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The Best SEO Consultant In The AI Era: 8 Picks, And Where A Consultant Fits Your Agent OS
The best SEO consultant for most business owners is me, Julian Goldie, and the first step is a free SEO strategy session with no cost attached.
Yes, this is my own list, and I have ranked myself first, so read it with that disclosure in mind.
Below me are seven well-known independent SEO consultants, with only facts I could verify publicly.
Then I show you exactly where a consultant fits when AI agents already run most of your SEO.
The best SEO consultant picks at a glance
Here is the ranked list first, because that is what you came for.
| Rank | SEO consultant | Firm | Best for | Easy first step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julian Goldie (my own entry) | Goldie Agency | Owners who want a plan and a team that executes with AI | Free strategy session |
| 2 | Aleyda Solis | Orainti | Senior SEO strategy, including AI search visibility | Her free LearningSEO.io roadmap |
| 3 | Glenn Gabe | G-Squared Interactive | Large sites hit by Google algorithm updates | His public core update notes |
| 4 | Marie Haynes | Marie Haynes Consulting | Updates, penalties and site quality | Her public Google update timeline |
| 5 | Kevin Indig | Growth Memo | Startups that want a growth advisor | His Growth Memo newsletter |
| 6 | Cyrus Shepard | Zyppy SEO | SaaS and tech companies | Zyppy's site and Zyppy List |
| 7 | Barry Adams | Polemic Digital | News publishers | His SEO for Google News newsletter |
| 8 | Jason Barnard | Kalicube | Brand SERPs and Knowledge Panels | Googling your own brand name |
I ranked on four things: a public track record you can check, a clear speciality, a low-risk way to start, and whether they talk about AI search.
I did not rank on price, because I could not verify public prices and I will not make them up.
If you want the broader list of people to follow and learn from, the companion post on the best SEO professionals covers that, and it is linked from the network block below.
The 8 best SEO consultants, in short
1. Julian Goldie and Goldie Agency
This is me, and I am being upfront that I put myself first on my own site.
I started with a cryptocurrency website while travelling in Asia, got zero Google traffic for months, learned link building, and turned it into a service.
I started Goldie Agency completely solo, and it is now a 7-figure SEO and link-building agency with 70+ people in Bangkok.
AI runs roughly 80% of our internal operations, and my content sites are run by the Agent OS I write about on this site.
The way in is a free SEO strategy session, and experienced SEOs can join my SEO Elite Circle mastermind.
2. Aleyda Solis (Orainti)
Aleyda Solis founded the boutique SEO consultancy Orainti, and she runs Crawling Mondays, the #SEOFOMO newsletter and the free LearningSEO.io roadmap.
She was named European Search Personality in 2018, and her recent episodes cover measuring visibility in AI search.
3. Glenn Gabe (G-Squared Interactive)
Glenn Gabe's firm offers algorithm update recovery, technical audits, migration support and training.
He has published analysis on his blog since 2006 and posts core update notes while updates roll out.
4. Marie Haynes (Marie Haynes Consulting)
Marie Haynes Consulting has helped businesses with Google's algorithms since 2008.
Marie is known for Google updates, penalties and Google's quality guidelines, and she keeps a public timeline of Google updates.
5. Kevin Indig (Growth Memo)
Kevin Indig has been an independent growth advisor to fast-growing startups since mid-2022.
Before that, he led SEO and growth work at Shopify, G2 and Atlassian, and he now writes the Growth Memo newsletter.
6. Cyrus Shepard (Zyppy SEO)
Cyrus Shepard founded Zyppy SEO after working as an SEO at Moz.
Zyppy lists B2B SaaS, tech companies and later-stage startups among its best-fit clients.
7. Barry Adams (Polemic Digital)
Barry Adams founded Polemic Digital in 2014 as a specialist SEO consultancy for news publishers.
He has practised SEO since 1998 and writes the SEO for Google News newsletter.
8. Jason Barnard (Kalicube)
Jason Barnard, known as "The Brand SERP Guy", founded Kalicube.
He works on the results people see when they search your brand, your Knowledge Panel, and how AI assistants describe your brand.
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What an SEO consultant does in the AI era
An SEO consultant is an expert you bring in to diagnose your site and decide what to do next.
Google's own guide on whether you need an SEO lists the services an SEO may offer.
- They review your site's content and structure.
- They give technical advice on hosting, redirects, error pages and JavaScript.
- They help with content development and keyword research.
- They train your team and bring market or regional expertise.
- They help you optimise for generative AI, which Google now lists as a service in its own right.
That last line is the big change.
The old way was a consultant who handed you a long audit and left your team to slog through it.
The new way is a consultant who sets direction while AI agents do the repetitive work at speed.
SEO consultant vs SEO agency vs your own agents
A consultant sells judgement, an agency sells execution, and an Agent OS gives you cheap, tireless execution that still needs judgement on top.
So the real question in 2026 is which jobs your agents should own and which jobs need a human expert.
| SEO job | Who should own it in an Agent OS | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pulling Search Console data | Your agents | It is repetitive, and agents can do it every day without getting bored. |
| Keyword and question research | Your agents, checked by you | Agents are fast at gathering it, but you know which searches bring buyers. |
| Overall SEO strategy | A consultant or you | Strategy needs judgement, context and accountability. |
| Drafting answer-first pages | Your agents, fed with real experience | Agents write quickly, but they need your stories and numbers to be original. |
| Final review before publishing | A human | Nothing should go live that a person has not checked. |
| Update recovery and migrations | A specialist consultant | These are high-stakes jobs where a mistake can cost years of rankings. |
| Schema, FAQs and internal links | Your agents | They can add these in seconds once the rules are written down. |
That split is how I run my own sites.
My agents handle research, drafting, schema and publishing, and a human sets the strategy and checks what goes live.
🔥 Want the exact AI SEO and the Agent OS setup I run inside my Agent OS?
Inside the AI Profit Boardroom you get the installable Agent OS, step-by-step video tutorials, four coaching calls a week and 3,400+ members building real automations.
Quick-start: hiring an SEO consultant when agents do your SEO
These are the steps I would follow if I were adding a consultant to an Agent OS setup this week.
Step 1: Write your one goal down
Pick one outcome, such as more leads from local search or recovering from an update.
Your agents and your consultant both need the same target, or they will pull in different directions.
Step 2: Give read-only access
Google advises giving a new SEO read-only access to Search Console during an audit, and I agree.
Your agents can export the data your consultant needs, so nobody needs write access on day one.
Step 3: Share how your agents work
Show the consultant your agent instructions, your publishing rules and a few pages your agents produced.
A good consultant will spot weak patterns in your system, not just on single pages.
Step 4: Turn advice into agent tasks
Every recommendation should become a task with a clear owner, whether that is an agent or a person.
This is where most audits die, so make the hand-off explicit.
Step 5: Review monthly against your own data
Check the agreed numbers in your own Search Console each month rather than relying only on a report.
Engagement types and where they fit
| Engagement type | What you get | How it plugs into an Agent OS |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy call | A diagnosis and a priority list. | The priorities become the brief your agents work from. |
| One-off audit | A written list of fixes in order. | Each fix becomes a task card on your agent board. |
| Recovery project | An investigation after a traffic drop. | Agents pull the data, and the consultant interprets it. |
| Migration support | Planning and checking a site move. | Agents check redirects at scale, and the consultant signs off. |
| Monthly advisory | Ongoing expert reviews. | The consultant reviews what your agents shipped that month. |
| Training or mastermind | Your team learns to do the work. | The lessons get written into your agents' instructions. |
I have not put prices in this table, because consultants rarely publish them and I would rather leave them out than guess.
The questions to ask before you hire
These follow Google's own hiring advice, plus one question I always add.
- Ask them to show you examples of past work and success stories.
- Ask whether they follow Google Search Essentials.
- Ask what results to expect, by when, and how success will be measured.
- Ask about their experience in your industry and your country.
- Ask how they will communicate and whether they will explain every change.
- Ask how they feel about AI-assisted SEO and what they would want a human to check.
Red flags to walk away from
- Walk away from anyone who guarantees a number one ranking, because Google says nobody can guarantee that.
- Walk away from anyone who claims a special relationship with Google or a priority submission.
- Be wary of cold emails that promise page one.
- Be wary of anyone who is secretive about changes to your site.
- Walk away from link schemes and mass-produced pages, which break Google's spam policies.
That last point matters even more when you run agents, because an agent can mass-produce pages in minutes if nobody sets rules.
My Google spam update guide shows how I keep my own agent-built network on the right side of those rules.
How AI changes what the best SEO consultant looks like
The best SEO consultant in 2026 is comfortable working alongside AI rather than competing with it.
They think about classic rankings and about being cited in AI answers from Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
They can review a system of agents, not just a list of pages.
And they insist that a human checks what goes live, which is exactly the right instinct.
If you want to see the AI SEO loop my agents run, start with my Claude AI SEO guide and my King of AEO guide.
The whole system those loops sit inside is in the AI Agent OS guide.
Also On Our Network
FAQ
Who is the best SEO consultant?
On my own list I rank myself and Goldie Agency first, and I say so openly. For specialist problems, Glenn Gabe and Marie Haynes are strong for update recovery, Barry Adams for news publishers and Jason Barnard for brand search results.
Do I still need an SEO consultant if AI agents do my SEO?
Often yes. Agents are great at research, drafting, schema and publishing, but strategy, judgement and high-stakes jobs like update recovery or migrations still benefit from an experienced human.
What is the difference between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency?
A consultant mainly sells judgement and a plan that your team or agents implement. An agency mainly sells execution, with a team that does the content, technical and link-building work.
What should I ask an SEO consultant before hiring?
Ask for past work, whether they follow Google Search Essentials, what results to expect and when, their experience in your industry, how they will communicate, and how they feel about AI-assisted SEO.
What are the red flags with SEO consultants?
Guaranteed number one rankings, claims of a special relationship with Google, secrecy about changes, and link schemes or mass-produced pages are all reasons to walk away.
How much does an SEO consultant cost?
Most consultants do not publish fixed prices, so ask for a written quote tied to a deliverable such as an audit, a recovery project or monthly advisory. My strategy session is free.
Final word on the best SEO consultant
Let your agents do the repetitive work, give a consultant read-only access and a clear goal, and keep a human on final review.
If you want a plan and a team in one place, book the free strategy call, because that is how I would choose the best SEO consultant.
About Julian
I'm Julian Goldie, an AI entrepreneur, SEO expert and the founder of the AI Profit Boardroom, which has 3,400+ members.
I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.
My YouTube channel has 400,000+ subscribers, and I run Goldie Agency, a seven-figure SEO agency.
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