Our Methodology
A five-stage process. Specific tools. A clear list of what we will not do.
Published in full so you can see how we work before you ever speak to us.
Why This Page Exists
Most SEO consultancies and agencies are vague about how they actually work. The vagueness is intentional. It makes scope creep easier and accountability harder. We do the opposite: write down the process, name the tools, list the things we will not do, and let prospective clients judge for themselves whether it sounds like the kind of help they need.
This page covers the five stages we work through, the tools and platforms we use at each stage, and the work we will not take on. The detail is here because clarity matters more than mystique.
The Five Stages
Each stage produces something tangible: a document, a brief, a specification. The work is not abstract.
Audit
We start with the current state. What is the site ranking for now, what is it not ranking for that it should be, where are the obvious technical and content issues, and what is the competitive landscape actually look like.
What you get
- Current organic visibility snapshot (queries, pages, position trends)
- Top-level technical issue list
- Content and topical gap summary
- Competitor positioning notes
Typical timeframe: 1 to 2 weeks
Crawl
Deep technical analysis. We crawl the site the way Google does, looking for indexability blockers, broken internal links, structured data issues, page speed problems, and architectural decisions that are quietly costing rankings.
What you get
- Full crawl report with prioritised technical issues
- Indexation review against Search Console data
- Internal linking analysis
- Structured data audit (existing schema, missing schema, schema errors)
- Core Web Vitals review
Typical timeframe: 1 week
Explore
Keyword and intent research, AI search positioning, opportunity sizing. The output is a clear picture of what your customers are searching for, what they expect to find when they search, and where the realistic ranking opportunities are.
What you get
- Keyword research grouped by topic and intent
- Search demand and competition data
- AI search visibility testing (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews)
- Opportunity matrix scoring effort vs likely impact
Typical timeframe: 2 weeks
Create
Hand-off ready briefs, technical specifications, and schema implementations. We do not write your blog content. We write the briefs your writers (or your AI) work from, and review what comes back against the search target.
What you get
- Content briefs for new and existing pages
- Technical specifications for developer hand-off
- Schema implementation (we can write the JSON-LD or specify it for your team)
- Internal linking recommendations
- Page-level optimisation checklists
Typical timeframe: Ongoing within the engagement
Optimise
Measurement, iteration, freshness. SEO is sustained work, not a one-off project. We track what is working, revise what is not, and keep the existing content fresh as search behaviour and the algorithm shift.
What you get
- Monthly performance review (rankings, impressions, clicks, AI search visibility)
- Content freshness recommendations
- Algorithm update impact analysis when relevant
- Quarterly strategy review
Typical timeframe: Ongoing
Tools and Platforms
The tools below are what we use day to day. Not an exhaustive list, and we are not religious about any of them. New tools come along; we adopt the ones that earn their keep and drop the ones that do not.
Search engine platform tools
- Google Search Console
- Bing Webmaster Tools
The authoritative source for what each search engine actually sees on your site. Indexation status, query data, technical alerts, and structured data validation all come from here first.
Crawling and technical analysis
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider
For deep technical crawls. Lets us see the site the way a search engine bot does, including issues that are invisible from the front end.
Keyword and competitive research
- Semrush
For keyword research, competitive analysis, search demand data, and SERP feature tracking. The data informs the Explore stage.
SERP feature and meta tag analysis
- Meta tag inspectors
- People Also Ask analysis
- Related queries tools
For checking how pages currently present themselves to search engines, and for surfacing the related questions and entities Google associates with a topic.
AI search testing
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Google AI Overviews
AI search visibility is now its own optimisation surface. We test how AI assistants summarise topics in your space and whether your site is among the sources they cite. Tooling that reports on this is improving but still patchy, so direct testing is essential.
We have used Ahrefs, Google Analytics, and Accuranker on prior engagements. Where a client already has access to one of these, we work with what they have rather than insisting on our own stack.
What We Will Not Do
The list below is as much about what you can rely on us not to do as it is about what we offer. An SEO partner who is unwilling to write down their boundaries is one who reserves the right to cross them.
- Write the blog content itself (we provide briefs your writers or AI work from, then review the output)
- Buy or trade links
- Generate bulk AI content
- Cloaking, doorway pages, or any tactic that risks a manual penalty
- Promise specific rankings or timelines we cannot back up
Why Transparency Matters Here
SEO has a credibility problem. The industry is full of vague promises, recycled advice, and tactics that worked five years ago and now actively cause harm. Buyers are right to be sceptical.
The way we try to address that is by being specific in public. Specific about the process, specific about the tools, specific about what we will not do. If anything on this page changes, the page changes with it. There is no hidden methodology document for paying clients only.
If something looks wrong, missing, or overclaimed, we want to hear about it. Email hello@surreysearchsquad.com.
See Whether We Are a Fit
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