What Does an SEO Agency Actually Do? Vancouver Business Guide
Demystify what a Vancouver SEO agency delivers month-to-month — audits, content, technical fixes, and reporting explained plainly.
Most Vancouver business owners hire an SEO agency without a clear picture of what they're actually paying for. This guide removes the mystery — describing exactly what a legitimate agency delivers month-to-month, what you should see in reports, and how to hold your partner accountable for results.
If you're still evaluating agencies, start with our guide on how to choose an SEO agency in Vancouver before reading this one — it covers the selection process; this covers the delivery process.
What Happens in Month One
Month one is almost entirely diagnostic and strategic. A trustworthy agency does not start publishing content on day one — they start by understanding where your site stands, what's holding it back, and what the competitive landscape looks like. Expect these deliverables:
- Technical SEO audit: A full crawl of your site checking for crawl errors, broken links, duplicate content, Core Web Vitals failures, and indexing issues. See our SEO audit Vancouver guide for what this involves.
- Keyword and intent mapping: Identifying the commercial keywords your target customers use, grouped by search intent (informational, navigational, transactional) and mapped to your site structure.
- Competitor gap analysis: Understanding which competitors outrank you, what content they have that you don't, and where their authority comes from.
- Google Business Profile audit: For local SEO clients, a full review of your GBP completeness, category selection, review health and Map Pack positioning.
- 90-day action plan: A written plan specifying which pages will be optimised, what content will be created, what technical fixes are prioritised, and how success will be measured.
Ongoing Monthly Deliverables
| Deliverable | What it involves | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Content creation | 2–4 well-researched articles or landing pages per month, optimised for target keywords and internal linking | Builds topical authority and earns rankings for commercial queries |
| On-page optimisation | Title tags, meta descriptions, H1–H3 structure, schema markup, image alt text on existing pages | Ensures Google understands what each page is about |
| Technical maintenance | Monitoring and fixing crawl errors, speed regressions, Core Web Vitals issues | Keeps the foundation clean so content can rank |
| Local SEO management | Google Business Profile posts, Q&A monitoring, review response, citation updates | Maintains and grows Map Pack positions |
| Internal linking | Adding contextual links between new and existing content as the site grows | Distributes authority and helps Google discover content |
| Reporting | Monthly report covering rankings, traffic, clicks, conversions and next month's priorities | Accountability and strategic alignment |
What Good Reporting Looks Like
A good SEO report is readable by someone who does not know SEO. It answers four questions: Did rankings improve? Did traffic grow? Did leads or conversions increase? What is the plan for next month? If your monthly report is a screenshot of a dashboard with no explanation, ask for something better.
Specifically, a solid monthly report includes:
- Top keyword rankings and movement (week-over-week or month-over-month)
- Organic clicks and impressions from Google Search Console
- Map Pack position for your core local keywords
- Leads, calls or form fills attributable to organic search
- What was completed this month and what is planned next month
Questions to Ask Your Agency Each Month
Holding your agency accountable requires asking the right questions. These four cut through vague answers:
- Which keywords moved up this month, and why? — Forces specific attribution rather than general credit.
- Which pages drove the most new organic clicks? — Links content investment to measurable outcomes.
- What technical issue did you fix this month? — Ensures the foundation is continuously maintained.
- What is the one thing that will move the needle most next month? — Tests whether the agency has a real strategy or is just executing tasks.
An agency that can answer all four clearly every month is worth keeping. If the answers are consistently vague, use our guide on SEO agency vs freelancer Vancouver to explore alternatives.
