SEO services are the paid work of making your website easier to find in Google, Bing and AI answers. A provider typically reviews your site, fixes technical problems, researches the phrases your buyers search for, writes or improves pages, keeps your local listings accurate and reports what changed. You pay a monthly retainer, an hourly rate or a project fee. What you get for it varies a lot, which is why the label alone tells you very little.
What's usually included
Google publishes its own description of the job. Its page on whether you need an SEO lists the services agencies and consultants commonly provide, including a review of your site's content or structure, technical advice on things like hosting, redirects and error pages, content development, keyword research, expertise in specific markets and geographies, and optimizing for generative AI.
In practice those group into four kinds of work.
Technical. Making sure search engines can crawl and index every page, the site loads quickly on a phone, nothing important is broken, and structured data (code that labels your address, services and reviews for machines) is in place. Mostly invisible to visitors. Essential anyway.
Content. Service pages, location pages, blog posts and guides. This is where most of the hours go, and where cheap packages tend to cut.
Local. Your Google Business Profile, Bing Places and directory listings, kept consistent. For a company that serves a region, this often matters as much as the website.
Measurement. Tracking which searches you appear for, which pages get clicks and whether those visitors call or fill in a form, then reporting it monthly.
How the work runs, month by month
Most engagements start with an audit and a burst of fixes. After that, the monthly rhythm is content and upkeep: new pages, updates to pages that are close to working, listing checks, and a report.
Expect patience. Google's SEO starter guide says some changes might take effect in a few hours while others could take several months. A provider who promises page-one results in thirty days is guessing, or worse.
What it costs
In a survey of 260 agencies, mostly serving small and local businesses, the most popular monthly retainer was $500 to $1,000, and the most common hourly rate was $50 to $100. 64% of the agencies charged less than $1,000 a month. Ask what each price covers. Between a low quote and a high one, the difference is usually writing time.
Warning signs Google itself lists
Google's hiring page is blunt, and it's worth reading in full before you sign anything. A few lines stand out:
- "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
- Be wary of SEO firms that contact you unsolicited by email.
- "You should never have to link to an SEO."
It also warns about anyone who claims a special relationship with Google. There isn't one to be had.
The same page suggests three questions to ask any provider. Can you show examples of previous work? What results do you expect, in what timeframe, and how do you measure success? Do you follow the Google Search Essentials? Add two of your own: what exactly happens in a normal month, and who owns the website and content if you leave.
It also helps to know where you stand before the sales calls start, so you can judge each provider's audit against something. Our Free AI Visibility Check looks at your website, your mobile speed, whether you come up in a local search, and what an AI assistant says when a buyer asks who to call. No email needed.
Two questions owners ask
Is SEO the same as Google Ads?
No. Ads are paid placements that stop when the budget does.
Can we do SEO ourselves?
Plenty of companies do, and Google's starter guide is written for exactly that reader. The part that's hard to keep up in-house is rarely the knowledge; it's the steady writing, the technical upkeep after every site change, and someone checking the numbers each month when the shop is busy and marketing slides to the bottom of everyone's list.
How Abstrakt does it
Our SEO and AI search program is called Inbound SDR, and it covers all four kinds of work. We build a website of up to 100 pages in the first month, planned around every service you sell and every area you serve, and host and maintain it. A new blog goes out every business day and is posted to up to 3 social platforms. We optimize your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing and keep your name, address and phone number consistent across 65 or more directories. Technical SEO covers crawling and indexing, sitemaps, page speed, mobile and structured data, with AI search crawlers allowed. You also get 2 to 3 expert hours a month for fixes and extra guides, a dedicated strategist and a monthly report. Packages start at $1,000 per month on a 12-month term.
What it doesn't include: paid ads, email marketing, video production, review management, or posting to your Business Profile. And we don't promise rankings or leads, for the reason Google gives above.
If you have a strong website and a marketing person with time to write, you may only need a technical audit and a few hours of help. That's a smaller, cheaper purchase, and a good one.
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