What Does an SEO Agency Do Each Month?
Direct answer
An SEO agency finds out what your customers search for, fixes whatever stops search engines reading your website, writes or improves the pages that answer those searches, earns mentions from other trusted sites, and reports what the work brought in. Most of it repeats every month, because search results and competitors keep changing.
Key takeaways
- The work has five parts: research, website fixes, pages, reputation and reporting.
- The first month is mostly finding out and planning; the months after are mostly doing.
- An agency should tell you every change it makes to your site, and why.
- Every kind of work should leave something you can open and check.
- An agency improves your chances of being shown; it does not control where Google places you.
In this guide
This guide is for owners who pay a monthly SEO fee, or are about to, and want to know where the money goes. It lists the work, what you can open and check, and what an agency cannot do. The schedule is how our own agency works.
What does an SEO agency do, in plain terms?
It does five kinds of work, month after month: research, fixes to the website, pages, reputation and reporting. A sixth, preparing the business for AI answers, is now part of most plans.
| The job | What gets done | What you can open and check |
|---|---|---|
| Research | Finding the words your buyers type and which searches are worth winning, then matching each one to a page. | A list of target searches, grouped by how close the searcher is to buying. |
| Website fixes | Removing whatever stops search engines reading the site: broken links, blocked pages, slow loading. This is technical SEO. | A list of problems in order of importance, with each fix marked done. |
| Pages | Rewriting the pages that sell, and adding pages that answer the questions buyers ask. | The changed and new pages themselves. |
| Reputation | Earning mentions and links from sites your customers trust. For a local business, keeping the Google Business Profile complete. | A list of the mentions earned, with links. |
| AI answers | Making the facts about your business clear and consistent, so AI assistants can find and repeat them. | A record of what the main AI tools say about you, before and after. |
| Reporting | Agreeing which calls, forms and sales count, and tracing them back to search. | A monthly report in those numbers. |
Google's own list of what SEOs offer covers the same ground and adds two more: training, and expertise in specific markets and geographies.
Source1Google Search Central
What does an SEO agency do in the first month?
The first month is mostly finding out and planning, because doing the wrong work quickly helps nobody. At Taskcover it runs like this.
How a Taskcover engagement starts
- Week 1: a free audit
We look at your site, your competitors and what your customers search for. You get a short summary of what is holding you back.
- Weeks 2 to 4: a 90-day plan
Priorities ranked by what will bring customers soonest, with a fixed monthly price. Nothing starts until you approve it.
- Months 1 to 3: the work
Fixes, pages and outreach, carried out by our team. You see what is being done and why.
- Every month: a plain report
What we did, what moved and what it brought in: calls, enquiries, sales. Then we plan the next 90 days.
What does an SEO agency do each month after that?
Once the plan is agreed, each month repeats a short cycle.
- Check the data: which pages gained or lost visits, and what enquiries came in.
- Publish: new pages and improvements to existing ones, in the order the plan sets.
- Fix: new technical problems, which appear whenever a site is edited or updated.
- Reach out: pitches to publications and partners who might mention the business.
- Report and plan: what was done, what it brought in, and what comes next.
How much of each you get depends on the plan. In ours, strategy, a technical review, a content roadmap and monthly reporting are included, while full content writing and development work are priced separately. The pricing page sets out each plan, and how much SEO costs explains what moves the price.
What does an SEO agency need from you?
Less than most owners expect, but the work stalls without it.
What to have ready
- AccessRead access to Search Console and your analytics to begin with. Google advises read-only access at the audit stage.
- Answers about the businessWhat you sell, what earns the most, and who your best customers are.
- Someone who can approveOne person who can say yes to a page or a change within days, not weeks.
- Honest numbersHow many calls, enquiries and sales you get now, so progress can be measured against something.
What does an SEO agency not do?
It does not control Google. Where you appear is decided by Google's systems, and Google takes no payment to rank a page higher.
- It cannot guarantee a position. Google says no one can.
- It does not run your adverts unless you ask. Paid search is a separate service; see SEO vs PPC.
- It should not buy links. Google treats that as link spam, and sites that break its spam policies may rank lower or drop out of results.
How do you know the agency is doing the work?
Ask for things you can open: a monthly list of changes, the pages themselves, Search Console in your own name and a report tied to enquiries. Google's advice is to ask an SEO, before you hire, whether it will share every change it makes to your site and the reasoning behind it.
If you are choosing an agency now, how to choose an SEO agency has the questions to ask, and how long SEO takes explains what to expect and when.
Related serviceSee it done on your own website
Taskcover gets businesses in the USA, Canada and Australia found on Google, on Maps and in AI answers, and reports what that brought in.
See the serviceRelated serviceSEO strategy
A lot of SEO turns into a list of tasks with no clear link to sales. We start with how your business earns money, then put the work on your website, your content and your reputation into one plan. The jobs most likely to bring enquiries come first.
See the serviceDoes an SEO agency write the content for me?
It depends on the plan. At Taskcover, topic planning, briefs and quality checks may be included, while full content writing is priced separately. Ask every agency who writes, who edits and who checks the facts.
Does an SEO agency build or change my website?
Some do. An agency always recommends changes; whether it makes them depends on the scope. Taskcover also offers website development, from $3,500 as a one-time project.
Do SEO agencies also manage Google Ads?
Many do, as a separate service with its own fee. Google says advertising with it has no effect on where your site appears in the regular results. Taskcover offers PPC management alongside SEO.
Can I do what an SEO agency does myself?
Partly. Google says the owner of a small local business can probably do much of the work, starting from its SEO Starter Guide. If your team can do the work and needs direction, SEO mentoring can cost less than a full agency plan.
See what we would do first.
Send us your website and we will show you, free, what is holding it back and what the first 90 days of work would be.
The authors
Who wrote and checked this guide
Written by
Jamiez Nguyen
Founder & CEO
Jamiez Nguyen founded Taskcover and leads strategy and client growth. He started it in 2017 as a team doing search work behind the scenes for other agencies, then opened it to businesses in the USA, Canada and Australia.
Reviewed by
John Edward
CTO
John Edward leads the technical side of Taskcover: how sites are built, how fast they load, and how search engines read them.
Updated Fact-checked About the people at Taskcover
Sources
Where the facts in this guide come from
Facts last checked on October 12, 2026.
- 1Do you need an SEO?Google Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 2In-depth guide to how Google Search worksGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 3Spam policies for Google web searchGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
