This SEO buyer’s guide is for a business that wants a steady flow of leads from Google, not a binder of rankings nobody can trace to a phone call. Marketing is not a side project once you have payroll. If buyers start on Google, the site has to show up for the searches that mean “I am ready to hire,” and the page they land on has to ask for the job.
Networking, social posts, a new logo, and flyers all have a place. For inbound leads, search engine optimization is the channel that keeps working after you stop paying per click. That is also why the market is full of people selling “SEO.” This guide is how to buy the real thing. Pair it with how to choose an SEO company and the lessons in SEO Education.
What you are actually buying
SEO is the work of ranking a website for valuable search phrases so that traffic, then leads, then revenue follow. It is not a plugin, a one-time “submission,” or a guaranteed #1. You are buying research, pages, technical fixes, local profile work, links from real sites, and a monthly loop that reports rankings, traffic, and leads in plain English.
Google still shows ads, a map pack, organic results, and often an AI overview on the same search engine results page. A competent proposal will say which of those surfaces matter for your keywords, and will not pretend organic SEO can buy the ad slot.
Proof first: named results already on this site
Do not hire anyone who will not show named clients, the searches, and the dates. Here are write-ups that already exist on iias.ca. We are not adding new figures in this refresh.
Mountain Ridge Handcrafted Homes
A log-home builder with a limited market. SEO focused on visibility, the product, and a wider geography. Users in January 2020 were up 736% versus January 2019 (736 vs 63). Organic traffic rose 1,828% over 18 months. January 2021 saw 1,176 users from Google. Mountain Ridge SEO case study.
Anser Power Systems
Abbotsford generators and electrical. 19 tracked keywords in the top 10, including #1 for generator services and generator maintenance Abbotsford. Organic form submissions up 57% and phone clicks up 33% quarter over quarter. Anser Power Systems.
Absolutely Covered
Commercial fabric buildings. Organic quote requests up 125%, sessions up 23%, #1 for forestry fabric buildings, 41 tracked rankings by September 2026. Campaign start: January 2025. Absolutely Covered.
Skylark Counselling Clinic
Replaced an SEO retainer that produced no measurable traffic. Organic traffic +300% in year one, +1,135% in two years, discovery searches +427.36%, top 3 in Maps for downtown Vancouver counselling clinics. Skylark.
More examples sit under case studies. If a sales deck only shows anonymous “Client A, +400%,” ask for the URL.
What a real SEO campaign includes
On-page SEO is titles, headings, copy, internal links, and pages that match one search each. Off-page SEO is earned links, not a package of 50 blog comments. Technical work is crawl, index, speed, and a sitemap Google can use. Local work is the Google Business Profile, reviews, and consistent name, address, and phone. Reporting is Search Console plus analytics, with leads called out.
If the proposal skips Search Console access, or will not put you on the property as an owner, that is a hard no. You should keep the Google accounts if you leave.
How to run the buying process
- Write down the services and cities you can actually serve. SEO cannot invent a service area.
- Search those phrases on your phone. Screenshot the ads, the map, and the organic list.
- Ask three agencies for named local proof, a written monthly scope, and month-to-month or a short initial term.
- Give them Search Console read access for a proposal, not your Webmaster password.
- Compare the plan, not the price per “keyword.” Ten impossible national terms are worthless.
IIAS still starts with a free growth review. Sometimes the first move is the website or Google Ads. We will say so. That is in the basic SEO hub as well: rankings without a page that can convert are a hobby.
Contracts, timelines, and red flags
Most businesses see measurable movement in three to six months. Crowded Fraser Valley trades take longer. Anyone promising page one in 30 days is selling a tactic Google has been penalizing for years.
Red flags: unpaid invoices for “directory submissions,” owning your domain at their registrar, no mention of the map pack on a local query, and reports that only show “domain authority.” Ask who writes the copy, who builds the links, and whether you can meet them. IIAS is based in Abbotsford since 1995. You can sit down with the people on the account.
Month to month with 30 days notice is how we run SEO. If a contract locks you in for a year before they have proven a lead, you are financing their learning curve.
How to judge the monthly report
A useful report shows: the queries you care about, the URL that ranks, position over time, clicks and impressions from Search Console, and the calls or forms from organic in analytics. Screenshots of a rank tracker with no URL are not enough. If engagement on the landing page is poor, the next month should include a page fix, not more links to a page nobody uses. See user engagement metrics.
Tools will appear in the report (Search Console, a crawler, a backlink index). They are instruments. Search engine optimization tools do not replace the plan.
What “current” looks like in 2026
The buying criteria have not changed. The SERP has. AI overviews sit above some results. Map packs still take the first screen on local queries. Google’s quality rater guidance uses E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trust). That is why we still ask for named authors, real project photos, and reviews you can verify, not a wall of anonymous blog posts. E-E-A-T in SEO explains the framework. It is not a product you purchase as a line item.
A short checklist before you sign
- Named clients, with searches and dates you can open.
- You own Search Console, analytics, and the domain.
- Scope lists on-page, technical, local, and links, with hours or a clear monthly cadence.
- Reporting includes leads, not only rankings.
- An exit that does not ransom your data.
If that list is complete and you still want a second pair of eyes, request a free growth review. Bring the screenshots of your SERP. We will tell you what is worth buying.