SEO Freelancer or Agency: How to Find the Right SEO Partner
A decision guide for online shops, D2C brands and SMEs. I work as an SEO freelancer myself, so this page also says when an agency or an in-house team is the better fit. The questions further down work with any provider, including me.
The short answer
- A freelancer fits when you want to work directly with the person who analyses and prioritises, and your team, your developers or a content agency handle implementation.
- An agency fits when a lot of implementation across several disciplines needs to be outsourced at once, such as content at volume, link building and development, or many language versions.
- An in-house team fits when SEO is a main channel for good and there is enough work for at least one full-time role. An outside view still makes sense as sparring.
Freelancer, agency and in-house compared
| Criterion | SEO freelancer | SEO agency | In-house team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact person | The person doing the work | Usually an account manager, implementation sits with the team behind | Colleagues in the company |
| Implementation capacity | Limited to one person, implementation often with your team | High, several disciplines in parallel | Depends on headcount and budget |
| Specialisation | Deep in a few topics, such as e-commerce, AI search or local SEO | Broad, some agencies with specialist teams | Deep in your own product, less comparison with other projects |
| Fixed costs | Low, billed per package or hour | Higher, team and sales are part of the price | Salaries, tools and training |
| Absence risk | Holidays and illness hit the project directly | Cover within the team | Knowledge depends on individuals |
| Knowledge in your company | Grows when briefings and training are part of the job | Often stays with the agency | Stays in-house |
The two sentences I hear most often in intro calls show the real problem: "We spent money on SEO and don't know what came of it." And: "Agency, developers, freelancer, and nobody has the overview." Both problems arise when measurement points and responsibilities are missing before the start. That applies to freelancers and agencies alike.
Source: own intro calls with clients and prospects, anonymised.
Retainer or project fee: what fits your project
A project fee fits tasks with a clear end: an audit, a shop migration, a relaunch or a single expert question. A monthly retainer fits when SEO needs ongoing prioritisation, implementation and measurement. SEO takes months to work, which is why my ongoing projects have a minimum term of six to nine months.
Is a 1,000 EUR monthly retainer worth it? At an hourly rate of 135 EUR, that is a little over seven hours. It covers strategy, prioritisation, briefings and reporting if your team implements. It rarely covers full implementation of tech and content. Local businesses with one location often do well within this budget, a shop with thousands of products usually doesn't.
One-off
SEO audit: from 2,500 EUR. Shop migration and relaunch SEO: from 2,500 EUR. One-off tasks: 135 EUR per hour.
Ongoing
SEO consulting and support: from 1,500 EUR per month, with strategy, implementation support, team enablement and reporting.
Reporting: what a monthly report has to show
Reporting tells you whether a provider sells results or activity. A useful report includes:
- Clicks and impressions from your Google Search Console, compared with the previous year.
- The development of the target keywords you agreed on together.
- Enquiries or revenue from organic search, measured in your analytics.
- Completed actions compared with the plan, including what was left undone.
- Visibility in AI search such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
- Next steps with owners.
The accounts for Search Console, analytics and your shop belong to you. The provider gets user rights you can revoke at any time.
Shopify and e-commerce: what to look for when choosing
Shops have their own failure points an SEO partner should know. Ask specifically about experience with these in the intro call:
- Filter and variant URLs that waste crawl budget while new categories and products wait to be indexed.
- Redirects during migrations and relaunches, so rankings survive a platform change.
- Apps and themes that load content via JavaScript. AI crawlers usually don't execute JavaScript and don't see that content.
- Category and product copy that matches search intent and leads to a purchase.
What I do for shops is on the e-commerce SEO page.
AI search and Neuro-SEO: what an SEO partner should cover today
More and more buying decisions happen in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. These systems cite pages they can read and that answer a question clearly. An SEO partner should therefore check, besides rankings, whether your content is readable for AI crawlers and gets mentioned in AI answers.
My Neuro-SEO System® combines data-driven SEO with buying psychology: content follows search intent and the stage of the customer journey someone is in. How that works in AI search is shown in the GEO case study with PURELEI: 25,000 EUR revenue via ChatGPT in 12 months and visibility for 94 generic prompts.
More on optimising for AI search: GEO, visibility in AI search.
Eight questions to ask every SEO provider
- Who exactly works on my project, and who do I talk to?
- What do you take on, and what does my team need to implement?
- What is explicitly not included?
- How do we measure success, and which baseline values do we record beforehand?
- What does a report look like? Show me an anonymised example.
- Which references with verifiable numbers do you have in my industry?
- What is the minimum term, and what happens to data and accounts when we end the contract?
- How do you check visibility in AI search?
Warning signs when choosing
- Ranking guarantees. Nobody controls the algorithms of Google and AI search.
- References without verifiable numbers, or only logos without a case study.
- Accounts owned by the provider, such as a Search Console property that isn't yours.
- Reports that are only tool exports, without prioritisation and without next steps.
- Long terms without agreed measurement points.
When I'm the right partner, and when I'm not
I'm a fit if
- you run an online shop, a D2C brand, a B2B or a local business,
- you want to work with me directly, with no layer in between,
- your team or your providers implement and need clear priorities,
- you also want to become visible in AI search.
An agency fits better if
- you need content at volume and in many languages,
- link building, development and content should come from one provider,
- nobody on your side has time for coordination and implementation.
If you already work with an agency or a freelancer and want a second opinion, SEO sparring is the right format. And what clients say about working with me is on the references page.
Frequently asked questions about choosing an SEO partner
Freelancer or agency for ongoing e-commerce SEO, which is worth it?
A freelancer is worth it when you want direct access to the person who analyses and prioritises, and your team, your developers or a content agency handle implementation. An agency is worth it when a lot of implementation across several disciplines or languages needs to be outsourced and you need a whole team for that.
Is a 1,000 EUR monthly SEO retainer worth it for an SME?
At an hourly rate of 135 EUR, 1,000 EUR buys a little over seven hours a month. That covers strategy, prioritisation, briefings and reporting if your team implements. It rarely covers full implementation of tech and content by the provider. Local businesses with one location often do well within this budget.
What should a monthly SEO report include?
Clicks and impressions from your Google Search Console, the development of target keywords, enquiries or revenue from organic search, completed actions compared with the plan, and next steps. Since AI search influences buying decisions, visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews belongs in it too.
How do I spot an untrustworthy SEO provider?
By ranking guarantees, references without verifiable numbers, accounts owned by the provider instead of you, reports that are only tool exports without prioritisation, and long contract terms without agreed measurement points.
How much does an SEO freelancer cost?
With me, an SEO audit starts at 2,500 EUR and ongoing SEO consulting and support starts at 1,500 EUR per month. One-off tasks are billed at an hourly rate of 135 EUR.
Let's check whether we're a good fit
In a free 15-minute intro call we clarify where you stand and whether I'm the right partner.
