---
title: How to Tell Whether Your Marketing Agency Is Working, and What It Should Cost.
description: Real criteria for judging agency performance, honest cost ranges, and why generic agencies struggle with manufacturing.
image: https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/hubfs/featured-image-Oct-14-2026-06-16-20-3313-PM.png
---

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3. How to Tell Whether Your Agency Is Working, and What It Should Cost

# How to Tell Whether Your Agency Is Working, and What It Should Cost

![Bob Engelhart](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Bob_Engelhart-webp.webp?width=80&height=80&name=Bob_Engelhart-webp.webp)

By [Bob Engelhart](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/about), President, Cobalt Sales Group

Published: TBD ·  Last updated: September 24, 2026.  ·  13 min read

Most manufacturing owners who pay a marketing agency can tell you what it costs each month. Far fewer can tell you what they get for it, and many are already hearing the next firm's pitch while they wonder. This guide is meant to be useful whether or not you ever hire us: criteria you can apply to any firm, cost ranges from my own experience, and the questions worth asking before you sign. How buyers find manufacturers in the first place is covered in [How Modern Manufacturers Get Found](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/learnig-center/how-modern-manufacturers-get-found).

The short version is this. Judge an agency by whether the right buyers are finding you, not by the list of things it did last month. In my experience, outsourced work that is actually effective generally starts around $1,500 a month and can easily run to $10,000 or more. Whether that is worth paying for depends largely on how committed you are to a simple idea: buyers now use the internet to find and judge manufacturers and other industrial companies. If you are looking to pay someone and have leads flow in, you are likely to be disappointed. If you are willing to build your website into a genuinely useful resource for your market niche, it is the kind of investment that tends to pay off, including in the inquiries it brings.

Table of Contents

## What does a marketing agency actually do for a manufacturer?

**What does an SEO agency actually do? It depends on the agency, because SEO is usually one service among several rather than the whole job.** At one end, an agency does only basic on-page or technical SEO; at the other, it runs a full inbound program in which SEO is one component. Most firms that serve manufacturers today are digital marketing agencies, and SEO is one line on their menu.

At the narrow end, SEO work means making sure search engines can crawl and index your site cleanly and can tell what each page is about. That covers page speed, mobile display, site structure, broken links, title tags, headings, meta descriptions and internal links. It also covers structured data, which is code that labels your products, articles and company details so search engines read them correctly.

A full-scope program goes well beyond that and typically covers most of the following:

- **Research.** Finding the terms and questions your buyers actually use, and which competitors show up for them.
- **Technical and on-page SEO.** The narrow-end work described above.
- **Content.** The pages and articles that answer your buyers' questions. For a manufacturer, this is where the technical depth has to come from.
- **Off-site authority.** Links and mentions from other sites, industry directory listings, your Google Business Profile, and consistent company information across the web.
- **Other channels.** Email, paid advertising and social media, where they fit your market.
- **Measurement.** Tracking rankings, traffic and whether the work is producing results.

The labels firms use overlap heavily. What is an inbound marketing agency? One that aims to draw buyers to you with useful content rather than reaching out to them, usually pairing that content with SEO, email and marketing automation software. What does a B2B marketing agency do? Almost anything for companies that sell to other companies, from advertising and trade show materials to content and search. The label on the door tells you little about scope.

Price doesn't track neatly with scope either. Some agencies charge a lot and provide little more than firms charging far less, relying on their reputation to carry the fee. Ask exactly what the monthly fee buys.

Whatever the firm does, judge it by what the work produces. Three questions matter more than the label:

- **Is it building authority?** When buyers reach your site, do they come away more confident that you know your field?
- **Is website traffic increasing?**
- **Are inquiries increasing and improving in quality?**

None of these moves overnight. The next section covers how to read them.

## How do you know if your agency is working?

**How do you know if your SEO agency is bad? The clearest sign is content that isn't moving you: months of work with no gain in rankings for the searches your buyers make, and no sign of your company in AI answers.** Most agencies report their numbers well enough; the question is whether the content behind those numbers is building your authority.

In my experience, most agencies do a reasonable job on the technical side of SEO, and most provide supporting analytics. Where they tend to fall down is the content: producing technical material that actually moves your rankings and gets your company cited in AI answers. Agencies without manufacturing experience, or without a manufacturing specialization, mostly don't have the capability to produce the kind of technical content an authority website needs. The section on why generic agencies struggle, below, covers why. For judging your own agency, read the reports for what the content is doing, not for how much of it there is.

Here is what to look for in those reports and beyond them:

- **Traffic movement over time.** Look for a trend rather than a single month's number, and ideally one you can check yourself in Google Analytics or Search Console rather than only in the agency's report.
- **Visibility across the whole buying process.** It isn't enough to rank for one basic keyword. Look at whether you show up for the searches buyers make early, when they are defining a problem, in the middle, when they are comparing approaches, and at the end, when they are choosing a supplier. Count terms that describe applications, materials and problems, not your company name. Ranking first for your own name is something you probably had already.
- **Some check on whether you appear in AI answers.** Citation in Google's AI Overviews can be tracked across a set of queries, and that is what we track for clients. For ChatGPT and the other assistants there is no settled measurement method yet; the practical check is running the questions your buyers ask, several times each from a signed-out session, and seeing how often you are named. I am still looking for a better method myself. An agency that reports precise citation figures for those assistants should be able to explain exactly how it got them.

![Checklist of four signs the content is working: rankings across early, middle and late buyer searches; your company named in AI answers; your own tally of inquiries from buyers who found you online; and whether the site builds visitor confidence.](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/how-to-tell-whether-your-agency-is-working-what-to-check-beyond-the-report-png-2.png?width=1440&height=1108&name=how-to-tell-whether-your-agency-is-working-what-to-check-beyond-the-report-png-2.png)Caption: Source: Cobalt Sales Group. 

More inquiries, and better ones, are the test that matters most, with two caveats. First, they take time. Where sales cycles are long, markets are mature, and customers rarely look for new vendors, good new-customer inquiries can be slow to arrive even when the rest of the work is going well. Second, your agency usually cannot see your phones or your inbox. You can, so keep your own rough tally of buyers who say they found you online. It is a real signal, and an anecdotal one.

If traffic is up and appears to be coming from the kinds of companies you sell to, but inquiries still lag, look hard at the website itself. Part of its job is to give visitors confidence that you know what you're doing, so that when an RFQ goes out or a buyer is ready to talk, you are on the list. A site that doesn't build that confidence leaves you working uphill, whatever the traffic numbers say.

One more test says more than any report: can the agency brief a technical article about your product without you walking them through the basics? If every piece of content depends on your people explaining the product from scratch, the agency is borrowing your expertise rather than bringing its own understanding, and the content tends to show it.

Google's own [advice on hiring an SEO](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo) adds warning signs worth taking seriously. It says no one can guarantee a number-one ranking on Google, and it cautions against firms that promise guaranteed rankings, claim a special relationship with Google, or are secretive about what they intend to do. The same caution carries over to AI search: a guarantee that ChatGPT will name your company is one no outside firm is in a position to back.

## What should this cost, and is it worth paying for?

**How much should I be paying for SEO? In my experience, effective outsourced work generally starts around $1,500 a month and can easily run to $10,000 or more, depending on scope.** Low-cost SEO providers charging roughly $500 to $1,500 a month are easy to find, but they generally don't produce much in the way of results, though that depends on the industry.

Most owners underestimate how much work a good program involves. It usually means website changes for performance and conversion, plus a steady supply of content that takes real expertise and time to produce. The better way to think about it is not "I'm paying an agency to generate leads." It is closer to hiring an in-house team whose job is to build your brand online, grow your credibility and your inbound inquiries, and improve the quality of those inquiries. Building that team in-house would be cost-prohibitive for most companies at this size, which is why the work tends to be outsourced. In my experience, much of the difference between the bottom and the top of the range is in the content: whether someone is producing original technical material that answers your buyers' questions, or maintaining a list of activities around the edges.

How much does it cost to hire a digital marketing agency? Usually more than a search-only arrangement, because a broader agency adds advertising, social media and other services, each of which is its own line of work. If you run paid advertising, the ad spend usually comes on top of the agency's fee. Ask for each part to be priced separately so you can see what you are paying for.

Most of our clients pay about $3,500 a month. That isn't a fixed price, just a way to get a handle on what the work costs. We don't require a fixed-term commitment, but anyone hiring us should think about it the way they would about hiring an employee: the arrangement runs as long as the need is there. What the fee covers is a matter of scope. We concentrate narrowly on content quality and deliberately leave out much of the broader activity menu that doesn't necessarily move the needle.

How much does AI SEO cost? For Google's AI features, at least, it shouldn't carry a separate premium. Google's documentation on [AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) says there are no additional requirements and no special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond the ordinary best practices for search. If a firm prices "AI optimization" as a new add-on to work it already does for you, ask what exactly it does differently.

How much should a website audit cost? Prices vary widely, and I don't have reliable figures for the market as a whole. Ours is free. More important than the price is what the audit covers: whether it names the specific searches where competitors appear and you don't, and whether the findings are specific enough to act on with any firm, or on your own.

Is it worth paying for SEO services? Three things decide it:

- **Whether your buyers search at all.** In most technical categories they do. GlobalSpec's [2026 State of Marketing to Engineers](https://advertising.globalspec.com/state-of-marketing-to-engineers-research-report) found that technical buyers, on average, do 62% of the buying process online before contacting a vendor.
- **How often your buyers change suppliers.** Where customers keep the same supplier for years, cable assemblies for OEMs being one example I know well, relevant searches are rare. When one does happen, you want to be the company that gets found, but it could come in the first month or take more than a year.
- **Whether you will take part.** Good technical content depends on your experts being available for interviews and on someone at your company reviewing drafts before they publish. The writing itself is the agency's job.

## Why do generic agencies struggle with manufacturing?

**The short answer to why marketing agencies don't understand manufacturing is that the content has to survive a technical reader, and the buying cycle is long enough that campaign metrics can mislead.** A generalist agency can run competent campaigns and still fail a manufacturer on both counts.

The gap usually shows up in two places. The first is the content. An agency that can't brief or evaluate a technical article tends either to produce generic material an engineer dismisses within a paragraph, or to lean on your people to explain everything. The second is targeting. Broad, high-volume terms in manufacturing tend to draw students, job seekers and the merely curious alongside the occasional buyer, so rankings for them can look good in a report and do little for the business. Industrial purchases also often take months from first search to order, so month-by-month campaign numbers can make patient work look idle and busy work look productive. Taken together, that is much of why industrial SEO agencies fail when they do: they optimize for what their reports reward rather than for the buyers you need.

I have been on the receiving end. More than twenty years ago, running my own manufacturing company, I hired an SEO firm. They said they could get us to the top of search when people were looking for what we sold. Honestly, I have no idea what they did. I know we didn't show up for anything, and they transferred our domain into their own name. They did the same to my brother's company. That is what bad operators do, not what the industry does. But the position I was in, paying without being able to say what I was paying for, is where many owners sit with their agency today.

How firms close the knowledge gap varies. Some hire people from the industry. Some rely on the client's own engineers to review everything. In our case, every article goes through a technical review before publication, with me overseeing the strategy. That is one approach, not the only valid one. What matters is that someone with real technical understanding reads the work before your buyers do.

## How should a manufacturer choose?

**Choose on evidence rather than the pitch: ask for work in your sector, ask who writes and reviews the technical content, ask what they measure, and ask what they will not do.** Those four questions work for any firm, including one that isn't ours.

All of this assumes you want a content-focused agency. Plenty of agencies do something else: technical SEO only, email marketing, paid ads, or the wider range of digital marketing services, sometimes with light, generic content alongside. Those can have their place. But if you are serious about becoming the authority in your niche, technical content is critical, and the questions below are built around that choice.

- **Work in your sector.** Ask to read articles the firm has published for manufacturers, and judge whether they would hold up if your own engineers read them.
- **Who writes the technical content, and who checks it.** The answer tells you whether the expertise is theirs, borrowed from you, or missing.
- **What they measure.** Traffic, page-one rankings for buyer terms, and an honest account of AI visibility, including what can't be measured yet. Be wary of guarantees.
- **What they will not do.** A clear answer tells you where their effort goes, and whether that matches what you need.

![Four numbered questions to ask any agency: work in your sector, who writes and checks the technical content, what they measure, and what they will not do.](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/how-to-tell-whether-your-agency-is-working-four-questions-for-any-agency-png.png?width=1440&height=1068&name=how-to-tell-whether-your-agency-is-working-four-questions-for-any-agency-png.png)

Source: Cobalt Sales Group.

Two practical checks belong alongside those questions. Follow Google's advice and check references. And make sure your domain, your website and your analytics accounts are registered to your company, not to the agency. It is also worth asking about the long term: whether the work builds something that keeps its value after you stop paying, or whether it stops the day the invoices do.

What is the best GEO agency? I won't answer that one as asked. An agency can't credibly rank the field it competes in, and any list I wrote would deserve your suspicion. Use the criteria above and judge for yourself.

This kind of work is also not for everyone. It is a poor fit for owners who expect to turn it on and generate leads right away in a market where relevant searches are rare, and for companies unwilling to make their experts available for interviews and to review content before it publishes. If either describes your situation, you are likely to be disappointed with any firm, and it is better to know that before you sign.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is SEO in manufacturing?

It is the work of making sure a manufacturer's pages come up when engineers, buyers and plant staff search for the products, applications and problems the company covers. Those searches tend to be specific, so the pages that win usually answer them in technical detail.

### What does a B2B marketing agency do?

It markets companies that sell to other businesses. Services range from advertising and trade show support to content and search, so ask which parts of the work the agency does itself and which it hands off.

### How much should a website audit cost?

Prices vary widely, and ours is free. Judge an audit less by its price than by whether it names the specific searches where competitors appear and you don't, with findings you can act on whichever firm you hire.

## Find out where competitors appear and you don't

If you want an outside read before you commit to anyone, including us, the Buyer Visibility Audit gives you one. It runs the category and application searches your buyers use, tests the questions they ask AI assistants, and shows where competitors appear and you don't. It scores Buyer Visibility, Authority Signals, AI Readiness and Conversion Ready. Free, one to two business days. Take the findings to whichever firm you choose.

***Editorial Note***

*I source from primary research where I can reach it, credible reporting of it where I can't, and leave out what I can't verify at all. Cobalt's own client figures include the measurement method and sample size.*

*The recommendations reflect my experience, not a settled answer. Search and buyer behavior keep changing, your situation isn't identical to my clients', and I still get things wrong. Verify anything that matters.*

## Find out where you stand

If you want to know what buyers and AI systems currently see when they look for a company like yours, the Buyer Visibility Audit will tell you. It is free, delivered in one to two business days, and scores four areas: Buyer Visibility, Authority Signals, AI Readiness, and Conversion Ready, including which competitors come up when buyers search the applications you serve. No obligation and no pitch attached to it. If what it shows is worth acting on, we can talk about what that would involve.

[Request Your Free Buyer Visibility Audit →](https://www.cobaltsalesgroup.com/audit-request)

Free. No obligation. No pitch.

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