For consultants, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of getting your consulting website to rank highly on search engines like Google. The goal is to make your valuable content easily discoverable by potential clients who are actively searching for solutions you provide.
While SEO involves many aspects, for consultants, the most effective approach is to combine content marketing (writing articles) with SEO principles. This strategy focuses on ranking informational articles you write, rather than just sales pages, to attract an audience actively seeking knowledge and solutions.
Pros & Cons of SEO for Consultants
Every marketing method has its trade-offs. While direct outreach is a numbers game, PPC ads cost money, and social media demands constant engagement, SEO is a long-term game. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, but despite its trade-offs, it stands out as a highly effective marketing method for consultants.
Cons of SEO for Consultants:
- Long-Term Game: Results don’t happen overnight. Consistency is key, as it takes time to rank highly.
- Requires Work: You must possess deep subject matter expertise and be willing to articulate it through writing.
- Requires Your Input: While parts can be outsourced, your unique expertise and insights are essential for content quality.
Pros of SEO for Consultants:
- Creates Massive Leverage: An article written once can generate traffic and leads for several years, offering a compounding return on your effort.
- Higher Conversion Rates: By sharing valuable knowledge, you build trust and authority with potential clients who are seeking solutions. This makes them more likely to reach out for your help.
- Forces You to Write: The act of writing itself is beneficial. It helps you clarify your thoughts, create reusable marketing collateral (for follow-ups, sales calls), and even test new service ideas.
The benefits of SEO significantly outweigh the cons, especially when approached strategically.
A 5-Step SEO Process for Consultants
Here’s a structured approach to SEO that minimizes the cons and maximizes the pros, turning your website into a lead-generation machine.
Step 1: Research
This is the foundational step. You need to research what your potential clients are typing into Google to understand their exact questions and pain points. Skipping this step means you’re “flying blind” and your content may not reach your target audience.
By doing proper keyword research, you’ll uncover:
- The exact keyword to target.
- The monthly search volume for that keyword.
- What Google is currently ranking on the first page, giving you a model for your article.
- The difficulty of ranking on the first page.
Tool Recommendation: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is highly recommended for this.
SEO Keyword Research Checklist: Before writing, ensure your chosen keyword meets these criteria:
- Do I have genuine expertise on the topic?
- Is the global volume more than 100?
- Is the keyword difficulty less than 20?
- Am I excited about writing the best article on the internet for this topic?
- Does the keyword connect directly to one of my services?
If a keyword passes this checklist, it’s a strong candidate for an article that will generate organic traffic and leads.
Step 2: Outline
Your outline serves as the structure of your article, keeping your writing focused and organized. Before outlining, consider your article’s purpose: to fulfill search intent by providing the most helpful information on the internet.
Outline Strategy:
- Analyze Top-Ranking Results: Look at the current top 10 results for your target keyword to understand the variety of content searchers are looking for (e.g., blog posts, lists, landing pages).
- Focus on Teaching: Use your article to teach, provide clarity, solve problems, and alleviate pain points.
- Target Word Count: Aim for an in-depth article, often around 1500 words, using your outline to guide you.
- Use H2 Tags: Structure your article with H2 tags as “chapters” to organize content and improve readability for both users and search engines.
- Brainstorm with “5 Ws & How”: Use Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How to generate questions related to your keyword, forming the basis for your headers.
Step 3: Write
Forget about “writing” and instead focus on “sharing what you know” about your target keyword. Writing can be challenging, but as a consultant, it’s essential for thought leadership and lead generation.
Tips for Easier Writing:
- Morning Sessions: Write when your brain is freshest.
- Pomodoro Technique: Work in undistracted, 25-minute chunks.
- Limit Daily Writing: Maximize focus with about 90 minutes (3 Pomodoros) per day.
- Separate Writing and Editing: Focus solely on getting words on the page without worrying about grammar or spelling in the first draft.
Consistency is key. Even just one Pomodoro (250 words) per day can lead to a 1500-word article in a week.
Step 4: Edit
The editing phase is where you polish your first draft for clarity and readability. The goal is to make your writing easy to understand by cutting out “fluff” and simplifying complex ideas.
Editing Process:
- Pomodoro Technique: Edit in 25-minute chunks, section by section.
- Tool Recommendation: Hemingway Editor helps make writing bold, clear, and simple. Aim for a “Grade 9” readability score or lower. While your readers are intelligent, making content easy to consume respects their time and helps them quickly grasp your expertise.
- Key Editing Actions: Remove adverbs, replace passive voice with active voice, use simpler phrases, and cut unnecessary words.
Improved readability is a ranking factor because it increases session length (time-on-page), signaling to Google that your article fulfills search intent.
Step 5: Publish & Promote
This final step involves getting your well-crafted article in front of your target audience. It’s broken into three sub-steps:
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On-Page SEO: Before publishing, run your article through an on-page SEO checklist.
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Tool Recommendation: Yoast SEO (for WordPress) is highly recommended.
- Checklist Items: Include the keyword in the URL, meta description (50-160 characters), title, introduction, H2/H3 tags (at least 6 times in the article), image alt-text, and include both an internal and outbound link. Aim for a “Good” SEO score (green dot) in Yoast.
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- Distribution: Once published, share your article widely.
- Tactics: Email your list, add to automated email series, post on LinkedIn, answer Quora questions, build backlinks, use for direct outreach (e.g., re-engaging cold leads), and repurpose into video for YouTube. The more people who read it, the more positive signals Google receives.
- Post-Publication: Your work isn’t “finished” once published. Treat your article like a product you constantly improve.
- Ongoing Actions: Continue to build links (the biggest ranking factor), add 250-500 words of new content every few months, consistently publish more related content and add internal links, repurpose content for other platforms, and add relevant examples, case studies, data, and FAQs based on feedback.
- Daily Marketing Habits Integration: Your article plays a role in daily marketing habits like writing, publishing short-form content, self-promotion, direct outreach, and networking.
By focusing on on-page SEO, wide distribution, and continuous improvement, you significantly increase your article’s chance of ranking on the first page and becoming a primary source of leads.
5 Must-Have SEO Tools for Consultants
- Ahrefs: Essential for competitor analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, and site health. It’s crucial for gathering data on what prospects are searching for.
- Roam Research: A note-taking and journaling application that simplifies curating information and writing, making the process easier and more enjoyable. It helps avoid staring at a blank page.
- Hemingway App: A powerful editing tool that helps make your writing bold, clear, and simple, aiming for a “Grade 9” readability score or lower. (Alternatives: Grammarly, Readable).
- Yoast SEO: A highly recommended WordPress plugin that makes on-page SEO optimization easy with a best practices checklist and SEO scoring.
- Google Analytics: Crucial for understanding your website and article’s performance, answering questions like “How many people are coming from Google?” and “How long are people spending on my articles?” Measuring performance helps you optimize your efforts and stay motivated.
Get Help With Your SEO, Website, & Marketing
If you’re a consultant looking for help with your SEO, website, or marketing, consider the Clarity Coaching Program at Consulting Success. They emphasize teaching not just what to do, but how they do it, as consultants themselves. The program aims to help you create content that turns your website into a lead-generation machine, potentially making you enjoy your marketing efforts.
Are you ready to transform your consulting website into a consistent source of new leads?