What does an SEO consultant do, and when do results show up?
SEO consulting is the work of getting your website to show up in Google search without paying per click. At Devuptime, the first diagnosis is ready in about 2 weeks, and consistent results usually appear between the third and sixth month. Anyone promising the top spot in 30 days is selling something they can't deliver, and we'll tell you honestly when SEO isn't the best investment for your situation.
What SEO consulting covers
SEO looks like an endless task list, but it fits into three layers, and the order matters:
- Technical. Making sure Google can access, understand and index your pages. A slow site, content that only loads through JavaScript or a page blocked by mistake prevents everything else from working.
- Content. Finding out what your audience actually searches for and creating pages that answer better than the ones already ranking. Many companies write about the term they use internally, not what customers type.
- Authority. Other websites referencing yours. It's the slowest layer and the one you control least, which is why it comes last.
How pricing works
SEO work comes in a few formats, and the price depends on the size of the site, how much needs fixing and how much content has to be produced:
- Diagnosis and action plan: a one-time audit, typically 2 to 3 weeks.
- Technical fixes: a one-time project to correct what the diagnosis found, typically 3 to 6 weeks.
- Ongoing monthly consulting, with or without content production.
You get a written proposal with the scope, the deliverables and the price before we start. We recommend at least six months for ongoing SEO: that's roughly how long Google takes to re-evaluate a site. Be wary of three-month packages with a guaranteed ranking.
What happens in the first 90 days
Month 1: diagnosis and foundational fixes. We find what's blocking indexing, measure real mobile speed, review titles and descriptions and set up Google Search Console. This phase tends to show results fastest, because it fixes what was holding the site back.
Month 2: research into real demand. We look at what your audience searches for and how often, and compare it with what the competitors who rank are offering. This is where the surprise usually shows up: search terms with real volume that nobody in your industry is addressing.
Month 3: production and measurement. We create or rewrite the pages for the terms with the strongest commercial intent and track impressions in Search Console. Impressions come before clicks; clicks come before customers.
How do you know SEO is working?
Ranking position is the metric everyone asks for and the one that says the least. It varies by device, location and the searcher's history. What we track, in order:
- Impressions: they show Google has started considering your page. It's the first signal, and it comes before any click.
- Clicks and CTR: if there are impressions but no clicks, the problem is the title and description, not the position.
- Leads generated: the only number that pays the bills. That's why the first thing we set up is conversion tracking; without it, everything else is just talk.
You receive a monthly report with these three numbers and what was done during the period, not a pile of charts with no conclusion.
When SEO is not the best investment
To be honest: not every company should start with SEO.
If you need customers this month, the answer is paid advertising; SEO doesn't deliver that. If nobody searches for your service (a brand-new product category or a niche where people don't look it up by name), the effort pays off little. And if your site has a serious conversion problem, bringing in more visitors only increases the waste: fix the page first, then bring people in.
In the diagnosis we'll tell you plainly if you're in one of these cases.
Local SEO for businesses that serve an area
SEO work is done remotely, so location doesn't limit who we can work with. For businesses that depend on customers in specific cities or service areas, the consulting includes local SEO:
- Pages by service and by city, when search volume justifies them, not duplicated pages that only swap the city name.
- Consistent business information on your website, in your structured data and on your Google Business Profile: the same name, address, phone number and hours everywhere.
- Tracking searches that include a city name in Search Console, separate from generic searches, to measure what comes from your area.
Why do SEO with a team that also builds websites
Many SEO recommendations die at the implementation stage: the agency delivers a report and the company has nobody to carry it out. Fixing speed, adjusting URL structure, adding structured data and rebuilding pages is development work.
Because Devuptime builds websites and handles SEO, there's no hand-off: what we diagnose, the same team implements. We have been building software and websites since 2008 and work remotely with clients in the United States.
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