Choose an SEO company that tells you who will do the work, lists what gets done each month, shows dated results from businesses like yours, reports on calls and leads, and leaves you owning your website and Google Business Profile. Walk away from anyone who guarantees rankings, claims a link to Google or locks you into a long contract.
What does an SEO company do for a local business?
For a contractor, SEO work falls into a handful of jobs. If a company can't tell you which of these it will do for you, and how often, you don't yet know what you're buying.
- Audit: find what stops your site and listings from showing up, and rank the fixes by impact.
- Google Business Profile: categories, services, service areas, photos, posts and review replies, kept in line with Google's guidelines.
- Listings: make your name, phone and address match on Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the directories your customers use.
- Pages: a page for each main service and each main town, written to answer what customers ask before they call.
- Technical fixes: speed, mobile layout, crawling and indexing problems, structured data.
- AI search work: making sure ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers can read and trust your facts.
- Reporting: calls, forms and bookings from search, tied to the work done.
Link building sometimes appears on the list too. Done honestly, it means earning mentions from local and trade sites. Done badly, it means buying links, which Google's spam policies treat as link spam.
Can I do SEO myself instead?
Yes, a good part of it. Google publishes a free SEO Starter Guide, and the jobs with the best return for a local business are often the free ones: your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, asking every customer for a review and replying to each one. Our Business Profile checklist covers the settings in order.
Hiring makes sense when the work you can't easily do yourself is what's holding you back: writing a dozen service and town pages, fixing technical problems, adding structured data, and keeping track of what's working. If you're unsure whether paying for it adds up, run the numbers in is SEO worth it for a contractor first.
How to choose an SEO company, step by step
- Write down the goal in your words. "More water heater installs in Owasso and Bixby" is a goal. "Better SEO" isn't. You'll judge every pitch against it.
- Set a budget from your margins. Divide the monthly fee by your profit per job to see how many extra jobs it must bring in.
- Shortlist two or three firms you found yourself. Ask other business owners, check trade groups, or search. Google itself warns business owners to be wary of SEO firms that email out of the blue.
- Ask for an audit before a contract. A good firm can show you specific problems on your site and profile in the first conversation. A vague promise to "boost your rankings" tells you nothing.
- Ask the questions below, and listen for specifics.
- Read the contract for ownership, length and exit terms before you sign.
- Agree on what success looks like at 90 days, in calls and leads, not rankings alone.
Questions to ask an SEO company, and what good answers sound like
Google's own guide to hiring an SEO suggests asking for examples of previous work, whether the firm follows Google Search Essentials, what results to expect and in what timeframe, and what experience it has in your industry and city. Here is the fuller list we'd use, with the answers that should reassure or worry you.
| Question | A good answer | A worrying answer |
|---|---|---|
| Who will do the work, and can I talk to them? | Names a person and lets you meet them | "Our team" with no names, or the work is resold to someone else |
| What exactly happens each month? | A written list: pages, profile updates, fixes, report | "Ongoing optimization" |
| Can you show results for a business like mine, with dates? | Specific before-and-after numbers, with permission to contact the client | Screenshots with no business name, no dates, or rankings for phrases nobody searches |
| What results do you expect, and by when? | A range with reasons, and what could slow it down | A guaranteed ranking or a guaranteed date |
| Do you follow Google Search Essentials? | Yes, and can explain what that rules out | Talks about "tricks", private networks or bought links |
| How will you measure success? | Calls, form fills and bookings from search, tracked against a starting point | Impressions, "visibility scores" and keyword counts only |
| Who owns the website, content and accounts if I leave? | You do, in writing, and you stay primary owner of your Business Profile | They own the site or the phone number, or you "rent" the pages |
| How long is the contract, and how do I cancel? | Month to month, or a short first term with a clear exit | 12 months or more with early termination fees |
| What do you need from me? | Access, job photos, answers to customer questions, a few hours a month | "Nothing, we handle everything" (they can't write about your work without you) |
| What will you do about AI search? | Crawler access, consistent listings, clear facts on your pages, monthly checks of what AI tools say | "We guarantee you'll be in ChatGPT" |
| What happens when something doesn't move? | They explain why and change the plan | More of the same, or blame on Google |
| How long have you been in business, and in which markets? | A straight answer you can check on LinkedIn or a state business registry | Dodges the question |
Red flags and SEO company scams
Google publishes warning signs on its Do you need an SEO? page. It says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google, tells you to find someone else if a firm guarantees first place, warns against SEOs that claim a "special relationship" with Google or offer "priority submit", and says you should never have to link to an SEO.
The worst scams target local business owners by phone, and regulators have acted on them more than once:
- In May 2018 the Federal Trade Commission stopped a robocall operation that falsely claimed to represent Google. Its calls warned owners their business would be marked "permanently closed" unless they pressed a key, then charged $300 to $700 to claim a listing and $949.99 plus a monthly fee for promised first-page placement.
- In November 2022 Google sued the operators of "G Verifier", which it said impersonated Google, charged businesses for Business Profiles that Google provides free, and sold fake reviews.
The lesson is simple. Google Business Profile is free. Google doesn't call to sell you a listing or a ranking. Anyone who says otherwise is someone to hang up on.
Other warning signs we'd add for local businesses:
- They want to put a new phone number on your profile and site that they control. If you leave, your calls go with them.
- They build your pages on their own platform, so you lose them when you cancel.
- They promise hundreds of backlinks for a low fixed price.
- They offer to post reviews for you. Buying or faking reviews breaks Google's rules, and since October 2024 the FTC's rule on consumer reviews lets it seek civil penalties against businesses that buy or sell fake reviews.
- The pitch is identical to the one your competitor down the road got last week.
Contract terms to insist on
- You own the domain, the website, the content and the phone numbers. Get it in writing.
- You stay primary owner of your Google Business Profile. Add the agency as a manager instead. Google's help page explains that managers have most of an owner's access but can't add or remove users or remove the profile, so you never lose control.
- Deliverables are listed by month. If a month passes without them, you can see it.
- Reporting covers calls and leads, with call tracking that doesn't change the number shown on your Business Profile.
- A short term and a clean exit. Month to month is a fair ask. If a firm wants six months, ask why, and what happens if the agreed milestones aren't met.
- No link buying or private blog networks, stated in the agreement.
How long does SEO take, and how do you judge progress early?
Months, and anyone who promises a date is guessing. You can still judge an agency well before the full payoff, by whether the promised work happens and the early signs move:
- First 30 days: the audit is done, the Business Profile is fixed, listings are matched, tracking is in place. You should be able to see each change.
- By 90 days: new service and town pages are live and indexed, and Google Search Console shows more impressions for the searches you care about. Calls from search may be starting to rise.
- By 6 months: calls and leads from search should be clearly up on your starting point, unless you're in a very competitive city or started from scratch.
If the first month passes with no visible change and no explanation, that tells you more than any report.
How much should an SEO company cost?
Published contractor SEO quotes run from about $1,000 to $5,000 a month. Price alone tells you little; what matters is what gets done and who does it. Our SEO cost guide covers what drives the price. Realo's prices are on the pricing page: a free audit, a one-time Fix-it package of $750 to $1,500 and Monthly care at $600 a month, with no contract.
Is Realo the right fit?
We work with small home service businesses that want calls from Google, Maps and AI search, and want to see every change we make. We're a poor fit if you need leads this week (paid ads are faster), if you want a guaranteed ranking, or if you need a full website rebuild, which we quote separately. Use the questions above on us as well. That's what they're for.
Common questions
How do I choose an SEO company?
Pick one that names who will do the work, lists monthly deliverables, shows dated results from similar businesses, reports on calls and leads, and leaves you owning your website and Google Business Profile. Avoid guarantees, claims of a special link to Google and long contracts.
What questions should I ask an SEO company?
Ask who does the work, what happens each month, what results to expect and by when, how success is measured, who owns the site and accounts if you leave, how to cancel, and what they need from you. Google also suggests asking for examples of past work and experience in your industry and city.
How can I tell if an SEO company is a scam?
Warning signs include guaranteed rankings, claims to represent or partner with Google, unsolicited robocalls, charging for a Google Business Profile, which is free, and offers to post reviews. The FTC and Google have both taken legal action against firms that impersonated Google to sell listings.
Should an SEO agency own my Google Business Profile?
No. Stay primary owner and add the agency as a manager. Google's help page says managers have most of an owner's access but can't add or remove users or remove the profile, so you keep control if you part ways.
How long should an SEO contract be?
Month to month, or a short first term with a clear exit, is reasonable for a small local business. Be wary of 12-month contracts with early termination fees and no monthly deliverables.
Can I do SEO myself?
Yes, much of it. Your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, review requests and replies are free and best done by the owner, and Google's SEO Starter Guide is free. Hire help for the jobs that take skill or time you don't have, such as pages and technical fixes.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO? (checked October 29, 2026)
- Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide
- Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search
- Google Business Profile Help, Manage your Business Profile owners and managers (checked October 29, 2026)
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC action halts deceptive robocalls aimed at small business owners, May 23, 2018
- Federal Trade Commission, Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, August 14, 2024
- The Record, Google files lawsuit accusing G Verifier scammers of impersonating company, November 29, 2022
Start with an audit, not a contract
Our free audit shows what is costing you calls, ranked by impact. Use it to judge us, or to brief any agency you hire. Month to month, no contract.
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