Seattle SEO and AI Search Optimization
Watt Consulting provides local SEO and answer engine optimization (AEO) for small businesses across Greater Seattle: King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. SEO gets you into Google's results. AEO gets you quoted when a customer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI Mode where to go. Plans start at $400 a month.
Most of the work overlaps (clear pages, structured data, direct answers, accurate listings), so it makes no sense to pay for them separately. Every plan covers both.
What's included
- A technical audit and the fixes that come out of it: crawl errors, indexing, speed and mobile usability
- Keyword and question research based on what your customers actually type and ask
- Page titles, headings and descriptions rewritten around what you actually sell
- Schema markup (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage) so search engines and AI tools can read your pages as facts
- Answer-ready content: direct openers, question-shaped headings, and a check that AI crawlers can reach your site
- New pages for the services and questions people search that your site doesn't cover yet
- Monthly reporting that includes AI referral traffic, not just Google
Three levels
- Starter, $400/month, month-to-month. For small single-location sites. Titles and metadata, answer-ready content, and technical fixes on your core pages.
- Essential, $1,000/month (recommended). For service businesses with a real site to fix. Site-wide technical work, one 1,200+ word page rewrite and one new guide a month, Google Business Profile, citations and a review system, and quarterly AI-visibility checks. Six-month initial term, then monthly.
- Growth, $1,500/month. For competitive markets and businesses that need many city or service pages. Everything in Essential at twice the content rate. It finishes the same plan roughly two months sooner. Six-month initial term, then monthly.
What does SEO cost in Seattle?
Published Seattle SEO retainers for small businesses ran from about $500 to $3,000 a month in August 2026, and most full-service agencies here won't start below a $5,000 project minimum. Essential and Growth both start with a free full audit and a written six-month plan, so you know exactly what the money buys before the first invoice.
How the first 30 days work
- Kickoff: We agree on your priority services, the areas you serve, and what a lead is worth to you.
- Days 1–7: Full technical and on-page audit. Search Console and GA4 verified, AI-crawler access checked.
- Days 8–12: Audit review call. You get a prioritized roadmap with the reason behind each item.
- Days 13–20: Quick wins go in: titles, descriptions, schema, crawl errors, listing corrections.
- Days 21–30: First content batch published, plus a baseline report that every later month is measured against.
What I won't promise
A specific ranking, a page-one position, or a traffic number. No legitimate agency can promise those, because Google and the AI companies control the results. What I will commit to is the work that reliably moves them, reported honestly. Expect meaningful movement in three to six months, not three to six weeks.
Who this is for
Local businesses whose customers search before they call: contractors and home services, restaurants, clinics and wellness practices, auto shops, accountants, real estate agents and retailers. I focus on Greater Seattle across three counties: King (Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Renton, Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, Issaquah), Pierce (Tacoma, Puyallup, Lakewood, Gig Harbor, University Place) and Snohomish (Everett, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Bothell, Mukilteo, Marysville). For businesses that serve several neighborhoods or cities, the Growth plan builds a page for each area.
Frequently asked questions
How long does SEO take to work in Seattle?
Technical fixes can show up within weeks. Ranking and AI-citation gains usually take three to six months, and longer in competitive Seattle categories like home services and legal. If anyone promises results in thirty days, ask them to put it in the contract.
What's the difference between SEO and AEO?
SEO is about being findable in a list of search results. AEO (answer engine optimization) is about being quotable in a written AI answer from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews. AEO rewards direct answers, question-shaped headings, structured data and third-party mentions. Most of the work overlaps, which is why every Watt plan covers both.
Will you rewrite my whole website?
No. I start with what already exists and fix what's holding it back. New pages get written only where people are searching for something your site doesn't answer, and you approve each one.
Do I have to pay for SEO forever?
No. SEO work compounds, so what you paid for keeps producing. Competitors keep moving, though, and a site that's left alone slowly loses ground. When maintenance alone is enough, I'll tell you.
Related reading
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Let's get you found
Start with a free one-page audit. I'll look at your site, search presence and social, and send back what I see, with no charge and no obligation. Then we can talk for 20 minutes about the one thing that would move the most.
Ryan Watt · ryan@wattconsulting.net · (425) 239-7535 · Seattle, WA
