Key facts (UK, 2026)
• Google’s guidance, from its How to Hire an SEO video, is that SEO usually needs four months to a year to make changes and then show a benefit.
• Most UK small-business SEO retainers are £500–£2,000 a month, and local campaigns £300–£800, according to Whito’s 2026 UK SEO pricing research.
• Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and your Google Business Profile show the real numbers, free, and they should be in your name.
• Google warns against anyone who guarantees rankings or won’t explain what they’re changing.
What should I check to see if my SEO is working?
Four places, all free. If you’re paying someone, you should be able to log in to each of them yourself.
| Where to look | What it tells you | What working looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console → Performance | Clicks, impressions (times you were shown), click rate and average position, for every search that showed your site | Impressions climbing over months, then clicks following; more searches for your services and towns, not just your business name |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | The same for Bing, which also feeds Microsoft’s Copilot | Your pages indexed, and impressions starting to show |
| Google Business Profile → Performance | Calls, website clicks, direction requests and the searches that found your profile | More calls and website clicks than the same months last year |
| Your own enquiries | Where each customer says they found you | More enquiries that say “Google” or name a page on your site |
Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so you can compare this month with the same month last year. That matters for seasonal trades, where a quiet January says nothing about the SEO. Our guides to setting up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools show where each number lives.
How long does SEO take to work?
In Google’s 2017 video How to Hire an SEO, Maile Ohye of Google said SEOs typically need four months to a year to make improvements and then see a benefit. That’s still the fairest guide. A brand-new website tends to sit at the slow end, because Google hasn’t built up any trust in it yet; an established site with a few obvious problems can move faster once they’re fixed.
So “give it time” is reasonable in month two. In month eight, with nothing to show in Search Console, it isn’t. Whether it’s worth paying for at all is a separate question, covered in is SEO worth it for a small business?
How much should SEO cost, and what should I see for it?
These are UK monthly rates from Whito’s 2026 UK SEO pricing data, an independent research site that doesn’t sell SEO itself:
| Who you’re paying | Typical monthly cost | Six months at the middle of the range |
|---|---|---|
| Junior freelancer | £300–£800 | about £3,300 |
| Experienced freelancer | £800–£2,500 | about £9,900 |
| Small agency | £1,000–£3,000 | about £12,000 |
| Mid-size agency | £3,000–£7,000 | about £30,000 |
Whito also found that three-month rolling terms are now common, and advises caution with contracts of 12 months or more. Work out what you’ve spent so far. If it’s several thousand pounds, it’s fair to expect a clear list of what was done and some movement in Search Console, even if the enquiries haven’t followed yet.
How to tell if your SEO company is working, month by month
No one can promise results, but there is a sensible order of events. This is what you should be able to see, not what you’re owed:
| When | What you should see |
|---|---|
| Months 1–2 | A written list of what they found and what they changed: page titles, new or rewritten pages, fixes to anything blocking Google, your Business Profile tidied up |
| Months 3–6 | New pages appearing in Search Console, and impressions rising for searches about your services and towns |
| Months 6–12 | Clicks rising, more calls and website clicks from your Business Profile, and enquiries that mention Google |
If the first two months produce nothing you can point at, ask what was done. Work you can’t see is the hardest kind to judge.
What should a monthly SEO report include?
A useful report is short and answers four questions:
- What did you change this month? Named pages, not “on-page optimisation”.
- What happened in Search Console? Clicks and impressions, compared with last month and the same month last year.
- Which searches are growing? Ones a customer would type, like a service and a town, not phrases nobody searches.
- What’s next, and why? The plan for next month in plain English.
Be wary of a report that is only a list of rankings for phrases you’ve never heard of, a “health score” out of 100, or a chart with no comparison. None of those tell you whether more customers are finding you.
What does monthly SEO include?
It varies by company, but for a local business the work usually falls into four areas:
Fixing what stops Google reading the site
Pages that aren’t indexed, slow pages on a phone, broken links, and missing page titles. Mostly done early, then checked.
Pages for services and towns
A page for each service you want more of and for the main areas you cover. See how to write a service page that gets found.
Useful guides
Answers to the questions customers search before they get in touch: costs, how long things take, what to choose. This is often where most of the new traffic comes from.
Your Google Business Profile and reviews
Categories, services, photos, posts, and a routine for asking customers for reviews.
Google suggests asking any SEO, “Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site?” The answer should be yes.
Questions to ask your SEO company
Most of these come from Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO (Google Search Central), adapted for someone who is already paying:
- What exactly did you change on my website in the last three months?
- Can I see our Search Console and Business Profile numbers myself?
- Which searches have we started appearing for since you began?
- How many enquiries do you think have come from this, and how do you know?
- What results did you expect by now, and are we on track?
- If I stop, what do I keep? (The pages, the accounts and the logins should all be yours.)
Signs your SEO isn’t working, or isn’t being done
- A guaranteed position. Google says “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google”, and warns about anyone claiming a special relationship with Google.
- No access to your own data. If you can’t log in to Search Console or your Business Profile, you can’t check anything.
- No list of changes. Google says to be careful of a company that “won’t clearly explain what they intend to do”.
- Impressions flat after six months while the reports say everything is going well.
- Talk of submitting your site to thousands of directories or buying links. Google lists both as warning signs.
What does SEO that’s working look like in the numbers?
One real example: a Hampshire trade website that had relied on word of mouth, built around its services, the towns it covers and detailed guides answering customers’ questions. In the three months to September 2026, with nothing spent on advertising, Search Console showed it 144,134 times in Google search, and it got 724 clicks. Of the clicks that went to individual pages, 645 of 725, nearly 9 in 10, went to its guides rather than its service pages.
Two things worth taking from that. Impressions run far ahead of clicks, so a rise in impressions is the first sign of progress, long before the phone rings. And in that case most of the traffic came from useful guides, which is worth asking your SEO company about if they’re only working on your home page.
Is my SEO working for ChatGPT, Copilot and AI answers?
Search Console doesn’t show this, but Bing does. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report that counts how often your pages are used as a source in Microsoft’s Copilot and other AI answers built on Bing. The same trade website above was used as a source 8,184 times in the three months to September 2026, rising in each roughly month-long stretch, from 1,434 to 1,697 to 5,053. If your SEO company doesn’t mention AI answers at all, ask whether your site is set up in Bing. More in how to get your business on ChatGPT.
Who should own the Search Console and Analytics accounts?
You. The SEO company should be added as a user on accounts set up in your name, so the history stays with you if you change supplier. The same goes for your Google Business Profile, your domain and your website logins. Our guide do I own my website? covers how to check each one.
Can I check this myself?
Yes. Ask for user access to Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and your Business Profile, put a reminder in your diary once a month, and compare the numbers with the same month last year. Ask every new customer how they found you and write it down. That’s enough to know whether the money is doing anything. For a wider look at the site itself, see how do I know if my website is actually working?
Website Clarity checks websites from the outside and fixes what’s stopping them being found, without a monthly contract. See website services.
Common questions
- How do I know if my SEO is working?
- Check Google Search Console for impressions and clicks rising over months, especially for searches about your services and towns. Then look at your Google Business Profile calls and website clicks, and ask every customer how they found you.
- How long does SEO take to work?
- Google's guidance is four months to a year to make changes and then see a benefit. New websites tend to take longer; established sites with a few obvious problems can move sooner.
- How do I know if my SEO company is doing a good job?
- They should tell you exactly what they changed each month, give you access to your own Search Console and Business Profile, and show impressions and clicks moving within about six months. Be wary of guarantees and vague reports.
- What should an SEO report include?
- What was changed that month, clicks and impressions compared with last month and last year, which customer searches are growing, and the plan for next month. A health score or a list of rankings on its own isn't enough.
- How much should SEO cost a month in the UK?
- Whito's 2026 UK research puts most small-business retainers at £500 to £2,000 a month, and local campaigns at £300 to £800.
- Can I see if my SEO is working in ChatGPT and AI answers?
- Partly. Bing Webmaster Tools has a free AI Performance report showing how often your pages are used as a source in Copilot and other AI answers built on Bing. Google's Search Console doesn't show AI answers separately.
- Should I stop paying for SEO if it isn't working?
- If Search Console shows no growth after six to twelve months and the company can't show what it changed, it's reasonable to stop or ask for a plan with dates. Make sure the accounts and pages are in your name first.