Ongoing steering starts at €1,600 per month, with two sessions per month. A one-off SEO strategy starts at €4,000, the workshop for the whole team at €1,500. Everything at a fixed price, you know the cost upfront.
SEO sparring for in-house teams: market leader with your own team.
Placetel, Nextbike, Laudo & co. trust me
You have the people. I set the direction, so every hour pays into visibility.
SEO Consultant Berlin
Independent since 2016
Max. 5+1 clients
12+ years of SEO for
At a glance
SEO sparring is SEO consulting in the done-with-you model: ongoing, your team implements, I steer. All services compared
Bernard Zitzer is an SEO and GEO consultant from Berlin for teams that build their own website. He delivers strategy, priorities and briefings, the in-house team does the work. Self-employed since 2016, with a maximum of five ongoing clients and one project client at a time.
- For whom
- In-house teams where marketing, content and development work on one website
- My role
- Strategy, roadmap, priorities, briefings, review and sign-off
- Rhythm
- 90 minutes every two weeks, on site in Berlin or remote
- Prices
- Ongoing from €1,600 per month, strategy from €4,000, workshop from €1,500
- Clients
- Placetel, Nextbike, Laudo: a maximum of 5+1 at a time
- Result
- Placetel: from 11,000 to 135,000 organic clicks per month, delivered by its own marketing team
Status quo
Your team delivers. But does it deliver the right things?
01
Your team works hard, but nobody can say which task has the biggest impact?
02
Marketing, content and development pull in different directions?
03
Your last agency delivered concepts that were never implemented?
What most teams do
They hire an agency to take over everything. Then the know-how sits with the agency, your team waits for tickets and every change goes through an account manager. It is like having a house built without ever seeing the floor plan.
What it is really about
You don't lack hands. You lack direction.
I plan like an architect, your team builds. The know-how stays in-house, and every week it is clear what gets built next.
The model
I steer, your team builds.
Done with You means: the strategy comes from me, the building happens on your side. Sparring and coaching in one: the know-how stays in-house, and your team gets better with every project.
I STEER YOU BUILD Strategy ──▶ ContentPriorities ──▶ DevelopmentBriefings ──▶ DesignSign-off ◀── Drafts every 2 weeks · 90 minutesthe know-how stays in-house
From me
- Strategy and roadmap for Google and AI search
- Priorities for the next two weeks
- Briefings for content, design and development
- Review, sign-off and reporting
From you
- Content, design and development
- Knowledge of product, customers and market
- Decisions made in-house
Together
- Goals and metrics that everything pays into
- Sessions every two weeks, on site or remote
- One roadmap that all departments work on
How we work together.
From getting to know your team to a steady rhythm.
01
Team and status quo
I get to know your team: who writes, who develops, who designs. Search Console, Analytics and a crawl show the status quo, so you know where you stand against the competition.
02
Strategy and roadmap
Search demand and competition become a prioritised roadmap. Every task gets an owner and a clear goal, so nobody has to guess what comes next.
03
Steady rhythm
90 minutes every two weeks: review results, set priorities, hand over briefings, so your team is never idle. In between, you reach me directly.
Topics in sparring
The decisions I help you make.
01 Priorities
What gives us the biggest lever next quarter?
Guides, glossary or product pages: where do we start?
Which topics are worth fighting our competitors for?
02 Budget and management
How do we justify the SEO budget in the quarterly review?
Which metrics convince leadership?
What does SEO deliver compared to ads?
03 Team and vendors
Keep the agency, replace it or build in-house?
Who on the team owns which task?
Which tools do we actually need?
04 Content and AI
Where do we use AI in content, and where not?
How do we get named in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity?
Which content do we expand, which do we merge?
05 Relaunch and structure
What has to be ready before go-live, and what can wait?
Which URL should rank for which keyword?
Is a domain upgrade worth it? More on relaunch support.
06 Second opinion
Is the audit we received right?
What to do after a visibility drop from a core update?
Can our agency's concept actually be implemented?
For marketing leads
From the session to sign-off.
Management communication
You have to defend SEO to leadership? I prepare the numbers with you.
Budget round, quarterly review, sign-off by leadership: we structure arguments and numbers so they hold up. Success is measured as market share against your competitors, and we rehearse the objections together beforehand.
What you walk away with
Every session ends with something tangible.
A video for every analysis that you can share internally.
A client portal in Notion with roadmap, briefings and tasks.
On request, a decision paper for leadership.
Client voices
What marketing teams say about working together.
Three teams that build their own website and set the direction with me.
With Bernard we got to the top, and with him we will stay at the top.
Michael RaussenHead of Marketing, PlacetelWithin a very short time we ranked ahead of the competition in every single location, making us the most visible provider in our industry.
Christoph BarthHead of Marketing, NextbikeWith Bernard's help we became the most visible web design agency in Berlin. Zurich is next.
Claudius WeigmannManaging Director, LAUDONumbers, not claims.
Four clients, four curves: their visibility in organic search, month by month. Source: Semrush.
Placetel Client since Jul 2016
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Nextbike Client since Dec 2017
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Laudo Client since Jan 2025
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AiraHome Client since Jul 2023
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Case example
A typical conflict: which URL should rank?
01 Starting point
A B2B SaaS client ranked with its home page for the most important category term in its market. A dedicated product page answered exactly this topic better.
02 Decision
Does the keyword stay on the home page or move to the product page? A move costs signals in the short term, and the home page needs a new focus afterwards.
03 Assessment
We compared search intent, on-page signals and internal linking of both pages. Result: the keyword moves to the product page, the home page gets its own category term, and a guide covers the informational part.
Who did what
A decision your team understands and implements itself.
The client's team did the implementation. I briefed, reviewed and tracked how the rankings developed.
Agency or consultant?
Both can work. The difference is who does the work and where the know-how ends up.
ComparisonAgency takes overWith me as consultant
Who does the workAgency juniors who are only getting to know your productYour team, who know the product and the customers
Where the know-how staysWith the agencyIn-house with you
CoordinationTickets, reports, account managerTwo fixed sessions per month, direct line to me
BillingBy the hour, usually €100 to €180 per hourFixed price from €1,600 per month
GoalWorking through tasksMarket leadership in Google and AI answers
Hourly rates: Ahrefs estimate for the DACH region, July 2026. The agency description is a generalisation, good agencies exist, of course.
Imagine
What if your team knew every week what matters?
What if …
every task paid into one shared goal?
What if …
your people got better at SEO and GEO with every project?
What if …
Google and ChatGPT recommended you, not your competitors?
And then: what would change for you?
Your company
Enquiries would come predictably through Google and AI. The know-how would sit in-house, not with a service provider.
Your team
Less debate about priorities, more time to build. Everyone would know what they are working on and why.
And you
You would walk into management meetings with numbers and show what your team has achieved.
First step
Let's talk about it in a first call.
30 minutes, no strings attached. We look at your visibility and your team together and clarify whether and how we can work together. Book a first call
Investment
What does it cost to change nothing?
13x
more organic clicks for Placetel: from 11,000 to 135,000 per month
from €1,600
per month for ongoing steering. Fixed price instead of timesheets.
The cost of doing nothing
A team without clear priorities costs salaries every month without moving your visibility.
I can't guarantee you a ranking, nobody serious can. But would even a fraction of Placetel's result help you?
A fit if
- your team implements content and development itself
- several departments work on one website
- you think in quarters and years
Not a fit if
- nobody on your side has time to implement (that's what Done for You is for)
- you expect rankings after four weeks (first results show after about three months)
- you mainly compare hourly rates
Packages and prices.
I bill fixed prices instead of hours. You know the cost upfront.
SEO & GEO Workshop
One day, seven hours, one shared understanding for marketing, content and development. The best way to start.
One-off, from €1,500
SEO Strategy
Audit, topic clusters, keyword mapping, content briefings and a roadmap with owners from your team.
One-off, from €4,000
Ongoing steering
Done with You: two sessions per month, briefings, review and reporting. With GEO from €1,900 per month.
From €1,600 per month
Your SEO consultant in Berlin
Bernard Zitzer
I have been consulting independently since 2016, before that I was an SEO manager at netspirits. I prefer working with teams that implement themselves: I steer, you build. That is how I have worked with Placetel's marketing team for more than ten years.
- Self-employed since 2016
- A maximum of 5+1 clients at a time
- Speaker: SEO Campixx, OMT
Frequently asked questions about working together
How much capacity does our team need?
The roadmap follows your capacity, not the other way round. What matters is that someone on the team can regularly implement content or development. If nobody can, Done for You is the better route.
What does a session look like?
90 minutes every two weeks, remote or on site in Berlin. We review results, set priorities and hand over briefings. Between sessions you reach me directly.
Do you also train our team?
Yes, every session is also training, because I explain why something has priority. For a joint start, the SEO and GEO workshop works well: one day, seven hours, from €1,500.
We already have an agency. Does this still work?
Yes. I take over strategy and priorities, your agency and your team implement. I check whether the result pays into your goals.
We already have an in-house SEO lead. Does this still work?
Yes. Then I am the sparring partner for their decisions: I review priorities, concepts and audits and bring in experience from many markets. Responsibility stays with you.
Can we also get a one-off second opinion?
Yes. For a single decision, the SEO strategy from €4,000 is the right fit; for your visibility in AI answers, the GEO audit. Ongoing sparring pays off as soon as decisions come up regularly.
Does this also apply to GEO?
Yes. Visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity builds on the same foundations: structure, content and reputation. With GEO, ongoing steering starts at €1,900 per month.
How quickly can we start?
After the first call you receive an offer within 3 to 5 working days. Once you say yes, we start with the kickoff within 14 days.
Is there a minimum term?
No. You stay because the work pays off, not because of a contract. Ongoing steering can be cancelled monthly.
When will we see first results?
You usually see first results after about three months: new rankings, more impressions, first additional clicks. How fast that turns into enquiries depends on your market and how quickly you implement.
How are you different from an in-house SEO?
An in-house SEO knows one website very well. For more than twelve years I have seen what works across many markets, and I bring that knowledge into your team without a permanent hire.
Is this SEO coaching for our team?
Yes, at its core it is SEO consulting with a coaching element. I don’t just hand out tasks, I explain why they have priority. That way your team becomes more confident with every session and needs me for fewer decisions over time.
Intro call