How to tell if your SEO agency is actually working
After a fair period you should see progress in accounts you control, not only a list of tasks. What a useful report contains, and the warning signs.
If you already pay for SEO, the uncomfortable question is not “are they busy?” It is “how can I tell if my SEO agency is actually working?” After a fair period you should be able to see progress in accounts you control, not only a list of tasks in a slide deck.
This is not a method for running an agency relationship from the outside, and it is not a scorecard I use in paid work. It is a set of checks any business owner can make, using tools you should already have access to.
How can I tell if SEO is working?
Start with access. If your agency created Search Console or analytics for you, you should still be an owner or full user. Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO is explicit that you should be careful with anyone who wants to lock you out of your site or your data.
Then look for movement in the right places, not only activity:
- Important pages are indexed, and crawl or coverage issues are going down, not piling up. If a key URL is missing, work through Why isn't my website showing on Google? first.
- Search Console shows queries and pages that match the work you were told would happen, especially searches that do not already include your business name.
- Enquiries, calls or sales from organic search are being recorded in a way you can check — a form tag, a call-tracking view you control, or a simple, honest count you both agree on.
None of that requires you to become an analyst. It does require that the people you pay can show you a trail you could, if needed, look at without them in the room.
What should be in a monthly SEO report?
A useful monthly report is a short account of cause and effect. It should let you check the numbers yourself, not replace those numbers with a screenshot you cannot reopen.
- What was done this month, in plain language, with URLs or profile changes you can visit.
- What changed in Search Console: queries, pages, and a split between branded and non-branded searches.
- What happened to enquiries or sales, with the same caveats you would use in any other report — seasonality, site changes, paid campaigns running at the same time.
- What is blocked, and what you or your developer need to do next.
- What will be tried next month, and why.
Why can website traffic be misleading?
Total sessions are a poor headline. A rise can come from people who already know your name, from one seasonal page, from referral spam, or from traffic that never fills in a form. A fall can be a tracking change, a lost landing page, or a genuine drop in demand.
Look at the searches and pages that matter for new work, and at what those visits do. If the report only shows “traffic is up” or a chart of keyword colours, ask for the branded split and the enquiry numbers that sit behind it.
What are the warning signs?
Be cautious if you recognise several of these at once:
- You cannot access Search Console, analytics, or the CMS without asking permission each time.
- The report is mostly rankings for terms you would already win, or for generic phrases that do not match how customers search.
- A lot of “links built” or directory submissions, with little said about the site or the content.
- Guarantees of page-one results, or a contract that is hard to leave before you have had a fair look at the work.
- No one can explain, in ordinary language, what they did last month and what you should be able to see.
A cheap fee can be part of this picture, but it is not the only one. There is more on reading a quote in How much does SEO cost in the UK?. Google’s Do you need an SEO? article is also worth reading before you renew anything you are unsure about.
What should I do if I am not sure?
Ask for a written, plain-English summary of what has changed, what you can verify in your own accounts, and what the next eight to twelve weeks are for. Give a fair period — SEO is slow, and a new site or a competitive set of terms will not turn around in a month.
If you still cannot get a straight answer, an independent look at the site can help you decide whether to stay, change the brief, or leave. I do that kind of review as a technical SEO health check. It is a defined piece of work, not a takeover of the relationship, and I will tell you what I can see from the site and from Search Console if you can share view-only access.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO? — cautions on guarantees, access to your site, and what a reputable provider should be able to explain.
Questions people ask
- How can I tell if my SEO agency is working?
- After a fair period you should be able to see movement in Google Search Console and analytics you control, plus a clear record of what was done and why. A list of tasks on its own is not evidence that the work is helping.
- What should be in a monthly SEO report?
- A useful report lets you check the numbers yourself. It should split branded and non-branded searches, show what changed on the site or profile, and tie the work to enquiries, calls or sales where you can measure them — not only to rankings.
- Why can website traffic be misleading?
- A rise in total sessions can come from people already searching your name, from one landing page, or from traffic that never turns into an enquiry. Look at non-branded search, important pages, and leads, not only a headline traffic figure.
- What should I do if I am not sure the work is helping?
- Ask for a plain explanation of what has changed, what you should be able to see in your own accounts, and what happens next. If you cannot get that, a separate technical review of the site can give you an independent view.