What Does an SEO Agency Do?

If you've ever seen the movie, Office Space, then you are probably familiar with the line, "What would you say...ya do here"? In this instance, that's a valid question and that many at least wonder. You're not alone. Search engine optimization involves a combination of technical improvements, competitive research, and ongoing adjustments to keep your site visible and competitive. Let's break down the core services to get an overview of what an SEO agency provides and why each is essential for your business's online success.

Website Audit: The Foundation of SEO Services

Before making any improvements, an SEO agency will conduct a full website audit. This process evaluates your site's overall health, identifying technical issues, performance bottlenecks, and opportunities for optimization. Key areas analyzed include, but are not limited to:

Crawlability & Indexing – Ensuring search engines can properly crawl and index your pages. If important content is blocked or inaccessible, it won't rank.
Site Speed & Performance – Slow websites frustrate users and lead to lower rankings. Optimizing images, scripts, and server response times improves both SEO and user experience.
On-Page Optimization – Title tags, meta descriptions, heading structures, and keyword usage are reviewed to ensure they align with SEO best practices.
Duplicate & Thin Content – Search engines favor unique, high-quality content. If your site has duplicate or low-value pages, they could be hurting your rankings.
Mobile Usability – With most searches now happening on mobile devices, a responsive, mobile-friendly site is crucial for both rankings and user experience.

Identifying these issues allows an SEO agency to create a strategy for fixing them, improving your site's foundation for better rankings.

Keyword & Competitor Research

Finding the Right Opportunities

Once the technical groundwork is set, an SEO agency will analyze your niche, your competitors, and your current keyword strategy to identify growth opportunities. This process includes:

Keyword Research & Gap Analysis – Agencies identify the search terms your audience is using and uncover gaps where competitors rank but you don't.
SERP Analysis – Understanding what types of content rank at the top for your target keywords allows for better content strategy planning.
Competitor Research – Agencies study competing websites to see what keywords they rank for, how their content is structured, and what backlinks they've earned.
Search Intent Optimization – Keywords are analyzed not just for volume but also intent. Are users looking for information, products, or services? Matching content to intent is critical.
TF-IDF & Keyword Combinations – "Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency" analyzes how important specific words are within your content compared to other websites. It helps refine your content by ensuring it includes terms that search engines associate with authority and relevance in your industry. While identifying keyword combinations ensures your content aligns with multiple search intents, increasing the chances of ranking for a broader range of searches

The result? A clear strategy focused on targeting high-value keywords with the best chance of ranking and driving relevant traffic.

Backlink Strategy

Building Website Authority

Search engines see backlinks as votes of confidence. The more reputable websites link to yours, the more trustworthy and authoritative your site appears. An SEO agency will:

Audit Your Existing Backlink Profile – Analyzing your current backlinks to identify strengths, weaknesses, and any harmful links that need removal.
Competitor Link Analysis – Identifying where competitors are getting backlinks and uncovering opportunities to earn similar or better links. – Understanding what types of content rank at the top for your target keywords allows for better content strategy planning.
Outreach & Link Building – Agencies work to secure backlinks from relevant, high-authority websites through content partnerships, guest blogging, and other strategies.
Anchor Text & Link Quality Review – Ensuring backlinks use natural, diverse anchor text and come from reputable sources to avoid penalties.

Quality backlinks can significantly improve rankings, but link-building requires expertise and outreach efforts that most businesses don't have time for—making this a valuable service.

Internal Link Strategy

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect pages within the same website. They help search engines understand the structure of your site and distribute authority (link equity) across pages. This should be included in SEO services.

Improves Crawlability: Search engines use internal links to discover and index pages more efficiently.
Boosts Page Authority: Linking from high-value pages helps pass ranking power to other important pages.
Enhances User Experience: Guides visitors to relevant content, increasing engagement and reducing bounce rates.

A well-planned internal linking strategy, like using pillar and cluster pages, strengthens your site's SEO by making it easier for both search engines and users to navigate.

Rank Tracking & Ongoing Optimization

SEO isn't a one-time fix—it's an ongoing process. An agency continuously tracks rankings and adjusts strategies based on data. This involves:

Domain Strength Monitoring – Keeping an eye on your site's overall authority and trustworthiness in search engines.
Rank Tracking – Monitoring keyword positions in search results and identifying trends over time.
Content Performance Analysis – Measuring how well blog posts, landing pages, and product pages perform in search rankings and adjusting as needed.
Competitive Tracking – Watching how competitors are ranking for shared keywords and adjusting strategies accordingly.
Site Audits & Updates – Repeating audits to address new technical issues, update content, and stay ahead of algorithm changes.

By regularly analyzing performance and making data-driven adjustments, an SEO agency ensures your site continues to climb the rankings and stay ahead of competitors.

Why Investing in SEO Services Is Worth It

Hopefully you have a deeper appreciation for what it involves - it goes well beyond just finding keywords. SEO is complex and time-consuming, requiring expertise across technical optimization, content strategy, and competitive analysis. A dedicated agency handles these tasks efficiently. It frees you up to focus on running your business. While the SEO Agency works to ensure your website ranks higher, attracts more traffic, and generates better leads, they also serve as your guide—helping you navigate the ever-evolving maze of search algorithms, user behavior, and competition.

If you've ever questioned the value of SEO services, now you know—success requires ongoing research, technical refinement, and strategic outreach. A well-executed SEO plan delivers long-term growth, making it one of the smartest investments for any business looking to dominate search results.