The Boltly SEO process, stage by stage
A launch team doesn't light the engines before the fuel is in, and SEO works the same way. Every Boltly engagement runs through six stages in a fixed order, and each one hands you something you can hold. Below the countdown are four things you can check yourself, any month, without asking us.
Updated
- T-6Audit and discovery
- T-5Keyword and market research
- T-4Technical foundations
- T-3Content and on-page
- T-2Authority and local signals
- T-1Reporting, repeats monthly
- OwnershipAccounts stay in your name
Your Business Profile, Search Console, Analytics and domain belong to your business. We work as an added user.
Check: the users list in each account - Work doneA change log with addresses
Every report lists the pages we edited or published and the links earned, each with its URL, so you can open them.
Check: click any line in the log - ResultsEnquiries before rankings
The report opens with calls, forms and bookings that came from search. Rankings come after, as supporting detail.
Check: ask new customers how they found you - ExitStop at the end of any month
No lock-in. Pages, content and fixes we built stay on your site and stay yours when the plan ends.
Check: your plan terms, in writing
Fix first, build second, report always
Google describes search in three stages: it crawls pages, indexes what it finds, and then serves results. A page that can't be crawled can't rank, however good it is. That's why technical foundations come before new content, and why research comes before either.
The order also protects your budget. Pages written onto a site Google struggles to read are wasted, links to thin pages build authority nothing can use, and skipping the audit means guessing. Plenty of disappointing SEO is reasonable work done in the wrong sequence, so the sequence never changes between clients. Only the time each stage needs for your site does.
Based on Google's in-depth explainer of how Search works, in Search Central, as read on 3 October 2026.
Mission rulesNever broken
- No building before the audit
- No new content on a site Google can't crawl
- No links pointing at thin pages
- No month without a report
What happens in each stage, and what you receive
Every stage ends with a deliverable, so you always know what the month bought.
- Stage 1
Audit and discovery
Your site, Search Console data, Google Business Profile and competitors, reviewed by a person.
You receive: a prioritised fix list - Stage 2
Keyword and market research
How your customers actually search, grouped into topics and mapped to the pages that should answer them.
You receive: your topical map - Stage 3
Technical foundations
Crawl errors, indexing gaps, slow pages and messy structure sorted before anything is built on top.
You receive: a healthier, faster site - Stage 4
Content and on-page
Pages written or rewritten to answer real questions, with clear titles, headings and internal links.
You receive: ranking-ready pages - Stage 5
Authority and local signals
A complete Business Profile, a steady review routine, accurate listings and earned links.
You receive: growing authority - Stage 6
Reporting and iteration
Enquiries from search first, then traffic and rankings, with a change log of every URL touched and next month planned on that evidence.
You receive: your monthly report
Whose name goes on the accounts
Yours. Before any audit starts, we check that you own the accounts your visibility lives in, because that decides whether you can leave any agency, us included, with your profile, data and site intact.
| Account | Owned by | What we get | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | You, as primary owner. | Manager access. Google gives managers almost the same access as owners, except they can't add or remove users or remove the profile. | Open the profile's people and access list and look for your own name as primary owner. |
| Search Console | You, as a verified owner. | Read access for the audit, which is what Google's own hiring advice suggests at that stage. Full user access only once work starts. | Settings, then Users and permissions. |
| Google Analytics | Your business account. | A user role on the property, which you can remove in one click. | Admin, then property access management. |
| Domain name | Your business, as the licence holder. | Nothing. We never need to hold your domain. | Search your .au name at whois.auda.org.au, the registry's lookup, and read the registrant name. |
| Website and hosting | You, with the main admin login. | A separate login of our own, so every change is traceable to us. | Your site's user list. |
When a plan ends
The pages, content, technical fixes and links built during the plan stay on your site and stay yours. Remove our logins and nothing else changes, because nothing was ever rented from us.
When another agency holds them
Ask now, while things are friendly. For a Business Profile someone else owns, Google has a request-ownership flow: find the business at business.google.com/add and choose Request access. For a domain in a designer's name, ask the registrar about a registrant transfer.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, "Manage owners and managers" and "Request ownership of a Business Profile"; Search Console Help, "Managing owners, users and permissions"; Google Search Central, "Do you need an SEO?" (updated 5 June 2026); auDA WHOIS. All read 5 October 2026.
Flight logA typical month
- Start of monthReview last month's numbers and confirm the plan
- Through the monthTechnical, content and authority work gets done
- End of monthReport written: enquiries first, then the change log of URLs
- Before the nextNext month planned from what the report shows
After launch, a steady monthly rhythm
After the audit and setup, each month has a written plan, the work itself and a report showing what changed. You never have to chase us for an update.
Stages three to five run again each month in whatever order the last report points to. If a technical problem appears, it jumps the queue. If a page starts slipping, it gets attention before new pages are written. Nothing joins the plan without a written reason, and you can stop at the end of any month.
You shouldn't need to take the report on trust: open a few URLs from the change log, check clicks and queries in your own Search Console Performance report over three to six months, and ask new customers how they found you. The same ranking screenshots every month with no list of changes is the warning sign, from any agency.
The launch window, in four phases
We plan in four phases and confirm the timeline for your market in writing after the audit, because Google's SEO Starter Guide says a change can show within hours or take several months. No one can promise a date for a ranking.
Month one is mostly setup: the audit, the topical map and the first technical fixes. Early changes show after that, usually on less competitive searches. Busier searches and national terms take longer, and each report shows the trend.
Source: Google Search Central, "SEO Starter Guide", read 3 October 2026.
Launch windowA planning shape
- Month 1Setup
- Months 2 and 3Early movement
- Months 4 to 6Growth on target pages
- Beyond 6 monthsCompetitive terms
A planning shape, not a promise.
One process, three published plans
The process is identical at every level; what changes is how much work each month holds. Plans are billed monthly with no lock-in, and the pricing page shows what each includes.
One local business, one priority area.
Competing across a city, with ongoing content.
Several locations, stores or crowded fields.
The SEO process, answered
What is the SEO process?
Boltly's SEO process has six stages: audit and discovery, keyword and market research, technical foundations, content and on-page work, authority and local signals, and monthly reporting. Each stage ends with a deliverable, and the last three repeat every month.
What are the SEO process steps?
Find out where the site stands, learn how customers search, fix what stops Google reading the site, build pages that answer real questions, earn trust through reviews and links, then measure and repeat.
How does SEO work step by step?
Google crawls pages, stores them in its index and serves the most useful ones for each search. SEO makes each of those steps easier for your site, then makes your pages the most useful answer. Our guide to what SEO is covers it in more depth.
What is the first step in the SEO process?
An audit. It shows what's holding the site back and which fixes will pay off first, so the plan rests on evidence. Ours is free.
What is the SEO process for a new website?
Research and structure come before launch: plan the pages around how customers search, set up clean URLs and a sitemap, and verify the site in Search Console. Google suggests bringing in help as early as possible when a new site is being planned.
What is the indexing process in SEO?
After Google crawls a page, it analyses the content and decides whether to store it in its index. Only indexed pages can appear in results, which is why stage three checks that your important pages are indexed.
How long does SEO take to work?
Google's guidance puts it anywhere from hours to months. Our planning assumes setup in month one, early movement after that and steadier growth from months four to six. More detail is in how long SEO takes.
Is the process the same for every business?
The stages and their order are the same. What changes is the work inside each one, which depends on your industry, your location and how healthy the site is to start with.
Who owns the Business Profile, Search Console and website while you work on them?
You do. Your business stays the primary owner of the Business Profile, a verified owner in Search Console, the owner of the Analytics account and the licence holder of the domain, and keeps the main website login. We're added as a manager or user, so you can remove us at any time and keep everything that was built.
How can I tell the SEO work was actually done?
Real work leaves evidence. Each monthly report has a change log of the pages edited or published and links earned, each with its URL to open. Your own Search Console shows clicks and queries over three to six months.
Google's autocomplete suggested seven of these questions when we searched "seo process" on 3 October 2026.
Start the countdown on your site
Stage one is a free audit. You'll see what's holding the site back before you spend anything.