Should I pay for SEO for my small business?
Usually no. What agencies actually do for a small site, what you can do in an hour, and when paying makes sense.
See the templatesThe short answer: for a local business with a simple site, usually no. Most of what moves a local business up Google is free and takes an hour: the Google Business Profile, the right words on the page, reviews, and a few real links. An agency charging £300 a month will do those things, slowly, and charge you for the wait.
What you can do yourself, once
- Set up and verify your Google Business Profile, with photos, hours and the right category
- Make sure the page title and first line say what you do and where
- Get your web address on your profile, your Facebook, your invoices and your van
- Ask every customer for a Google review
- List the business on three or four free directories
That is most of local SEO. The rest is time.
What agencies do for a small site
The same list, plus monthly reports, plus "content" that is often thin blog posts, plus links of varying quality. Some are good. Many are selling a retainer. Ask what they will do in month one that you could not do yourself.
When paying makes sense
- You are in a crowded market in a big city and the free work is done
- You have many pages or many locations
- You sell online nationally and are competing on product searches
Warning signs
Guaranteed rankings. Hundreds of backlinks for a fixed price. "We will submit your site to search engines." Cold emails. A contract longer than three months before you have seen results.
What we include
Every site we put live has the title, description, sitemap and structured data done, and we walk you through the Business Profile and Search Console. After that, we would rather tell you to spend the £300 on better photos.
Want to see yours? Pick a website template and fill it in for free. You only pay when you want it live. Already have a site? Bring it in and we fill a template from it.