FAQs
I’ve grouped these FAQs into six groups to help you find the information you need. If there’s anything else you’d like to know, drop me a line or call for an informal chat.
Results and timelines
How long does SEO take to work?
SEO is a long-term strategy, so it’s rarely an overnight fix. How quickly you see results depends on several factors, including the competitiveness of your industry, the current health of your website, the quality of your existing content, and how much work can realistically be completed within your budget.
With a sensible strategy and a realistic level of activity, many businesses begin to see measurable improvements in rankings, traffic or enquiries within around 3 to 6 months. Some technical fixes or on-page improvements may have an impact sooner, while more competitive markets usually take longer.
The important thing is that progress is tracked properly from the start, so we can see what is improving, what still needs work, and where your SEO budget is having the greatest impact.
Can you guarantee we’ll rank #1 on Google?
No – and I would be very wary of anyone who says they can!
Google’s search results are influenced by many factors, including your website, your competitors, search behaviour, algorithm updates, content quality, authority signals and technical performance. Some of those things can be improved through good SEO. Others are outside the direct control of any SEO consultant or agency (e.g. what your competitors are doing).
What I can promise is ethical, evidence-led SEO, clear priorities, honest advice and transparent reporting. I have achieved top rankings for many clients and many thousands of keywords during my career, but I will never use that experience to make promises I cannot honestly guarantee.
What metrics will we use to measure success?
That depends on your business and what you want SEO to achieve.
For some businesses, the most important measure is organic enquiries. For ecommerce sites, it may be organic revenue. For others, it might be improved visibility for commercially important keywords, growth in relevant traffic, stronger performance from key service pages, or better conversion rates from organic visitors.
At the start of the project, we will agree the most useful KPIs for your business. I will also make sure the right tracking and reporting is in place, so we are not relying on guesswork or vanity metrics.
Traffic is useful, but only if it’s is the right traffic. The aim is not just to bring more people to your website, but to attract people who are genuinely interested in what you offer.
Will SEO definitely increase my leads or sales?
SEO can help increase your visibility, attract more relevant visitors and improve the quality of traffic coming to your site. But leads and sales also depend on what happens once people arrive.
Your offer, pricing, website design, messaging, trust signals, calls to action and follow-up process can all affect whether a visitor becomes an enquiry or customer.
That is why I don’t look at rankings in isolation. Good SEO should consider the whole journey from search query to website visit to conversion. If your website is getting traffic but not enough enquiries, that’s something we need to understand and address.
Strategy and process
What exact work will you do each month?
The work will depend on your website, your goals, your budget and the stage of the SEO campaign.
SEO is not a fixed checklist that should be repeated every month regardless of what your site actually needs. Depending on your commercial priorities, the work may include technical checks and fixes, keyword research, competitor analysis, content planning, on-page optimisation, internal linking, content creation or improvement, backlink review, local SEO, reporting and performance analysis.
I will prioritise the work based on what is likely to have the greatest impact for your business. I will also keep you informed about what I am working on, why it matters, and what happens next.
How do you approach keywords?
Keyword research is not just about finding the phrases with the highest search volume.
A broad keyword might look attractive because lots of people search for it, but that does not automatically make it useful. It may be too competitive, too vague, or too far removed from what your ideal customer is actually looking for.
I focus on search intent, relevance and commercial value. That means understanding what people really want when they search, how close they are to making a decision, and whether your website can provide a genuinely useful answer.
Sometimes that will involve broader keywords. More often, it will involve more specific searches, such as service-led, location-based or problem-focused phrases. The aim is to attract the right people, not just the most people.
How do you build backlinks?
I prefer to think in terms of earning links, rather than simply building them.
Links are still an important part of SEO, but they need to come from relevant, trustworthy sources. Spammy link-building, paid link schemes and low-quality directories can do more harm than good – they are not part of how I work.
A healthy approach to authority might include useful content that deserves to be referenced, relevant industry directories, supplier or partner links, local citations, digital PR ideas, thought leadership, expert commentary, or reclaiming existing mentions of your brand.
The right approach depends on your business and sector, but the principle is generally the same: build authority in a way that is legitimate, relevant and sustainable.
Do you create content as part of SEO?
Yes, where content is part of the problem or opportunity – which it often is.
SEO and content are closely connected. Your website needs to answer the questions your audience is asking, explain your services clearly, and give search engines enough useful information to understand when your pages should appear.
The content support I offer might include creating new service pages, improving existing pages, planning blog topics, writing or editing copy, identifying content gaps, improving page structure, or helping your in-house team create more effective content.
Not every business needs endless blog posts. In many cases, the priority is making sure the most important pages on the site are clear, helpful and properly optimised.
Can you work with our existing marketing team or web developer?
Yes. In fact, that’s often where I can add the most value.
Many businesses already have marketing support, web developers, designers, copywriters or internal team members in place, but no senior SEO specialist guiding the strategy. I can work alongside your existing team, either in a hands-on role or as a consultant providing direction, priorities and review.
I am happy to collaborate with the people who already know your brand, website and customers. SEO works best when it is joined up with the rest of your marketing, rather than treated as a mysterious separate activity happening in the background.
Cost and contracts
How much do SEO services cost?
The cost depends on the scope of work, the level of support you need, and whether the project is a one-off piece of work or ongoing monthly SEO support.
Some businesses need a focused audit and action plan. Others need ongoing consultancy, content support, technical recommendations, reporting and regular optimisation. The right level of investment depends on your goals, your current website and how quickly you want to make progress.
I will always provide clear pricing before work begins, so you know what is included, how the budget will be used, and what to expect from the service.
No vague retainers. No mystery packages. No nasty surprises.
What is your minimum contract length?
I do not ask clients to commit to a long 6- or 12-month contract.
SEO does take time, and I will always be honest about that. If you stop after a few weeks, you are unlikely to see the full benefit of the work. But I also understand that committing to SEO requires trust, especially if you have had a disappointing experience in the past.
For ongoing SEO support, I simply ask for 30 days’ notice if you decide to end the service.
My hope is that you will stay because the work is useful, clear and valuable – not because a contract has trapped you there.
Do you offer one-off SEO audits?
Yes. A one-off SEO audit can be a very useful starting point, especially if you are not ready to commit to ongoing support.
An audit gives you a clear diagnosis of what is holding your website back, where the biggest opportunities are, and what should be prioritised first. It can help you make better decisions, whether you want to implement the recommendations yourself, pass them to your developer or marketing team, or use the audit as the starting point for ongoing SEO support.
The aim is not to overwhelm you with a giant technical document full of jargon. The aim is to give you a practical, prioritised action plan.
Can we start small?
Yes, as long as your expectations are realistic.
A smaller budget can still be useful if the work is carefully prioritised. It may mean focusing first on the most important pages, the biggest technical issues, or the clearest commercial opportunities.
The main trade-off is speed, and this is where you need to be realistic. For example, it’s frustrating for us both if you ask me to prioritise a particular set of service pages, and then add another high priority wishlist to that a couple of weeks later. A larger budget usually allows more work to be completed sooner, while a smaller budget means progress will be more gradual.
I will always be honest about what is achievable within your budget. I would much rather recommend a focused, realistic plan than pretend everything can be done at once.
Collaboration and transparency
How will you communicate with us?
You will always deal directly with me.
I will be your dedicated point of contact, and I am available by email, phone or Teams during normal office hours, Monday to Friday. You will not be passed between account managers or left wondering who is actually working on your SEO.
For ongoing SEO clients, I provide regular updates and monthly reporting. My reports are designed to explain what has happened, what the numbers mean, what work has been completed, and what I recommend doing next.
My goal is to help you understand SEO, where your money is going and why the work matters.
Will you need to make changes to my website?
In most cases, yes, but never without your agreement.
SEO often involves making improvements to your website. That might include updating page titles and meta descriptions, improving page copy, fixing broken links, adjusting internal links, resolving technical issues, improving page structure, or making recommendations around speed and user experience.
Before any changes are made, we will agree what access I need, what I am permitted to change, and what needs approval first. If you have an in-house marketing team, brand guidelines or a web developer, I will work with them carefully.
The goal is not to barge in and start pulling levers. The goal is to improve SEO while respecting your website, your brand and your internal processes.
What access will you need?
That depends on the work we’re doing.
Common access requirements may include Google Analytics (GA4), Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, your website CMS, and rank tracking tools if you have them.
It’s also a good idea to introduce me to your developer, or let me know where your site is hosted, if technical changes are needed.
Not every project needs every type of access. We can agree what is required at the start, and access can be limited to the appropriate level.
If you aren’t sure how to provide access, I can guide you through it. You don’t need to know all the technical details before getting started.
Will we own the work you produce?
Yes.
Any work I produce specifically for your business – such as keyword research, reports, recommendations, content plans, page copy or audit documents – belongs to you once it’s been paid for, unless we have agreed something different in advance.
I don’t believe in keeping clients dependent by hiding the work or making it difficult to leave. Good SEO should make your business stronger and better informed, whether we work together for one project or over the longer term.
What will your reports include?
My reports are designed to explain performance, not just present a bundle of charts.
Depending on your goals, reporting may include organic traffic, enquiries or sales from organic search, keyword visibility, ranking changes, landing page performance, content performance, technical issues, completed work and recommended next steps.
Most importantly, I’ll explain what the numbers actually mean.
A report that says traffic went up or down is only part of the story. We need to understand why it happened, whether it matters, and what we should do next.
Fit and readiness
Is SEO right for every business?
Not always.
SEO is usually a good fit when people are already searching for what you offer, your website has the potential to compete, and you are prepared to invest in improving it over time.
It may not be the best first priority if there is very little search demand, your offer is not yet clear, your website is not ready to convert visitors, or you need immediate leads tomorrow. In those cases, another marketing channel or some foundational website work may need to come first.
If I do not think SEO is the right starting point for you, I will say so.
Do I need SEO if I already get referrals or repeat business?
Possibly, yes.
Referrals and repeat business are extremely valuable, but they do not remove the need for a strong online presence. Even when someone has been referred to you, they may still search for your business, compare you with competitors, read your content, or look for signs that you are credible and trustworthy.
SEO can support that journey. It can help people find you, understand what you offer, and feel more confident about getting in touch.
It also reduces your reliance on one source of enquiries. Referrals are wonderful, but they are not always predictable.
Can you help if we have had bad SEO results before?
Yes. This situation is, unfortunately, not uncommon, but it doesn’t mean that SEO isn’t right for your business.
If SEO has not worked for your business before, the first step is to understand why. It may be that the strategy was wrong, the implementation was incomplete, the wrong keywords were targeted, technical issues were holding the site back, content quality was weak, or performance was never measured properly in the first place.
Sometimes businesses have been paying for SEO activity without a clear sense of what was being done or whether it was helping. That can be incredibly frustrating.
I will help you identify what has happened, what condition your website is in now, and what needs to change if SEO is going to become more effective.
SEO, AI and modern search
Does SEO still matter now that people use AI tools?
Yes, but SEO is evolving.
People still use search engines to research, compare, validate and choose businesses. They also use AI tools, social platforms, review sites, industry websites and other sources of information. The search journey is becoming more varied, but that does not make SEO irrelevant.
Strong SEO helps make your website clearer, more useful, better structured and more trustworthy. Those things matter whether someone finds you through Google, Bing, an AI-powered search result, or another discovery route.
The fundamentals still count: useful content, technical accessibility, clear expertise, strong trust signals and a website that genuinely helps your audience.
Can you help us appear in AI search results?
That’s a little bit like the question about guaranteed No. 1 rankings. And the short answer is the same – there is no guarantee of visibility in AI-generated answers! But based on previous outcomes in my career, I am confident I can improve the signals that help AI platforms understand, trust and reference your business more easily.
AI search visibility is still developing, and different platforms use different sources and systems. The best approach is to make sure your website is clear, well-structured, genuinely helpful and supported by credible signals across the web.
In practice, optimising for AI overlaps very heavily with good SEO: answering real questions, demonstrating expertise, improving content quality, making pages easy to crawl and understand, and building a stronger overall online presence.
So yes, I can help you move in the right direction – but I won’t dress it up as a magic formula.
Is SEO just about Google?
Google is usually the main focus because it remains such an important search platform. But SEO strategies can support visibility in other places too.
Depending on your business, that might include Bing, local search results, Google Business Profile, YouTube, industry directories, AI search experiences, or other platforms where your audience looks for answers.
The right focus depends on your customers and how they search. The aim is not simply to “do Google SEO”. The aim is to help the right people find, understand and trust your business, wherever they are researching.
Let’s talk about your project.
Whether you’re interested in a one-off SEO audit, ongoing SEO consulting, or need some in-house training to keep your team on the right path, I’m here to answer all your questions.