing attention.
- "Results will come quickly." In SEO, "quickly" usually means 3–6 months before seeing first signals — and that's under favourable conditions. For new sites, competitive niches, or projects requiring large technical changes, it can take longer. If you need traffic in four weeks: consider Google Ads.
- "The SEO consultant does everything." No. Technical changes need a developer. Content needs a copywriter. External links need budget and time. My role is diagnosis, strategy, and coordination — but implementation is a team effort. Projects where the client expects "the SEO person to handle everything" usually end up with a recommendation list sitting in a drawer.
- "SEO is just Google." Less and less. Some of your potential clients search for answers in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini — and never reach search results at all. The question of LLM visibility is no longer a future concern. It's present-day reality in many industries.
- "We can start without involving IT." You can — many actions don't require a developer: content optimisation, meta data in the CMS, internal linking structure. But at some point those options run out, and without access to technical implementations the project stalls. When that moment comes depends on the platform and the project's scope — better to know it's coming and plan for it.
SEO consulting in the AI Search era — what's changed?
For years, an SEO consultant's work had one primary goal: visibility in Google. Ten blue links, first page, top 3. That still matters — but it's stopped being the only measure of success.
Where people search has changed
A growing number of users begin their searches in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or directly from AI Overviews in Google. For many informational queries they never reach any specific website — they get an answer generated by a language model. Your site can rank first in Google and not appear in any of those responses.
What "visibility" means has changed
I used to optimise for a ranking algorithm. Now a growing part of my time goes to a different question: how do language models "know" about a given brand, product, or service? Where do they draw their information from? What makes one company get cited by AI as an example while another doesn't exist in those answers?
This is a distinct field — GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) — and there's no single established methodology yet. But ignoring it is a mistake already visible in some industries today.
How I evaluate content has changed
A good SEO article used to mean: right length, keywords, internal links, headings. A good SEO article today means all of that, plus — is this content specific enough that a language model would want to cite it as an answer? Does it answer the question directly, without filler?
Paradoxically, this has brought good SEO content closer to simply good content — more useful, more concrete, less "written for the algorithm."
My own tools have changed
Monitoring LLM visibility is a new tool category literally being built as I write this. Platforms like Chatbeat and similar are just entering the market. Some things I check manually. This is an area with no established best practice yet — which is exactly why having someone tracking these changes in real time matters.
When I discuss SEO strategy today, I also ask about visibility beyond Google. It's not always relevant — it depends on the industry and target audience. But if your customers actively use AI for discovery, it's worth knowing where you stand.
How to choose a good SEO consultant
It's a hard question — because from the outside, it's difficult to tell someone who genuinely knows their craft from someone who sells well. Over the years I've been on both sides of that table. Here's what I look for and what I watch out for.
Red flags
- Ranking guarantees. A classic — and it still happens. Nobody can guarantee specific Google rankings. Anyone who promises "top 3 for [phrase] in 3 months" is either lying or doesn't understand how SEO works. In either case: thank them and leave.
- No questions about your business. If a consultant jumps straight to proposing a package on the first call and only asks for your domain — that's a red flag. A good specialist listens first. They want to understand your goal, your market, your competition, your resources.
- "We have a proven system." Template approaches can work for simple cases. But every site has a different history, different architecture, different market. Someone applying the same "system" to every client often isn't solving the actual problem — just ticking a list.
- Opaque external costs. Budgets for content, links, tools — you should know exactly where your money goes. If the consultant or agency marks up external budgets without telling you, that's not just a financial issue, it's an ethical one.
- Reports without interpretation. You get a PDF with charts every month but no explanation of what it means and what to do next — that's not consulting, that's document production.
Good signals
They ask about business goals, not just keywords. They're able to say "this won't work in your case" or "SEO isn't the right channel for you right now." They can show examples of their work and explain why they made specific decisions — not just what they did, but to what end. They have a view on AI Search and know what it changes in their work. They don't lock you into year-long contracts, because they know a good collaboration doesn't need a cage.
Questions worth asking at the first meeting
- What were your last three projects and what did you achieve?
- What does your process look like at the start of an engagement?
- What do you do when results aren't tracking as planned?
- How do you handle external budgets (content, links)?
- Do you work with developers and copywriters — how does that collaboration work?
- What's your view on AI Search, and does it enter your scope of work?
The answers to these questions will tell you more than any portfolio.
FAQ
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Freelance SEO consultant rates in Poland start at around 100–150 PLN net per hour and go up to 300 PLN/h or more depending on experience and specialisation. My rate is 150–250 PLN net/h — lower for larger projects. I work hourly or as a fixed-scope sprint. I don't offer "SEO packages for X PLN/month" without a clear scope of what's included.
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Under favourable conditions, first signals appear after 3–6 months. For new websites, highly competitive niches, or projects requiring major technical changes, it may take longer. SEO is a deferred-return investment, not an ad campaign. If you need traffic in four weeks, Google Ads is a better fit — alongside or instead of SEO.
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With a freelancer, you have direct contact with the person actually running your project. At an agency you may deal with different specialists at different stages — and not necessarily the senior who pitched the proposal. Both models work in different situations. A freelancer suits you better when you value continuity and direct communication; an agency when a project needs multiple specialisations simultaneously under one roof. I wrote more on this here.
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Increasingly, yes — and I think they should. Some of your potential customers search for answers in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews and never reach traditional search results. I analyse brand and content visibility in language models and factor that into content strategy. This area is changing fast, but ignoring it is already a visible mistake in some industries.
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Above all: clarity on your business goal — what you want to achieve and by when. It also helps to have access to Google Search Console and Analytics (or at least data from them), knowledge of your main online competitors, and a rough budget — both for the consultant and for external activities like content and links. The more context you bring, the more concrete the conversation.
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A few situations where I openly say "consider something else": if you need results within a few weeks — SEO isn't the right tool. If your business operates locally in a very narrow catchment area where the market is too small for the investment to pay off. If the site has no resources for content production and no budget to commission it externally — technical SEO alone won't suffice. And if the product or service is at such an early stage that you don't yet know who your customer is — establish that before investing in visibility.
