SEO agency: what it does, when results show and how to check them

“We want to be first on Google”: that's how the conversation starts with almost every SEO agency. But SEO is the most often vaguely explained service: clients often don't know what's being done, how long results take or how to check that the money isn't being wasted.

In this article we simply explain what SEO services include, what realistic expectations are and what you should ask an agency to show in its reports.

What an SEO agency does

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is work aimed at getting your site to appear on Google for the searches your potential customers use. It splits into three big parts:

1. Technical SEO

Google has to find, read and correctly understand the site. Technical SEO includes:

• checking indexing: whether Google sees every important page;
• the sitemap, robots.txt and canonical URLs;
• site speed and Core Web Vitals;
• the mobile version;
• structured data (schema) that helps Google understand what's on the page;
• broken links, duplicate pages and redirects.

2. On-page SEO and content

Every important search should have its own page. The agency researches keywords, decides which page serves which search, and fixes titles, descriptions, structure and texts. This also includes creating new content: service pages and articles that answer real questions.

The Georgian market has one specific detail too: many users search in Latin letters. We wrote about this separately: Georgian or Latin letters? How Georgians search on Google.

3. Off-page SEO and local SEO

This is everything that happens outside the site: links from other trusted sites, brand mentions, and for local businesses, a Google Business Profile, which we set up step by step in this article.

How long until SEO results show

The honest answer: SEO isn't a fast channel. Usually:

• the effect of technical fixes starts to show within a few weeks;
• sustainable organic growth takes several months of systematic work;
• for competitive keywords, such as “website development”, a new site needs more time than for less competitive, specific searches.

The timeline is affected by competition, the site's age and history, the quality and amount of content, and how often other sites mention you.

If an agency promises you “first place on Google” with a guarantee and a fixed deadline, that's a warning sign. Nobody controls Google's algorithm.

How to check an SEO agency's work

Ask for a monthly report that answers three questions: what was done, what changed and what comes next. The report should show:

• organic traffic from Google Analytics, overall and by important pages;
• impressions and clicks from Google Search Console;
• positions for the agreed keywords;
• conversions: how many leads, calls or sales came from organic search;
• a list of the work done: specifically, what changed on which pages.

Most importantly, the Google Analytics and Search Console accounts should be in your name. The agency should only have access.

Questions to ask when choosing an SEO agency

1. What will you start with? (The right answer: an audit, not “buying links”.)
2. Which keywords will you work on, and why?
3. Who writes the content and who approves it?
4. Will you make the technical changes to the site, or will our developer?
5. What does the monthly report look like?
6. What happens if we end the collaboration?

SEO and the website in one team

Most SEO recommendations require changes to the site: speed, structure, new pages, schema. When SEO and development are at different companies, these changes often stall for months. That's why at Webico one team does both SEO and website development.

See our SEO optimisation service or book a free consultation: together we'll look at where your site stands on Google and where the fastest growth opportunity is.