SEO agency, Glasgow. Working with service businesses across the UK.
SEO that gets your business found first, on Google, on Maps and in AI answers.
When someone in your area searches for what you do, we make sure it’s your business they see, your number they ring, and your name ChatGPT gives when they ask for a recommendation. No jargon, no reports you can’t read, and no contract tying you in.
10 years in business · Rated 5.0 on Google · No minimum contract
Is SEO right for your business?
SEO is the right move if most of your work comes from people searching for a local tradesman or service, you want enquiries that don’t stop the moment you stop paying for ads, and you’re happy to give it a few months to build.
It’s probably not the right first move if you need jobs next week. In that case we’d point you to Google Ads first and build SEO alongside it, which is what most of our clients end up doing.
We’ll tell you which it is before you spend a penny. That’s what the free audit is for. If you’re in one of the trades we work with most, see how we do SEO for roofers, electricians, builders and pest control companies.
What you get
What we actually do, month by month.
Most SEO companies list the same six things. Here’s what each one means in practice for a service business, so you can hold us to it.
Technical fixes first
Slow pages, broken links, missing page titles, pages Google can’t find, duplicate content from an old site, forms that don’t work on a phone. We fix the things stopping Google from ranking you before we try to rank you.
Google Business Profile
For a local business the map results are where the phone calls come from. We set your profile up properly, pick the right categories and service areas, add your services and photos, keep it active with posts, and help you get a steady flow of reviews.
A page for every service and every area
A roofer in Glasgow doesn’t rank for “roof repairs Paisley” with one homepage. You need a page for roof repairs, one for flat roofs, one for Paisley, one for East Kilbride. We plan the full set, write them properly, and add them in the order that brings work in fastest.
Content that answers real questions
“How much does a new boiler cost?” “Do I need planning permission for a roof extension?” Your customers are typing these in. Short, plain-English guides on your site catch them early, build trust, and give Google and AI tools a reason to treat you as the expert.
Listings and links
Your business listed accurately, with the same name, address and phone number, on the directories that matter for your trade. Then real links from relevant sites, built steadily each month, so Google sees your business as established rather than new.
AI search visibility
More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overview for “a good roofer near me” instead of scrolling results. We structure your site and your presence across the web so those tools can find you, understand what you do and where, and mention you by name.
What to expect
A realistic timeline for a local service business.
Every business and area is different, and we’ll give you your own version of this before you start. But this is roughly how it goes for a tradesman or local service company with a reasonable website and some competition.
1
Month 1: foundations
Full audit, technical fixes, Google Business Profile sorted, keyword plan agreed with you, first service pages written. You’ll often see map rankings move in this month alone.
2
Months 2–3: build
Service and area pages going live each month, listings cleaned up, first links built, review flow running. Rankings for your main services start climbing from page three or four towards page one.
3
Months 4–6: traction
This is usually where the phone starts ringing from search, not just from ads. We see which pages are bringing enquiries, double down on those, and push into the next set of services and towns.
4
Month 6 onwards: compound
SEO keeps paying after the work is done. Pages that rank keep bringing enquiries month after month, which is why a Glasgow roofing company we’ve worked with for years grew from under £100,000 to £2 million on the back of it.
Been burned before?
Why this won’t be like the last SEO company.
Most business owners who come to us have paid for SEO before and can’t say what they got for it. We’ve audited enough of those accounts to know the pattern: a monthly report full of graphs, no new pages, no new links, and a phone that’s no busier than it was.
“We audited a gas engineer’s website after he’d paid another agency for six months. No meaningful work had been done, and the call button on his site was dialling a competitor. We helped him get around £5,500 refunded.”
Yas, Director
You see the work, not just a report
Every month you get a plain list of what was done: which pages went live, which links were built, what changed on your profile. Plus the number that matters, enquiries, in one page you can read in two minutes.
You own everything
Your website, your Google profile, your content, your accounts. All in your name. If you ever leave, you take it all with you and nothing stops working.
No minimum contract
We advise giving SEO at least three months, because that’s how long it takes to build traction. But that’s advice, not a lock-in. You stay because it’s working.
Run by someone who’s done it for his own business
ISTRATAGEM was started by a service business owner who built his own company’s enquiries with SEO before doing it for anyone else. You can reach him directly on WhatsApp.
What our clients have seen.
£100k to £2 million
Roofing company, Glasgow, turnover over five years, driven by SEO
30+ jobs quoted in a week
Essential Roofing, Perth, within months of starting, and off MyBuilder for good
5.0 on Google
Every review from a business owner we’ve worked with
SEO or Google Ads first?
Google Ads is a tap. Turn it on and enquiries come in within days. Turn it off and they stop. You pay for every click.
SEO is a well. It takes months to dig, but once it’s there the enquiries keep coming without paying per click, and they’re usually better quality because people trust the organic results more.
Most of our clients run both: Ads for enquiries now, SEO for enquiries later, and the Ads budget comes down as the SEO takes over. If you can only do one, the audit will tell you which. More about our Google Ads management.
SEO questions
What business owners ask us about SEO.
How much does SEO cost?
It depends on your market and how far there is to go. A plumber in a small town competing with three other firms needs a lot less than a roofer in Glasgow competing with fifty. We review your existing online presence and your niche first, then give you a clear monthly figure and what you can expect for it. We don’t quote blind, because a number without context is meaningless.
How long does SEO take to work?
Map rankings can move within weeks. Website rankings for your main services usually take three to six months to reach page one, depending on competition. That’s why we advise committing to at least three months. We’ll tell you what to expect for your business before you start, and we’ll tell you if it’s not going to work.
Can you guarantee the number one spot?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. Nobody controls Google. What we can do is show you every piece of work we’ve done each month, the rankings moving, and the enquiries it’s bringing in.
Do I need a new website first?
Not always. If your current site is sound, we’ll work with it. If it’s slow, hard to edit or built in a way that fights Google, we’ll say so, because SEO on a bad website is money down the drain. The free audit tells you which. If you do need one, we build websites too, so nothing falls between two suppliers.
What’s actually included each month?
New service or area pages, content, link building, directory listings, Google Business Profile management, technical maintenance, and a monthly report of what was done and what it brought in. How much of each depends on your plan, which we agree with you in plain terms up front.
I only work in a few towns. Is SEO still worth it?
Local SEO is where it works best. You’re not competing with the whole country, just the firms in your area, and most of them are doing very little. A page for each town you cover plus a properly managed Google Business Profile is often enough to take the top spots.
What is AI search, and does it matter to a business like mine?
More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overview for a recommendation instead of scrolling through results, and the number is growing every month. Those tools decide who to mention based on how clearly and consistently your business shows up across the web. We build that into every SEO plan rather than selling it as a separate thing.
Can I keep my current web designer?
Yes. We work alongside other suppliers all the time. We’ll just need access to make changes, or we’ll send them a clear list of what needs doing. If that becomes a bottleneck we’ll tell you.
See where you rank, and why.
Send us your details and we’ll review your Google visibility for free. You’ll get a plain-English rundown of:
- What you rank for now, and what you’re missing
- Which competitors are ahead of you and why
- Whether your website is helping or holding you back
- The three fixes that would make the biggest difference
Under £100,000 to £2 million
Turnover growth for a Glasgow roofing company over five years, driven by SEO.
Rated 5.0 on Google
Prefer to talk? Call 0141 378 0881, WhatsApp 07542 737977 or email hello@istratagem.co.uk.