How to Tell If Your Current SEO Company Is Actually Working

If you are paying for SEO and wondering whether your SEO company is actually working, you are not alone. We hear this question from business owners every single week — often from people who have been paying $1,000-$3,000 per month for 6, 12, or even 18 months with little to show for it.

The SEO industry has a transparency problem. Because search engine optimization is technical and results take time, it is easy for underperforming agencies to hide behind jargon and excuses. "Google's algorithm changed." "We are building authority." "SEO takes time." While all of those statements can be true, they are also the exact same phrases used by agencies that are doing little to nothing with your money.

Here is the uncomfortable reality: a significant percentage of SEO companies are not delivering real results. Some are using outdated techniques. Some are spread too thin with too many clients. Some are simply taking your money and doing the bare minimum. And because most business owners do not know how to evaluate SEO performance, these companies continue collecting monthly payments unchallenged.

This article gives you the specific tools to evaluate whether your SEO company is working. We will cover the exact questions to ask, the reports to demand, the red flags that signal problems, and the benchmarks that separate real performance from wasted money. Whether you are currently with an agency or considering switching, this guide will help you make informed decisions based on data rather than promises. The framework here applies whether you are a dermatology practice, a consulting firm, or any other business investing in SEO.

Send your SEO company an email today with these five questions. Their responses — or lack thereof — will tell you a lot about whether they are actually earning your money.

1. "What specific work did you perform on my account last month?" A good SEO company should be able to provide a detailed list of deliverables: pages optimized, content created, links built, technical fixes implemented, citations managed. If the answer is vague ("we worked on your on-page optimization"), that is a problem. You are paying for specifics, not generalities.

2. "Which keywords have improved in ranking, and by how much?" Your agency should be tracking your target keywords and showing you movement. After 3-4 months of work, you should see measurable improvement for at least some keywords. If they cannot provide specific ranking data, they either are not tracking it (bad sign) or the numbers are not moving (worse sign).

3. "How much organic traffic is my website getting compared to when we started?" This is the most straightforward metric. If your SEO company is working, your organic traffic should be trending upward. Not every month will be higher, but the overall trend after 4-6 months should be clearly positive.

4. "How many leads came from organic search last month?" Traffic is nice, but leads are what matter. Your agency should have conversion tracking set up and should be able to tell you exactly how many phone calls, form submissions, or other conversions came from organic search. If they cannot answer this, they are not focused on what matters — your business results.

5. "What is your plan for the next 90 days?" A good SEO company working on your behalf should have a forward-looking strategy, not just reactionary work. They should know what keywords they are targeting next, what content they plan to create, and what technical improvements are on the roadmap. No plan means no strategy, which means you are paying for random activity.

Beyond asking questions, you should be receiving — or demanding — these three reports from your SEO company every single month:

Report 1: Ranking Report

This report should show your position in Google for every keyword being targeted, along with the change from the previous month and from when you started. It should include at minimum 20-30 keywords relevant to your business. A good ranking report will also show which URL ranks for each keyword and whether you appear in the local map pack. If your SEO company is not tracking rankings, ask them how they measure success — because you need objective data, not opinions.

Report 2: Traffic and Conversion Report

This report should pull data from Google Analytics and show organic traffic trends, top landing pages, geographic data (are you getting traffic from your service area or from random locations?), and most importantly, conversion data. How many organic visitors took a desired action? This report is what connects SEO activity to business results. As we detail in our guide on how to read an SEO report, understanding these numbers is essential for evaluating your SEO company.

Report 3: Work Performed Report

This is the accountability report. It should list every single task completed on your account during the month: pages created or updated, backlinks acquired (with URLs), technical fixes implemented, content published, citations built or corrected, and Google Business Profile updates made. This report answers the fundamental question: "What did I pay for?" Any agency that cannot or will not provide this level of detail is either not doing enough work or not organized enough to track it — neither of which is acceptable when you are paying them monthly.

Some issues are fixable through better communication. Others are fundamental red flags indicating your SEO company is not working and never will. Here are the warning signs that should trigger a serious conversation — or an immediate switch:

They will not share access to your accounts. If your SEO company will not give you admin access to your Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Google Business Profile, that is a major red flag. These are your business assets. Some agencies withhold access to create dependency — so you cannot leave without losing your data. You should have full access to everything at all times.

They guarantee specific rankings. No legitimate SEO company can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Google's algorithm considers hundreds of factors that no agency controls. Guarantees are a hallmark of scam operations or agencies that plan to achieve rankings through risky, short-term tactics that will eventually get your site penalized.

You cannot reach a real person. If your main point of contact has gone silent, your emails go unanswered for days, or you can never get anyone on the phone, your account is probably not getting attention either. Responsiveness to clients correlates directly with attentiveness to accounts.

They show you vanity metrics instead of business metrics. If your reports are full of "impressions," "domain authority," and "social signals" but never mention phone calls, form submissions, or revenue, your SEO company is trying to distract you from the lack of business results. These vanity metrics can look impressive while your phone stays silent.

Rankings are going up but leads are not. This is a subtle red flag. If an agency shows you improving rankings for obscure, low-volume keywords while ignoring the high-value keywords that actually drive business, they are gaming the metrics. Rankings matter only if they translate to real ROI.

To evaluate whether your SEO company is working, you need to know what successful SEO actually looks like. Here are the benchmarks for legitimate, well-executed local SEO:

Months 1-3: Foundation work, limited visible results. During this period, a good agency is performing a technical audit, fixing site issues, optimizing existing pages, building initial citations, and developing a keyword strategy. You should see improved page load speed, updated title tags and meta descriptions, and possibly some new content. Ranking improvements may be minimal — this is normal and expected.

Months 4-6: Early ranking improvements and traffic growth. By month 4, you should see movement in your keyword rankings. Not necessarily page-one rankings for competitive terms, but clear upward movement. Organic traffic should be increasing by 20-40% compared to your starting baseline. You should be getting some new content published and seeing your Google Business Profile metrics improve.

Months 7-12: Meaningful business results. By month 7, you should have several keywords on page one, organic traffic should be significantly higher than when you started (often 50-100% or more), and you should be receiving measurable leads from organic search. If you are 9-12 months in and still not seeing phone calls or form submissions from organic search, something is wrong.

Months 12+: Compounding returns. After the first year, SEO should be delivering consistent, growing results. New content continues to rank, existing rankings strengthen, and your lead flow from organic search should be a reliable part of your sales pipeline. The cost per lead from SEO should be decreasing over time as traffic grows while your monthly investment remains relatively flat. These benchmarks apply whether you are a wedding venue or any other local business investing in SEO.

One of the most common reasons business owners question whether their SEO company is working is misaligned expectations. SEO is not instant — but it is also not an excuse to show no results for a year. Here is a more detailed timeline of what you should expect month by month:

Month 1: Technical audit completed. Site issues identified and prioritized. Keyword research and strategy document delivered. Google Business Profile fully optimized. Initial citation audit performed. You should receive a comprehensive baseline report showing where you are starting from.

Month 2: On-page optimization of your most important service pages. Technical fixes being implemented (site speed, mobile optimization, schema markup). Citation building underway. First piece of new content published. You might see small ranking improvements for long-tail keywords.

Month 3: Continued content creation and optimization. Link building campaign initiated. Citation inconsistencies being corrected. You should see 2-5 keywords improving in position, and Google Search Console should show increasing impressions for your target terms.

Month 4-5: This is where visible progress should accelerate. Multiple keywords entering the top 20. Organic traffic beginning to show measurable growth. First leads from organic search may appear. Google Business Profile views and actions should be increasing. Your agency should provide a clear progress report comparing current metrics to the baseline.

Month 6: By the half-year mark, you should have at least a few keywords on page one for less competitive terms. Organic traffic should be up 30-50% from the starting point. You should be receiving regular leads from organic search. If none of these benchmarks are being met, it is time for a serious conversation with your agency about realistic SEO timelines and what is going wrong.

You do not have to take your SEO company's word for your rankings. Here is how to independently verify where you stand in Google:

Incognito search method. Open a private or incognito browser window (this prevents your personal search history from influencing results). Search for your target keywords exactly as a customer would. For example: "dentist near me," "plumber [your city]," or "carpet cleaning [your city]." Note your position. Do this for your top 10-15 keywords and create a simple spreadsheet to track changes monthly.

Important caveat: Google results vary by exact location, device, and time of day. Your SEO company may show you rankings that differ slightly from what you see. This is normal — but the overall trends should match. If your agency says you are ranking #3 for "roof repair Dallas" and you consistently see yourself on page 2 or 3 when searching from within Dallas, there is a discrepancy that needs explanation.

Use Google Search Console. This is the most reliable way to check your rankings because the data comes directly from Google. Go to Performance > Search Results, and you can see your average position for every keyword Google shows your site for. This is unbiased, accurate data that your SEO company cannot manipulate. If your agency claims your rankings are improving but Search Console shows flat or declining average positions, trust Search Console.

Check the map pack separately. For local businesses, Google Maps rankings (the 3-pack that appears at the top of local searches) are often more important than regular organic rankings. Search your keywords and specifically note whether you appear in this map section. Your agency should be tracking and improving both your organic and map pack positions. Understanding how Google ranks local businesses in the map pack will help you evaluate this yourself.

Many business owners do not actually know what their SEO company should be doing each month. This lack of understanding makes it easy for agencies to coast. Here is what a legitimate, active SEO engagement should include on a monthly basis:

Content creation (4-8 hours): At minimum, your agency should be creating or optimizing 2-4 pieces of content per month. This might be new service pages, blog posts targeting specific keywords, or location pages if you serve multiple areas. Each piece should target specific keywords identified in your strategy. Content is the fuel that drives SEO results.

Link building (4-8 hours): Your agency should be actively working to acquire backlinks from relevant, authoritative websites. This includes outreach to local organizations, industry directories, content-based link acquisition, and strategic partnerships. They should be able to tell you exactly how many links they built and from which sites.

Technical monitoring (2-4 hours): Regular checks on site health, page speed, mobile usability, crawl errors, and indexing issues. Technology changes and sites develop new problems over time. Your agency should be catching and fixing these proactively.

Google Business Profile management (2-3 hours): Posting updates, monitoring and responding to reviews on your behalf (or coaching you on responses), adding new photos, and ensuring your profile stays fully optimized according to current best practices.

Reporting and strategy (2-3 hours): Analyzing performance data, adjusting strategy based on what is working, identifying new opportunities, and preparing your monthly report. A good agency spends real time on analysis and planning — not just cranking out generic reports.

In total, you should expect 15-25 hours of work per month on your account for a standard local SEO engagement. If you are paying $2,000/month and your agency is spending 5 hours on your account, the math does not work in your favor.

The trickiest part of evaluating whether your SEO company is working is knowing when patience is warranted and when you are wasting money. Here is a framework to help you decide:

Give more time when:

• You are in a highly competitive market and your agency has clearly communicated that longer timelines are expected
• Your agency is responsive, transparent, and producing detailed work reports showing genuine activity
• You can see ranking improvements and traffic growth, even if leads have not materialized yet
• Your agency proactively adjusts strategy when something is not working rather than just continuing the same approach
• You started with a brand new website or one with significant technical problems that needed fixing first

Fire your SEO company when:

• It has been 6+ months with no measurable improvement in rankings, traffic, or leads
• They cannot provide detailed reports of work performed
• They are unresponsive to your questions or take days to reply to simple emails
• They refuse to give you access to your own analytics and search console data
• Their explanations for poor performance are always external ("Google changed the algorithm") and never include any accountability or plan to adapt
• You discover they are using black-hat techniques (buying links from spam sites, keyword stuffing, cloaking)
• They keep promising "next month" without delivering

If you decide to switch agencies, do not make the same mistake twice. When choosing your next SEO agency, use the benchmarks and questions from this article during the evaluation process. Ask potential new agencies to review your current performance data and explain specifically what they would do differently. A confident, competent agency will welcome this kind of scrutiny.

If you have read this article and are still unsure whether your SEO company is working, there is a simple solution: get a second opinion. Just like you would seek a second medical opinion for a serious diagnosis, getting an independent evaluation of your SEO performance is a smart business decision.

At RankPlanners, we offer a free SEO audit and competitive analysis that provides an honest, data-driven assessment of your current SEO situation. Here is what our second-opinion audit includes:

• Current ranking analysis: Where you rank for your most valuable keywords today
• Traffic analysis: How your organic traffic trends compare to industry benchmarks
• Technical site audit: Identifying any technical issues that may be holding back your rankings
• Backlink profile review: Assessing the quality and quantity of your current link profile
• Competitive gap analysis: Showing where competitors are outperforming you and why
• Honest assessment: Whether your current agency's results are reasonable given your market and timeline

We do this because we have built our business on transparency and results. We are confident enough in our analysis to let the data speak for itself. If your current agency is doing a good job, we will tell you that — seriously. We would rather earn your trust through honesty than win your business through fear.

Whether you are working with a dermatology practice, a consulting firm, or any other type of business, the principles for evaluating your SEO company are the same. Request your free audit today and get the clarity you deserve about whether your SEO investment is working.