What Questions Should I Ask About SEO and Website Visibility? (Reddit SEO Guide + Expert Tips)

The exact SEO and website visibility questions to ask any agency — Reddit-tested SEO guide and expert tips from a Vancouver, BC digital marketing agency.

Quick Answer

Ask any SEO provider these five: what specific keywords will we target, what does your on-page SEO checklist include, how do you handle local SEO and Google Business Profile, what does monthly reporting look like, and can you show three current client rankings improving over time. Reddit's r/SEO agrees — if the answers are vague, the results will be too.

SEO

Quick answer: the SEO questions that actually matter

Question 1 — What specific keywords will we target?

A serious SEO plan starts with a written keyword list: primary keywords (high intent, moderate competition), secondary keywords (long-tail variations), and location modifiers (Vancouver, BC, neighbourhoods you serve). If an agency says 'we'll optimize for all relevant keywords,' they don't have a real plan. Ask for the actual spreadsheet with search volumes, difficulty scores, and priority ranking before you sign anything.

Question 2 — What's included in your on-page SEO checklist?

A complete on-page SEO checklist covers: unique meta title and description per page, proper H1/H2/H3 hierarchy, keyword-optimized URLs, image alt text, internal linking structure, schema.org markup (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, Article as appropriate), Open Graph tags, XML sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags, Core Web Vitals compliance. Ask to see the checklist. Any 'yeah we do SEO' without a written checklist is a red flag.

Question 3 — How do you handle local SEO?

For any small business in Vancouver, Toronto, or anywhere in Canada, local SEO is 80% of the game. Ask: do you set up and optimize the Google Business Profile, do you build local citations (Yelp, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps, industry-specific directories), do you handle review generation, do you build location-specific landing pages for each neighbourhood served? Our Premium and Enterprise packages include full Google Business Profile management plus location-page strategy as a baseline.

Question 4 — What does monthly reporting look like?

You should get a monthly report that shows keyword ranking movement, organic traffic trends from Google Search Console, Google Business Profile insights (calls, direction clicks, website clicks), leads generated (form fills, phone calls), and a plain-English summary of what was done and what's next. If the report is a screenshot dump with no narrative, you're paying for the illusion of work. Related reading: What Questions Should I Ask About Website Maintenance.

Question 5 — Can you show three client rankings improving?

Ask for three current clients (or anonymized case studies) with real ranking data from Search Console or a ranking tool, showing keyword position improvements over 3–6 months. Not vanity metrics like 'we got them 10,000 impressions.' Specific keyword X moved from position 47 to position 6 for [city]. Anyone who won't or can't show this is either brand new or getting no results.

Bonus questions Reddit brings up constantly

Do you build backlinks, and if so how? (Avoid anyone doing paid link schemes — Google's Penguin algorithm penalizes them.) Do you write original content or use AI-spun articles? (AI-spun content triggers Google's Helpful Content updates.) Do I own the content and reports you produce? (Yes, always.) What's the cancellation policy? (Month-to-month is standard; anyone requiring 12-month contracts is protecting themselves from bad results.)

Realistic timelines and stats

According to BrightLocal's 2024 Local SEO Industry Report, most local businesses see meaningful Google Business Profile ranking movement in 4–8 weeks and lead growth in 3–6 months. Competitive niches (roofing, dental, law, personal injury) take 6–12 months. Anyone promising page-one rankings in 30 days is lying — and Google penalizes the tactics they use to fake it. See our real Canadian SEO work in the portfolio.

How to spot fake SEO agencies

Guaranteed rankings. 'We know a secret Google trick.' 500 backlinks for $99. Content spun from ChatGPT with no editorial oversight. Requiring a 12-month contract. Refusing to name past clients. If you see two or more of these, walk away — the recovery cost from an SEO penalty exceeds what you'd have paid a real agency for years.

How Cloud Peak Solutions handles SEO

We publish keyword lists in writing, use written on-page checklists, include full Google Business Profile management in our Premium and Enterprise packages, send monthly plain-English reports, and offer month-to-month engagements with no long-term contract. If you'd like a free audit of your current SEO setup and rankings, contact us — we'll send a written report within 48 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does SEO take to work?

Most Vancouver and Toronto businesses see Google Maps movement in 4–8 weeks and meaningful lead growth in 3–6 months. Competitive niches take 6–12 months.

Is SEO better than paid ads for small businesses?

SEO compounds over time and produces cheaper leads long-term, while paid ads deliver traffic immediately. Most small businesses benefit from running both together.

Do you offer month-to-month SEO plans?

Yes. Every Cloud Peak Solutions SEO engagement is month-to-month with no long-term contract, transparent reporting, and cancellation any time.

About the Author

This article was written by the team at Cloud Peak Solutions, a Vancouver-based web design and digital marketing agency helping small businesses across Canada and the US get more customers online through professional web design, local SEO, and Google Business Profile management. Learn more at cloudpeak.solutions.

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