Powerful SEO Agency Services

SEO starts at $2,600 a month: a minimum of 40 hours at $65 an hour, with free setup. How many hours you need depends on your market, whether that's local, national or ecommerce, how competitive your keywords are and how many locations you serve, and we send a free proposal first. The hours can be used interchangeably between content writing, link building and web development, so each month's hours go where they will do the most good. Your Client Hub shows the hours used and what they produced each month, and you can move to a bigger or smaller plan as your goals change.

Every plan covers strategy and planning, keyword and competitor research, technical SEO audits, lead and call tracking, content writing, link building, Google Maps optimization, page speed work and website revisions. Research, audits and strategy begin at kickoff, and new content and links start in month 2. Your project manager plans the work with you each month, so the hours go to the deliverables that matter most for your goals.

Expect about 3 to 5 months before SEO starts producing meaningful traffic and leads, though some clients have seen results in as little as 60 days. The first month goes to research, audits, strategy and technical fixes, new content and links start in month 2, and Google then takes time to crawl and trust them. Rankings usually move first, then traffic, then leads. Timing depends on how competitive your market is, how strong your site is today and how many hours go into the work. Unlike ads, the results keep building after the work is done.

No, and you should be careful with any agency that does. Google's own guide to hiring an SEO says it plainly: no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. What we do is set realistic goals that build on each other. If you don't rank at all today, the first goal might be page one for lower-competition keywords, then page one for harder ones, then the top three for your most valuable searches. What we guarantee is the work: the pages, content and links your hours pay for, all visible in your Client Hub. We judge success on the visits, calls, leads and sales organic search brings you.

Yes. Every proposal includes a free review of your site, rankings and competitors, so you can see what we would fix before you commit. Once we start, we run a full technical audit and fix the issues ourselves or work with your developers. Our Backlink Health Check then runs every month.

At kickoff we need access to your website, Google Analytics, Search Console and Google Business Profile, and a kickoff call to learn your services, customers and priorities. We bring the SEO expertise, but at first we depend on you to help us fully understand your business. After that, we're your collaborative partner and meet you at whatever level of input you can give. We encourage active participation, because results are better when clients are hands on: search engines reward real, specific information only you have, such as your expertise, your projects and your customers' questions, and the more you share, the more room there is to grow. In the first few months you approve content so we get your voice right.

Yes. AI assistants and AI Overviews draw on the same things SEO builds: clear, well-structured pages, a trusted brand and mentions on other sites. We optimize for Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity together. Visits from AI assistants are only a small part of AI visibility, so your Client Hub tracks the clear signals, such as visits to your site from AI assistants, and samples the harder-to-measure ones, such as how often you appear for specific prompts, your share of voice and when you are cited as a source.

Yes. Local SEO covers your Google Business Profile, map rankings, citations and location pages, and we can respond to reviews on your profile for you. Profile views, calls and website visits from your profile appear in your Client Hub next to your website results.

Yes. We can build location pages for the cities and service areas you want to win, optimize each location's Google Business Profile and keep your business details consistent everywhere. For franchises and multi-location brands, we manage the brand site and every location's Google Business Profile together. The number of locations you want to rank in is one of the biggest factors in how many hours your plan needs.

Yes. We write and optimize category, collection and product pages so they match the searches shoppers use, and we track the sales organic search brings in, not just the traffic.

We work on the site you have, whether it's WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce or another major platform, and we can work alongside your developers. You don't need a new website to start. Some builders, such as Wix, limit what can be optimized, and we will tell you plainly if yours does.

It can if old pages aren't redirected properly. If you redesign or change domains, we map every URL, set up the redirects and handle the migration so you keep the rankings you've earned, and we can build the new site too.

We start with the basics: accurate business citations and relevant industry directories. Then we build links on real, relevant websites, and we check every site for relevance and authority before we pursue a link. We don't use black-hat tactics, spammy links or private blog networks. A Backlink Health Check runs every month: it makes sure your good links stay active and reclaims lost ones, and it checks for toxic backlinks, whether created by others or from sites that turn spammy over time, and disavows them if they're found. Every link we build is listed in your Client Hub.

Our writers use AI to research and draft faster, and every draft is then reviewed and edited by a human editor. Each page is researched against live Google results and trusted sources, checked for plagiarism, with every number traced to a source, and nothing goes live until your team signs off.

You get a Client Hub login: a live dashboard with dynamic data, available 24/7. It shows the pages written, hours used and links earned each month, along with your Search Console rankings and clicks, Google Business Profile activity and AI-assistant visits, plus conversion tracking for the results that matter: phone calls and form leads for local businesses, and organic revenue for online stores. We can customize the metrics and reports around what matters most to you. You also get a written marketing report every month, and your project manager can walk you through it on a call if you'd like one.

Yes. A dedicated SEO project manager handles your onboarding, is your day-to-day contact and leads your SEO team: keyword researchers, developers for site audits and fixes, writers for your editorial calendar, specialists for Maps and backlinks, and designers for any graphics. We meet often during onboarding. After that we meet at least once a month, and more often if you'd like: you set the rhythm that works for you.

The KPIs should match your business goals, and they should come from a tool you control. Google warns against agencies that guarantee rankings, so we do not sell rankings. We use your own Google Analytics to measure organic search traffic: visits, and conversions from organic search.

Other useful KPIs: sales for ecommerce SEO, calls for local SEO, and CRM reporting for national SEO. Your Client Hub also shows visits from ChatGPT and other AI assistants.

Organic SEO earns rankings in Google’s natural results through good content, relevant links and a strong website. Paid search (Google PPC) charges you for every click. Organic takes time to build, but the benefits last. PPC is instant, but stops when you stop paying.

The best mix depends on your niche, resources and goals. Running both has an added advantage: they target the same keywords and users, so the shared data improves both. Across 1,159 client websites, organic visitors converted at a median 3.3%, about the same as paid search at 3.4%, and organic clicks are free.

It matters with SEO, because SEO is known for get-rankings-quick schemes, such as buying expired domains and turning them into link farms. They work for a short time, then Google removes the value and often adds a penalty.

Protect yourself by choosing an agency that has been around for years and has hundreds of reviews. SmartSites has been in business since 2011, and you can read all of our reviews.

The biggest benefit of SEO is that the results stick, unlike billboards or PPC. Two things to check:

Make sure you own all the work. The website, the domain and the content must be yours. With SmartSites, everything we design, develop or write for you is 100% yours.

Be cautious of shortcuts. Links from spammy networks and private blog networks can be discounted or penalized by Google. We don’t use black-hat tactics, and we build links that last.

SEO means different things at different companies. For some it is software and a report. SmartSites started as BacklinkBuild, a link building company, and most businesses need more than one piece.

We use software and automation (Ahrefs, Moz, SpyFu, Supermetrics and more), but that is one part. We plan your website’s pages, run technical audits and fix the issues (or work with your developers), write content and build links. No subcontracting, no schemes, and a plan made for your business.

Many SEO practices apply to every industry, but some, like link building, work much better with industry experience. You can see our SEO work by industry: Home Services, Medical, B2B, Industrial, Automotive, Legal, Hospitality, Professional Services, Retail.