Managed SEO in the AI Search Era

Managed SEO is a comprehensive service that handles every aspect of your search engine optimisation on an ongoing basis. It is designed for businesses that want to improve their online visibility but may not have the time, resources, or expertise to execute an effective SEO strategy on their own.

Yes, but the strategy has changed. Ranking in organic search still matters, particularly for buyers who click through. However, 68% of Google searches now end without any click to a website. A complete visibility strategy covers both: ranking in organic results and being cited in AI-generated answers.

Pricing varies based on scope and the competitiveness of your sector. Most UK managed SEO retainers start from around £500 per month for smaller sites. Better agencies tailor retainers to the work required rather than selling fixed packages, so you pay for what will actually move the needle.

Most businesses see measurable movement in rankings and traffic within 3–6 months of consistent SEO work. Building durable top-3 positions for competitive terms typically takes 9–12 months. We set realistic timelines at the outset based on your current domain authority and target keywords.

A typical month includes: reviewing rankings and traffic data, identifying new keyword opportunities, publishing or improving content, fixing technical issues flagged by monitoring tools, building links through outreach, and providing a monthly report with clear commentary. A good agency includes a monthly call so nothing gets lost in a report.

Yes, and increasingly it should. AI search — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and AI Overviews — now accounts for a meaningful share of how buyers research and shortlist suppliers. Your content needs to appear in both. The cleanest structure is SEO execution running alongside monthly AI visibility monitoring against a measured baseline, so citation gaps get spotted and closed as they appear.

Yes, and it is often a better fit for B2B software than paid advertising. In B2B, buying cycles are long and trust is built through content well before a conversation happens. Managed SEO builds that content foundation systematically — targeting the queries your buyers are running at every stage of the research process, including in AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

A project delivers a point-in-time output: an audit, a set of recommendations, a content plan. Managed SEO is the ongoing implementation — the auditing, the fixes, the content, the links, and the reporting, month after month. Most businesses that commission a project find the recommendations sit in a document nobody executes. Managed SEO is the difference between a plan and actual movement in rankings.

Less than it used to. SEO is delivered remotely almost everywhere now, and the quality of the monthly cycle matters far more than geography. Judge an agency on its reporting, its shipped work, and whether it can measure AI visibility — not its postcode.