Our SEO Process: How We Work With You
Good SEO is not a mystery, and it should never feel like one. It is a steady process of understanding your business, finding what is holding your website back, fixing the things that matter most, and measuring the results honestly. This page explains how SEO works when you work with us, step by step, so you know what to expect before you commit to anything.
The first step is simple. Send us your website and we will run a free SEO and AI visibility check, then explain what we find in plain English.
How SEO works, in plain terms
Search engines such as Google send automated crawlers to discover pages, store them in an index, and then decide which pages best answer each search. Google describes the factors it weighs in broad terms: relevance, quality, usability and context. AI features such as Google AI Overviews, and assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini, draw on similar signals when they choose which sources to mention.
That means SEO work falls into a few clear areas:
- Technical: making sure search engines can crawl, index and understand your site.
- Content: answering the questions your customers actually ask, clearly and accurately.
- Authority and trust: earning genuine mentions and links, and keeping your business details consistent everywhere.
- Experience: a fast, mobile friendly site that is easy to use.
Results build over time rather than overnight. Google notes that crawling a changed page can take from several days to several months, which is why we plan in stages and report on trends rather than daily movements. Our SEO services and AI search services both follow this foundation.
Stage 1: A conversation about your goals
Every engagement starts with a conversation, not a proposal. We want to understand your business before we look at a single report.
We ask about:
- What you sell, who buys it and where your customers are.
- What makes you different from your competitors.
- How customers currently find you and what a good enquiry looks like.
- What has been tried before, including any past SEO work.
- Your budget, timeframe and how involved you want to be.
Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO says a good provider should ask about what makes your business unique, who your competitors are and how your customers find you. We agree. These answers shape everything that follows, from which keywords matter to how we measure success.
The conversation is free and there is no pressure to go further. Sometimes the honest answer is that you can do much of the work yourself, and we will tell you that. If SEO is not the right tool for your goals right now, we will say so and suggest what might work better.
Stage 2: The audit
Once we understand your goals, we look closely at your website and how it appears in search and AI answers. With your permission, we ask for read only access to Google Search Console and GA4. We never ask for write access at this stage, in line with Google’s own advice to site owners.
A full SEO audit covers:
- Crawling and indexing, including robots.txt, sitemaps, redirects and errors.
- Page titles, headings, content quality and internal links.
- Speed, mobile experience and Core Web Vitals.
- Structured data and whether it matches what people see.
- Your Google Business Profile and other key listings.
- Backlinks and brand mentions.
- How competitors are performing for the searches that matter to you.
Where AI visibility is important to you, we add an AI visibility audit to see what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews say about your business. Every finding is backed by evidence, so you can check it yourself.
Stage 3: A prioritised plan
An audit is only useful if it leads to clear decisions. We turn the findings into a plan ranked by likely impact, effort and cost, so the most valuable work happens first.
The plan sets out:
- Quick fixes that remove obvious barriers, such as indexing problems or missing page titles.
- Medium term work, such as rewriting key service pages or improving site structure.
- Longer term work, such as new content, local SEO and earning genuine links.
- Who does what: our team, your team, or your web developer.
- How we will measure progress for each item.
| Priority | Typical examples | Why it comes first or later |
|---|---|---|
| Fix | Crawl blocks, broken pages, wrong business details | Removes barriers to everything else |
| Improve | Service page content, titles, internal links, schema | Builds relevance for important searches |
| Grow | New content, local SEO, digital PR, links | Builds authority over time |
Costs are quoted in advance for each stage. There are no hidden extras, and you decide what to approve. Our SEO pricing page explains how we structure engagements.
Every business starts from a different place. If you would like to talk through what a plan might look like for your website, Cathy is happy to have that conversation.
Stage 4: Implementation
With the plan agreed, we get to work. Depending on what you need, implementation can include technical SEO fixes, on page SEO improvements, content writing, schema markup, Google Business Profile updates and website changes through our website team.
How we work during implementation:
- We tell you what we are changing before we change it, and why.
- We keep a written log of every change, so nothing happens behind your back.
- We follow Google Search Essentials and avoid tactics Google warns against, such as link schemes or deceptive content.
- We work with your developer if you have one, or handle the changes ourselves.
- We test changes before and after they go live.
Google advises site owners to be careful of any provider that is secretive or will not explain what they intend to do, and notes that you are responsible for the actions of anyone you hire. That is why transparency is built into how we work. You always have a clear record of what was done.
Stage 5: Measurement and reporting
We measure what matters to your business, not vanity numbers. Reporting is based on data from Google Search Console and GA4, which together show how people find your site and what they do when they arrive.
Reports cover:
- Impressions and clicks from Google search for the pages and queries we are working on.
- Changes in the searches that bring people to your site.
- Enquiries, calls, form submissions or sales, where tracking is in place.
- Progress against the plan, including what is finished and what is next.
- Notes on AI visibility where it is part of the engagement.
Google includes traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Search Console Performance report, so our reports cover both classic and AI search results. Reports are written in plain English. Each one explains what changed, what we think caused it and what we recommend next. If something is not working, we say so and suggest a change of approach.
Stage 6: Ongoing review
Search engines, AI tools and your competitors keep changing, so SEO is a process rather than a single project. We review the plan regularly with you and adjust it based on results and on any changes to your business.
Ongoing review includes:
- Regular check ins to discuss results and priorities.
- Updating the plan as new opportunities or issues appear.
- Monitoring for technical problems after website updates or migrations.
- Refreshing content that has become out of date.
- Repeating audits at sensible intervals.
You are never locked into work that is no longer useful. If priorities change, the plan changes with them. Once the foundations are in place, many clients move to a lighter level of support. You can read about the people involved on our team page and see examples of our work in case studies.
Our ethics and no guarantee stance
No one can guarantee a first page ranking, a set amount of traffic or a mention in an AI answer. Google itself says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and warns against providers who claim a special relationship with Google. We do not guarantee rankings, traffic or AI citations.
What we do promise:
- Honest advice, including when SEO is not the best use of your budget.
- Methods that follow Google’s published guidance.
- Clear costs, agreed before work begins.
- Full transparency about every change we make.
- Plain English reporting based on real data.
- Respect for your information, in line with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.
Our focus is on best practice, quality and sustainable growth that you can verify for yourself. That approach has guided our work in digital marketing since 2008. Read our Google reviews to hear from people we have worked with.
Frequently asked questions about our SEO process
How long does SEO take to show results? It depends on your site, your market and the work involved. Some technical fixes can show an effect within weeks, while content and authority usually build over months. We set realistic expectations during the conversation stage.
Do I need to sign a long contract? We agree the scope and cost of each stage in advance. Ask us about terms during your first conversation.
What access do you need? Read only access to Google Search Console and GA4 for the audit. Further access is discussed and agreed before implementation.
Can I do some of the work myself? Yes. Many clients handle parts of the plan themselves, and we provide clear instructions.
Do you work with businesses outside Auckland? Yes. We work with organisations across New Zealand from our Auckland office, as well as international clients.
How do your SEO strategy steps include AI search? AI visibility is built into the audit, plan and reporting stages where it matters for your business, using the same foundations as SEO.
If you already have a clear idea of what you need, such as a new website built with SEO in mind, ask for a quote and we will explain the process for your project.
Net Branding Limited, 165 Orakei Road, Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. Phone 09 523 0478 or email us.