The fractional SEO consultant who owns your SEO
Senior SEO leadership for part of the week. You get a plan your team can follow, someone to direct your writers, developers and agency, and one person who answers for the numbers every month. No six-figure hire, and no long contract.
Companies usually bring in a fractional SEO when one of these happens
Hardly anyone hires one because they want more SEO. Something isn't working, and nobody on the team has the time or the experience to sort it out.
“We pay an agency every month, and nobody here can tell if they're any good.”
A straight review of their work: what it's worth, what to keep and what to stop. Sometimes the answer is to keep them and manage them better.
“Organic traffic has been flat for over a year.”
Find what's actually capping it. It's usually a handful of things, and they're rarely the ones at the top of the last audit.
“We publish every week, but it doesn't bring in customers.”
Point the content at what buyers search for, and brief your writers so every piece has a job to do.
“We're redesigning the site or moving to a new platform.”
Plan the SEO side before development starts, so your rankings come across to the new site.
“Our SEO person left, or we're about to hire one.”
Keep things moving in the gap, then help write the job spec, interview candidates and train whoever you hire.
“AI answers are taking our clicks, and nobody knows what to do about it.”
Check where ChatGPT and Google's AI answers mention you and your competitors, and what it will take to show up there.
4 ways to get SEO done, and what each one gets you
They aren't really competing options. Each one fixes a different problem, and plenty of companies use two of them together.
What a fractional SEO owns, directs and leaves out
Think of a senior hire who's in for part of the week. Some things are mine to answer for, some your team does with my direction, and some aren't part of the deal.
Own
Mine to answer for- The SEO strategy and a 6‑month roadmap
- What gets worked on first, and what gets dropped
- Tracking, so leads and revenue from search show up in your numbers
- A monthly report your leadership team can read in five minutes
- The hard calls: migrations, traffic drops, penalties and AI search
Direct
Your team does it, I lead it- Briefs and reviews for your writers
- Tickets and sign-off for your developers
- Your agency or freelancers, with clear scopes and checks on their work
- Hiring your in-house SEO, from job spec to their first 90 days
- Training your team so SEO becomes part of how they already work
Leave out
Not part of the deal- Writing all your content myself
- Buying links or link packages
- Guaranteed rankings
- Running your paid ads or social media
- Long contracts or cancellation fees
The person behind Win The Search
I've run Win The Search since 2021, and I've done SEO since I was 14.
Before going out on my own, I spent five years at Munday Digital. I started there as a junior and left as head of SEO, after working on 20+ campaigns for Australian and global brands and managing the team of SEOs, writers and VAs behind them.
Since then I've checked sites for SEO before buyers paid six and seven figures for them, and co-founded Linkter, an AI internal linking tool.
I've also worked in-house, so I know what it's like when SEO has to fight for developer time and budget with everything else on the list.
After 120+ client engagements in B2B, ecommerce, SaaS and regulated industries, I've found that SEO rarely fails for lack of effort. It fails when nobody senior decides what matters.
What a fractional SEO consultant costs, and what you get for it
A full-time SEO manager in the US costs $10,600 to $17,300 a month once you add benefits. A fractional seat starts at $2,500, and you only pay for the hours you need.
For teams that already do the work and need someone senior steering it.
- Roadmap and priorities
- A weekly call
- Reviews of your team's and agency's work
- A monthly report for leadership
For teams that need their SEO run, not just reviewed.
- Everything in Advisor
- Briefs and sign-off for writers and developers
- Managing your agency or freelancers
- A seat in your planning meetings
For migrations, traffic drops and the gap before a full-time hire.
- Everything in Lead
- Day-to-day ownership of SEO
- Hiring and training your in-house SEO
- A full handover when you're ready
Every seat is month-to-month, with a 30-day walk-away: if month one isn't worth what you paid, you get it back in full. You can change the size of the seat from one month to the next.
Book a free call →6 questions to ask any fractional SEO consultant
Ask these on the first call, including on a call with me. The answers tell you most of what you need to know.
Will you lead the work, or just advise?
“We'll hand over a strategy deck.”
I lead it. I set the priorities, write the briefs, review the work and chase it until it's live. The strategy lives in your team's task list, not in a slide deck.
How many other clients will you have?
“Don't worry, we have plenty of capacity.”
Five at most. There's no junior team behind me, so you get the same person every week, with replies within 24 hours.
How will I know it's working?
“Your rankings and traffic are going up.”
We agree on the numbers in the first 30 days, usually leads, pipeline or revenue from search. The monthly report tracks those, not just rankings and traffic.
Can you guarantee first-page rankings?
“Yes, page one in 90 days.”
No, and be careful with anyone who does. What I do offer is a 30-day walk-away: if month one isn't worth what you paid, you get it back in full.
How long is the contract?
“12 months minimum.”
There isn't one. It's month-to-month, so you can cancel anytime you want and leave if it's not working out for you.
What happens if we stop working together?
“The roadmap and the accounts stay with us.”
You keep everything: the roadmap, the documentation, the dashboards and every account. If you're hiring someone full-time, I'll help hire and train them before I go.
Your first 90 days with a fractional SEO
The first month is mostly listening and digging. By day 90 you'll know whether it's working, and you decide what happens next.
Access, interviews and a deep dive
I get into your analytics, Search Console and tools, talk to the people who touch the site, and go through what your team and any agency have done so far.
A plan, and a list of what to stop
A 6-month roadmap with owners and dates, the numbers we'll judge it by, and the work that isn't worth continuing. You sign it off before anything starts.
Your team gets moving
Briefs go out, fixes go to your developers, and the agency gets a clear scope. The first wins usually show up here.
A checkpoint, in writing
We compare what moved against the numbers we agreed on. Keep going, change the scope or stop. It's your call, and there's no contract to get out of.
Every week
- A call with you or your team on what moved and what’s next
- Briefs, reviews and sign-offs for the people doing the work
- Slack or email all week, with replies within 24 hours
Every month
- A report for your leadership team on leads and revenue from search
- The plan for next month, including anything we're stopping
- A fresh look at the roadmap every quarter
When a fractional SEO makes sense, and when it doesn’t
It works best for companies that already have people who can do the work. Without them, direction alone won't move much.
A good fit if
- Search already brings in some of your leads or sales, and you want more
- You have writers and developers, in-house or through an agency
- You need senior judgment, but not 40 hours a week of it
- You can give it at least 6 months to show what it can do
Not yet if
- Nobody can write content or change the site, and there's no budget for it
- You need leads this month. Paid ads are faster
- You have one clear job, like an audit or a migration. Hire for the project
- You're still working out what you sell and who buys it
What clients say about working with me
Vukasin is the best SEO guy I have ever worked with. He has a very strong understanding of SEO and how it correlates to our business expectations, and hardly needed any guidance on what we wanted done. Highly recommended!
Vuk is one of the sharpest SEO/AEO specialists I've worked with — deeply knowledgeable, always a step ahead on where search is heading, and just a joy to collaborate with. Responsive, easy to talk to, and genuinely fun to work with on any project.
Vuk exceeded expectations with his thorough, data-driven SEO audit. Everyone was very impressed with the quality of Vuk's work, his thoughtfulness and clear expertise. Plus, he's easy to work with, delivers on what he says he's going to deliver, and goes above and beyond.
An amazing SEO consultant whose knowledge goes beyond surface level. He's able to outsmart the thousand SEOs who are just looking at what everyone else is doing.
Vuk provides a really wonderful alternative to larger agencies. The results I got from working with him definitely rival what I've gotten from larger, US-based SEO agencies.
I'm impressed with the work he has put in to help me form my SEO strategy. Knowledgeable about the industry, timely with his work and generous with his advice.
Want to hear it from me instead? A first call is free and takes 30 minutes.
Book a free call →Hiring a fractional SEO consultant: common questions
Something else on your mind? Ask me on a free call.
Book a free call →What is a fractional SEO consultant?
+
A senior SEO who works as part of your team for a set number of hours a week instead of full-time. They own the strategy, direct the people doing the work and report on the results, the way a head of SEO would, for a fraction of the cost.
How much does a fractional SEO consultant cost?
+
Published prices run from about $1,350 to $7,000 or more a month, depending on hours and seniority. My seats start at $2,500 a month for about 4 hours a week.
What's the difference between a fractional SEO and a freelance SEO?
+
A freelancer is usually hired for tasks you've already decided on. A fractional SEO decides what the tasks should be, directs the people doing them and answers for the results. It's closer to a part-time head of SEO than a contractor.
Is a fractional SEO better than an agency?
+
It depends on what you're missing. If you need more hands, an agency has more of them. If you need someone senior to decide what matters and hold the work to a standard, including an agency's work, that's what a fractional SEO is for. Plenty of companies use both.
How many hours a week does a fractional SEO work?
+
Anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days a week. My seats run from about 4 hours a week to about 12, and you can change the size from one month to the next.
Is fractional SEO good for small businesses?
+
It can be, if search already matters to how you win customers and someone can do the work. If you have no writer or developer and no budget for one, direction alone won't move much.
Can you work with our agency or in-house team?
+
Yes, that's most of the job. I set the priorities, write the briefs and review the work. If an agency isn't delivering, I'll tell you plainly and help you decide whether to fix the relationship or replace it.
We already have an SEO person. What would you add?
+
Someone senior to set direction, back up their calls with leadership and help them grow. I'm happy to work alongside your in-house SEO as a mentor rather than over them.
How long until we see results?
+
You'll have a plan within 30 days and early fixes soon after. Growth from search usually shows within 3 to 6 months, and the bigger returns come after 6 to 12. The day-90 checkpoint means you can judge the progress without being locked in.
Is SEO still worth it now that AI answers are everywhere?
+
Yes, but the goal has moved. People click a regular search result on 8% of Google visits that showed an AI summary, compared with 15% when there wasn't one. So part of the job now is getting your brand named in those answers, and AI tools mostly pull from pages that already rank.
Do you work with US companies?
+
Yes. I work with companies across the US and EU.
Can you help us hire a full-time SEO later?
+
Yes, and it's a common way to use a fractional seat. I'll help write the job spec, interview candidates and train whoever you hire. The roadmap, documentation and accounts are already yours, so the handover is quick.
Talk to the person who would lead your SEO
Tell me what's going on with your SEO, your team and any agency you use. You'll get a read on what I'd do first, and if a fractional seat isn't the right fit, I'll say so.
Not ready for a call? Start with a $50 Scan →
Tell me about your site
Takes about 3 minutes. Goes straight to me, Vukasin.You'll hear back from me within two business days.