SEO Agency vs SEO Consultant: Which is the Better Choice?

Taking the leap between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency can feel daunting.

Both paths are fruitful, but they have distinct strengths, workflows, and support levels.

Typically, consultants offer in-depth expertise with a hands-on approach, while agencies provide broader resources and scalability.

Your best option hinges on business objectives, budget, and internal team makeup.

I'll break down the key distinctions in this article.

What's the Main Difference Between an SEO Consultant and SEO Agency?

Each model is unique, but what sets them apart?

I'll keep it objective and informative, far from a sales pitch.

Here’s the gist of each model:

SEO consulting is more collaborative

Consultative focus shifts away from direct execution towards strategic guidance. I help reshape your SEO strategy, increasing efficiency. You get direction on priorities and pitfalls, with best practices at the core. Strategy takes center stage.

SEO Agencies Will Handle the Full Workload

Agencies operate as all-inclusive services. They manage every SEO aspect. Outsource to a dedicated team if you're short on in-house capacity. This way, you tap into a comprehensive team, not just one person.

Fractional SEO services is like an in-house role

What is fractional SEO? I've introduced it as my most impactful service. You're essentially hiring me as an in-house team member without the full-time salary. I integrate seamlessly, delivering both strategy and day-to-day tasks like an in-house member.

How Your Growth Stage Determines Whether an SEO Consultant or Agency is a Better Fit

So, choosing each model will really depend on your company's structure and lifecycle stage.

I’m going to also attempt to break down what each service works great for:

• SEO Agency: I see an SEO agency as the right choice if you’re either an early-stage startup or a company looking to scale your content operations. For an agency, you’ll be able to outsource your SEO efforts so you can focus on other areas within your company. If you’re strapped for time and resources, I’d highly recommend going with an agency.
• SEO Consultant: Consulting seems to work best for more mature companies. They have established departments (including a content team) and just need more guidance in terms of strategy. Maybe traffic is falling, or leads aren’t coming in; whatever it is, consulting will be a way to right your ship with your website. The biggest consideration here is that you’ll still be in charge of execution at the end of the day. So, if your team has flexibility and isn’t swamped with work, a consultant would be the right choice for you.
• Fractional SEO: Honestly, a fractional SEO is the perfect middle-ground solution for both services. You get a blend of strategy from a consultant and the actual hands-on work from an agency. I find that fractional SEO works at almost every stage of a company; the most important part is just having a content team or person who can create content alongside the fractional SEO. The reason I say “perfect blend” is because there are some limitations to both services that a fractional SEO makes up for. Fractional SEO still has limitations, however.

Limitations to Each SEO Model

Okay, here’s the part you all came here for.

I’m going to completely roast each service.

Not because of any animosity, I just want you to know all the limitations that can come with each service:

Limitations of an SEO agency:

• Inexperienced team members - One of the most common complaints with an SEO agency is that your work will be passed to more junior team members once you sign on. This isn’t true for every agency, but it is fairly common to be oversold and have junior employees underdeliver for you. This can sometimes lead to a “more harm than good situation,” but in cases with junior employees managing your strategy, it will just lead to wasted potential and spend. Larger companies will put a heavier emphasis on profit margins, so they’ll usually sign you on and then pass you over to inexpensive team members. That’s not the case for every agency; however, you still want to vet them beforehand to prevent this from happening.
• High turnover - One thing agencies deal with is a high turnover rate. It’s fairly common in the agency world, speaking from personal experience, unfortunately. This will usually lead to some consistency issues in terms of overall strategy. I’d recommend checking out Indeed or Glassdoor for each company to see what their employees have to say about it.
• Harder to vet an agency - One thing agencies do well with is sales. They have the resources to hire salespeople whose main role is to close a deal. That’s all they’re focused on. So, if you don’t have a solid understanding of what you need beforehand, it will be very easy for a salesperson to sweet-talk you. Not that this is the main issue here; it just makes it much harder to vet an agency when the person you’re dealing with is more focused on sales and not SEO.
• Agencies can be expensive - A good agency will be expensive. At a minimum, you should expect to pay $2,500-$5,000/month for a reputable agency. If your agency is recommending >$1,000 for services, it’s likely not worth your time at all. An expensive agency will come with quality (in most cases).

Limitations of an SEO Consultant:

• Less output - The most obvious one here is that an SEO consultant won’t have the output capability as an SEO agency. Even in general, their physical output is close to 0. They will be almost entirely focused on strategy, so if you need someone more hands-on, a consultant might not be the best choice for you.
• Less manpower - In a similar vein as the above, a consultant will almost always be 1 person. While this person will likely have a better understanding of SEO than most agencies, they’ll still only be 1 person. So, communication and work will all revolve around 1 person. If there are any bottlenecks, it might delay results for you.
• No content creation - The biggest downside to a consultant is, again, output, but in this case, content. Content is pretty much a necessity for any SEO strategy, so if you don’t have an existing content team in place, an SEO consultant will be pretty limited.

Limitations of a Fractional SEO

• More output than a consultant, but still less than an agency - when you have a fractional SEO in the mix, they can actually handle day-to-day tasks. For my fractional SEO projects, I basically position myself within my client’s company/operations. I act as an employee for them. While I’m doing more work as an employee, I’m still limited in terms of what I can do. I don’t have the operational capacity to create x articles per month or launch larger link-building campaigns. I can work with your internal team to set that up, but if I’m missing those resources, then I’ll be pretty limited in terms of what I can/can’t do.

Typical Costs and Budget Considerations

Cost varies but here's what you should know:

• SEO Agency: Starts between $2,500 to $5,000 monthly.
• SEO Consultant: Charges range from $100 to $300 hourly or monthly retainers of $2,000 to $5,000. You manage much of the execution.
• Fractional SEO: Prices align with consultants or reach agency rates depending on scope. Strategy and execution benefits without full-time costs.

How to Evaluate the Success of Your SEO Approach

Regardless of your partner model—agency, consultant, or fractional—monitor these metrics:

• Conversions and Leads: Traffic matters, but demo requests, trial signups, or leads also gauge SEO success.
• Time to Results: SEO is a long game. Set realistic timelines of several months for tangible growth.
• Organic Traffic Growth: Track session increases from search engines and traffic quality.

Deciding Between an SEO Consultant or SEO Agency

So, hopefully you have a better understanding of what option to go for.

At the end of the day, it really varies company to company.

If I had to break down, I’d go like this:

SEO agency:

• Works great for smaller teams and teams with less internal manpower
• Is helpful with scaling content efforts
• Will have more resources to handle the full aspect of an SEO campaign

SEO Consultant:

• Works great for a more mature company that needs their SEO strategy adjusted
• All the pieces are there; you should need someone to put the puzzle together

Fractional SEO:

• Works great for companies at all stages who want an in-house team member but don’t have the resources to bring one on fully
• Can handle all aspects of SEO outside of content creation

You can’t go wrong with either choice; it will mostly come down to the choice that works best for you.