Last Updated on October 20, 2026
Your SEO agency is working if something in Search Console has moved by month three, and organic traffic is turning into enquiries by month twelve. Whito’s September 2026 timeline study plans three to six months before rankings move on lower-competition terms. It plans six to twelve months before organic traffic pays for the work.
You do not need marketing knowledge to check this. You need three free Google tools you almost certainly already have, your agency’s last report, and about an hour.
Most agencies are doing honest work. The point of this guide is not to catch anyone out. It is to give you a way to see the work for yourself, instead of taking the report’s word for it.
If you are still choosing an agency, read how to choose an SEO agency in the UK first. This page is for owners who are already paying.
First, know what your retainer should buy
You cannot judge results without knowing what you paid for. Whito’s June 2026 file holds 45 published monthly SEO prices from 16 UK providers. Each was read from the provider’s own pricing page (UK SEO pricing data).
| Band (Whito file, June 2026) | Published monthly price |
|---|---|
| Budget | £99 to £300 |
| Mainstream | £350 to £1,000 |
| Established agency | £1,500 to £5,000+ |
| Median, all 45 prices | £799 |
| Median, entry tiers | £447 |
Say your agency charges £1,200 a month. That is above the £799 median and above the top of the mainstream band. You are entitled to expect more than a monthly rankings email for it.
Whito’s own audit rule is simple: if the price sits in one band and the scope belongs to another, ask why. Published UK prices are almost always exclusive of VAT, so check the total you actually pay. For the wider picture, see UK SEO costs and UK agency retainers.
What results should look like by month 3, 6 and 12
These are planning ranges from Whito’s study how long does SEO take in the UK (September 2026). They are not promises, and a competitive national market sits at the slow end.
| By | What should have moved | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Month 3 | Pages indexed, impressions on long-tail searches, positions starting to appear for real target terms | Search Console |
| Month 6 | Lower-competition terms on page one, first consistent clicks | Search Console, GA4 |
| Month 12 | Organic traffic converting into enquiries | GA4, Business Profile, your phone and inbox |
| Months 12 to 24 | Competitive national terms | Search Console |
A new domain adds three to six months to every range, by the same study’s planning. The study also gives one clear warning line: if by month three no clock has moved at all, something is broken. Change the plan in writing rather than extending it.
Five checks you can do yourself this month
1. Check you own the keys
Open Google Search Console, then Settings, then Users and permissions. Google’s help page says only owners can see it. It lists each user’s permission level (Search Console Help, managing owners and users).
If you cannot see that page, you are not an owner of your own data. Fix that before anything else. Your agency should be a user on your property, not the other way round.
2. Read the Search Console Performance report
Google defines clicks as “the number of times a user clicked your site from Google Search results”. Impressions are how many times your site appeared in results (Performance report help). The Queries tab groups the data by what people typed.
Compare the last three months with the three before. You want impressions rising first, then clicks. Then read the query list and ask one question: are these the searches your customers would actually make?
3. Check GA4 for enquiries, not just visits
In Google Analytics 4, open the Traffic acquisition report. Google says it shows “where your website and app visitors are coming from”. Visits are grouped by channel, and Organic Search is one of the default groups (GA4 Traffic acquisition help).
Look at the Organic Search row. Then look at key events.
Google notes this metric is not filled in automatically: someone has to mark an event, such as a form sent, as a key event. If your key events column is empty, nobody is measuring enquiries. That is a question for your agency.
4. Check your Google Business Profile performance
For a local business, this is often the most honest number you have. Google’s help page lists calls, messages, bookings, directions and website clicks. It also shows the search terms people used to find you (Business Profile performance help).
Calls and directions are people about to buy. Google notes the searches figure updates at the start of each month, so compare month with month.
5. Check what actually changed on your site
Google’s own guide to hiring an SEO suggests a question to ask (Google Search Central, updated 5 June 2026). It is “Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site”. It also says an SEO with FTP access to your server “should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.”
So ask for a dated list of last month’s changes: pages added, pages rewritten, fixes made. Then check three of those pages yourself. Google says to use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to see whether a single page is indexed (Page indexing report help).
Leading signs and vanity signs
Some numbers point towards revenue. Others only look good in a PDF. Whito’s timeline study calls the test for this the which-clock-moved test: ask which clock moved, by how much, on what date.
| Leading sign | Vanity sign |
|---|---|
| Impressions rising on searches your customers make | A ranking for a term with almost no impressions, which usually means few people search it |
| Organic Search key events (enquiries) rising in GA4 | Traffic up, enquiries flat |
| More calls and direction requests on your Business Profile | Profile views up, calls flat |
| A dated list of changes you can open and check | “Ongoing optimisation” with no list |
Timing matters too.
A report leading with “average position improved” in month two is reading the right clock. The same report in month nine is avoiding the enquiries clock. For what a good report should contain, see what a monthly SEO report should show.
When to give notice
Talk before you leave. Send your agency what you found in the five checks and ask for a written plan with dated milestones. Many relationships recover at this point.
Has month three passed with no clock moving? Or month twelve with no enquiries and no clear reason? Then it is time to plan your exit.
Before you do, find out what leaving costs.
Whito read 39 UK agency pricing pages on 29 September 2026 (UK agency contract terms). 19 of 39 do not say on the pricing page how you leave. 12 of 39 hold a minimum term, and 13 of 39 state no notice period anywhere public.
Then apply the leave-date test to your own contract. Write down the earliest date you could stop paying and what you would have to do by when.
If you cannot, ask your agency by email. Then follow how to leave your marketing agency, which covers notice, access and handover.
Questions people ask
How long before SEO should show results?
Whito’s September 2026 study plans three to six months before rankings move on lower-competition terms. It plans six to twelve months before organic traffic pays for the work. If by month three no clock has moved at all, something is broken.
What free tools show if my SEO agency is working?
Google Search Console shows clicks, impressions and the searches you appear for. Google Analytics 4 shows Organic Search visits and key events such as enquiries. Google Business Profile shows calls, directions and website clicks.
Is ranking on page one proof my SEO is working?
Not on its own. A ranking only matters if people search that term and some of them enquire. Check impressions in Search Console and key events in GA4 before treating a ranking as a result.
How much should a UK SEO retainer cost?
In Whito’s June 2026 file of 45 published UK SEO prices, the median is £799 a month. Mainstream prices run £350 to £1,000 and established agencies £1,500 to £5,000+.
The takeaway
Structure before scale applies to checking your agency too. Own your data, measure enquiries, then judge the work against the right month. An agency that is working will be glad you looked.
Before your next agency call, run the free Visibility Check on your homepage: 17 checks, about twenty seconds, no email, no sales call.
Want to know whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode name you or a rival? The Visibility Monitor records what they say once a month, but does not change it. It costs £280 a month and you can cancel any time.
Our guide to whether your agency is getting you into AI answers explains what to ask.
