Most law firm partners commissioning SEO have no good framework for evaluating providers. The trade is full of jargon, vague promises, and “trust me” salesmanship. The result: firms either pick on price (and get junior work), pick on referrals (which surface friends-of-friends rather than the best fit), or simply never commission and continue to lose ground to firms that did.
This piece is a partner-readable framework for hiring an SEO consultant for a UK law firm. The questions, the red flags, the structural choices.
The threshold question: what kind of consultant do you actually need
Three structural choices.
First, agency or independent consultant. Agencies have more bench depth (technical, content, design, account management). Independents have more strategic seniority but smaller capacity. For most firms, an independent who can selectively call on specialists is better value than an agency with a junior account team.
Second, generalist or legal-specialist. Generalist SEO can work for simple firms in simple markets. For firms in regulated, competitive, AI-search-affected markets (which is most UK law firms now), legal specialism is materially better value.
Third, retainer or project. Retainers produce compounding returns and are usually right for firms taking SEO seriously. Projects (audits, specific deliverables) are appropriate for firms wanting to start without committing.
The ten questions to ask any prospective consultant
First: who will actually do the work? If the answer is anyone other than the person in the meeting, that is information. Junior delivery for senior-level fees is the dominant agency anti-pattern.
Second: how many UK law firms have you worked with directly? Specific firm count and named references where possible. “We work in the legal sector” is not an answer.
Third: what is your view on SRA marketing rules and how do they shape your work? The answer should be substantive. Vague answers mean the consultant has not thought about it; firms working without compliance awareness create regulatory risk.
Fourth: how do you handle AI search visibility? A current answer should cover ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and AI Overviews specifically. Generic “AI is important, we cover it” answers signal the consultant is not actually doing AI work.
Fifth: what does your monthly reporting look like? Ask to see a sample. Reports that are mostly graphs without commentary, or commentary without specific recommendations, signal the consultant is presenting data not delivering work.
Sixth: how do you handle exit if it is not working? A consultant unwilling to commit to a clear exit clause (e.g. 30 days notice after the initial period) is locking you in.
Seventh: what does month one look like and what does month twelve look like? A clear answer with specific deliverables and milestones suggests the consultant has done this before. Vague “we will deliver value” answers suggest otherwise.
Eighth: who else are you working with right now and how do you handle conflicts? A consultant working with multiple competing firms in your market is producing diluted work for all of them. The right answer is geographic and practice-area exclusivity within your specific market.
Ninth: what would you do in the first 30 days if we engaged you? Specific. Tangible. If they cannot answer this concretely, they have not thought about your firm specifically.
Tenth: what is the worst-case outcome of working with you? A consultant who genuinely engages with this question is more credible than one who dodges it. The worst case for serious SEO is usually “slower than expected progress”; the worst case for poor SEO can be regulatory exposure or reputational damage.
Five red flags
Guaranteed rankings. No legitimate SEO consultant can guarantee rankings. The promise is a sign of either ignorance or deception.
Lock-in contracts longer than 6 months without exit clauses. Short of a transition project, there is no reason for long lock-ins. The work should keep earning the retainer monthly.
Working with multiple competing firms in your market. Strategic insight cannot be split across competitors without dilution and conflict.
Pricing dramatically below market. Legitimate senior SEO has a cost floor. Pricing materially below it usually means junior delivery, offshore delivery, or both.
Reluctance to share references with current clients. Good consultants connect prospective clients with current ones because the references close the sale. Reluctance is information.
What this means for partners
The framework above produces materially better hiring decisions than the typical “three providers, look at their slides, pick the one with the best pitch” process.
The cost of getting this wrong is meaningful — wasted months, wasted retainer fees, and the opportunity cost of competitors moving ahead. The cost of getting it right is one or two extra hours of structured evaluation up front.
If you would like to talk through your specific situation and what kind of consultant would actually fit your firm, book an intro call. The conversation is the same whether you commission me or someone else — the framework helps either way.
