SEO consultant in 2026: what they do, what it costs and how to choose

By Erdal, Automationstar · Last updated on 13 October 2026

An SEO consultant is a specialist who helps people find your website on Google and in AI search engines. They analyse your site, find out what your customers search for and plan improvements to its technical setup, content and authority. In Belgium, an SEO specialist typically charges €75 to €150 per hour, excluding VAT.

Quick overview

• According to Ahrefs research, 96.55% of web pages receive no visitors from Google.
• Belgian providers typically charge SMEs €300 to €1,000 per month for ongoing SEO. A conventional agency can charge up to €2,500, and national campaigns up to €5,000 or more (excluding VAT).
• Google warns that nobody can guarantee first place on Google. Avoid hiring a consultant who promises this.
• People shown an AI summary click through less often: in 8% of visits, compared with 15% without a summary, according to Pew Research Center (2025).

What exactly does an SEO consultant do?

An SEO consultant helps people searching for what you offer find your website. SEO stands for search engine optimisation. The work covers a few recurring tasks:

• Keyword research. What questions do your customers ask on Google, and how many people search for them?
• Technical analysis. Does your site load quickly, work well on mobile and allow Google to find and index every page?
• Content. Does each page answer one clear question better than the pages currently ranking at the top?
• Local SEO. A complete Google Business Profile and pages for the municipalities where you work.
• Authority. Mentions and links from relevant websites, and customer reviews.
• Measuring and adjusting. What does the work deliver in visitors and enquiries, and what needs to improve?

Some consultants mainly give advice, leaving you or your web developer to make the changes. Others also do the work: writing pages, fixing technical problems and completing your business profile. Always ask which role they take on. SEO consultancy, in the strict sense, gives you an analysis and a plan. Someone who also builds and writes does more work and charges for it.

Why hire an SEO consultant?

Ahrefs examined the pages in its own index and found that 96.55% received no visitors from Google, while another 1.94% received between one and ten visitors per month. Putting a website online does not guarantee visitors.

An SEO consultant investigates why your pages are not attracting visitors and what needs to change. In its guide to hiring an SEO, Google recommends getting advice when you are planning a new website or rebuilding an existing one. The earlier you start, the easier it is to build a search-friendly site from the outset. Google also says a good SEO can improve an existing site.

Do you need an SEO consultant?

Not always. Google says the owner of a small local business can do much of the work themselves and recommends starting with its SEO starter guide. That holds for the basics: improving page titles, creating a page for each service and completing your Google Business Profile mainly take time, with little technical knowledge needed.

Google recommends learning the basics even if you later hire someone. That helps you spot techniques Google advises against. A consultant becomes worth considering when you do not have the time, face strong competition, have technical problems with your site or want to get a new website right from the start.

SEO consultant, freelancer or agency: what is the difference?

People use these terms interchangeably, but working arrangements and prices differ. Published Belgian prices suggest freelancers and specialists often charge by the hour, while agencies usually charge a fixed monthly fee.

Indicative prices from Belgian SEO providers' pricing pages, updated in 2026 and consulted in October 2026. The providers publish these prices themselves; they have not been independently studied.

Choose based on the work you need. If you mainly want to understand what is wrong and what to do, a consultant's analysis may be enough. If you want someone to carry out the work, look for a freelancer or agency. A small provider that both analyses and implements often combines direct contact with the person doing the work.

What does an SEO consultant cost in 2026?

We found no independent Belgian study of SEO prices. Prices published by Belgian SEO providers give an indication. We compared several providers' pricing pages, all updated in 2026. These providers list prices excluding VAT; always check this when requesting a quote.

For a local SME, ongoing SEO in Belgium typically costs €300 to €1,000 per month, excluding VAT. A one-off audit costs €300 to €1,500.

For packages below €150 per month, ask which changes the provider will make and whether you will get more than an automated report.

What you pay depends on five things: your goal (local visibility or coverage across Belgium), the number of pages needed, how competitive your market is, the condition of your existing website and who writes the content. Always ask what the price includes and what the first year will cost in total.

How does an SEO project work?

An SEO project usually follows a sequence over several months, as results take time to develop.

1. Introduction and goals (week 1). What should your site deliver, for which services and in which area?
2. Audit (weeks 1–2). The consultant analyses your site, search queries and competitors. At this stage, grant read-only access to Google Search Console, as Google recommends.
3. Plan and priorities (weeks 2–3). Which search queries will you address first, and why? You receive a plan with a fixed price or a clear estimate.
4. Technical basics (month 1). Speed, mobile usability, HTTPS and making sure Google can find every page.
5. Pages and content (months 1–3). A page for each service and municipality, with a clear answer at the top.
6. Local presence and authority (months 2–4). Google Business Profile, reviews and mentions on relevant websites.
7. Measuring and adjusting (ongoing). Review visitors and enquiries every month and adjust the plan.

Which questions should you ask an SEO consultant?

Google's guide to hiring an SEO includes questions for an initial meeting. Paraphrased:

1. Can you show examples of previous work and successful projects?
2. Do you follow Google Search Essentials, Google's official guidelines?
3. Which results do you expect, within what timeframe, and how do you measure success?
4. What experience do you have in my industry?
5. What experience do you have in my country or city?
6. How long have you been in business?
7. How will we communicate, and will you explain all changes to my site and why you make them?

Google also recommends checking references with previous clients and looking for a consultant who takes an interest in your business. A good SEO asks what makes your business different, who your competitors are and how customers find you. Add two practical questions: what does the first year cost with everything included, and what happens if you want to stop?

How do you spot a bad SEO consultant?

Google lists what to avoid in its documentation and states:

“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”

(Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO?)

• A guaranteed first place. Google recommends looking for someone else.
• A “special relationship” with Google or “priority submission”. Google explicitly identifies both as warning signs.
• Unsolicited emails claiming your site is missing from search engines. Google says it receives these emails too.
• Requesting write access immediately to Search Console during an audit.
• Buying links for you. This breaks Google's guidelines and can harm your site.
• Reports showing only rankings, without visitors or enquiries.
• Tools claiming to be “approved by Google”. Google does not approve third-party tools, and these tools cannot access Google's internal ranking data.

How are AI summaries and AI search engines changing SEO?

For many searches, Google shows an AI-generated summary at the top. That changes how often people click through. Pew Research Center analysed the browsing behaviour of 900 American adults in March 2025. Of those, 58% saw an AI summary at least once. When a summary appeared, people clicked a standard search result in 8% of visits, compared with 15% without one. Links inside the summary itself were clicked in only 1% of visits. This is American research; Belgian figures may differ.

Google's documentation on AI features says AI Overviews and AI Mode follow the same SEO basics, with no extra requirements to appear in them. You do not need special files, AI text files or separate structured data. In its guide to hiring an SEO, Google recommends checking whether advice about “AEO” or “GEO” follows these official guidelines.

Be sceptical of consultants selling AI visibility as a separate trick. Focus on pages that answer a question clearly and fully, a technically sound site and mentions of your business elsewhere. For other AI assistants, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, the basics are the same: they need to be able to read your pages, and your content needs to answer the question.

Why does local SEO matter for SMEs?

When someone searches for “plumber Berchem” or “accountant Mechelen”, Google shows local results with a map. According to Google, these results mainly depend on three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how closely your business profile matches the search. Distance is how far your business is from the searcher or the place named in the search. Prominence is how well known your business is, including through reviews and mentions on other sites.

For SMEs serving a local area, local SEO helps nearby customers find them. Complete your Google Business Profile with the right main category, opening hours, photos and a link to your website. Create a page for each service and municipality you cover. Ask satisfied customers for a review. A consultant working locally can check which municipalities your competitors already rank for.

How do you measure an SEO consultant's results?

Google rankings mean little if they do not bring enquiries. Agree in advance on what you will measure and how often you will receive a report. It should include:

• Organic clicks per month from Google Search Console, or visitors from your analytics tool.
• Enquiries through forms, phone and email that come from organic traffic.
• Impressions and clicks for each search query in Search Console.
• Rankings for your main search queries, as an additional measure.
• Work completed: which pages were created or changed, and which technical problems were fixed.

SEO takes time. A report after the first month mainly shows the work completed. You usually see the effect on visitors and enquiries after several months.

Which trends shape an SEO consultant's work in 2026?

AI summaries on Google reduce click-throughs, as Pew's research shows. Pages that answer a question well therefore matter more than pages that only target a keyword. Businesses also ask about visibility in AI assistants, which calls for critical advice grounded in Google's guidelines. For SMEs serving a local area, a complete business profile, reviews and pages for each municipality remain important. Choose a consultant who combines those three with honest reporting on enquiries.

Frequently asked questions about SEO consultants

Your next steps

• Week 1: define your goal, check your Google Business Profile and read Google's SEO starter guide.
• Week 2: speak with two or three consultants using the questions in this article, and ask for references.
• Weeks 3–4: commission an audit with read-only Search Console access, and obtain a priced plan.
• Months 2–6: implement the plan, measure monthly and adjust based on enquiries.

Sources

• Google Search Central, “Do you need an SEO?”: when to hire an SEO, interview questions and warnings. Consulted October 2026.
• Google Search Central, “AI features and your website”: SEO basics for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Consulted October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”: relevance, distance and prominence. Consulted October 2026.
• Ahrefs, “96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google” (December 2023).
• Belgian SEO providers' pricing pages (updated in 2026): hourly rates, audits and monthly fees, presented anonymously. Consulted October 2026.
• Pew Research Center, “Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results” (22 July 2025).
• Automationstar's pages on SEO for SMEs and SEO costs (automationstar.be): working approach and practical example. Consulted October 2026.