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What Does an SEO Agency Do Each Month?

By 1920 Agency Editorial Team · Reviewed by Rana Zain Usman · Published

The short answer

Each month an SEO agency should fix technical problems on your site, improve or publish pages, handle links or listings that are legitimately earned, and send a report that says what changed and what happens next. The test is whether every item leaves something you can open and check: a changed page, a fixed error, a dated log entry. Google says an audit should give realistic estimates of improvement and of the work involved, and that nobody can guarantee a number one ranking.

What does an SEO agency do each month?

A competent agency spends each month on three kinds of work and then reports on them. Technical work keeps search engines able to crawl, render and index your pages. Content work makes existing pages better matched to what people search for and publishes new ones. Authority work earns links, mentions and listings that show other sites vouch for you. The report ties the three together.

Most agency pages say this in nearly the same words. What they leave out is how you would know it happened. The table below pairs each typical monthly item with the evidence you should be able to see yourself.

Monthly work What it means Evidence you should be able to check
Crawl and indexing check Look for pages that cannot be crawled or are wrongly excluded, broken links, redirect chains A list of issues found, which were fixed, and the pages affected
Page speed and usability fixes Fix what slows pages or breaks them on phones Before and after measurements for named pages
Keyword and intent mapping Assign each target query to one page A keyword map you can read: query, page, current position
On-page changes Rewrite titles, descriptions and headings, fix internal links The changed pages, listed by address
New or refreshed content Publish pages that answer questions people ask, update slipping ones The live addresses and the query each is meant to serve
Links and listings Earn mentions, fix business listings The pages that link to you, and how each was earned
Reporting Show results and next steps A report with a change log, losses included, and a plan

If an item has no evidence column you could fill in, it is an activity description, not a deliverable.

What technical work should you see?

Technical work is the least visible part, so it is the easiest to pad. A real month includes a crawl of the site, a reading of Google Search Console's indexing information, and fixes for what it finds: pages blocked by mistake, duplicate addresses, redirect chains, missing or wrong canonical tags, broken internal links, slow or unstable pages. Google's own list of what an SEO may do includes "technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript."

Not every month has a big fix. A stable site may have a short list, and that is a fine result if the check was done and recorded. Be suspicious of a long list of "issues" that are really style opinions, such as a long title that Google would simply rewrite.

Technical changes that touch the site's code or hosting usually need your developer's or the agency's web team's involvement. Ask who makes them. For a rebuild or migration, the risk is much larger than a monthly tweak; see how to redesign a website without losing SEO.

What content work counts as a deliverable?

A page counts when it is live, indexed and aimed at a query you agreed. The three content jobs are:

  1. Improving existing pages. Often the best return, since the page already has some visibility. Titles, headings, answers placed near the top, internal links and out-of-date facts are the usual changes.
  2. Publishing new pages. Each should be built for one intent, whether someone is learning, comparing or ready to buy, and should say something the pages already ranking do not.
  3. Consolidating or removing. Merging near-duplicate pages, redirecting retired ones.

Ask three questions about volume. How many pages a month does the plan cover? Who writes them, and who with real knowledge of your business checks them? What is each page for? Pages produced in bulk to hit a number are a risk, not a bonus: Google's spam policy on scaled content abuse covers "many pages" generated "for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings."

If you are also asking how to be cited by AI answer tools, check whether that work is in the monthly plan or priced separately; see how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and what GEO costs.

Authority work is where agencies most often get into trouble, because links are easy to count and hard to earn. Legitimate work includes getting your business listed accurately on directories and map services, being cited by industry publications, partners and local organizations, and publishing something worth referencing.

Google defines link spam as "creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." A monthly count of "40 links built" with no list of where they are, why each site linked and how it was earned is the pattern to question. Ask for the list. If the answer is a private network, a paid placement or a swap scheme, the cheap quote can become an expensive recovery. Google also says you "should never have to link to an SEO."

What should the monthly SEO report contain?

A useful report answers three questions: what was done, what changed, and what is next.

  • What was done: a dated log of changes by page or setting.
  • What changed: clicks, impressions, average position and enquiries from organic search, compared with the previous month and the same month last year. Search Console's Performance report provides clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, grouped by query, page, country, device and date. Pair it with your own count of enquiries, since the goal is customers rather than rankings.
  • What is next: the work planned for the coming month, with the reason for each item.

Two tests catch most weak reports. First, are losses shown? A report where every line goes up is edited, not measured. Second, does each piece of work link to an outcome? A task list says the agency was busy; it does not say whether it mattered.

Some agency pages call the report the most important deliverable. That is fair only if it is checkable: you can open the pages it names and see the dates in your own Search Console.

What shouldn't you expect every month?

Three things, whatever the pitch says:

  • A guaranteed ranking. Google: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google," and if a provider promises first place, "find someone else."
  • Fast first-page results from new pages. Google gives no timeframe, which is its way of saying the provider should explain one and why. Early months are mostly about completed work; clicks and enquiries follow.
  • Work that is not SEO. Paid ads, web development, social posts and video are separate disciplines. Check the scope in writing, and see how 1920 Agency's SEO service is scoped.

What red flags does Google name?

Google's guidance on hiring an SEO suggests being wary of firms that email you unprompted, and of any company that is "secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do." It also says "you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire." Add the monthly-report equivalents: no change log, no keyword map, no access for you to the accounts, a retainer with no list of what it covers, or a promise of a date for page-one rankings.

Keep ownership of your domain, hosting, Search Console and Analytics in your own name and give the agency access as a user. Google suggests granting read access to Search Console to begin with.

What questions should you ask before signing?

Google's interview list is a good start: can they show examples of previous work, do they follow Google Search Essentials, what results do they expect in what timeframe, and how do they measure success. Add the monthly questions:

  1. What exactly is in the plan each month, as a list of deliverables rather than a package name?
  2. Who does the work and who checks it?
  3. How many pages, fixes and links does that mean?
  4. What will the report show, and may I see a sample with the client name removed?
  5. What happens to the accounts and content if we stop?

Prices vary widely and depend on exactly these answers; see what SEO costs a small business, SEO package prices in Pakistan, and agency vs freelancer vs in-house.

How do we do it at 1920 Agency?

1920 Agency is based in Islamabad, with locations in Rawalpindi and Lahore. We rebuilt and run SEO for Progen Aesthetics, a UK clinic, and we run daily SEO monitoring of our own site, with reports sent to team channels. That monitoring is why we describe monthly work as a list you can check: the crawl, the Search Console data and the changes are all recorded. We do not publish prices; we audit the site and its Search Console data first, then quote a plan that lists what each month covers.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What should an SEO agency do every month?

Work across technical health, content and authority, then report on it. In practice that means fixing crawl and indexing problems, improving or publishing pages against a keyword map, earning links or listings, and sending a report with a work log and the next month's plan.

What should be in a monthly SEO report?

Organic clicks, impressions and enquiries compared with the previous month and year, pages and queries that gained or lost, a log of every change made, and the plan for next month. Losses should be shown, not hidden.

How do I know my SEO agency is doing the work?

Ask for the change log and check it. Each entry should name a page or setting you can open: a title rewritten, a redirect added, a page published. Google also suggests asking whether the provider will share all the changes they make to your site.

How long before monthly SEO shows results?

Google gives no fixed timeframe; it tells you to ask the provider what results to expect and in what timeframe. Judge early months on completed work and later months on clicks and enquiries.

Should the agency build links every month?

Only links earned legitimately. Google's spam policy defines link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate rankings. A monthly count of purchased or exchanged links is a warning, not a deliverable.

Is a list of completed tasks enough for a report?

No. A task list shows effort, not effect. A useful report pairs each piece of work with what it was meant to change and what the data shows.

Does 1920 Agency publish SEO prices?

No. 1920 Agency audits the site and its Search Console data first, then quotes a monthly plan that lists the fixes and pages each month covers.