Choosing a marketing agency when the Census count can't choose for you

The table counts employer locations by Census industry, not marketing agencies

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns for 2023 counts employer establishments by industry, and the table here takes seven of the ten most populous of the 387 metropolitan statistical areas in the Bureau's July 1, 2025 population estimates. In the Bureau's metropolitan and micropolitan glossary, a metropolitan statistical area is made of whole counties: the county or counties associated with an urban area that has 50,000 or more people, and the adjacent counties strongly tied to that core by commuting. So each row is a whole metro area, not the city in its name.

Every figure counts establishments. The County Business Patterns glossary defines an establishment as "a single physical location at which business is conducted or services or industrial operations are performed," so a firm with offices in two parts of a metro area is two establishments, and each is counted only if it had paid employees at some time during the year. County Business Patterns does not cover the self-employed or a business with no paid employees, which means a consultant who works alone, with no one on a payroll, is in no column at all.

The four industry columns carry the Census Bureau's own industry names: Advertising Agencies, Public Relations Agencies, Marketing Consulting Services and Graphic Design Services. They are separate industries, and none of them counts marketing agencies, since no industry in County Business Patterns goes by that name. Read each column on its own: a total across them would add four different industries together and still not say which agency to hire.

Employer establishments in seven U.S. metro areas in 2023, in total and in four selected industries

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, reference year 2023. An establishment is a single physical location with paid employees at some time during the year, so a company with several locations is counted once for each, and a business with no paid employees is not counted. Each establishment is classified by its major activity, under the Census Bureau's own industry descriptions. No industry in County Business Patterns is called marketing agency: the four columns are separate industries, and they are not meant to be added together.

Three pairs of 2023 counts, and the limit of each

Two counts from the same metro area, set side by side, show how little a count of establishments settles about hiring an agency. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro area, County Business Patterns counted 4,870 Marketing Consulting Services establishments and 1,401 Advertising Agencies establishments in 2023. The Census Bureau files each location under its major activity, so a firm that calls itself a marketing agency could sit under either heading, or under another industry entirely, and the label on its website does not tell you which.

In the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metro area, the Census Bureau's 2023 counts were 322 Advertising Agencies establishments and 226 Public Relations Agencies establishments. Both figures count locations, so neither is a count of companies, and neither says who at any of those locations would do the work you are buying.

In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area, the same 2023 file counted 248,519 employer establishments in total and 1,805 in Marketing Consulting Services. The total is silent on how many of those locations are after the same customers you are, in the places you work; that answer comes from an audit of your own market. The 1,805 is silent on which consultants know your trade; that answer comes from asking them.

Counts like these measure industries, not the agency you are about to hire. Choosing one takes the questions Google suggests asking, and a clear view of what an agency's size means for the work.

Google's own advice on hiring an SEO: what to ask and what to doubt

Google publishes its own advice for a business deciding whether to hire an SEO, and Google's page on whether you need an SEO says it flatly: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." The same Google page warns against SEOs that allege a special relationship with Google or advertise a priority submission to Google. An SEO audit, in Google's words, should give "realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved."

Google suggests questions to put to an SEO before hiring, among them "What's your experience in my country/city?" and "How can I expect to communicate with you?", and it suggests asking whether the SEO will share all the changes it makes to your site, with detailed information about its recommendations and the reasoning behind them. During an audit, Google advises giving a prospective SEO only read access to Search Console, and Google reminds owners that "you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire."

Google's list of useful services that SEOs, agencies and consultants provide includes optimizing for generative AI, and Google suggests checking that any advice on optimizing for AI experiences, also known as AEO or GEO services, is aligned with its official guidance. Google's guidance on third-party SEO services and advice says that, in general, good advice "either qualifies their claims as opinion based on data or experience, or backs up their claims by citing official Google Search guidance."

On money, Google is direct: its Business Profile help says "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google," and its explanation of how Search works says Google "doesn't accept payment to rank pages higher." Ads are a separate product: Google's Ads help says ads are "eligible to be shown above, below or within AI Overviews on Search," so an ad budget pays for ads, not for organic rank. On timing, Google's SEO Starter Guide warns: "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months." A date promised for results is a promise about Google's systems, and no agency runs those.

Google's policy on who owns a Business Profile that an agency manages

If an agency will manage your Google Business Profile, Google's Business Profile third-party policies set out what the business keeps. Google's policy says "all end customers must retain ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times," and that within 7 business days of notice from a departing client, the agency must give that client the ability to disassociate the Google Account used to manage the profile from the agency's services and regain exclusive control. The same policy says customers must be informed of all changes and edits to their profile, that replying to reviews for a customer takes explicit approval, adding that "Verbal consent isn't sufficient," and that the business owner should be the owner of the profile, with the agency as its manager. Google's eligibility and ownership guidelines also tell any agency to get the owner's express consent before claiming a profile, and to transfer ownership to the owner immediately when asked. The third-party policy says an agency must not make false, misleading or unrealistic claims, and gives a guarantee of top placement on Google as one example.

Kelly WM's own terms are a separate matter, and short: the client owns the site, the content and the accounts, and everything is month to month, with no long-term contract.

When an agency you can drive to is worth choosing

A local agency has the edge when much of the work has to happen in person. A photo shoot of a crew at work, a sit-down with the owner's team at their office or a look around a job site is easier for an agency that can drive over, while a remote shop has to work around each one with photos and material the owner supplies.

Knowledge of the market can be another reason. Among the useful services Google says SEOs, agencies and consultants provide is expertise in specific markets and geographies, so a local firm that can show that expertise, in your trade and in the part of the metro area you serve, is offering something real.

There is also the option of no agency at all. Google's own advice to owners weighing an SEO is blunt: "If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself." An owner with the time and a short list of fixes may do better handling them directly and paying for help only where it is needed.

Kelly WM's services in one line each, and the prices it publishes

Each of Kelly WM's core services has a hub page of its own. Custom web design is a site coded by hand, with no page builder underneath. SEO is sold as ongoing monthly work, and local SEO takes in citations, service-area pages, map results and the Google Business Profile. AI search optimization is work on content and structure, meant for AI answer engines to read and cite. Google Ads management and Business Profile management are offered too, and the full menu, lead generation included, is on the services page.

These are Kelly WM's own published prices:

• Custom website builds: $3,500 to $12,000+ one time.
• Ongoing SEO or Local SEO: $1,500 to $3,500 a month for most businesses; $3,500 to $7,500 a month in competitive metros or for multi-location businesses.
• AI search optimization: $1,000 to $2,500 a month, usually layered on top of an SEO plan.
• Google Ads management: no published fee. Agencies generally charge a flat fee or a percentage of spend; Kelly WM quotes a flat fee after a free consult.

Being in a large metro area does not by itself put a business in the competitive-metros band; an audit of its category and its actual competitors settles that, not the city name. The What Should You Pay pricing tool is free and needs no signup: it turns three answers into a rough price range and lists agency red flags. Its own page says the result is not a quote, so the band that applies to a real business still comes from the audit. Everything is month to month, and the client owns the site, the content and the accounts. A free mockup of the homepage is the first step on most projects, and how Kelly WM builds and checks a site before it ships has a page of its own.

Put Google's hiring questions to the person who would do the work

The next step is a call: ask Kelly WM the questions Google suggests, and judge the answers the way you would judge any agency's. The first conversation is a free consultation by phone or video with the person who would do the work, so the answers come from the builder, not from a salesperson. Call (407) 694-2055, text that number from a job if that is easier, or ask for a quote with your trade and your metro area in it.