Hire SEO Consultants & Staff

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is about earning visibility in the unpaid, organic search results by improving your site’s content, structure and authority. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a broader term that covers both organic and paid search, though it is often used interchangeably with paid search advertising specifically. In plain terms, SEO is the long game of ranking naturally, PPC is buying your way to the top of the same results page. Most businesses benefit from both, but SEO compounds over time while PPC stops the moment you stop paying.

If organic search is a meaningful channel for your business, or should be, and you do not have a senior SEO in-house, you probably need one. Signs it is time include: rankings dropping without an obvious reason, traffic plateauing despite more content, competitors overtaking you in search, a site migration on the horizon, or a nagging feeling that you are leaving traffic on the table. A short paid audit from a senior consultant will usually confirm one way or the other.

It depends on where the friction is in your business. A local shop, restaurant or clinic serving one city usually needs a Local SEO specialist focused on Google Business Profile, reviews and location-based ranking. An online store selling across markets needs an E-commerce SEO specialist who understands Shopify or Magento, product feeds and conversion-focused optimisation. A brand expanding into multiple countries or languages needs an International SEO specialist who handles hreflang, geo-targeting and country-specific search behaviour. A generalist SEO can hold a solid strategy together, but when the technical stack, market or business model is specific, a specialist gets to results faster and with less trial and error.

Freelance SEO consultants through Houston & Ko sit between CHF 60 and CHF 120 per hour depending on seniority, specialism and language requirements. Senior strategists and technical specialists sit at the upper end, hands-on content and outreach work at the lower. Package options are available for ongoing monthly work. No recruitment fees, no upfront costs, one Swiss invoice, no minimum term.

Anything across the SEO discipline: technical audits and fixes, keyword research, content strategy and briefs, on-page optimisation, link building and digital PR, international and local SEO setup, Google Search Console troubleshooting, competitive analysis, migration support, ongoing performance reporting and consulting for internal marketing teams. Tell us what you need and we match you accordingly.

All our SEO consultants are independent freelance professionals. Your contract sits with Houston & Ko as a Swiss GmbH, not with the individual consultant, so accountability, confidentiality and liability all stay in one place. You get the flexibility of a freelance engagement with the reliability of a Swiss commercial counterparty.

As much or as little as you need, from a few hours a week to full-time equivalent. Ongoing retainers for continuous work, project-based engagements for specific pieces of work like migrations, or ad-hoc consulting for founder-level strategic input. You flex hours up or down as workload demands.

When you brief us on the role, our founders personally shortlist candidates matched to your sector, technical stack, target markets and language requirements. You only meet the best fits, not a long list of maybes. Most placements happen within around 7 days from first call.

Focus on real work rather than hypotheticals. Ask them to walk through a real project where they moved rankings and what specifically caused the change. Ask what they would look at first if hired for your site. Give them a short paid audit task on your actual site under NDA and see how they think. And test how they communicate: SEO gets technical quickly and you want someone who can translate it for stakeholders who do not live in search.

Define the outcome you want first, not the tasks you think you need. Are you trying to fix a technical problem, expand into a new market, build long-term organic acquisition, or recover from a ranking drop? The answer changes what kind of consultant is a good fit. Then work with a specialist recruitment partner like Houston & Ko who can match you to someone with the right experience, under a clean Swiss contract, in around 7 days