SEO Forensic Audit Specialist Needed to Diagnose Google Ranking Loss & Competitor Recovery Strategy

Job Description: We are seeking a senior SEO strategist with experience analyzing complex ranking losses and competitive search environments. Our established e-commerce website experienced a significant decline in organic visibility following Google algorithm and policy changes approximately one year ago. The unusual situation is that several direct competitors in the same niche experienced similar challenges but have since recovered and returned to strong Page 1 rankings. We are looking for an expert who can determine: Why did they recover while we did not? This project is primarily a forensic SEO investigation. We are not looking for a generic SEO audit or a standard checklist. The successful candidate will analyze our website against several competitors and identify the specific technical, authority, content, and trust factors that may explain the ranking differences. Project Scope: Phase 1: Competitor Reverse Engineering Analyze the following competitors: ValidGrad.com PhonyDiploma.com NextDayDiplomas.com QuickDiplomas.com Evaluate: Historical ranking changes Backlink acquisition patterns Domain authority trends Referring domain quality Anchor text distribution Link velocity Content changes Site architecture changes Internal linking structure Page templates Schema implementation Topical authority Entity/trust signals Technical SEO differences Phase 2: Complete SEO Audit of Our Website Analyze: Technical SEO: Crawlability Indexation Canonical issues Site architecture Internal linking Core Web Vitals Mobile usability Structured data Content: Thin content Duplicate content Search intent alignment E-E-A-T signals Content gaps compared with competitors Authority: Backlink profile Link quality Lost links Competitor link gaps Brand authority signals Deliverables: The final report should include: Executive summary explaining likely causes of ranking decline. Competitor comparison analysis. List of highest-impact opportunities. Prioritized recovery roadmap. Recommended implementation timeline. Specific actions required to regain visibility. Ideal Candidate: You should have experience with: Google Core Algorithm Update recovery Competitive SEO analysis E-commerce SEO Difficult or policy-sensitive industries International SEO Link profile analysis Technical SEO Experience with industries such as: CBD supplements gambling/iGaming crypto finance adult other restricted advertising industries is highly preferred. Required Experience: Please include: Examples of websites you analyzed or recovered after ranking losses. Your process for competitor reverse engineering. The SEO tools you use. A brief explanation of what you would analyze first on this project.