Fractional SEO consultant: a Head of SEO, part-time
Senior SEO leadership for teams that need strategy, prioritization and accountability but not a full-time executive hire.
Fractional SEO means hiring a senior SEO leader part-time. Growth Rankers' fractional SEO is led by Latisha Gray, former Head of SEO at State Affairs, a B2B SaaS platform, with SEO roles at CNN and Vox Media. She joins your team for a set amount of time each month to own SEO strategy, set priorities, guide your writers and developers, train your team, and report results to leadership.
Fractional SEO vs. an agency vs. a full-time hire
| Fractional SEO lead | SEO agency | Full-time Head of SEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seniority | Senior leader, directly | Varies; often a mix of senior and junior staff | Senior |
| Role | Part of your team: strategy, decisions, oversight | External vendor delivering a package | Part of your team, full-time |
| Cost | Part-time; pay for the time you need | Monthly retainer | Full salary plus benefits |
| Flexibility | Scale time up or down | Depends on contract | Fixed |
| Best for | Teams that can execute but need leadership | Teams that need execution capacity | Companies where SEO is a core, full-time function |
What a fractional Head of SEO does for you
Strategy & roadmap
A prioritized SEO plan tied to your business goals, updated as results come in.
Prioritization & decisions
Deciding what to build, fix or skip, so your team spends time on the work most likely to matter.
Content & technical guidance
Briefs, reviews, and SEO input on launches, redesigns and migrations before they ship.
Team training
Workshops and ongoing coaching so writers, marketers and developers build SEO into their own work.
AI search visibility
Tracking how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews describe your company, and acting on it.
Leadership reporting
Clear monthly reporting on leads, pipeline and visibility that executives can actually use.
When teams bring in fractional SEO
- Your marketing team is strong but nobody owns SEO strategy
- You're between SEO hires and don't want progress to stall
- A redesign, replatform or migration puts existing rankings at risk
- You pay an agency and want an independent senior view of the work
- Leadership is asking how AI search affects your traffic and what to do about it
In-house SEO leadership experience
- Head of SEO, State Affairs: monthly search impressions grew from about 3,000 to more than 1.4 million; led technical SEO, migrations and automated reporting
- CNN and Vox Media: SEO strategy and insights for high-traffic news and media brands, plus newsroom SEO training
- Scoop News Group: audience strategy for a B2B media group; site audience grew 30%
Fractional SEO: your questions answered
What is fractional SEO?
Fractional SEO means hiring a senior SEO leader part-time instead of full-time. You get Head-of-SEO-level strategy, prioritization and oversight for a set amount of time each month, while your team or other partners handle day-to-day execution.
When does a fractional SEO consultant make sense?
It's a good fit when organic search matters to your business but you don't have, or aren't ready for, a full-time senior SEO hire. Common situations: a marketing team without SEO leadership, a company between SEO hires, a site migration or redesign, or leadership that wants an independent senior view of an agency's work.
How is fractional SEO different from hiring an SEO agency?
An agency usually sells a defined package of deliverables. A fractional SEO lead works as part of your team: setting priorities, making decisions, reviewing work, training people and reporting to leadership. Many companies use both, with the fractional lead managing the agency.
What does fractional SEO cost?
It depends on how much time and involvement you need each month. It is typically far less than a full-time senior salary, since you pay only for the time you use. Every engagement is scoped after a free audit, and you get a fixed monthly proposal before any work begins.
Do you work with our in-house team, developers and agencies?
Yes. That's the core of the role: working with your marketers, writers, developers and outside partners, reviewing their work, and making sure SEO decisions are made early rather than fixed after launch.
Get senior SEO leadership without a full-time hire.
Start with a free SEO & AI audit. You'll see where you stand and what a fractional engagement would focus on first.