Search engine optimization is the work of making your website useful and easy for Google to understand, so its pages can show up when people search for what you do. For a Chicago business it usually means better service pages, a site that works properly, a complete Google Business Profile, and links and mentions that come from real places. This page explains what an SEO company does, what Google says no one can promise, and how to tell a careful Chicago SEO agency from a risky one.
Marketing Company Chicago is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
What an SEO company actually does
SEO work falls into four groups. A good proposal says which ones your site needs most and in what order.
| Work | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Technical | Whether Google can crawl and read the site: speed, mobile layout, broken links, duplicate pages, the site map |
| Content | Pages for each service and question, written for people, with clear titles and headings |
| Local | Your Google Business Profile, your name and details matching everywhere, and pages for the areas you truly serve |
| Links and mentions | Earning references from real local sources, never buying them |
Google’s own SEO Starter Guide says there are no secrets that will automatically rank your site first. The work is ordinary and steady: make the pages better than what currently shows for the search, fix what stops Google reading them, and keep the business details consistent.
What Google says no one can promise
Before you read any Chicago SEO proposal, know what Google itself says about SEO. It costs no money to appear in Google Search results, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. Google does not accept payment to crawl a site more often or rank it higher. And Google’s guide says no one can promise a top ranking on Google, warning owners to beware of SEOs that claim a “special relationship” with Google or advertise a “priority submit”.
Google goes further. Even when a page meets all of its requirements and best practices, that does not mean Google will crawl, index or serve it. Its advice about anyone who says their changes will give you first place in search results is short: find someone else.
About SEO tools
Google says it does not evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, and those tools do not have access to Google’s internal ranking data. A score from a tool is the tool’s own estimate, not Google’s view of your site.
The tactics that can hurt your site
Google’s spam policies list practices that can make a site rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. A Chicago business should know them, because it is the business’s own site that is affected, not the agency’s.
- Link spam. Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, exchanging money for links, and excessive link exchanges.
- Keyword stuffing. Filling a page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings.
- Doorway abuse. Many domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page. Thirty neighborhood pages with only the name changed fall here.
- Scaled content abuse. Many pages made mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help people, no matter how they are created.
If a proposal mentions a package of links, hundreds of new location pages in a month, or content produced at volume without anyone checking it, ask exactly how it fits these policies.
Local SEO in a city of 77 community areas
Chicago has 77 official community areas, and many customers search with neighborhood names as well as the city’s. For the map results, Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Distance means a business in the Near North Side is closer to some searchers than a business in Hyde Park, and nothing changes that. What an agency can change is relevance: a complete, accurate profile and pages that match what people search for.
The local side of SEO gets its own guide: local SEO Chicago covers the Google Business Profile, categories, service areas and reviews in detail.
What SEO work looks like month to month
SEO is not a single project that ends at launch. Month to month, a careful agency checks how Google is reading the site, fixes what has broken, writes or improves pages for the searches that matter to you, keeps the Google Business Profile accurate, and looks for genuine places to be mentioned: local associations, suppliers, events and press. The monthly report should say what changed, page by page.
How to judge a Chicago SEO proposal
A strong proposal is specific. It names the searches it would go after and the pages that would answer them, shows what it found wrong on your site, and says what the first months of work would be. A weak one promises positions, lists a number of links or posts per month with no reason, and could have been sent to any business.
- The searches it would target, with the page that would own each one.
- What it found on your site today: problems, missing pages, thin pages.
- The work planned for the first months, in order.
- How it reports: what you will see each month and what each figure means.
- Who writes the content, and how it learns what your customers ask.
- What you own and what happens to the work if you stop.
Google’s own questions to ask an SEO
Google publishes a page for owners deciding whether they need an SEO, and it lists questions to ask before hiring. They make a fair interview for any Chicago SEO consultant or SEO expert.
- Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
- Do you follow the Google Search Essentials?
- What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
- What’s your experience in my industry?
- What’s your experience in my country or city?
- Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?
Listen to how an agency answers the timeframe question. An honest answer explains what moves the timing for your site and your competition. A precise date for a precise position is the promise Google warns about.
Reviews and SEO
Reviews matter to customers and they sit on your Google profile, so many SEO agencies offer to help with them. Keep that help inside the rules. Google’s policies ban reviews that have been paid for, content posted from several accounts at the request of one person, incentives in exchange for reviews, and discouraging negative reviews or asking only happy customers. The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule bans fake reviews and incentives tied to a particular sentiment, and says reputation management companies can be liable depending on their conduct. The safe approach is simple: ask every customer for an honest review, and offer nothing for it.
How much does SEO cost in Chicago?
Apart from the two monthly plans on the pricing page, this site does not quote SEO prices, because the honest answer depends on the work. What moves the cost is how many pages need writing or fixing, how much technical repair the site needs, how many services and areas you want to be found for, and how competitive those searches are. Our article on what SEO costs walks through each factor so you can compare proposals on the work, not just the fee.
Want a Chicago SEO proposal built around your searches? Tell us what you need and an independent marketing agency can contact you.
SEO and the rest of your marketing
SEO depends on the website it works on, so read the guide to Chicago web design if the site itself needs work. If you need calls sooner than SEO can bring them, paid search fills the gap; see Chicago PPC management and how to choose an advertising agency Chicago businesses can rely on. And if you would rather hire one firm for all of it, read what a digital marketing agency Chicago owners hire should provide.
Questions people ask
What does an SEO company do?
It improves a website and a business’s presence on Google so its pages can show up for the searches customers make: technical fixes, better pages, the Google Business Profile, and earning real links and mentions.
Can an SEO company get me to the top of Google?
No one can promise that. Google says no one can promise a top ranking and that it does not accept payment to rank a site higher.
Is SEO worth it for a small Chicago business?
It can be when the business depends on people searching for it and the pages can be made better than what currently shows. A good proposal explains why it fits your business, not just SEO in general.
Should I buy links to help my site?
No. Google’s spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam.
What is the difference between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency?
A consultant is usually one person who advises or does the work; an agency has several people and often runs other channels too. Ask the same questions of both, including who will actually do the work.