We do not believe in mystery boxes. This page documents the exact six-phase methodology we apply on every client engagement, what you receive at each phase, and how we measure success.
We run SEO the way a senior in-house team would: measurable, documented, and conservative. Every decision is tied to an observation in the data and reviewed by a human before it ships. We do not buy links, we do not generate content with AI without expert editing, and we do not promise rankings we cannot defend.
Four principles guide every engagement:
1. **Audit before action.** We do nothing in month one except diagnose. The first deliverable is always a written audit a CMO can read end-to-end. 2. **Document every change.** Every on-site change, link earned, and recommendation is logged in a shared change log with the rationale. 3. **Report what matters.** Reports show traffic, conversions, and pipeline — not vanity rank-tracking screenshots. 4. **Be replaceable.** Our work is documented so well that another agency or in-house hire could pick it up tomorrow.
**Phase 1 — Discovery (week 1).** Stakeholder interviews, sales-call review, ICP definition, competitor list, and a written goals document signed off by you.
**Phase 2 — Audit (weeks 2–4).** Technical crawl (Screaming Frog + log files), on-page review of every indexable URL, content-gap analysis vs. top-3 competitors, backlink profile review, and Core Web Vitals baseline. Deliverable: 40+ page written audit with prioritized findings.
**Phase 3 — Strategy (week 5).** A 12-month roadmap with quarterly themes, content calendar, technical-fix backlog, and link-acquisition plan. Reviewed live with you and revised before sign-off.
**Phase 4 — Implementation (months 2–12).** Sprint-based execution. Every two weeks we ship a defined batch of work, log it in the change log, and queue the next batch.
**Phase 5 — Measurement (continuous).** Weekly health checks; monthly written report covering traffic, rankings, conversions, technical health, and links earned. Reports are written, not auto-generated screenshots.
**Phase 6 — Quarterly review (every 90 days).** A working session where we look at what worked, what did not, and what the next quarter's bets are. The strategy gets updated, not just executed.
Every engagement includes the following written artifacts. They are yours to keep whether or not you renew:
- Written audit (PDF + Notion) - 12-month roadmap with quarterly themes - Editorial calendar with topic briefs - Technical change log (every change, every date, every reason) - Monthly performance reports (PDF) - Quarterly strategy reviews (recorded + written summary) - All raw data: crawl exports, GSC exports, link prospects, keyword research
Every claim in our reports can be reproduced from these tools. We share account access on request:
- **Crawl & on-page**: Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, JetOctopus (log files), Lumar (large sites) - **Search data**: Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Ahrefs, Semrush - **Analytics**: GA4, Looker Studio, server-side tagging (Stape) where appropriate - **AI Overview tracking**: our own internal tooling — see the State of AI Search Citations 2026 report - **Project management**: Linear (engineering work), Notion (documentation), Slack (daily ops)
We are direct about the work we will not take. This is part of the methodology:
- We do not take payment for placement on our `/best/` editorial pages. - We do not buy links from PBNs, link farms, or paid guest-post networks. - We do not generate content with AI and ship it without an expert review. - We do not promise specific ranking positions in writing or verbally. - We do not lock you into multi-year contracts. Engagements are 90-day cancellable after month three.
Real results from a properly-run engagement typically appear in months four to six for traffic and months six to nine for revenue impact. Anyone promising results in 30 days is either lying or doing something that will hurt you in month nine.
Yes. We sign NDAs before discovery interviews and before any access is shared. Mutual NDAs are preferred.
Yes. Every artifact we produce — audit, roadmap, change log, content briefs, raw data — is yours and is delivered in shareable formats from day one.