Freelance SEO Consultant
I'm James Baker, a freelance SEO consultant with 8+ years' experience advising businesses on strategy, without taking over the doing. If you already have a marketing team, an in-house developer, or you just want a second opinion before you commit budget, this is for you. No account managers, no retainers you don't need.
Who SEO Consultancy is for
This service is different from my hands-on SEO work. It's advice and direction, not implementation. It's the right fit if:
- You have an in-house team or agency already doing SEO, but want an independent expert reviewing the strategy.
- You're about to make a decision that affects SEO, a replatform, a rebrand, a site migration, and want it checked before you commit.
- You want to understand SEO well enough to manage it yourself or brief a freelancer or agency properly.
- You've been burned by vague agency advice before and want plain answers to specific questions.
If you want someone to actually do the work, audits, content, technical fixes, ongoing management, that's my SEO services or one-off audit, not consultancy. Consultancy is for direction, not delivery.
What consultancy looks like
No retainers, no lock-in. Just straight answers when you need them:
- A video call where you bring the questions and I bring the answers.
- A written summary afterwards, so nothing gets lost or forgotten.
- A fixed fee agreed upfront, no surprise hours on the invoice.
- One-off by default. Ongoing only if you actually want it.
Why work with a freelance SEO consultant
How My SEO consultancy works
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Discovery call (free, 30 mins)
We talk through what's prompting the need for advice: a decision you're weighing, a team you want to upskill, a strategy you want checked.
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Scoped engagement
Depending on what you need, this might be a single strategy session, a structured review of your team's existing plan, or a short block of advisory calls during a project like a migration. I scope it to the actual problem, not a fixed package.
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Clear recommendations
You get a written summary of what I'd do and why, in plain English, that you or your team can act on directly.
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Optional follow-up
Some clients want a single session; others want me on call during a specific project (a migration, a rebrand, a new market launch). Either works.
Tag
Results from the work, not the pitch
These are real campaigns I led before going freelance. Client names and identifying detail have been removed at their request, but the numbers and the strategy are exactly as they happened.
Recovering visibility for a global streetwear retailer
A well-known fashion retailer was losing organic ground across three markets. I ran the technical audit, found the pagination issue blocking crawlers from deeper product pages, and rebuilt the content and internal linking strategy across 100+ collection pages.
- 36% increase in organic impressions
- 40% lift in non-branded clicks YoY
- 8% growth in organic revenue share
- Diagnosed and fixed a pagination fault blocking crawler access to product pages
- Built a scaled content workflow to write region-specific copy for AU, UK and US collection pages without duplicating content
- Rebuilt site navigation and taxonomy around actual user search behaviour
- Rolled out an internal linking framework to strengthen key category pages
Defending a long-term B2B programme through a Google update, then pushing it to a new high
I took over this account partway through an existing multi-year organic programme. Within the first year, a Google Helpful Content update hit the site hard. I led the recovery, then rebuilt the strategy around AI-era search behaviour, taking the account to its best-ever result by the end of my time on it.
- 2024 Helpful Content update impact absorbed and diagnosed
- 5 pillar strategy built for AI-era search visibility
- New high organic performance reached by the end of the engagement
- Diagnosed the cause of a 2024 Helpful Content update hit and rebuilt the recovery plan
- Designed a five-pillar strategy to keep the account visible as search shifted toward AI-generated answers
- Maintained the account's local footprint and category authority across depot regions while rebuilding
- Took the programme from its Year 4 low point to its strongest year of organic performance by Year 6
Building topical authority without a product catalogue
A national trade supplier had strong brand recognition but no product catalogue to compete on search with bigger retailers. I built collection-level content to establish authority establish authority instead, and overhauled local listings across 60+ locations.
- 185% growth in category keyword visibility
- 144% YoY growth in local store visibility
- 33 content pieces written to build authority
- Wrote 30+ collection-level content pieces to signal trade expertise without individual product pages
- Refined headings, metadata and FAQs across key commercial pages
- Optimised Google Business Profiles across every store location
- Ran a full technical audit and fixed crawlability issues holding pages back
Who I Work With
Two ways of working. One point of contact.
I work in two ways: as a strategic SEO consultant guiding the direction of your campaign, or hands-on across longer, broader projects. Either way, you deal with me directly.
Brands & SMEs
Agencies
Freelancers & Independents
FAQs
SEO Consultant FAQs
How is this different from an SEO audit?
An audit is a one-off, detailed technical and content review with a prioritised report. Consultancy is more open-ended — it might include audit-style analysis, but it's built around ongoing advice, strategy sessions, or being on-call during a project, not a single deliverable.
Do you implement any of the recommendations yourself?
Consultancy is advice-focused. If you want me to implement fixes directly, that's covered under my other services — technical SEO, ecommerce SEO, or local SEO depending on what you need.
Can you review a strategy my current agency or in-house team put together?
Yes — this is one of the most common reasons clients come to me for consultancy. I'll give you an honest, independent view, including where I disagree with what's been proposed.
What size of business is this for?
Any size, as long as you have someone able to action the advice — whether that's you, an in-house marketer, or a developer.