Key Frequently Asked Questions
Everything You Need to Know Before Starting Your SEO Partnership with Kaizen
This FAQ page is designed to give you complete clarity before you invest. Whether you’re exploring your first SEO strategy or scaling visibility across multiple offices, every answer here explains exactly how our services work, what you receive, and how it delivers measurable results.
You’ll find clear guidance on which package fits your agency size and stage, what’s included in each deliverable, and how we track progress through your custom Strategy Workbook. We’ve also included detailed sections on pricing, reporting, ROI, and governance so there are no surprises once your campaign begins.
Think of this page as your reference point - everything from technical execution to AI visibility and link-building is covered in plain language. If you’re comparing the Blueprint, Playbook, or our Retainer tiers, start here to understand where each option fits in your growth journey and how Kaizen SEO aligns strategy, delivery, and accountability from day one.
1. Package Fit and Selection
1.1 Which SEO package is right for my agency size and stage?
It depends on your goal. Advocate Blueprint is a one time set of clear recommendations for micro agencies. Innovate Playbook is a one off, board ready strategy for larger firms that need to de risk investment. Retainers are for execution. Advocate is for small agency foundations. Elevate is for national growth. Dominate is for enterprise market leadership.
1.2 How do I choose between the Blueprint, the Playbook, and a Retainer?
If you have the internal team to execute, choose a one time strategy. Blueprint provides a light one time strategy with clear priorities. Playbook provides a comprehensive, board level plan. If you want us to handle execution month after month, choose a Retainer. Advocate, Elevate, or Dominate.
1.3 What is the difference between the Advocate Blueprint and the Innovate Playbook?
Advocate Blueprint at £795 is a tactical, 16 component starter strategy to implement internally. Innovate Playbook at £1795 is a comprehensive, 29 component board ready strategy designed to secure leadership sign off for significant SEO investment.
1.4 How do Advocate, Elevate, and Dominate compare?
Advocate at £395 per month focuses on crawl, indexing, and schema so small agencies get found in Google. | Elevate at £1495 per month is a structured programme for mid sized agencies to scale from local to national visibility through content, technical SEO, and authority building. | Dominate at £2495 per month is an enterprise programme to establish market leadership across multiple sectors and locations with every action tied to revenue.
1.5 Can I start with Blueprint and later upgrade to a retainer?
Yes. The Advocate Blueprint hands off directly to Advocate, Elevate, or Dominate. No rework.
1.6 Do you offer guidance on which package fits best?
Yes. Every engagement starts with a free consultation to diagnose needs and recommend the most effective option.
2. Deliverables and Scope
2.1 The Strategy Workbook
2.1.1 What is the workbook I receive?
It is the central nervous system of your strategy. We deliver and populate a multi tab spreadsheet containing analysis, recommendations, and plans. You own it permanently once payment clears for the relevant work.
2.1.2 How do the workbook tabs connect so work flows cleanly?
It is a system. Crawl insights in Master URL Sheet populate issues in Foundations Overview. Priorities flow into Deployment Tracker. Outcomes roll into the EOM Reporting template. Keyword data informs the Required Pages Plan, which feeds Architecture and Page Planning and the Internal Linking Plan. You can edit all weights and priorities.
2.1.3 Which tabs are always on and which are situational?
Always on: Welcome and KPI Overview. Master URL Sheet. Foundations Overview. Top Pages. Top Queries. Current Rankings. Keyword Gap. Keyword Opportunity Matrix. Core Pages and Outlinks. Internal Linking Plan. Content Pruning. Backlink Profile. EOM Reporting Template. Deployment Tracker. Google Business Profile Analysis. Conversion Tracking Plan. GA4 and GTM Checklist.
Situational: Pre Migration Audit. Migration SEO Checklist. Overview and Timeline for 90 Day AI Sprint. Voice and SGE Optimisation. SEO and AEO Content Checklist. Topical Authority. Brand Mentions Audit. AI Visibility Tracker.
2.1.4 Welcome and KPI Overview - what is it and how do we use it?
A one page summary of goals, KPIs, and measurement. We populate baseline metrics and target events. You review and confirm success definitions.
2.1.5 Master URL Sheet - what is in it and how is it built?
A full export of site URLs with status codes, indexability, canonicals, duplicates, and speed flags. We build it from a crawl. You can filter to create worklists.
2.1.6 Foundations Overview - what problems does it flag?
Crawlability, indexation, Core Web Vitals, canonicals, duplication, and thin pages. Priorities are scored to surface fix first actions.
2.1.7 Top Pages - what decisions does it inform?
Pages earning clicks and impressions. We highlight quick wins and candidates for optimisation. Use it to deploy effort where impact is fastest.
2.1.8 Top Queries - how do we act on this?
Terms driving visibility. We map intent to pages and identify gaps where new content or on page changes will lift CTR and rankings.
2.1.9 Current Rankings - what is the point?
Baseline positions and competitor set. We track movements and relate them to work completed in the Deployment Tracker.
2.1.10 Keyword Gap - what does it reveal?
Where competitors rank and you do not. We convert these into opportunities in the Keyword Opportunity Matrix and the Required Pages Plan.
2.1.11 Keyword Opportunity Matrix - how are scores calculated?
Weighted across volume, difficulty, intent, and commercial value. Defaults are sensible. You can adjust weights to match business goals.
2.1.12 Required Pages Plan - what do we actually get?
A list of priority long tail pages for role or location. For Blueprint you get five outline level briefs. In retainers this scales into full landing pages with interlinking.
2.1.13 Architecture and Page Planning - why does this matter?
Defines hubs, pillars, and supporting pages. We map URL patterns and relationships so growth is structured.
2.1.14 Core Pages and Outlinks - what is the action here?
Identifies high authority pages and prescribes internal links to lift target URLs. Includes anchor guidance and placement notes.
2.1.15 Internal Linking Plan - how detailed is it?
A tactical map of link sources, targets, and anchors across blogs and pages. Prioritised by impact so you can implement in passes.
2.1.16 Content Pruning - what qualifies for removal or rewrite?
Low value, duplicate, thin, or non performing pages. We recommend consolidate, redirect, or rewrite with rationale and risk notes.
2.1.17 Backlink Profile - what do you evaluate?
Referring domains, anchor mix, authority, and risk. We flag disavow candidates conservatively and list safe authority opportunities.
2.1.18 Google Business Profile Analysis - what is included?
Category, NAP, services, products, reviews, Q and A, and photo cadence. We provide corrective actions and priorities for local visibility.
2.1.19 Conversion Tracking Plan - what events are tracked?
Applications, enquiries, calls, form submits, and key downloads. We specify naming, triggers, and success criteria so GA4 reporting is consistent.
2.1.20 GA4 and GTM Checklist - do you fix or just flag?
We verify and document what to change. Net new setup or complex fixes can be added to a retainer or scoped as an add on.
2.1.21 Voice and SGE Optimisation - when is this used?
For AI and answer engine readiness. We test answerability, snippetability, and schema posture. Actions focus on direct answers and FAQ structure.
2.1.22 SEO and AEO Content Checklist - what does it enforce?
Ensures new content ships answer ready. Headings, Q and A blocks, schema, internal links, and clarity signals. Applied across content creation.
2.1.23 Topical Authority - how do you build clusters?
We define pillar topics and supporting articles per sector. Interlinking rules and coverage depth are specified to earn authority signals.
2.1.24 Brand Mentions Audit - why track this?
Unlinked citations and brand visibility that strengthen E E A T. We log outreach targets to convert mentions into links where appropriate.
2.1.25 AI Visibility Tracker - what does it measure?
Presence in AI Overviews, Featured Snippets, and People Also Ask for target queries. We record wins and correlate with work delivered.
2.1.26 EOM Reporting Template - what will we see monthly?
A roll up of KPIs, wins, and actions completed. We include the next 30 days focus so stakeholders know what is coming.
2.1.27 Deployment Tracker - how granular is the tracking?
Every task, owner, status, ETA, and dependency. Change requests and scope impacts are logged here for full transparency.
2.1.28 Pre Migration Audit - when is it required?
Before any CMS or domain changes. It lists redirects, parity checks, and risk items so you avoid ranking loss.
2.1.29 Migration SEO Checklist - what happens during go live?
Redirect validation, indexation checks, Core Web Vitals spot checks, and SERP monitoring. We record issues and resolutions in real time.
2.1.30 Overview and Timeline for 90 Day AI Sprint - who uses this?
Only when you opt for a focused AI readiness sprint. It breaks work into weekly milestones to accelerate answer engine inclusion.
2.1.31 Data sources - what powers each tab?
Crawl data, GA4, GSC, Semrush, Google Business Profile, and public web data. No personal data is stored.
2.1.32 Edit rights - what can we change safely?
Weights, priorities, owners, and notes are safe to edit. Structural formulas are protected. Ask us for structural changes to avoid breaking views.
2.1.33 Version control - how do we avoid clashes?
Nominate one internal owner and agree edit windows. We can also keep a monthly snapshot tab for audit history.
2.1.34 Handover - what if we switch to internal delivery?
You keep the workbook, Deployment Tracker, and reporting. We supply a status summary and next steps so your team can continue without rework.
2.2 Advocate Blueprint at £795 one time
2.2.1 What exactly is included in the Advocate Blueprint?
A 16 component strategy with clear, prioritised recommendations. KPI alignment, GBP optimisation guidance, technical and on page priorities, schema guidance, a light Required Pages Plan with five long tail pages, internal linking priorities, a curated directory list, and actions to strengthen authority.
2.2.2 Does the Blueprint include copywriting or design changes?
No. Recommendations only. Delivery can be added through the Advocate Retainer.
2.2.3 Do you include content briefs for the Required Pages Plan?
Outline level briefs for five pages. Full writer ready briefs are part of Elevate and Dominate.
2.2.4 How many review calls are included?
One walkthrough call. Further support is available through the Advocate Retainer.
2.3 Innovate Playbook at £1795 one time
2.3.1 How is the Playbook different from a big audit?
It merges audits with prioritised strategy, governance, and costed recommendations. Foundations Overview, Topical Authority, Architecture and Page Planning, and a RACI make ownership and impact clear.
2.3.2 Do you include a RACI with owners and checkpoints?
Yes. Owners, responsibilities, and cadence are defined.
2.3.3 Can you include a costed scenario plan?
Yes. Effort ranges and phased cost guidance to model low, medium, and high paths.
2.3.4 Will you join our board meeting?
Yes on request. One presentation session is included.
2.3.5 What does handover to a retainer look like?
We implement from the same workbook. No rework. The Deployment Tracker becomes the live plan.
2.4 Advocate Retainer at £395 per month
2.4.1 What is included at £395 per month?
Crawl and indexing fixes. Schema validation. Google Business Profile optimisation. On page improvements. Internal linking actions. Monthly reporting and a strategy call.
2.4.2 What is not included at £395 per month?
Full content creation, large scale outreach, and complex development tasks. These sit with Elevate and Dominate or are scoped as add ons.
2.5 Elevate Retainer at £1495 per month
2.5.1 How many new assets are created per month?
Typically one high value asset plus four to five page optimisations. Mix varies by opportunity.
2.5.2 Do you build role and location landing pages?
Yes. Elevate scales the Required Pages Plan into role and location pages and interlinks them within service hubs.
2.5.3 Do you do proactive link earning?
Yes. Safe citation outreach each month. Larger campaigns are delivered in Dominate, more complex campagins are scoped separately.
2.6 Dominate Retainer at £2495 per month
2.6.1 What service depth is unique in Dominate?
Scale and governance. Multi location content systems. Enterprise reporting. Priority support. Larger monthly volumes. Geo Dominance Framework.
2.6.2 How do you coordinate across multiple offices and sectors?
Plans per market and sector. Geo pages and schema per office. Hub and spoke interlinking shares authority across the network.
3. Pricing, Fees, and Payment
3.1 How much does each package cost?
Advocate Blueprint £795one time. Innovate Playbook £1795 one time. Advocate Retainer £395 per month. Elevate Retainer £1495 per month. Dominate Retainer £2495 per month.
3.2 How are fees structured and when are they due?
Retainers are payable in advance at the agreed monthly or quarterly fee plus VAT. All amounts are non refundable.
3.3 How does the first pro rata invoice work?
If the Commencement Date is after the first of the month, the first invoice covers from the Commencement Date to month end. It must be paid before services commence.
3.4 When do you invoice monthly thereafter?
From the first of the following month, invoices are raised on the first in advance for that month. Payment is due on the 30th of the month.
3.5 Can you work with enterprise net terms?
Yes. We can submit invoices up to 30 days in advance for processing. Payment still needs to clear before the service month begins.
3.6 What happens if payment is late or not received?
Services pause automatically if payment is not received by the service period start date. All deliverables, reports, dashboards, schema, and outputs remain Kaizen property until payment clears in full. You will also be disqualified from the Prompt Payment Rebate outlined in section 3.8
3.8 How do you incentivise prompt payments?
We reward clients who pay early with a prompt payment rebate. When invoices are settled on or befire the due date, and by standing order, you’ll receive a [%tbc] rebate at the end of your agreement.
The rebate only applies to on-time, consecutive payments and excludes one-off projects like the Blueprint or Playbook
3.8 Do you charge VAT?
Yes. All fees are plus VAT where applicable.
4. Investment, ROI, and Risk for CEOs and CFOs
4.1 What is the financial risk if we delay SEO investment for six to twelve months?
Expect higher paid media costs, continued reliance on low margin job boards, and a compounding authority gap that will take longer and cost more to close.
4.2 What are the stop or go criteria for success?
We agree leading indicators such as indexation rate, Core Web Vitals pass rate, and AI or PAA features won, and lagging indicators such as applications and enquiries. If leading indicators fail to move in the agreed window, we revise course before scaling spend.
4.3 How should we budget this as capex or opex?
Blueprint and Playbook are one time strategic assets and can be budgeted like capex. Retainers are opex.
4.4 What will change in our unit economics?
Lower cost per application and cost per lead from higher qualified organic flow, improving consultant productivity and margins.
5. Onboarding, Execution, and Collaboration
5.1 What do you need from us to begin?
Access to GA4, GSC, GBP and CMS. Priority sectors and locations. One senior owner for decisions. A reviewer for content sign off in Elevate and Dominate.
5.2 How long does onboarding take?
Typically one week from access. If data is missing, we flag gaps and proceed with available information while specifying fixes.
5.3 How do you handle conflicting stakeholder input?
We record assumptions and decisions in a log and show the impact of scope changes. This protects timelines and expectations.
5.4 How do you manage change requests?
We log them in the Deployment Tracker with effort and impact. Items outside scope are quoted or scheduled for a later cycle.
5.5 Can we add hours in a busy month?
Yes. We can add a temporary uplift or move you to the next tier if sustained.
5.6 Do you follow our brand and legal guidelines?
Yes. Provide brand voice and compliance notes. We apply them to all content and on page changes.
5.7 Do you provide training or handover?
The workbook is the living handover. One time plans include a walkthrough call. Retainers include monthly alignment.
6. Technical, Data, and Migrations
6.1 Do we need a developer to implement fixes?
Many actions are CMS level. Core Web Vitals, large redirect sets, or templated schema can need developer help. We flag these clearly.
6.2 Will you set up GA4 or GSC for us?
We verify configuration and specify fixes in the workbook. Net new setup is an add on or delivered in a retainer.
6.3 How do you benchmark keyword rankings and competitors?
Semrush for baseline positions in Current Rankings and a Keyword Gap analysis to show where competitors outrank you.
6.4 Will you support our site migration?
Yes. Use the Pre Migration Audit and Migration SEO Checklist tabs. Delivery can be added to any retainer or scoped as a project.
6.5 Do you help pick a CMS or theme?
We advise on SEO friendly options and document platform constraints in Foundations Overview.
6.6 Can you map GA4 conversions to our ATS?
Yes where supported. We document the approach in the Conversion Tracking Plan. UTM discipline and consistent event naming are required.
6.7 Is any personal data stored in the workbook?
No. The workbook contains no personal data. It uses aggregate GA4 and GSC data and public crawl data. Access is managed in your workspace.
7. Content, Authority, and AI Visibility
7.1 Do you create content or just advise?
In Elevate and Dominate we plan and produce content as well as optimise pages. In one time strategies we provide the plan for your team or you can engage a retainer.
7.2 How many pages or blogs are optimised or created each month?
Elevate typically includes four to five page optimisations and one new asset. Dominate scales to ten or more optimisations and four new assets per month.
7.3 What is a content hub and why do we need one?
A pillar page with interlinked supporting content. Signals depth to search engines and AI, builds topical authority, and broadens rankings.
7.4 How do you stop content bloat?
Content Pruning identifies thin or underperforming pages to rework, merge, or remove based on traffic and rankings.
7.5 Do you help with links and authority?
Yes. Elevate and Dominate include safe authority building and directory curation. Larger campaigns are scoped separately.
7.6 How do you prepare for AI Overviews and voice results?
We use Voice and SGE Optimisation to structure direct answers. The SEO and AEO Content Checklist ensures new content is answer ready. We implement FAQPage, JobPosting, Organization, and LocalBusiness schema first, then add Breadcrumb and HowTo where relevant.
7.7 Do you use AI to write content?
We use AI for research and outlines. Final copy is written and edited by humans for accuracy, brand fit, and E E A T. All copy is human reviewed.
7.8 How do you measure national expansion in Elevate?
We track rankings, impressions, clicks, applications, and enquiries by service and by location. Results appear in the monthly report.
7.9 Do you support international sites and languages?
Yes in Dominate. We include hreflang, market architecture, and localisation guidance. Content localisation can be added or handled by your team.
8. Reporting, Governance, and SLAs
8.1 How do you report progress?
Monthly reports follow the EOM Reporting Template. Live work and statuses are visible in the Deployment Tracker.
8.2 Do you provide board ready reporting?
Yes. Welcome and KPI Overview and the EOM Reporting Template are board friendly. Innovate Playbook includes a concise executive summary deck.
8.3 What are the SLAs for priority support in Dominate?
Same day acknowledgement for critical issues. Targeted turnaround windows for urgent indexing or schema incidents. Escalation path is documented in the Deployment Tracker.
8.4 How do you prove revenue impact at enterprise scale?
We track organic applications and client enquiries per market or office in GA4 and, where possible, map to placement value to show revenue influence.
9. Contract Terms, Ownership, and Confidentiality
9.1 What are the contract terms for retainers?
The standard agreement runs for an initial twelve month fixed term from the Commencement Date. At Month Twelve it converts to a rolling monthly contract cancellable by either party with thirty days written notice.
9.2 Is there an early termination option?
Yes. A midpoint break clause can allow either party to terminate at the six month mark by giving no less than thirty days notice before the end of Month Five. Services conclude at Month Six. There are no refunds for work invoiced or completed.
9.3 Who owns the workbook and deliverables?
Ownership transfers to you on cleared payment for the relevant period or project. Until then, Kaizen retains ownership of all deliverables including the workbook, reports, dashboards, schema, and other outputs.
9.4 Do you keep our information confidential?
Yes. Both parties keep sensitive business, strategy, and technical information confidential. This remains in effect for twelve months after termination except where disclosure is legally required.
9.5 What law governs the agreement?
England and Wales.
9.6 What happens if we pause or stop?
If payment is outstanding, services pause and Kaizen retains ownership and access. Once settled, ownership and access resume. After the initial term, you can cancel on thirty days notice. We provide a handover of status and next steps. You can resume later without rework.
9.7 What if a third party changes our site and rankings drop?
Kaizen is not responsible for third party changes that harm performance. We will document risks and fixes in the workbook.
