The main role of an SEO consultant is to provide expert guidance and advice relating to SEO best practices.

They will also often be tasked with creating an SEO strategy that businesses can use to grow their organic traffic, improve their rankings and increase their overall visibility. This can cover many areas including keyword targeting, content creation, technical SEO changes, backlink building, conversion optimisation and more.

Google and other search engines have 'ranking factors' that they use to determine which sites perform well in search results - an SEO consultant will be able to help you understand what those factors are and what needs to be done for your site to rank higher.

The first stage is getting in touch with me so we can discuss your business, your aspirations and what SEO services may be of interest. We can then look to audit your website to understand its strengths, weaknesses and any identifiable opportunities.

Off the back of this, I'll develop an SEO strategy to achieve your goals which will usually include keywords to target, content to create, technical SEO changes to make and backlinks to build.

We can then work collaboratively to grow your organic traffic, improve your rankings and build your online authority over time.

In short, no. But any SEO consultant or agency that says they can guarantee top rankings should be considered highly suspicious.

The bottom line is that no SEO consultant anywhere can guarantee anything relating to rankings. Google and other search engines use constantly evolving algorithms to update their search results pages, meaning the environment for ranking is volatile and uncontrollable.

Steer clear of anyone offering short-term gain that sounds too good to be true, as it usually causes long-term pain down the line.

As there are so many variables when it comes to SEO, providing timescales on results is almost impossible. We have to take into consideration things like your website health and history, the competitors in your industry, the amount and speed of work we'll be doing, recent Google algorithm updates - the list goes on.

In almost all scenarios, SEO should be considered the marathon of digital marketing. You need to improve slowly over time, building positive momentum so you don't burn out. Many shady SEO consultants out there offer super-fast results, but these are usually temporary and ultimately do more harm than good.

Good quality SEO that complies with all Google guidelines while remaining effective cannot be done quickly or cheaply. With that said, I've chosen to keep my pricing structure clear and simple. Fixed cookie-cutter style monthly retainers just don't work, so I'll chat with you to understand exactly what you want to achieve and the amount of work involved to achieve it.

Whether your goals with SEO will take an hour a day, a day per week or a week every month, we can agree on the best solution and pricing structure for you.

Depending on the service(s) you choose, the access I'll need will vary. Broadly speaking however, it's likely I will need access to:

• Your website CMS

• Your Google Search Console & Google Analytics accounts (we can set these up if you don't have them)

• Your Google My Business account/listing