Is your SEO company actually doing anything?
You pay every month. The reports look busy. But calls aren't up, you're not sure what a "maps citation" is, and you can't tell if any of it is real. I read your vendor's reports line by line and verify every billed deliverable against what's actually live — then give you a straight answer.
A vendor report, read the way I read it.
A recreated, anonymized composite of patterns verified in real vendor reports. No client or vendor is named — but every annotation is a thing I've actually found.
Three steps. No disruption. Your vendor never has to know.
Send me the reports
Forward the monthly reports your vendor sends — PDFs, emails, dashboards. Plus viewer access to your Google Business Profile (a few clicks).
I verify everything
Every billed backlink clicked. Every citation checked for the right business and the right city. Every "deliverable" confirmed live — or not.
You get the verdict
A plain-English report: what's real, what's theater, what it's all worth — and what to do next. Evidence included, so you can verify it yourself.
Every line of the report, tested against reality.
Backlinks — do they exist?
Is each billed link live, on a real site, relevant to your trade — and does the page actually contain a link to you?
Citations — right business, right city?
Listings on dead directories or in the wrong state don't help you — they actively hurt your local consistency.
Google Business Profile work — real?
Were the posts, photos, and review replies actually made? Are added services on-category, or diluting what you rank for?
Rankings — honest keywords?
Ranking #1 for phrases nobody searches is easy. Are the tracked keywords ones your customers actually type?
Re-billed work
Is this month's report new work — or last month's screenshots with a new date?
The numbers that matter
Behind the "excellent month!" letters: are profile views, calls, and direction requests actually going up?
AI search — do you even exist there?
More buyers start by asking ChatGPT or Gemini for "a good [your trade] near me." I check whether AI assistants recommend you, who they recommend instead, and whether your vendor has ever mentioned it. Most haven't — they're optimizing for how people searched five years ago.
Your rank isn't one number — it's a map
A rank-grid scan of "[your trade] near me" across your service area. Your vendor reports one average number; buyers experience this map. Strong at home, invisible two towns over — that's fixable, once you can see it.
The new front door: AI answers
- Competitor Roofing Co.
- Hilltop Exteriors LLC
- A national chain
This is AEO — answer-engine optimization — and most SEO vendors haven't started. I test what ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's AI Overviews actually say about your trade in your towns, and what it takes to get you into the answer.
The needle-movers in your first 90 days.
Most of what's broken isn't exotic — it's fundamentals nobody maintained. These are the fixes I reach for first, mapped to the three things Google actually weighs.
Describe your work the way your industry does
What I usually find: a wrong or generic primary category, half the services missing (or padded with off-category filler), and website copy that never says the words buyers actually type.
The 90-day fix: set the right primary category, complete the on-category service list, and rewrite key pages to name your services and towns plainly.
Look local everywhere you actually work
What I usually find: a shop address one town over, misconfigured service areas, and citations pointing at the wrong city — so Google thinks you're farther away than you are.
The 90-day fix: configure service areas correctly, clean up wrong-city listings, and build real presence — photos, reviews, content — in each town you serve.
Make reviews automatic, not occasional
What I usually find: great work but a manual, inconsistent review ask — reviews arrive in bursts while competitors compound weekly — and a name-address-phone that differs across directories.
The 90-day fix: an automated review request on every job close, a reply to every review, and one consistent name-address-phone everywhere you're listed.
All three flow through two assets you should own: your Google Business Profile and your website. And AI assistants read the same signals — get the fundamentals right and you're optimizing for Google and AI at once. Want the research behind all of this? Read the free local SEO guide — plain English, sources named, printable.
Six red flags I see in vendor reports.
Any one of these is worth a closer look. Two or more, and you should verify everything.
Deliverables "awaiting approval"
Billed as complete while sitting in a moderation queue — publicly invisible at the moment you paid for it.
Screenshot-only proof
Screenshots instead of clickable links make it hard to check whether the work exists. That's usually the point.
Backlinks from unrelated sites
Comments on overseas lifestyle blogs and 2010-era directories carry zero value for a Tennessee service business — even when they're real.
Vanity keyword wins
"#1 for [obscure phrase] near me!" — a headline win on a phrase with no searches, re-announced month after month.
Declines never mentioned
The cover letter says "really strong month" while the one number that matters — profile interactions — quietly falls, visible only in small print.
Silence on AI search
If your vendor can't tell you whether ChatGPT recommends you — or has never brought it up — they're not watching where search is going.
One of three honest verdicts.
Keep them
The work is real and reasonably priced. You get a short list of what to ask them to add — and the peace of mind you were missing.
Fix the scope
Some of it's real, some isn't. You get exactly what to keep, what to cut, and the email to send — renegotiate from evidence, not suspicion.
Move on
The reports don't survive verification. You get the documented case, how to take back control of your accounts, and what good looks like next. And if you want, I can take it on myself — under the same standard you just watched me apply: month-to-month, you own everything, every deliverable verifiable.
Asked before every Second Opinion.
Click every billed backlink and citation in their report. Confirm the pages exist, actually link to your site, and name the right city. Compare this month's report to last month's for recycled screenshots. If you don't have time for that — that's exactly what this service does.
No. The review is done entirely from your copies of their reports and your own accounts. Whether and how to raise the findings with them is your call — and I'll help you script it if you want.
Then that's the verdict — and it's worth every penny to know. This is a verification, not a sales pitch. Sometimes the answer is "they're fine, here's one thing to add."
A flat fee, quoted up front before any work starts. From you: the vendor's monthly reports and viewer access to your Google Business Profile — a few clicks. Most reviews complete within two weeks.
Fair question — here's how it's handled. Every finding comes with the evidence, so you can verify it yourself. The report includes a do-it-yourself path, not just my offer. And if you do hire me afterward, it's month-to-month and you own every account — so I have to keep earning it.
Even better — there's nothing to undo.
If you've never hired an SEO company, start with a Visibility Baseline: where you rank across your service area, what AI assistants say when buyers ask about your trade, and how your reviews stack up against the competitors taking your calls. Same flat fee, same plain-English verdict — and a prioritized list of what's worth fixing first, whether or not you hire anyone to fix it.
Two weeks from now, you'll know.
Send a note with roughly what you're paying and how long you've been paying it. I'll quote the flat fee up front — no obligation, and your vendor never has to know.
Request a Second Opinionryan@mahoneyadvisory.ai · (931) 729-8888 · Middle Tennessee & remote across the US