SEO Strategy, Planning & Reporting in Nanaimo
The plan you get before you pay, and the report you get after — what actually recurs each month
Most SEO proposals in this market are a keyword list with a price at the bottom. That is not a strategy. A strategy says which searches you are going after and in what order, why that order and not another, what gets deliberately deferred, how long each stage should take, and what you will see each month that tells you whether it is working. Everything on this page is what you are entitled to see before you sign, not after.
What an SEO Plan Actually Has to Contain
A plan that lists thirty keywords and a monthly fee has told you nothing. It has not said which of those thirty you can realistically hold, which are there to pad the list, or which one pays first. Ask any agency in this market to rank the list by what they expect to win in ninety days and watch how much of it disappears. A real Nanaimo SEO plan states four things per target. The search itself, written as someone would type it. A rough sense of how much demand sits behind it, and whether that demand is worth the work. Who currently holds it, and whether that is a competitor you could displace or a national directory you cannot. And when we expect movement, stated as a range with the reasoning attached rather than a promise. The useful consequence is that a plan built this way tells you what we are not going to do. Some searches in this market are held by Yelp, by a national franchise, or by a business with fifteen years of links. Saying so before you pay is the difference between a strategy and a wish list.
Sequence Is the Whole Argument
Two agencies can target the same twenty searches and get opposite results, because the order decides how quickly anything pays. Get it wrong and you spend six months on terms that were never going to move while the ones that convert sit untouched. The sequence we use in Nanaimo runs roughly in this order. Google Business Profile first, because it moves in weeks rather than months and because for most local categories the map pack sits above every organic result on a phone. Then the service pages, one per thing you actually sell, because a single page listing eight services ranks for none of them properly. Then the communities you genuinely serve, a page each, because a footer listing every town on the Island has been discounted for years. Then the questions your buyers ask, which is where the blog earns its place rather than existing because someone said you should have one. What gets deferred is as deliberate. Head terms like 'SEO Nanaimo' or 'plumber Nanaimo' unqualified are worth having and are rarely worth chasing first — they take longest, and the quartier and service terms underneath them convert better while costing less to win. An agency that opens on the head term is selling you the most impressive-sounding item on the list rather than the one that pays your invoice.
What Gets Tracked, and Why That One
Enquiries by Source
The only number that matters. Which calls, forms and bookings came from search rather than from a referral or a van sign. Everything else on this list exists to explain movement in this one.
Map Pack Position by Neighbourhood
Tracked per community rather than as a single city average, because you can hold the top three in Departure Bay and be invisible in Chase River, and a city-wide average hides exactly that.
Ranking on Named Targets
Position on the specific searches in your plan, not an average across everything you happen to appear for. An improving average with a flat target list means nothing changed where it counts.
Google Business Profile Actions
Calls, direction requests and website clicks straight from the profile. For most local categories this is the largest single source of contact and the easiest to leave unmeasured.
The Report Most Agencies Send Versus One You Can Act On
The Standard Monthly Report
What We Send
How the Strategy Is Built
Baseline
Where you rank now across service, neighbourhood and head terms, what your Google Business Profile is missing, and who holds each position — competitor or directory. This is the free audit, and it costs nothing whether or not you go further.
Demand and Difficulty
Which searches carry real demand in this market, which are held by something you cannot displace, and which convert once won. Low-volume terms with buying intent usually beat high-volume terms without it.
Sequencing
The order of work, with a stated reason per position and an expected window for each. This is where the plan says what is deferred, and why, in writing.
Measurement Setup
Call tracking or a source question at intake, Google Business Profile insights, and rank tracking on the named targets. Set up before the work starts, because a baseline collected afterwards proves nothing.
Monthly Review and Revision
What moved, what did not, and what changes in the plan as a result. A plan that never changes across six months was not being read.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an SEO strategy for a Nanaimo business actually include?
A ranked list of the searches we intend to win, each with a rough demand estimate, who currently holds it, and an expected window for movement. The order those are tackled in, with the reasoning. What is being deferred and why. The measurement setup, so the baseline exists before the work rather than after. And the monthly cadence — what gets published or changed, and what you will see in the report.
How much does an SEO plan cost, and is it separate from the monthly fee?
The written audit and strategy is $500 CAD, billed once, and credited against your first month if you go on to an engagement. Monthly management starts at $2,800 CAD. There is also a free version of the audit that tells you where you rank today and what your profile is missing — that one costs nothing whether or not you engage us, and for some businesses it is genuinely all they need.
Can I see the plan before committing to a monthly engagement?
That is the point of charging for it separately. You get the strategy as a document, it is yours, and you are free to hand it to someone else or run it in-house. Any agency that will only show you the plan after you have signed a monthly agreement has arranged things for its own benefit.
What goes in the monthly SEO report?
Enquiries by source first, because that is the number you are paying for. Then position on the named targets from your plan — not an average across everything you happen to rank for, which can rise while every target stays flat. Map pack position broken out by neighbourhood. What was published or changed and which target it was for. And what did not work, with what changes as a result.
How do you track whether SEO is producing leads rather than just traffic?
Either a call tracking number, or a single source question at intake — how did you hear about us — logged consistently. Neither is sophisticated; what makes it work is doing it every time. Traffic that does not resolve into enquiries by source is a number that can rise for a year while the phone stays quiet.
How often should the strategy change?
Reviewed monthly, revised when the evidence says so. Some targets turn out to be harder than expected, some searches convert better than the demand suggested, and occasionally a competitor moves. A plan that reads identically in month six to month one was not being read — but a plan that changes direction every month was never a plan.
What if the plan is not working?
Then the report should say so before you have to ask, and it should say what changes. SEO has genuine lag — the first two months in this market usually show profile movement and little else — so the honest version distinguishes between too early to tell and not working. If a target has had six months and has not moved, it was the wrong target and we say that rather than repeating it.
Do you handle strategy without doing the ongoing work?
Yes. The $500 audit and strategy stands alone, and some businesses take it and execute in-house, which is a reasonable outcome. If you have someone capable internally, paying us monthly to do what they could do is not a good use of your budget, and we would rather say that than sell around it.
How is this different from the free audit?
The free audit tells you where you stand today — current positions, what the profile is missing, who holds the map pack in your neighbourhoods — and takes about a day. The strategy is what to do about it, in what order, with the reasoning and the timelines. Most businesses should start with the free one, and a good number never need the other.
What is on-page SEO, and does a Nanaimo business genuinely need it?
On-page SEO is what a page itself says to a search engine — the title tag, the H1, the URL, the way the copy uses the terms you actually want to rank for, the internal links pointing at it, and the schema markup that tells Google what kind of thing the page is. For a Nanaimo business the honest answer is that on-page SEO is table stakes rather than a lever: get it wrong and no amount of Google Business Profile work or citations will rescue the page, get it right and it stops being the reason you are not ranking. It is included inside the audit at $500 CAD and inside every monthly engagement from $2,800 CAD — we do not sell it separately because a page with correct on-page and no other work still will not rank, and a page ranking without correct on-page is one Google update away from not.
Is there a contract or annual lock-in?
No. Engagements are month-to-month, cancellable with thirty days' notice. The reason is straightforward: SEO takes long enough that a client who wants to leave after month three is telling us something we need to hear, and locking them in stops the feedback rather than fixes the reason for it. Most work in this market gets sold on twelve-month contracts because the first six months tend not to produce enough to justify a month-to-month renewal — that is a problem with the work, not a problem with the contract.
What do you actually need from us to start?
Manager access to the Google Business Profile, viewer or editor access to Google Analytics and Search Console if either exists, whatever admin the site's CMS uses (WordPress login, Shopify collaborator, Webflow seat), and one person who can approve copy inside a reasonable window. If none of those exist yet — no Analytics, no Search Console, an unclaimed GBP — that is normal, and setting them up is part of month one rather than a prerequisite.
Do you take over our Google Business Profile?
No. Ownership stays with you. We request manager access, which lets us update the profile, post, and respond to reviews on your behalf, without ever removing your ability to see what has been done or revoke access. If we ever part, you keep the profile, the reviews, and the history — nothing on it is portable to us, and nothing needs to be handed back because it was never ours.
What if we already have an SEO person or agency?
The honest answer depends on what they are doing. If they are producing enquiries and the reporting is legible, staying put is often the right call and we will say so during the free audit. If the reporting is a keyword-position spreadsheet with no line for enquiries, or if the plan has not changed in a year, that is worth raising with them before switching. Some clients buy the $500 strategy from us and hand it to the person they already have, which is a good outcome and one we are set up for — the plan is yours whether or not the ongoing work is.
See the Plan Before You Commit to It
Start with the free audit, which shows where you rank now and what is missing, at no cost. The instant version runs in under a minute and hands you the report; the human walkthrough is optional. If the strategy is worth writing after that, you will know what it covers and what it costs before anything is signed.
Run the Free Visibility GraderZones desservies
Strategy and reporting for businesses across Nanaimo and the Central Island corridor — Downtown and the Old City Quarter, Departure Bay, Hammond Bay, North Nanaimo and Woodgrove, Northfield, Harewood, Chase River, Lantzville, Cedar, Ladysmith, Nanoose Bay, Parksville and Qualicum Beach.
Tarifs
SEO audit and strategy: $500 CAD, billed once, credited against your first month if you go on to an engagement. Monthly management from $2,800 CAD, with the scope itemised in the plan before you commit to it.
Get Your Nanaimo SEO StrategyAutres piliers de ce service
SEO for Electricians in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Rank for panel upgrades, EV charger installs and the emergency calls that pay the bills
SEO for Dentists in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Be the practice newcomers find when they search for someone accepting new patients
SEO for Plumbing & HVAC in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Emergency calls, heat pump conversions and the seasonal spikes you can see coming
SEO for Restaurants in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Own the dinner search from Downtown to Departure Bay — rank for 'best restaurant near me'
SEO for Lawyers in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Own the legal search in your practice area — rank for 'family law Nanaimo', 'real estate lawyer', 'injury lawyer near me'
SEO for Accountants in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Rank before tax season rather than during it — and own the situation searches nobody here has written for
SEO for Real Estate Agents in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Own neighborhood rankings and buyer searches — rank for 'homes for sale Nanaimo', 'Departure Bay real estate'
SEO for General Contractors in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Own renovation searches — rank for 'kitchen renovation Nanaimo', 'home contractor near me', 'bathroom remodel Nanaimo'
SEO for Chiropractors in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Be the first choice when people search 'chiropractor near me' — rank for sports injuries, back pain, neck pain
SEO for Hotels & Accommodations on Vancouver Island
Capture direct bookings — rank for 'hotel Nanaimo', 'places to stay Parksville', 'vacation rental near me'
SEO for Home Services Businesses in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Landscaping, cleaning, pressure washing, pest control, junk removal — the categories the map pack decides
SEO for Marine Businesses in Nanaimo & the Central Island Harbour
Boatyards, refit and repair, brokers, charters, moorage and marine supply — demand that arrives from off the Island
Autres prestations de ce service
Free SEO Audit in Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Where you rank now, what your Google Business Profile is missing, and who holds the map pack in your neighbourhoods
Google Business Profile Optimization in Nanaimo & Vancouver Island
The cheapest thing we sell, the fastest to move, and for most local businesses the highest return available
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