The honest version: it is worth it for some businesses and a waste for others, and you can tell which one you are with three numbers.
Hiring an SEO company is worth it when your customers search for what you sell, your market is competitive enough that basic SEO is not working, and the leads from ranking are worth more than the monthly fee. It is not worth it for a brand-new business with no website traffic to build on, or in a tiny market where a Google Business Profile alone can win.
SEO only works if people are already searching for what you sell. A roofer, a dentist, an injury lawyer or an HVAC company has thousands of monthly searches in any mid-sized city. If you can see that demand in Google and you are not on page one, an SEO company is buying you a share of customers who are already looking. That is the easiest marketing math there is.
It also pays off when the competition is real. In a small town with four plumbers, a well-set-up Google Business Profile and a clean website can get you to the map pack without an agency. In a metro area where the top plumbers each spend more on SEO per month than most businesses gross, DIY does not get you there. The agency fee is what it costs to compete.
And it pays off when one customer is worth a lot. If an average job is worth a few hundred dollars, SEO needs to produce many leads a month to cover a fee. If a customer is worth several thousand, a handful of organic leads a month pays for a year of work.
SEO companies get a bad name because they get hired at the wrong time, not only because some of them are bad.
A legitimate SEO company does four kinds of work every month, and you should be able to see all four:
Then one report that shows rankings for the keywords that bring customers, organic calls and forms by month, and a plain list of the work completed. If any of those is missing, you are paying for activity you cannot evaluate.
Write down three numbers: what a new customer is worth to you, how many customers a month you would need from SEO to justify a fee, and your current organic leads per month (calls and forms from Google search, not ads). If you cannot find the third number, that is the first thing to fix, with or without an agency.
If the demand is there, the market is competitive and the math works, hire. If you have been working on it yourself for six months and the organic lead number has not moved, that is also your answer: more of the same will not change it. The guide on whether to hire someone for SEO walks through the DIY, freelancer and agency options in detail, and how to choose an SEO agency covers what to check before you sign.
REALTOP founder Nik Tsoukales on the same question, from the agency’s YouTube channel.
Yes when the business serves a competitive market and a customer is worth enough to cover a monthly fee with a few organic leads. For very small markets, a strong Google Business Profile often comes first and an agency later.
Read the full answerTracking live, technical issues fixed, the first pages published and early ranking movement on the agreed keywords. Meaningful lead impact usually shows between months three and six, and compounds after that.
Read the full answerBefore the website, tracking and Google Business Profile are in order, in a market with no search demand, with a cheap templated package, or with any provider whose report does not show organic leads.
Read the full answer
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