Frequently asked questions

Most clients see early movement — increased impressions and long-tail keyword rankings — within 4–6 weeks. Meaningful traffic and revenue impact typically arrives between month 3 and month 6, depending on how competitive your industry is and the current state of your website. The key thing to understand is that SEO compounds: the work done in month one is still earning returns in month twelve.

Our SEO retainers are tailored to your goals and competition level. We start with a free audit to understand what is actually needed before we quote. We do not offer one-size-fits-all packages because the amount of work required varies hugely between a local service business and a national eCommerce site. Get in touch for an honest conversation about what your budget can realistically achieve.

No ethical SEO agency can guarantee rankings — Google controls its own algorithm. What we can guarantee is a thorough, transparent process, senior expertise on every task, clear monthly reporting, and a track record you can verify through our case studies. We will tell you honestly if a keyword is too competitive for your current domain authority.

Yes — more than ever. Organic search still drives more traffic than any other channel for most UK businesses, and unlike paid ads, the results compound over time. The rise of AI Overviews and answer engines has made quality, expert content more important, not less. Sites that rank now are the ones that will be cited by AI tools tomorrow.

Three things: senior specialists only (no juniors on your account), no lock-in contracts (month-to-month with 30 days notice), and complete transparency (live dashboards, monthly calls, no hiding behind jargon). The same person who audits your site is the one executing the work — there is no account manager layer between you and the specialist.

A technical SEO audit is a systematic review of your website's infrastructure — crawlability, indexation, Core Web Vitals, redirect chains, schema markup, site architecture, duplicate content, and more. Our audits cover over 200 individual checkpoints and are delivered with a prioritised fix roadmap, so you know exactly what to tackle first for maximum ranking impact.

Core Web Vitals are Google's set of performance metrics that measure real-world user experience: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint — loading speed), INP (Interaction to Next Paint — responsiveness), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift — visual stability). Sites that pass these metrics are rewarded in Google's Page Experience ranking signal. Every site we build or audit achieves a 90+ PageSpeed score.

The most reliable way is a crawl-based audit using tools like Screaming Frog combined with data from Google Search Console. Common signs of technical problems include pages not appearing in search results, a sudden drop in organic traffic, slow page load times, and Google Search Console showing crawl errors or coverage issues. Our free audit will identify your most critical technical issues within 48 hours.

We specialise in WordPress and WooCommerce, where we can implement fixes directly in the theme, plugins, and server configuration. For Shopify, Webflow, and other platforms, we provide detailed specifications that your developer (or ours) can implement. For legacy or bespoke CMS platforms, we assess feasibility before committing.

Custom WordPress builds at Web Ranko start from £3,500 for a brochure site (5–8 pages). More complex builds with custom post types, advanced functionality, or WooCommerce integration typically range from £6,000–£15,000. We provide fixed-price quotes after a discovery call — no hourly billing, no surprise invoices.

A standard brochure site takes 4–6 weeks from signed brief to launch. Larger builds with complex integrations or eCommerce take 8–12 weeks. Every project includes a detailed timeline in the scope document before we begin, and we build in a staging review period so you can test before going live.

Yes — if the migration is handled properly. We create a complete redirect map (old URL → new URL), submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console, and monitor ranking changes in the weeks after launch. For complex sites, we do a pre-launch SEO audit to catch any issues before they go live. We have a zero-ranking-loss track record on migrations we manage.

No. Every site we build uses a custom WordPress theme — hand-coded, no page builders. Page builders add significant weight to pages, make Core Web Vitals harder to pass, and create dependency on a third-party plugin for your site's entire structure. Custom themes are faster, cleaner, and easier to maintain long-term.

Yes. Our maintenance service covers security and plugin updates, uptime monitoring, monthly performance checks, and priority support for any issues. Monthly maintenance retainers start from £150/month. This is separate from SEO retainers, though many clients combine both.

Yes. While we are based in London (East, E12) with a second office in Manchester, the majority of our SEO work is location-independent — we work with UK businesses across Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, and internationally. Web development projects are fully remote-friendly. We communicate primarily via email, Slack, and monthly video calls.

A senior specialist (not a salesperson) reviews your site and responds within 48 hours with either a set of initial findings or a request for a brief discovery call. We do not follow up repeatedly or use high-pressure sales tactics. If we cannot genuinely help you, we will tell you that too.

Yes — our case studies section shows real results for real clients, including the specific services delivered, the problems we solved, and the measurable outcomes. All case studies are based on verified data from Google Search Console and Analytics.

Yes, on a selective basis. We provide white-label SEO and WordPress development for agencies that need senior capacity without growing headcount. Enquire via the contact form and mention white-label in the subject — we will respond with our current availability and rates.