How To Become An Independent SEO Consultant (And Succeed)

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Updated: April 3, 2024.

Discover however to go an autarkic SEO consultant. Get insights from a seasoned nonrecreational and execute occurrence successful the satellite of SEO.

Since I began doing SEO successful 2012, my biggest imagination has been to enactment arsenic an autarkic SEO consultant.

However, it was not until a decennary aboriginal that I was capable to recognize my dream.

It wasn’t an casual journey, and I made plentifulness of mistakes on the way. If lone I had known past what I cognize now, I could person achieved my extremity successful fractional the clip oregon less.

In this article, I volition stock with you 10 indispensable steps to go an autarkic and palmy SEO consultant. These steps volition assistance you execute your goals faster.

All steps are based connected my 12+ years of acquisition successful SEO which includes freelancing, bureau SEO, in-house SEO, and nonrecreational SEO consulting. Let’s get started.

How To Become An Independent SEO Consultant (And Succeed)

This is the republication of my nonfiction published connected Search Engine Journal.

Make Sure Becoming An SEO Consultant Is Really What You Want

The relation of an SEO advisor whitethorn look similar an perfect profession, but it’s not for everyone.

Although it offers galore advantages, specified arsenic autonomy, versatility, and immense earning opportunities, immoderate individuals whitethorn find the downsides unacceptable.

Before making a determination to spell solo, measurement each the pros and cons.

Some drawbacks of being an SEO advisor moving independently see imaginable deal-breakers:

You don’t person paid leave, maternity leave, oregon sick days unless you marque peculiar arrangements with your clients oregon person different passive sources of income.
You should person astatine slightest a fewer contracted monthly SEO clients to consciousness comparatively secure.
You volition astir apt beryllium moving much than 40 hours a week, including implicit weekends.
Work-life equilibrium whitethorn beryllium harder to execute compared to if you had a 9-to-5 job.

If the supra doesn’t discourage you, past moving arsenic an SEO advisor mightiness beryllium a suitable profession.

1. Become Obsessed With SEO

Obsession with SEO is astir apt the astir important constituent of being a palmy SEO consultant.

Without that, you won’t beryllium capable to way and accommodate to what’s happening successful the satellite of SEO, which is changing rapidly.

You should unrecorded and respire SEO; learning caller things should beryllium your apical priority.

This includes but is not constricted to a thorough survey of the Google SEO documentation, speechmaking fashionable SEO blogs similar Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, oregon Search Engine Roundtable, attending conferences, completing high-level SEO courses, listening to SEO podcasts, oregon watching different SEO pros stock their cognition connected YouTube.

Without obsession, you volition rapidly go overwhelmed by SEO due to the fact that this manufacture is precise demanding.

2. Build & Break Your Websites

True SEO acquisition and cognition travel from practice. The lone mode to summation applicable cognition is by gathering and optimizing your sites.

The pursuing whitethorn dependable harsh, but this is the truth:

You volition ne'er beryllium a bully SEO specializer if you don’t person a portfolio of your websites.
You volition ne'er recognize SEO unless you build, rank, and interruption websites.

If you are acrophobic of getting your hands dirty, past you should not prosecute this career.

Theoretical SEO cognition won’t get you far. I mean it.

In an perfect world, you should person a fewer websites that are doing good and person a decent magnitude of integrated traffic. You tin usage those websites to showcase your skills to imaginable clients.

Additionally, you request a clump of churn-and-burn websites that you are not acrophobic of tanking. These are the trial websites that you tin usage to trial the craziest SEO techniques.

Want to trial if Google tin scale 100K words successful the title? Use your churn-and-burn tract to trial that.

And this brings america to the adjacent point.

3. Do SEO Testing

Theoretical cognition is ace important, but it gains existent powerfulness lone aft you enactment it into practice.

Whenever you larn astir a caller SEO mentation oregon a ground-breaking SEO tip, trial it.

Does the method this SEO guru shared enactment each time?

Will changing the H1 into thing other determination your leafage up oregon down?

Will the effect beryllium the aforesaid successful each cases? Are determination immoderate variables that tin perchance power the results?

These are conscionable a fewer of the questions you should beryllium asking yourself each clip you are analyzing whether something works.

Of course, successful astir cases, you bash not privation to bash SEO tests and experiments connected your clients’ sites (unless they privation you to and are alert of imaginable consequences).

The champion spot to do SEO testing is your trial websites.

Did I notation that mounting up a trial website takes a mates of minutes and costs practically nothing?

4. Work At SEO agencies

The acquisition you summation moving at SEO agencies is astir apt the astir valuable, particularly astatine the opening of your SEO career.

Not lone are you exposed to assorted projects, but you are besides among different much experienced SEO specialists.

Moreover, astir agencies supply coagulated SEO grooming for caller employees. And whenever you get stuck astatine something, you ever person a fewer smarter SEO pros to inquire for help.

In addition, moving astatine SEO agencies teaches you however to enactment with SEO clients, make enactment processes, standard your work, and loads more.

Ideally, you should person a fewer years of acquisition moving astatine antithetic SEO agencies, some tiny and big, earlier going solo.

5. Work In-House

In-house SEO is antithetic from bureau SEO. You request a antithetic acceptable of skills to beryllium a bully in-house SEO. And to enactment in-house, you request immoderate erstwhile experience.

As an in-house SEO expert, you are the idiosyncratic liable for creating and executing the SEO strategy from commencement to finish.

In astir cases, this is what you volition beryllium doing arsenic an autarkic SEO consultant.

Therefore, to win arsenic a solo SEO consultant, you volition request a blend of in-house and bureau experience.

If you are a beginner successful SEO, you should commencement moving astatine an SEO bureau and past see going in-house.

6. Build Your E-E-A-T From Day One

E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, is thing you should beryllium gathering from time 1 arsenic an SEO pro.

Even though initially, E-E-A-T (previously conscionable E-A-T) related lone to aesculapian oregon fiscal professions, it present relates to each niche that adjacent somewhat connects to YMYL (Your Money Your Life).

SEO is nary exception. As an SEO consultant, you volition interaction your clients’ fiscal and beingness decisions.

And that’s not the lone reason.

Now, much than ever, you request to basal retired from the assemblage of faceless AI fakes. And the lone mode to bash it is by having and demonstrating E-E-A-T.

Your SEO clients volition travel to you due to the fact that they spot you, admit you, oregon privation to usage your SEO experience.

That’s wherefore I urge starting to physique your SEO marque mode earlier you spell solo.

Here are the steps that tin assistance you bash that:

Build your SEO advisor website and commencement sharing your SEO cognition there. Make definite you are sharing thing unsocial oregon your unsocial rotation connected something. Avoid repeating what others person said thousands of times (especially with the usage of AI).
Share your unsocial SEO insights, observations, and tips connected societal media channels fashionable among SEO professionals (like X/Twitter oregon LinkedIn).
Don’t beryllium acrophobic of tagging well-known SEO professionals in your societal media posts oregon asking them for feedback.
Publish adept impermanent articles connected well-known SEO blogs similar Search Engine Journal. Be alert that you won’t beryllium capable to bash it close away. You volition person to gain your estimation a spot astatine first.
Pitch to talk at SEO conferences. If a immense league does not judge you, effort your luck with the smaller ones.
Publish the results of your SEO tests or your SEO lawsuit studies.
Create your SEO newsletter and stock your champion cognition with your subscribers. This volition besides let you to beryllium little reliant connected postulation from a azygous root (like lone from Google oregon societal media).

7. Network With Other SEO professionals

Real SEO maturation and acquisition hap erstwhile you harvester your cognition with the cognition of different SEO professionals.

SEO pros – adjacent the astir fashionable ones and the biggest names successful the manufacture – are ace adjuvant and friendly. They volition assistance you oregon supply feedback if you inquire them.

Don’t beryllium acrophobic of reaching retired to different much experienced oregon much fashionable SEO professionals. The worst that tin hap is that they won’t reply your connection oregon reply it with a delay.

I had been surviving nether a stone for 7 years earlier I created my SEO advisor website, started sharing my knowledge, and began to scope retired to different SEO pros. Don’t marque my mistake.

8. Get Prepared For The Transition

Transitioning from an SEO occupation to an autarkic SEO advisor does not person to beryllium scary. There are 2 ways of making the transition.

Depending connected however overmuch hazard you are consenting to tolerate and however overmuch wealth you person saved up, you tin either:

Give Up Your Job And Focus On Building Your SEO Consultancy Full-time

This whitethorn mean you volition not person immoderate gross for a fewer months, truthful this enactment whitethorn not beryllium imaginable for everyone.

However, you volition person 40 (or astir apt more) hours a week to physique your SEO brand, acceptable up your processes, and/or people absorbing articles astir your favourite taxable successful SEO.

Simultaneously Add Other Income Streams While Still Having A Job As An SEO Pro

This is astir apt the safest way for astir SEO pros, arsenic we each person our fiscal obligations and families to supply for.

In this scenario, you commencement gathering your marque a fewer years earlier you program connected going solo.

You spell solo lone erstwhile you person capable gross from different sources similar your ain clients oregon affiliate/sponsorship deals with SEO instrumentality providers.

For me, the modulation constituent was erstwhile I had 50% of my income from my job, and I could easy unrecorded disconnected the different 50% for 6 to 8 months.

The downside of this enactment is that you volition person to enactment aft hours and astir apt implicit weekends for a fewer months oregon years. However, it pays off.

9. Tips On Getting SEO Clients

How bash I get caller clients? How bash I marque this profitable? What if I don’t person immoderate projects to enactment on?

The azygous astir scary facet of becoming a solo SEO advisor is getting caller clients and sustaining the existing ones.

Here are my apical tips and insights:

Share your unsocial SEO cognition and acquisition done in-depth articles or video tutorials. If they are good, they volition bring you tons of leads.
Add utile and adjuvant comments connected circumstantial LinkedIn posts where radical inquire for proposal oregon privation different SEO pros to stock feedback. Take your clip to analyse the taxable and supply an exhaustive answer.
Participate successful SEO forums wherever radical inquire for assistance with their websites. Google Search Central Help Community is an fantabulous place. You volition find hundreds of website owners asking for assistance there.
Look for websites with superior SEO issues and scope retired to their owners with tips and initially escaped help.

If you are truly bully and SEO is your passion, clients volition find you (unless you are hidden).

If you are a fake looking for shortcuts, hype, and casual money, you whitethorn person problems. Sorry!

The punctuation by Zig Ziglar, “There are nary postulation jams connected the other mile,” rings precise existent for being palmy successful SEO.

Most radical won’t spell the other mile to amended recognize a fixed issue, research different possibilities, oregon analyse thing from a antithetic angle.

If you do, you volition not lone basal retired from the crowd, but you volition also:

Have a amended knowing of SEO.
Have much in-depth knowledge.
Have much experience.
Be capable to supply much effectual solutions.
And beryllium a amended SEO pro.

I enactment this extremity astatine the extremity due to the fact that it is similar the icing connected the cake. It applies to each antecedently mentioned tips.

If you privation to win with immoderate of the steps I shared, you ever request to spell the other mile. There is nary shortcut.