What does an SEO company do?
An SEO company does the work that helps your business show up in Google and AI search when real customers look for what you sell. For a local business, that means fixing problems on the website, optimizing the Google Business Profile, writing pages for each service and area, earning reviews and local links, and reporting each month on the calls and leads that result.
The confusion comes from the fact that "SEO" covers a lot of different tasks, and many agencies describe them in jargon. This guide translates the work into plain English, using Google's own hiring guidance as the yardstick.
What services does an SEO company provide?
Google's own guide for hiring an SEO lists the services many SEOs and agencies provide. Here is that list, translated for a local business owner.
| What Google lists | What it looks like for a local business |
|---|---|
| Review of your site content or structure | An audit of your pages, menus and service pages |
| Technical advice on website development | Fixing speed, mobile layout, indexing and broken pages |
| Content development | Writing service pages, area pages and helpful articles |
| Management of online business development campaigns | Coordinating your website, profile and campaigns |
| Keyword research | Finding the searches customers really make, like "emergency plumber" |
| SEO training | Teaching your team to keep the profile and reviews current |
| Expertise in specific markets and geographies | Knowing your city, your suburbs and your competitors |
| Optimizing for generative AI | Helping AI answers, like Google AI Overviews, mention your business |
A local SEO company adds work Google's general list does not spell out: the Google Business Profile, Google Maps rankings, reviews and local citations. Google's local ranking help page says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence, and most of that work lives outside your website.
What does an SEO company do each month?
An SEO company should do a set of one-time fixes up front, then repeat a monthly cycle of building, measuring and reporting. A typical local program looks like this.
- Audit and research (first month). Check the website, the Google Business Profile, rankings across your service area, reviews and competitors. Agree on the searches that matter.
- Fix the foundations. Repair technical problems, correct the profile's categories and details, and clean up wrong listings around the web.
- Build the pages customers search for. One clear page per core service, plus pages for the main towns you serve.
- Grow reviews. Set up a fair, steady way to ask every customer, and reply to every review.
- Earn local links and mentions. Chambers of commerce, associations, suppliers, sponsorships and local news.
- Track calls and leads. Call tracking and form tracking, so results tie back to real enquiries.
- Report every month. What was done, what changed, and what happens next, in plain English.
Timelines vary. Google's SEO Starter Guide says some changes take effect in a few hours while others can take several months. Our guide on how long SEO takes sets honest expectations.
Why do so many owners feel burned by SEO companies?
Many owners feel burned because they paid for activity they could not see and results they could not connect to the phone. The complaints are consistent: months with no new calls, monthly screenshots of a dashboard nobody explained, or rankings for phrases no customer types.
One owner put it bluntly: "I am ranking yes But no conversions." Another said an agency brought him very little besides tire kickers. Both point to the same gap. Rankings are a means. Calls and booked jobs are the point.
That is why the questions you ask before hiring matter more than the sales pitch.
What should you ask an SEO company before hiring?
Ask questions that make the company show its work, its methods and its measures. Google's hiring guide suggests these four:
- "Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?"
- "Do you follow the Google Search Essentials?"
- "What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?"
- "How long have you been in business?"
Add three of your own:
- Who owns the website, the domain and the Google Business Profile? The answer should be you.
- Which searches will you target, and why? You want searches real customers make in your area.
- How will you show me calls and leads, not just rankings? Look for call tracking and form tracking tied to sources.
What are the red flags when hiring an SEO company?
The clearest red flags come straight from Google. Its hiring guide says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google, warns against SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings or allege a special relationship with Google, and says you should never have to link to an SEO.
| Green flag | Red flag |
|---|---|
| Explains the plan in plain English | Promises a top ranking or a fixed spot on Google |
| Targets searches your customers actually make | Shows rankings for phrases nobody searches |
| Reports calls, forms and booked jobs | Reports only traffic or "visibility scores" |
| You own your website, profile and data | The agency holds your logins and accounts |
| Follows Google's spam policies | Buys links, fake reviews or uses keyword-stuffed names |
| Gives honest timelines in months | Promises results in days |
Google's spam policies say sites that violate them may rank lower in results or not appear at all. Our guide to black hat SEO explains what those tactics look like, so you can recognize them in a proposal.
How do you know if your SEO company is working?
You know your SEO company is working when its monthly report connects the work to more calls, form leads and booked jobs over time, and explains any dip in plain English. Rankings and traffic are useful signals along the way, but they are not the finish line.
Two documents tell you most of what you need. An SEO audit shows where you started. A good SEO report shows what changed since. If you cannot follow either one, ask for a version you can.
Larkpin, a local SEO, web design and AI automation agency for US local businesses, was built around that standard. Founder Hitesh Lamba has run an SEO agency since 2013, and the way we work puts the answers to the questions above in writing: plain-English monthly reports tied to calls and booked jobs, only searches real customers make, no credit taken for leads we did not create, and you own your website, your Google Business Profile and your data. You can see the full scope of our local SEO services and our web design work.
Want to see what an SEO company would find?
Our Free Missed-Lead Audit checks your Google Maps rankings across your service area, compares your reviews with your top 3 competitors, and tests what happens when customers call after hours. You get a recorded walkthrough within 2 business days, which shows you exactly what an SEO company would do first for your business.