Complete buyer's guide to the services modern SEO agencies offer in 2026 — what's included, what to ask for, what to avoid.
(1) Technical SEO — site crawl, schema, Core Web Vitals, indexation management, JavaScript SEO. (2) Content production — original long-form pieces, pillar pages, topical clusters. (3) Link acquisition — digital PR, partnerships, ethical guest contributions. (4) Google Business Profile management — categories, photos, posts, Q&A, structured review acquisition. (5) Local SEO — neighbourhood landing pages, citations, local schema. (6) Digital PR — outreach to industry and national publications. Some agencies bundle these as a single retainer; some unbundle them as separate service lines. Either is valid. Ottawa SEO Inc. has operated continuously since 2014 — twelve years of compounding ranking wins across a 500+ domain portfolio managed by founder Martin Vassilev. Most of the pages competing for this term are 18-month-old marketing sites; we are not. Every recommendation here comes from work we have actually shipped, not theory.
Documented monthly deliverables with quantities (4 pieces of content, 3 links acquired, 2 hours of GBP management, etc.) — not vague 'ongoing optimization.' Documented KPIs (ranking improvements on tracked keyword set, organic traffic growth, lead-volume growth) with monthly reporting against them. Quarterly strategic reviews against the original 12-month plan. Founder or senior strategist accessibility on a monthly call. No locked-in contracts longer than 6 months. Cancellable on 30 days notice.
Vague deliverables ('we'll do whatever ranks you'). 'Guaranteed top-3' promises (Google explicitly warns against agencies that guarantee rankings). PBN-based link building. Pure AI-generated content shipped without subject-matter editorial. Locked-in 12-24 month contracts. '$499 starting' anchor pricing. Sales-only discovery calls without strategist involvement. No published portfolio.
Start with our free 15-point live audit — it surfaces the highest-priority gaps in your current site. From there, a 30-minute strategy call clarifies what to scope first.
Yes. We offer unbundled engagements for clients who have in-house teams handling other parts of the SEO mix.