SEO consultant Sydney
SEO consultant Sydney
Hiring an SEO consultant is a trust decision. This page explains what I do, what it costs, and how to check whether any consultant, including me, is worth your money.
What an SEO consultant should actually do for you
Strip away the jargon and the job has six parts. If a consultant cannot explain each one in a sentence, keep looking.
- 01DiagnoseAn audit of the site, the competitors and the search data before anything is changed.
- 02PrioritiseA roadmap ordered by impact and effort, not a list of everything that is technically wrong.
- 03FixTechnical and on-page work: speed, indexing, structure, titles, internal links, content that matches intent.
- 04BuildNew pages, local presence, and reasons for other sites to link to you.
- 05MeasureSearch Console and GA4, reported monthly as traffic and enquiries, not just rankings.
- 06ExplainYou should understand every recommendation and be able to challenge it.
How I am different from an agency
One person, start to finish
Agencies sell you a senior strategist and deliver a junior account manager. Here the person you speak to on the first call is the person writing your pages and your report. Nothing is handed down or sent offshore.
Three retainer clients, maximum
I run a practice, not a pipeline. The cap means every client gets real attention every month. If I am full I will tell you and offer a waitlist.
Prices published, no lock-in
Every price is on this website. Retainers have a three-month minimum, then run month to month. You keep every page, link and report if we stop.
Nearly thirty years in search
I have worked in search and digital since 1997, across publishing, finance, automotive and travel. I have seen every algorithm update and every shortcut that stopped working.
Publisher-side local search
I run two regional community directories with around 19,000 business listings. I know how local search behaves from both sides of the listing.
Plain English
You will get a clear explanation of what I am doing and why. No dashboards you cannot read, no reports that exist to justify the invoice.
Who I work with
Owner-run Sydney businesses in trades and services, professional services and specialist retail. Typically 2 to 50 staff, a website that already exists, and either a one-off audit or a budget of $1,200 to $2,400 a month.
I do not work with gambling, adult or payday-lending sites, and I will say no to a retainer if the audit shows SEO is the wrong spend for you.
The Growth retainer
For competitive Sydney-wide or national terms. $2,400 a month ex GST, three-month minimum, about 14 hours of my time each month.
- Month one: audit (credited if you have already bought one), roadmap, technical fixes, Search Console and GA4 set up properly.
- Every month: one to two new or rebuilt pages, link earning, Business Profile upkeep, technical health check, and a report plus a 30-minute call.
- Reporting: organic traffic, enquiries and the keywords that drove them, with an honest note on what moved and what did not.
How to check an SEO consultant’s claims
Use this on me as well as anyone else.
- 01Search their own name and businessIf they cannot be found for what they do, be wary of what they will do for you.
- 02Ask for two clients you can phoneCase-study percentages are easy to write. A phone number is harder to fake.
- 03Ask what happens in month one, in writingA real plan has specific tasks. A vague one has “optimisation”.
- 04Ask how they reportIf the answer is rankings, ask about traffic and enquiries. Rankings are a means, not a result.
- 05Be suspicious of guaranteesGuaranteed page one, special relationships with Google and unsolicited emails offering SEO are all signs to walk away.
Questions
How much does an SEO consultant in Sydney cost?
Published Australian guides in 2026 put senior consultants at $150 to $300 an hour, small-business retainers at $1,500 to $3,500 a month, and audits at $2,000 to $5,000. My prices are a fixed $1,500 for the audit, $1,200 a month for local SEO and $2,400 a month for growth SEO, all ex GST. The full list is on the pricing page.
Is there a contract?
Retainers have a three-month minimum because nothing meaningful happens in less. After that it is month to month with 30 days notice either way.
Can you work with my web developer?
Yes, and often it is the best arrangement. I write the brief and check the work; they do the implementation on a platform they know.
What if it is not working?
We will know by month three, because we will be looking at the numbers together every month. If the plan is not moving the needle I will say so and change it or stop.
Do you do Google Ads or social media?
Not through this practice. SEO Sydney NSW is search only. Paid media, web design and broader digital strategy are handled by my agency brand, Frequency Digital.
Next step
Find out what is holding your site back
Start with the fixed-price audit. Two weeks, a prioritised roadmap, and a 45-minute walkthrough. Whether or not we work together afterwards, you will know exactly what to do.