Why we can't tell you what we did this month

Every month a few clients ask for a list of what we actually did. We understand the curiosity. But our methods are proprietary, and sharing them would put our competitive advantage at risk. Specifically, the advantage of not having done them.

What we can share

This month the team carried out "ongoing optimisation," "strategic refinements" and "continued monitoring." Monitoring means someone looked at the dashboard. Refinements means someone almost changed something. Optimisation is a mystery even to us, and it's our favourite line item.

About your hours

Your retainer covers 20 hours a month. Hours are a unit of time and, like time, they're relative. Some months we use all 20 in the first ten minutes of thinking about you. That's how deep the thinking goes.

Our secret sauce

Every agency has one. Ours is a Google Sheet called RankRocket™ AI, a calendar reminder to send your invoice, and confidence. Mostly confidence.

Your task log, redacted, as a treat

• Week 1: (redacted)
• Week 2: Considered (redacted) your (redacted)
• Week 3: Ongoing optimisation
• Week 4: Sent invoice (on time)

Why vagueness is a feature

A detailed task list creates a paper trail, and paper trails create follow-up questions like "why did that take nine hours?" Vagueness is gentler. It lets everyone imagine the best possible version of what happened, which is lovely for morale.

"Can we at least see the hours?"

Of course. Timesheets are available on request, in writing, and will be ready in time for the following quarter. They will say "strategy" a lot. Strategy is very time-consuming, especially the parts that happen in the shower.

P.S. You should always know what you're paying for, in plain words. The real agency at the bottom of this page agrees.