What does an SEO agency actually do each month?

Each month, a good SEO agency fixes and monitors the technical health of your site, publishes new pages that answer what your customers search for, earns links from relevant sites, keeps your Google Business Profile accurate and sends you a report showing what it did and what changed. If your monthly report doesn't show all five, you can't tell whether the work is being done.

Here's what each of those jobs looks like month to month, and what you should see in return for your fee.

What does Google say an SEO should do?

Google publishes its own view. Its Search Central page Do you need an SEO?, last updated in June 2026, lists the useful services SEOs provide. They include a review of your site content or structure, technical advice on website development such as hosting, redirects and error pages, content development, keyword research, expertise in specific markets and geographies, and optimising for generative AI.

That last item matters. Search now includes the answers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews give, so a monthly SEO service that ignores AI search is leaving part of the job undone. The same Google page also says an SEO with access to your server should be willing to explain every change it makes. Hold your agency to that every month, not just at the start.

What technical work happens every month?

In the first month, technical SEO means fixing. Pages Google can't crawl, missing titles, slow mobile pages, broken links and messy structure all get sorted before anything else, because they hold back every other piece of work.

After that, it means watching. Websites change all the time. A plugin update breaks a page, someone deletes a service page that was ranking, a redirect points to the wrong place or structured data stops matching the page. Each one can quietly cost you enquiries. A monthly check of indexing, speed, structure and structured data catches these before they do real damage, and your report should say what was found and fixed.

What new pages should an SEO agency add?

Pages that match how your customers search. That means three kinds.

First, a page for each service you sell, so a search for one specific job lands on a page about that job, not a general list. Second, a page for each area you want work from, written for customers there. Third, pages that answer the questions buyers ask before they get in touch: what it costs, how long it takes, what's included and how to choose.

There's no fixed number to aim for. The right pace is set by how many services, areas and questions you have, and how competitive your searches are. What you should see is steady output, with every new page named in your report so you can read it yourself. Each page should also state your prices, services and areas clearly in plain text, so AI tools have accurate facts to draw on.

What does link building look like month to month?

Links are one of the main ways Google discovers pages. Google's SEO starter guide, last updated in December 2025, says the vast majority of new pages Google finds every day are found through links, which makes them central to getting your pages discovered.

Good link building is slow, specific work. It means accurate business listings, mentions from local and industry sites, links from clients and partners, and content worth linking to. Volume isn't the goal. Google's spam policies, last updated in August 2026, list low-quality directory links and buying links for ranking purposes as link spam. Bought links put your rankings at risk, so if an agency sells links by the hundred, walk away. Every link earned should appear in your monthly report.

What should happen with your Google Business Profile?

If you serve customers in an area, your Business Profile is the listing that appears on the map, and it needs ongoing care. Your categories, services, opening hours and photos should be accurate and current, and every review deserves a reply. Your business name, address and phone number should match your website and every other listing exactly.

The monthly work is keeping it that way. When you add a service, change your hours or start covering a new area, the profile and your website should change together. If yours has never had a proper look, our standalone Google Business Profile audit goes through it line by line, with no ongoing contract.

What should you ask for in a monthly SEO report?

A report should tell you what was done, what changed and what happens next. Google's Search Console gives an agency much of the evidence. Its help page on the Performance report, checked in October 2026, explains that it shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your site in Google Search.

Ask for these in every report:

• The work done: new pages, technical fixes and links earned, with a link to each.
• Clicks and impressions from Google Search for the pages and services that bring in work, against last month.
• Calls and form enquiries recorded from search by your conversion tracking.
• The plan for next month, and why.

A report full of rankings for searches nobody types, or a score with no explanation, tells you nothing about your business. If you can't connect the report to the enquiries coming in, ask your agency to.

What does DLR do each month inside the Growth Engine?

Our monthly SEO comes as part of the DLR Growth Engine, not as a standalone package. It's £1,499 a month + VAT on a 12-month term with no setup fees, and our SEO and GEO specialist runs your search work every day.

Our SEO work covers technical SEO (speed, structure, indexing and structured data), a location page for every area you serve, new pages and articles that answer what your customers search for, and backlinks from relevant, trusted sites that we earn and report every month. Our daily content engine runs SEO and GEO together, so every page is set up to be found on Google and recommended in AI search. We also improve your pages every day through A/B testing so more visitors turn into enquiries.

Your monthly performance report covers leads, spend and next month's plan, showing what moved, what we did and what's next. You get a dedicated account manager and your team on Slack, so you can message your specialists directly. The same fee runs your Google Ads and Meta Ads and includes a free custom website worth £4,500, which is yours once the term is complete. Ad spend is billed separately.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a monthly SEO agency cost?

With us, SEO isn't billed on its own. It's part of the Growth Engine, which runs your SEO, GEO, Google Ads and Meta Ads for one fee and includes a free custom website.

Should I see results every month?

You should see work every month: new pages, fixes and links, all named in your report. Rankings and enquiries from search build over months, and the report shows that progress as it happens.

Can I get SEO help without a monthly contract?

Yes. Our standalone SEO, local SEO and Google Business Profile audits are one-off pieces of work, scoped and priced before we start, with no ongoing contract.

Do you buy links?

No. We earn links from relevant, trusted sites and report every one, because bought links put your rankings at risk.

Want to see what a month of SEO would look like for your business? Call us on +44 1382 699595 and we'll talk you through it.