What is SEO, really?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, but that's the boring definition. Here's what it actually means: when someone searches for what you sell, you want to be the business they find. Not the one on page 4 of Google. The one at the top.
Doing SEO properly is about three things: making sure Google can read your website (the technical bit), making sure you've got pages that match what people are searching for (the content bit), and making sure other websites are pointing at you (the authority bit). Get those three right and your traffic grows month after month, on its own, without you paying for every click.
Most SEO agencies only do one of those three, badly. We do all three, properly.
How much does SEO cost in the UK?
You'll see SEO prices in the UK ranging from £200/month (cheap freelancer) to £10,000+/month (enterprise agency). Most small to medium businesses get ripped off somewhere in the middle, paying £1,500 to £3,000/month for a couple of blog posts and a monthly report that says nothing.
We start at £400/month. That's our genuine entry point for local businesses and smaller ecom brands. If you need more, deeper technical work, heavier content output, faster growth, we'll scope it properly and give you a real number upfront. No hidden fees, no "setup costs" three months in.
What you actually pay for at £400/month: a full technical audit, monthly on-page work, content planning tied to real search terms, link building, and a live dashboard you can open any time to see what's happening.
How long does SEO actually take to work?
Honest answer: 3 to 6 months before you see proper movement. Sometimes faster for local businesses with less competition. Longer for brands going after national rankings in crowded markets.
Anyone promising you page-one rankings in 30 days is either lying or about to do something that'll get your site penalised. SEO is a compounding game, small wins stack up, and month 6 looks nothing like month 1. But you need to be patient through the first couple of months.
Here's roughly what happens on a Signal SEO engagement:
- Month 1: Technical audit, fix everything that's broken, build keyword strategy, plan content.
- Months 2 and 3: On-page optimisation rolls out, first content pieces publish, link building starts.
- Months 4 to 6: Rankings start moving, traffic climbs, the compounding kicks in.
- Month 6 and beyond: You're showing up for terms you couldn't have dreamed of ranking for at the start.
SEO for ecommerce brands
If you're running an ecom brand, SEO looks different. It's about getting your product pages, category pages, and collection pages ranking for buying-intent searches, people who already know what they want and are just deciding who to buy from.
We work with Shopify brands, WooCommerce stores, and custom ecom builds. The work usually involves: proper product schema, category page optimisation, internal linking between related products, content that targets top-of-funnel buyers, and fixing the site speed issues that kill conversion rates on product pages.
SEO for local service businesses
If you're a local business, a salon, a roofing company, a plumber, a gym, your SEO game is completely different. You want to show up when someone nearby searches for what you do. That's a mix of proper website SEO plus Google Business Profile work (which we also do, see our GBP management service).
Local SEO wins come faster than national SEO because the competition's thinner. We've helped local service businesses go from zero visibility to dominating their local map pack in 3 to 4 months. Usually the fastest ROI SEO work you can do.
What's actually included in our SEO service
- Full technical audit in month one, we find everything slowing your site down or blocking Google.
- Ongoing technical fixes, site speed, schema, crawl errors, indexing issues, whatever comes up.
- Keyword research that's actually useful, not just "here's a list of 500 keywords". We find the ones worth targeting and build pages around them.
- On-page optimisation, titles, metas, headings, internal links, content structure.
- Content planning and briefs, we'll tell you what to write (or write it for you if that's part of your scope).
- Link building, real outreach to real websites. No PBNs, no spam.
- Live dashboard, open it any time to see what's ranking, what's driving traffic, what's converting.
- Monthly catch-ups, a proper conversation, not a PDF.
Common SEO questions we get asked
Can you guarantee I'll rank on page one?
No, and anyone who does is lying. Google's algorithm is controlled by Google, not us. What we can guarantee is that we'll do the work properly and you'll see real, measurable improvement in 3 to 6 months. If we're not delivering, you can leave with 7 days' notice.
Do you do local SEO or national SEO?
Both. Local SEO for service businesses (with Google Business Profile work included), and national or global SEO for ecom brands competing across the UK or internationally.
Will you write the content for me?
We can. Content writing is a separate scope on top of the base SEO retainer, because some clients want to write it themselves (cheaper, more authentic voice) and some want us to handle it. We'll tell you what works best for your situation.
What tools do you use?
Ahrefs for keyword research and backlink analysis, Screaming Frog for technical audits, Google Search Console for ranking data, and Looker Studio for the live dashboards you'll get access to. All the industry-standard stuff, used properly.
Do I need to be on WordPress?
No. We work with WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, custom builds, whatever you've got. Some platforms are easier to optimise than others, but we can make any of them rank.
Ready to actually get found on Google?
If you've read this far, you probably already know SEO is something you should be doing. The question is whether you want to do it properly, or keep paying someone to send you a monthly ranking screenshot.
Drop us a message. We'll look at your site, tell you what we'd actually do, and be straight with you about whether it's worth the investment. No pitch decks, no sales scripts. Just a proper chat.
