Every SEO agency needs a clear set of deliverables that clients can see, understand, and tie back to results. The problem most agencies run into isn't a lack of SEO knowledge -- it's a lack of structure. They do great work but can't articulate what they're delivering each month, which leads to churn.
At WEBRIS, we've refined our deliverable set across 100+ active clients. Below is the complete list of SEO deliverables we use in client campaigns, organized by when they typically happen in the engagement lifecycle.
Phase 1: Onboarding and audit deliverables (Month 1)
The first month is about understanding the client's current position and building the strategy. These deliverables set the foundation for everything else.
1. Kickoff report and baseline analysis
A comprehensive pull of data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and keyword ranking tools that establishes where the client stands today. This report captures current organic traffic, top-performing pages, keyword positions, and conversion data. It becomes the benchmark you measure everything against for the rest of the engagement.
2. Website quality audit
A full crawl of every page on the client's site, cross-referenced with SEO metrics like backlinks, keyword rankings, indexation status, and content quality signals. The output is a page-by-page decision matrix -- keep as-is, optimize on-page elements, noindex, 301 redirect, or consolidate. This is the single most important deliverable in month one because it determines your entire optimization strategy.
3. Competitive landscape analysis
An analysis of 3-5 top organic competitors comparing domain authority, backlink profiles, content volume, keyword overlap, and SERP feature presence. The goal isn't just to see where competitors rank -- it's to identify gaps and opportunities where the client can win. This feeds directly into keyword targeting and content strategy.
4. Technical SEO audit
A deep inspection of the site's technical foundation: crawlability, indexation directives, site architecture, internal linking structure, Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, schema markup, XML sitemaps, and robots.txt configuration. Every issue gets categorized by severity and mapped to a fix with clear implementation instructions for the client's dev team.
5. Keyword research and target page mapping
Starting from the website quality audit results, you identify the pages with the most organic growth potential and perform in-depth keyword research for each. Every target page gets a primary keyword, 3-5 secondary keywords, and SERP intent analysis. The output is a master target page list that maps every page to its keywords, current rankings, search volume, and priority level.
6. SEO strategy and project plan
The capstone deliverable of month one. This takes everything from the audits and research and turns it into a sequenced project plan with monthly milestones. It tells the client exactly what you're doing, when you're doing it, and what results to expect. This is what you review together and get sign-off on before execution begins.
Phase 2: On-page and technical execution (Months 2-3)
With the strategy in place, months two and three focus on fixing what's broken and optimizing what exists before creating anything new.
7. On-page optimization recommendations
A page-by-page checklist covering title tags, meta descriptions, header structure, content depth, internal linking, image optimization, and schema markup for every target page. Each recommendation is specific and actionable -- not "improve your title tag" but the exact title tag to use. This gets handed to the client's team or your team executes directly.
8. Google Search Console audit
A review of the client's GSC account to check indexation status, crawl errors, sitemap submissions, manual actions, and Core Web Vitals flags. This catches technical issues that the site crawl might miss because GSC shows you what Google actually sees, not just what a crawler sees.
9. Schema markup audit and implementation
An audit of existing structured data plus recommendations for new schema types relevant to the business -- Organization, LocalBusiness, FAQPage, HowTo, Product, Review, or whatever matches the site. The deliverable includes the actual JSON-LD code ready to deploy, typically via Google Tag Manager.
10. Content audit and gap analysis
A thorough evaluation of every piece of content on the site with recommendations to keep, update, consolidate, or remove. This also includes a keyword gap analysis comparing the client's keyword coverage against competitors to identify topics and pages that don't exist yet but should. The output feeds directly into the content strategy.
11. Content strategy and calendar
Based on the content audit and keyword gaps, this deliverable maps out what content to create, what format it should take (service page, blog post, comparison page, resource guide), target keywords for each piece, and a publishing schedule. Every piece of content is tied to a business goal -- not just traffic, but leads and revenue.
Phase 3: Growth execution (Months 4+)
With the foundation solid, you shift to the activities that drive growth: link building, content creation, and ongoing optimization.
12. Link building strategy
A documented strategy covering link targets (which pages need links and how many), link types (guest posts, digital PR, resource links, niche edits), outreach tactics, and monthly link velocity goals. The strategy is built around the competitive analysis -- you know exactly how many referring domains the top-ranking pages have, so you can set realistic link targets.
13. Link prospecting and outreach
The execution side of link building. This includes prospect lists of relevant sites, personalized outreach templates, and ongoing campaign management. The deliverable to the client is a monthly link report showing links acquired, target sites in the pipeline, and domain authority metrics for each placement.
14. Content creation and optimization
The actual production of new content based on the content strategy. Each piece starts with a detailed content brief (target keyword, SERP intent analysis, outline, word count, internal linking targets), goes through creation and editing, and gets published with proper on-page optimization. For most clients, we produce 2-4 pieces per month.
15. Page speed and Core Web Vitals optimization
A targeted analysis of the site's performance metrics -- Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift -- with specific fix recommendations. This isn't just a PageSpeed Insights screenshot. It's a prioritized list of changes with expected impact, ready to hand to a developer.
16. Local SEO deliverables (when applicable)
For clients with local search goals, this includes Google Business Profile audit and optimization, citation audit and cleanup, local keyword targeting, review generation strategy, and local link building. These get layered on top of the standard SEO deliverables for any client targeting geographic searches.
Recurring deliverables
These happen on a regular cadence throughout the engagement and are what keep the client informed and the campaign on track.
17. Monthly progress report
A report covering keyword ranking changes, organic traffic trends, conversion data, tasks completed that month, and tasks planned for next month. The report should connect SEO activity to business outcomes -- not just "we built 5 links" but "the 5 links we built to your personal injury page contributed to a 12-position improvement for that keyword." We send these within the first week of each month.
18. Client communication and project tracking
An ongoing action tracker that lists every task, its status, owner, and due date. The client should be able to look at this at any time and know exactly what's being worked on. We use a shared project management board that updates in real time -- no waiting for monthly reports to find out what's happening.
19. Quarterly strategy review
Every 90 days, step back and evaluate the overall strategy. What's working, what isn't, what's changed in the competitive landscape, and what adjustments need to be made. This is also when you present ROI data and make the case for continued or expanded investment. The quarterly review is your best client retention tool.
How to package and price these deliverables
You don't need to include all 19 deliverables in every client engagement. The right package depends on the client's size, budget, and goals. Here's how we think about it:
A baseline SEO engagement includes deliverables 1-6 (the full audit and strategy phase), deliverables 7-8 (on-page and GSC), deliverable 12 (link strategy), and deliverables 17-18 (reporting and communication). That's a solid 10-deliverable package that covers the essentials for any client.
For larger engagements, you layer in content strategy and creation (deliverables 10-11, 14), technical optimization (deliverables 9, 15), and quarterly reviews (deliverable 19). Local clients add deliverable 16.
The key is being explicit about what's included. Clients should never wonder what they're paying for. Every deliverable has a clear description, expected timeline, and connection to their business goals. This transparency is what separates agencies that retain clients for years from agencies that churn through them every few months.
For the actual templates and SOPs behind each of these deliverables, The Blueprint Training includes our complete deliverable library with fill-in-the-blank templates you can customize for your agency.