Done for you SEO should include content published every month, technical and schema fixes, listings and Google Business Profile work, real links, new pages once you’re past the first stretch, and tracking that covers both Google and the AI tools people search now. If a proposal is missing more than one of those, ask why before you sign anything.
How much content should you get every month?
Most done for you plans should include at least four articles a month, each built around a real question your buyers are searching, published under a real name at your company, with links back to your own service pages built in. Anything less struggles to keep pace with an active competitor, and content that isn’t tied to a real search question is filler with a byline attached. Our own Growth plan runs eight a month for exactly this reason: it’s the point where content alone stops moving the needle and needs new pages and links working alongside it.
What technical and schema work should be included?
Technical work covers page speed, crawl errors, and the structured data that helps Google and AI tools both understand what a page is actually about. This should never be a one time setup line item. Google’s algorithm changes, your site changes as you add pages, and schema needs maintaining as your services or locations change. If a company only touches this once, at onboarding, ask what happens the day something breaks in month four.
Should Google Business Profile and listings be part of it?
Yes, on every plan, no exceptions. Your Google Business Profile needs weekly posts, an accurate category, and photos that actually reflect your business. Your listings, meaning every place your name, address, and phone number appear online, need to be checked and corrected on an ongoing basis, because directories change ownership, merge, and go stale, and a wrong phone number costs you a call you never even know you missed.
How many links should you expect, and from where?
Real links come from established websites in your industry or your region, ones with their own traffic and their own reputation, and they should point at the specific page you’re trying to move, not just your homepage. Ask exactly how many you’ll get a month and ask to see examples before you sign. A company that can’t answer specifically, or that talks about link building without naming any actual sites, is describing a directory submission service, not authority building.
Should you get new pages, not just blog posts?
Once you’re a few months in, yes. Blog content earns visibility for informational questions, but new service and location pages are what let you compete in markets and for services you don’t already have a page for. A state page, a page for a service you’re expanding into, or a page for a metro area where you want more work, each one is a new front door into your site that didn’t exist before, and it should be written specifically for that page, never copied from a template with the city name swapped in.
How should tracking work, on Google and on the AI tools?
You should see your position on Google, on desktop, mobile, and Maps, checked every week, not once a quarter. And you should separately see whether the AI tools your buyers now ask, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, actually name your business when asked a real buyer question. These are two different things that move on different timelines, and a plan that only shows you one is only doing half the job. If you want to understand what that second half actually means, read what AIO is before you sign anything.
What should the reporting actually show you?
A real report names what was published, what got fixed, which links landed, and what moved, in plain numbers you could check yourself if you wanted to. It should come with an actual conversation, not just an email, so you can ask about anything that didn’t move the way you expected. Vague language like improved visibility or enhanced presence, with no specifics attached, is a sign the company would rather you not look too closely.
What should be in the contract?
Month to month, with a plain cancellation process in writing, no long term lock in. A setup fee is common and reasonable for the initial audit and technical work, but it should be a one time charge, not a recurring one dressed up as something else. Ask what happens to your content, your listing corrections, and your links if you leave. Work that was actually published on your site, and earned in your name, should stay yours.
Does the plan level actually change what you get?
Yes, and it should scale in an obvious, explainable way, not through vague upgrades. A plan running close to 1,000 dollars a month should look like content, tracking, your profile, and technical work, the foundation every business needs. A plan closer to 2,000 should add real links and new pages on top of that foundation, since content alone struggles to move competitive searches without something backing it up. Above that, plans should add more of everything, more volume, more competitors tracked, and eventually press coverage, for businesses trying to win a category outright rather than just get found. If a company charges premium pricing but the deliverable list barely changes at whatever plan you pick, that’s worth asking about directly.
What cheap SEO usually leaves out
The lowest priced options in this space usually cut one of three things: they publish generic content nobody at your company ever reviews, they skip technical and schema work entirely, or they replace real links with directory submissions that do close to nothing for your rankings. Any one of those saves the company money and costs you months. The work still looks like it’s happening. It just isn’t doing anything.
What nobody can honestly guarantee
No one can promise you a specific ranking position or a guaranteed mention in an AI answer, and a company that promises one should lose your business on that line alone. Rankings and AI visibility are earned through the work described above, over real time, against competitors who are also trying. What a company can guarantee is the work itself: the content, the fixes, the links, and reporting that proves it happened, on a schedule you can hold them to.
Questions to ask before you sign
Before you sign anything, ask directly: how many pieces of content publish each month, and on what topics. What technical and schema work happens after the first month, not just during onboarding. Which directories and data aggregators get corrected, and how often. How many links you’ll receive monthly, and whether you’ll see the actual sites before they go live. Whether tracking covers the AI tools by name, not just Google. What a monthly report looks like, and ask to see a sample if you can. And exactly what happens to your content and links if you cancel. A company confident in its own work will answer every one of these without hesitation.
Compare any proposal to this list
If you’re comparing us against anyone else, hold every proposal to this checklist, including ours. Our SEO company for small business page shows how we answer it, and AI SEO services covers the AI search side. Run the free audit to see where your site actually stands today, or start a 7-day free trial on any plan and watch the first month’s work land in your own dashboard before you’re charged anything. And if you’ve ever wondered why a competitor keeps showing up in ChatGPT before you do, that has its own answer too.
Questions We Get Asked
How much should done for you SEO cost per month?
It varies by scope, but expect anywhere from around 1,000 to 5,000 dollars a month depending on how much content, how many links, and how much tracking is included. A price far below that range is usually missing one of the core pieces, most often real content, technical maintenance, or genuine links, even if the proposal lists all three by name.
Is a setup fee normal for done for you SEO?
Yes, a one time setup fee covering the initial audit, technical fixes, and profile cleanup is standard and reasonable. What isn't reasonable is a setup fee that quietly recurs under a different line item, or one so large it locks you in before you've seen a single month of actual work delivered.
Can I cancel done for you SEO whenever I want?
You should be able to, with a plan that runs month to month and a plain cancellation process in writing. Long term contracts in this industry sometimes exist to protect the agency from a client leaving before slow, cumulative work pays off, which is a fair concern, but the terms should never be hidden in fine print.
Does done for you SEO include AI search, or just Google?
It should include both. Buyers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and other tools the same questions they used to type into Google, and a plan that only tracks traditional rankings is only showing you half of where your customers are actually looking for you.
How do I know if my current SEO company is actually doing the work?
Ask for specifics: which pages published this month, which links landed and from where, what technical issues got fixed, and how your rankings moved on exact keywords. A company doing the real work answers all four without hesitation. Vague talk about improved visibility or ongoing optimization, with nothing specific behind it, is the clearest sign nothing specific happened.
What's the difference between content and new pages in an SEO plan?
Content usually means blog posts answering buyer questions, which build authority and answer search intent over time. New pages mean dedicated service or location pages, built to compete for a specific market or service you don't already rank for. Both matter, but they do different jobs, and a plan should be clear about how much of each you're actually getting.
