How to Hire an SEO Consultant

2.What is your plan for the first 90 days, and how will we measure progress before rankings move?

Why it matters: Organic rankings typically take 3–6 months to shift meaningfully. A consultant with a real plan can describe concrete 90-day milestones — technical fixes, content published, links earned — rather than vague promises.

3.Do you use any link-building tactics that could violate Google's guidelines?

Why it matters: Paid links, link farms, and other manipulative tactics can trigger a manual action penalty that tanks a site's visibility for months. A transparent answer here protects you from a consultant using shortcuts that create long-term risk.