Can I do SEO myself?

Yes. The basics need time more than talent: fill in your Google Business Profile, give each service its own page, write titles that say what you do and where, make the site fast on a phone, and ask customers for reviews. Most small businesses can do that themselves.

A first month, in order

1. Claim your Google Business Profile. Pick the right category, list every service, add real photos, set your hours and service area.
2. Set up Google Search Console. It is free and it shows what Google sees. Submit your sitemap.
3. Give each service its own page. Say what it is, who it is for, where you do it, what it costs or how pricing works, and what happens after someone calls.
4. Fix the titles. "Home" tells nobody anything. "Roof repair in Coral Gables" does.
5. Test the site on your phone. If it is slow or hard to tap, fix that before writing anything else.
6. Ask for reviews. Send the link to customers you just finished a job for, and reply to every review you get.
7. Check that your name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear.

Where people get stuck

• Technical problems. Pages that will not index, a site that got slow, a redesign that lost traffic. These need someone who can read the cause.
• Knowing what to write. The answer is nearly always the questions customers already ask you on the phone.
• Time. It is steady work across months, and the business comes first.

Is it worth hiring an SEO agency?

It is worth it in three cases: your hour is worth more spent on the business, your market is contested enough that the basics are not enough, or the problem is technical.

If you hire, ask four things:

• Who does the work?
• What will be done in the first month?
• What will the report show?
• Do I keep ownership of my Search Console, my Business Profile and my site?

The last one matters most. You should be able to leave with everything.

The free tools are enough to start

Google Search Console, Google Business Profile and PageSpeed Insights cost nothing and cover most of what a small business needs for the first six months. Start there before you pay for anything.