Many Irish businesses were told at some point that “SEO is included” with their website. The problem is that very few owners know what that really means, and even fewer have ever seen proof that the work was done. Months go by, the site still does not appear on Google, and trust in agencies or developers slowly disappears.
At The Roadmap, we speak regularly with business owners who feel burned by previous SEO promises. Some were given reports they did not understand, others received no reporting at all. Most are simply left wondering: “Was any real SEO work done on my site, or did I just pay for a template and a promise?”
This article will help you answer that question. You will learn how SEO should be done properly, how to recognise the signs that it was not, and how to run a simple step-by-step DIY check on your own website, even if you are not technical.
SEO is not a bonus feature that can be switched on quietly in the background. It is one of the main reasons people find you in Google in the first place. If your SEO foundations were never set up, it affects everything from how many enquiries you receive to the return you get on every marketing euro you spend.
According to research from Ahrefs, around 96% of pages get no organic traffic from Google because they lack proper optimisation or authority. That statistic alone shows how easy it is to end up with a website that looks fine but is practically invisible.
When SEO is done properly, you should see clear signs over time: movement in rankings, growth in organic traffic, and a trackable set of keywords your site is being found for. When it is not done, you are essentially relying on word of mouth and chance.
Someone should have researched how your ideal customers actually search for your services. Those phrases and locations should then be built into your website structure, page titles and content. If you are a “solar installer in Galway” or a “family law solicitor in Dublin,” your site should reflect that in specific, deliberate ways.
Each key page should have a unique page title, meta description, headings, readable content, and internal links to related pages. This is the part of SEO that helps Google and humans understand what each page is about. It should not be random; it should be mapped out according to your services.
Technical SEO includes ensuring your site can be crawled and indexed by search engines, that it loads quickly, uses HTTPS, has a sitemap and is mobile friendly. Without these in place, even good content will struggle to rank.
For most SMEs, this means having a properly set up Google My Business profile, consistent business information across key directories, and at least some early work on building relevant links and citations.
If none of this sounds familiar, there is a strong chance your SEO was not done in a meaningful way.
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If an agency or developer tells you “we include SEO” but cannot show you what keywords they targeted, what pages they optimised or what results were achieved, that is a concern. Real SEO is specific, not vague.
Proper SEO always comes with reporting. You should have seen at least monthly or quarterly updates showing keyword rankings, organic traffic trends and any work completed. If you never received any reports, there is a strong possibility very little was done.
If you search your business name and location and still struggle to find yourself, or if you do not appear anywhere for very basic service searches in your own town, something is off. While new sites take time, a total lack of visibility after several months is a strong warning sign.
Read More: Digital Foundations Issues: Why Many Websites Fail to Bring Business
Open Google and try these searches:
Questions to ask yourself:
If you cannot find yourself at all for brand searches, that is a major red flag. For service searches, it may take time for a new site to appear, but you should at least be moving in that direction if SEO work has been done.
Read More: Local SEO 101: How to get your business discovered locally
Next, look at how your pages appear in Google’s results. The blue link is the page title, and the grey text underneath is the meta description.
Ask yourself:
If your homepage title is simply your business name, with no mention of what you offer or your location, it suggests keyword research and on-page optimisation were not properly considered.
Click into your homepage and one main service page. Scroll slowly and ask:
If your headings are vague, or if your content feels generic and unrelated to search behaviour, then on-page SEO may not have been done in a deliberate way.
In Google’s search bar, type:
site:yourdomain.com
Replace “yourdomain.com” with your actual website address.
This shows you how many pages Google has indexed from your website. It is a quick way to check whether your site is being seen at all.
Ask yourself:
If very few pages appear, or none at all, there may be technical SEO issues that were never addressed, such as a missing sitemap or indexing problems.
SEO without measurement is guesswork. You should know whether your site has basic tracking in place.
Ask your previous developer or look for:
If neither of these tools was ever set up, it suggests that SEO was not being measured properly, which makes it unlikely that it was being actively managed.
Search for your business name on Google and see if a profile appears on the right side (on desktop) or at the top (on mobile).
Check whether:
If you cannot find a profile at all, or if it was never claimed or completed, local SEO work may not have been part of the original SEO efforts at all.
If you worked with a developer or agency in the past, you are entitled to ask what was actually done. A genuine provider should be able to show you:
If you only receive generic statements such as “we installed SEO” or “we added a plugin,” that is not a sign of real work. True SEO is visible in both the structure of your site and in ongoing, measurable results.
Many business owners have unfortunately encountered “fake SEO” at some stage. This usually looks like:
Real SEO, in contrast, is:
If the SEO you were sold does not meet that description, it is understandable that you now feel cautious.
If your DIY check shows that your site is invisible, unstructured or missing basic tracking, you are not alone. Most of the businesses we work with were in the same position before they rebuilt their foundations.
The key is not to layer more marketing on top of a weak base. Instead, you should focus on:
Once that is done, you can move forward with confidence, knowing that your website is finally capable of bringing in business.
If you are unsure how to interpret what you found in your DIY check, the next step is to request a professional audit from a team that explains everything in plain language.
At The Roadmap, our SEO audits are part of the wider Digital Foundations work. We show you exactly:
