Questions we hear all the time

Usually one of three things: the page genuinely isn't the best answer to that search yet, the site lacks the technical foundation (speed, structure, indexing) to be trusted with a top spot, or the keyword is more competitive than the business realises and needs a longer runway.

The two most common causes are a Google algorithm update (broad, affects many sites at once) or a site-specific change — a redesign, a lost page, a technical error, or content that quietly went stale. The fix starts with figuring out which of the two it was, not guessing.

Meaningful movement typically takes three to six months, and competitive terms can take longer — anyone promising a top ranking in days or weeks is a red flag, not a shortcut.

This is the single biggest live issue in SEO right now: as of 2026, roughly 68% of Google searches end without a click to any website, and clickthrough drops from around 15% to 8% specifically when an AI Overview appears on the results page (Similarweb, 2026). A site can hold its ranking position and still lose real visitors simply because the answer is now shown on the search results page itself.

This is usually not an SEO problem at all, but a conversion one: the wrong keywords are attracting the wrong visitors, or the page doesn't make the next step (call, form, booking) obvious once someone lands on it.

AI assistants tend to cite sources that are clearly structured, directly answer a specific question, and are mentioned consistently across the web — not necessarily the sites that rank highest on Google. It's a related but genuinely different skill from traditional SEO.

Not automatically. It helps, but AI Overviews and chat assistants often pull from different signals (how clearly a page answers one question, structured data, third-party mentions), so a page can rank well and still be invisible in AI-generated answers.

Worth taking seriously rather than panicking about — with AI Overviews now appearing on over a fifth of all searches (Similarweb, 2026), being cited inside the answer is becoming as important as the blue link underneath it. This is exactly what AI-visibility tracking and optimisation is for.

Usually oversized images, too many third-party scripts (chat widgets, trackers, ad tags), or cheap hosting straining under the load — all fixable, and worth fixing since site speed affects both rankings and how many visitors stay long enough to act.

Very common, especially after a redesign or a page deletion, and often invisible to a normal visitor who just doesn't click the dead link — Google, on the other hand, checks every link it can find.

The ones real customers search that the business can credibly win — not just the highest-volume terms, which are often the most competitive and least specific to what the business actually offers.

Usually an incomplete or inconsistent Google Business Profile, a business category that doesn't quite match the search, or simply not enough proximity/relevance signal compared to competitors already established there.

Varies hugely by market and ambition — a useful first move is asking what specifically is included at that price (audit, content, links, reporting) rather than comparing the number alone. See our Pricing page for indicative Irish and UK benchmarks.

Ask for a plain-English monthly report tied to business outcomes (enquiries, calls, bookings), not just a wall of ranking-position screenshots — it's exactly what we send every client, every month.