What to expect, honestly
SEO is not a switch: it is signals that build up over time. Nobody serious can promise the first position or a date: they depend on competition, on the quality of the site and on the searches you target. What you can do is work on three things in sequence: get found (Google must know your pages), get understood (pages must answer what people search for) and get chosen (clear titles, trust, links from other sites).
Weeks 1-2: the technical basics
- A fast site that works well on phones, with a secure address (HTTPS).
- A correct sitemap.xml and robots.txt: the first lists the pages, the second tells Google what it may read.
- Google Search Console set up, with the sitemap submitted: it is the free tool that tells you how Google sees the site.
- A unique title and description for every page, clearly saying what it is about.
- Analytics connected, to measure visits and contacts from day one.
- If you are a local business, a Google Business Profile with the same details as the site.
Weeks 3-6: indexing and targeted pages
- Check in Search Console which pages are indexed (the «URL Inspection» tool). For your most important pages you can use «Request indexing»: it helps Google discover them, but guarantees neither timing nor ranking.
- One page per service or topic, with a title that contains what people search for, not just the internal name you use.
- Tell informational searches («how does… work») from commercial ones («price…», «quote…»): the former want an article, the latter a service page.
- Internal links between related pages: they help both users and Google understand how the site is organised.
- Check on a phone that texts, buttons and forms are easy to use: Google mostly looks at the mobile version.
Weeks 7-12: content and first signals
- Publish articles that answer real questions from your customers. One good article a month beats five copied ones. For ideas, start from the questions you are asked most often.
- Read in Search Console impressions, clicks, average position and queries: at first impressions grow before clicks do.
- Where a page has many impressions and few clicks, improve its title and description: it is the tweak that pays off most.
- Look for real mentions and links: reliable directories in your field, partners, happy customers, guest articles. A few good links are worth more than a hundred poor ones.
- Update the pages that work and do not change addresses (URLs) without redirects: what has been built would be lost.
What to avoid
- Buying links or «backlink packages»: it breaks Google's rules and can cost a penalty.
- Identical text on several pages or copied from other sites.
- Stuffing pages with keywords: write for people.
- Expecting results in two weeks and changing everything if they do not come.
- Trusting anyone who guarantees the first position: nobody can.
How to tell whether it is working
- The number of indexed pages grows until it covers the ones you care about.
- Impressions rise month after month (you show up more often in searches).
- The average positions for the important searches improve.
- Contacts or orders arrive from organic search: that is the real result.
When it is worth getting help
If you do not have the time or the skills, the work can be done as a one-off. In our packages fixed-price SEO starts with the basics (€900: technical audit, titles and descriptions for up to 10 pages, sitemap and robots, Search Console, 10 keywords), moves on to more pages, structured data and competitor analysis (€2,200) and reaches an editorial strategy with articles included and monitoring (€4,800). To choose between a one-off job and continuous work read one-off or monthly SEO.