Technical SEO Specialist Needed -- Investigate Organic Traffic & Lead Decline

We're looking for an experienced Technical SEO Specialist to help us investigate a decline in qualified inbound organic leads. We're looking for someone who enjoys solving problems and getting to the root cause. This is not a content writing project. This is not a backlink campaign. This is not a monthly SEO management role. BACKGROUND: We're a nationally recognized performance automotive shop that's been in business since 2007. Our website has historically been one of our most valuable sources of qualified leads. Over the past several months, we've seen a slow but measurable decline in those core leads. The decline hasn't been catastrophic, but it has been significant enough that we want to understand exactly what's changed. Our website developer has already completed an initial review and didn't find anything obviously wrong. His conclusion was that Google generally rewards websites that publish fresh, high-quality content on a regular basis. I don't disagree with that. However, based on the data we've collected, I believe that may only be part of the story. I'm looking for someone who can perform an independent investigation and tell us whether there's something we're missing -- or confirm that content really is the primary issue. We're also preparing to launch a newly redesigned website. Before we do, I want confidence that we understand what's happening with our current site and aren't carrying any existing issues into the new one. I'm less interested in receiving a list of SEO best practices than I am in understanding cause and effect. If there are ten opportunities for improvement but only one explains the majority of what we're seeing, I'd rather understand that than receive a lengthy audit full of generic recommendations. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: I'm looking for someone to investigate a business problem – I’m not looking for someone to sell me SEO services. I need someone who can dig into the available data, review the website, evaluate how Google is seeing it, and help answer questions like: • Most importantly, why has lead volume declined? • Has our search visibility changed over time? • Is there anything on our website that could be limiting performance? • Are potential customers still finding us but not converting? • Has broader search behavior changed in a way that may be affecting us? • Are AI-powered search results, Google result changes, or other industry trends having a meaningful impact on our business? • Are there opportunities we're overlooking? • If this were your business, what would you fix first? Ultimately, I want to understand whether we're dealing with a demand problem, a visibility problem, a conversion problem, or some combination of the three. For example: • Has overall search demand for our services changed? • Have we become less visible in search results? • Are customers still finding us but choosing not to contact us? • Are there differences between service categories, vehicle platforms, or geographic markets? • Is the decline broad-based, or is it concentrated in specific areas? • Has customer purchasing behavior changed (smaller projects, fewer projects, longer buying cycles, etc.)? I'm not looking for guesses -- I want your opinion based on the available data. If your conclusion is simply, "Everything looks healthy -- you just need to continue publishing quality content," that's a perfectly acceptable outcome. Likewise, if your conclusion is that SEO isn't the primary issue, that's valuable information too. I'd much rather understand the true causes than force the data to support a particular explanation. WHAT I'D LIKE YOU TO DO: I'd like you to review our website, analytics, and search performance to identify any meaningful issues, trends, or opportunities that stand out. Rather than receiving a generic SEO checklist, I'm looking for thoughtful analysis backed by evidence. At the conclusion of the project, I'd like you to answer four questions: 1. What did you find? 2. Why does it matter? 3. How confident are you that it's impacting performance? 4. What would you recommend we address first? Please explain your findings in language a business owner can understand. WHAT I'LL PROVIDE: To help you hit the ground running, I'll provide access to the information needed for a thorough investigation, including: • Google Analytics • Google Search Console • Google AdWords (used for a brief period) • Google Business Profile access (if helpful) • Historical lead data dating back to September 2024, including qualified lead segmentation • Key dates where meaningful changes in qualified lead volume were observed • YouTube publishing dates and performance data, allowing you to evaluate potential relationships between content releases, search activity, website traffic, and lead generation • Relevant business context surrounding major website or marketing changes • Access to the current website and any additional information reasonably needed to complete your analysis If there are additional data sources that would materially improve your investigation, I'm happy to provide those whenever possible. IDEAL EXPERIENCE: I'm looking for someone who has experience investigating organic traffic declines and identifying the underlying causes -- not just improving rankings over time. Experience with the following is highly preferred: • Technical SEO • Google Search Console • Google Analytics 4 • Organic traffic recovery • Lead-generation websites • Website migrations • Diagnosing changes related to Google algorithm updates and evolving search behavior WHEN APPLYING: Please include: 1. A brief overview of similar investigations you've completed. 2. The tools you typically use during your analysis. 3. How you would approach a project like this. 4. An example of a situation where you uncovered the root cause of an SEO or organic traffic decline. 5. Based on this job description alone, what are the first three things you'd investigate before ever logging into our website or analytics? If you enjoy investigating problems, connecting data points, and explaining why something changed -- not just what changed -- I think you'll find this to be an interesting project. Please do not submit a generic SEO proposal. I've intentionally written this posting to attract people who enjoy investigation and analysis. If you've read this far, start your proposal with the words "Root Cause" so I know you've actually read the project description.