LAW FIRM MARKETING · GUIDE 03

What is my SEO agency actually doing?

You pay every month and can't name one thing they did. Here's the one-page work log to require — pages, links, GBP changes, what's different from last month — with a template.

Try this. Open the last invoice from your marketing agency. Now, without opening their report, name three things they did last month.

Most partners can't. Not because they aren't paying attention — because the report is designed around outcomes the agency doesn't control (rankings, traffic) rather than work the agency does control (pages, links, profile changes). It's an odd way to bill for a service. Your bookkeeper doesn't send you a chart of your bank balance and call it a statement of work.

There's a simpler document. One page. It lists what was done, what changed, and what's next. We call it the work log, and I think every firm paying more than $2,000 a month should require one — from us, from anyone.

Why the report you get doesn't tell you

Three reasons, and none of them is a conspiracy.

Reporting software reports on metrics. The dashboards agencies use pull from Google Analytics, Search Console and a rank tracker. None of those tools knows that someone rewrote your DUI page on the 14th. So the report shows what the tools can see, and the work is invisible.

Work is uneven; charts are smooth. Some months are heavy (a site migration, twelve new pages). Some are quiet (waiting for links to land, waiting for Google). A chart of traffic hides that. A work log shows it — and an honest agency would rather show you a quiet month than pretend it didn't happen.

Nobody asked. Genuinely. Most clients never ask for the work itemized, so most agencies never itemize it. The moment you ask, you'll learn a lot from how fast the answer comes.

The work log, one page

Here's the format. Copy it, send it to your agency, and tell them this is what you want by the 5th of every month.

Firm: Hart & Vance PLLC · Month: August 2026 · Program: Faster SEO & AI Visibility

What changed vs. last month

• Map Pack avg position (6 core searches): 3.1 → 2.3
• Calls from GBP: 19 → 24 · Forms from organic: 9 → 12
• Rankings page 1: 14 → 19 keywords (full list in appendix, where it belongs)
• AI check: named by ChatGPT for 2 of 6 core queries (was 0)

Not done / carried over

• Estate planning practice page: waiting on attorney review since Aug 12.
• Spanish practice pages: writer assigned, due Sep 10.

Next month

• 4 location pages (Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown) — with real office/coverage facts, not templates.
• Second guest article placed; PR pitch on the trucking case (with your OK).
• Intake review call: 6 missed calls in August — 20 minutes with your front desk.

That's it. One page, and you know exactly what $5,400 bought.

What the work log tells you that the report can't

Whether the work matches the plan. If your 18-month roadmap said "content + Maps in months 1–4," the log should show pages and profile changes. If it shows "monitoring" and "analysis," you have a problem.

Whether the agency is stuck on you. "Waiting on attorney review since Aug 12" is a useful sentence. Half the SEO delays I've seen in law firms are pages sitting in a partner's inbox. The log makes it visible without anyone getting blamed.

Whether volume is real. "12 links" means nothing; "Texas Bar blog, KXAN quote, 2 sponsorships, 2 directories" you can go look at. Ask for URLs. Every time.

Whether a quiet month is honest or hidden. A thin log with a reason ("we published nothing new because the site migration ate the month; here's what moved") is fine. A thin log with a traffic chart on top of it is the thing you're paying $5,400 to not notice.

The three questions to ask when you get it

1. Can I see it? Every page, link, profile change and schema addition has a URL. Ask for them. An agency doing the work will send them in a minute.
2. Who did it? Names. If the content was written by "the content team," ask who on the content team and whether they've ever spoken to a lawyer.
3. What would you have done with 20% more? The answer tells you whether they have a plan or a checklist.

If your agency won't produce one

Ask once, in writing, with the template. Give them a month. If the second month's "work log" is a rankings chart with a new title, you've learned what you needed to. Most agencies aren't hiding anything malicious — they're just not doing much, and the format was protecting them from having to say so.

Frequently asked questions

Isn't this micromanaging? It's a statement of work. You'd expect one from a contractor building your office. You're paying the same money.

What if the agency says the work is "proprietary"? Pages, links and profile changes on your own properties are not proprietary. If they mean their process, fine — you're not asking for the process, you're asking for the output.

How long should it take them to produce this? If they're doing the work, twenty minutes — it's a list of what they already did. If it takes two weeks, that's your answer.

Do you send this to your own clients? Yes, by the 5th, with URLs. It's the first section of our monthly report; cases and channels are the second (that report is described here); rankings are the appendix.

Want to see what the work would look like for your firm before you hire anyone? Your Growth Plan includes an 18-month roadmap by channel — the same one the work log is measured against. Free, in 48 hours. Get your Growth Plan

Attorney advertising services. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The sample work log is illustrative.