Still shortlisting? We publish a comparison of the best SEO companies in the Bay Area that includes us at number three and is honest about where each of the others is actually headquartered. Also serving Southern California - Los Angeles SEO agency.
Our San Francisco SEO services
San Francisco SEO audit
Every engagement starts with an audit. For SF companies that usually means a technical crawl of a Next.js or React site, a keyword gap against the two or three competitors you actually lose deals to, a content inventory, a backlink review and an AI visibility baseline. You get a prioritized list, not a 90-page PDF. See what is included in our SEO audit services, or ask for a free one at the bottom of this page.
SEO built around pipeline, not traffic
For B2B and SaaS companies, a thousand visits to a glossary page is worth less than ten visits to a comparison page. We prioritize bottom-of-funnel pages first: alternatives, comparisons, use cases, integrations and industry pages. Then we build out the content that feeds them.
Technical SEO for modern stacks
Many Bay Area sites run on Next.js, React or headless CMS setups. That brings real issues: client-side rendering, broken internal links between the marketing site, docs and app, blogs on subdomains, and staging environments getting indexed. We find and fix them, or write precise tickets for your engineers. More detail on our technical SEO services page.
AI search visibility
We track how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention your brand for the prompts your buyers use, with our own platform, PromptRush. Then we work on the sources those answers draw from. More on this on our San Francisco GEO page.
Links and digital PR
Authority still decides competitive rankings. We earn links and mentions from publications, industry sites and the listicles buyers read when comparing vendors. See how we run link building.
Local SEO for San Francisco businesses
For service businesses across San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, the Peninsula and the East Bay, we handle Google Business Profile, reviews, citations and location pages where there is real demand. Full detail on our local SEO San Francisco page.
Ecommerce SEO for San Francisco stores
DTC and marketplace brands on Shopify, BigCommerce or headless storefronts get category, collection and product pages that rank, plus faceted navigation and crawl budget handled properly. See ecommerce SEO in San Francisco.
Who we work with
- SaaS and B2B tech companies, from Series A to public. For earlier-stage and Peninsula-based companies, see our Silicon Valley SEO company page.
- Enterprise teams with multiple sites, markets and stakeholders. See enterprise SEO in San Francisco.
- Fintech, security and AI companies in categories where trust and accuracy matter.
- Law firms and professional services. See law firm SEO in San Francisco.
Brands our team has worked with include Picsart, Krisp, Sift, Aikido, 5WPR and EasyDMARC.
Two programs with published numbers. Both are SaaS companies in categories where assistants now write the shortlist, which is the problem most Bay Area tech companies bring us.
| Case study | Headline result | What the work was |
|---|---|---|
| Krisp | +108% organic traffic, +81% organic signups | Four priority pages rebuilt into one connected AI meeting search cluster, with six #1 US rankings in five months. |
| 10Web | +35% organic clicks, +31% organic signups | Technical SEO, content, authority and conversion tracking connected across three high-value AI website builder pages. |
The full write-ups, including the periods they cover, are on our case studies page.
San Francisco neighborhoods we work with
We work with companies across the city, remotely and in person when we are in town: SoMa, the Financial District, Mission Bay, the Mission, Potrero Hill and Dogpatch, Hayes Valley, the Marina and the Presidio. For companies elsewhere in the region, see our Bay Area SEO company page, which covers the Peninsula, South Bay, East Bay and North Bay. For Peninsula and South Bay tech companies, our Silicon Valley SEO company page goes deeper.
Why SEO in San Francisco is different
San Francisco companies rarely compete for San Francisco searches. A SoMa SaaS company is up against every vendor in its category nationally, so the pages that matter are comparisons, alternatives and use cases, not city terms. Buyers here adopt new tools early, and many start vendor research in ChatGPT or Perplexity before they open Google, so being named in AI answers matters as much as ranking. And most marketing sites sit on modern JavaScript stacks, where rendering and internal linking problems quietly hold rankings back.
For local businesses in the city the picture is the opposite: neighborhoods decide it. Someone in the Mission is not looking for a provider in the Sunset, and the map pack follows proximity and reviews.
So the first decision in a San Francisco SEO plan is which of those two markets you are in. We settle that in the audit.
How we work
- Audit. Technical crawl, keyword gap against your real competitors, content inventory, backlinks and an AI visibility baseline.
- Roadmap. What to fix, build and consolidate, in order of impact on pipeline.
- Execution. Our in-house team ships content, technical fixes and links every month. We work well alongside in-house marketing and growth teams.
- Reporting. Rankings, organic traffic, sign-ups or demo requests where tracking allows, and AI citations.
SEO consultant or SEO agency?
Some companies need an execution team. Others need one senior person to set direction for an in-house team. We do the first. For the second, our founder consults directly as an SEO consultant in San Francisco.
Free scan: your San Francisco rankings and AI visibility
Enter your domain and we send back where you rank against the competitors you actually lose deals to, and whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews put you on the shortlist.
Frequently asked questions
How much does SEO cost in San Francisco?
San Francisco is one of the more expensive markets for agency services, and SaaS categories are highly competitive. We scope every engagement after an audit so the price matches the actual work.
How long until we see results?
Technical fixes and bottom-funnel pages in less crowded niches can move within weeks. Competitive SaaS terms usually take three to six months.
Do you have an office in San Francisco?
No. Our team is spread across Yerevan, the US and Germany, and we work with Bay Area clients remotely. We meet in person when we're in town.
Do you work with startups?
Yes, usually from the point where a company has product-market fit and a clear category to rank in. Before that, we'd rather help you set up the right foundations than sell a big retainer.
Do you replace our in-house SEO person?
Not necessarily. Many clients use us as the execution team behind an in-house lead.
Do you do local SEO in San Francisco?
Yes. For businesses that serve customers by location we manage Google Business Profile, reviews, citations and neighborhood pages. It is a different playbook from B2B SEO, so we describe it separately on our local SEO San Francisco page.
Are you a San Francisco SEO company or a Bay Area one?
Both. This page covers companies in the city. For the wider region, from Oakland to San Jose, see our Bay Area SEO company page. The method is the same and the local signals differ.
Which SF SEO agencies would you compare yourselves to?
We publish an honest comparison of the best SEO companies in the Bay Area, including Victorious, Jives Media, AdLift and RankScience, with where each one is a better fit than us.
Want senior strategy without a full agency retainer?
Our founder, Roman Daneghyan, also consults directly. Work directly with our founder.
More from The Business Rover
Get a free San Francisco SEO + AI visibility audit
Send us your domain and the vendors you get compared against. We come back with the technical problems holding your site back, the bottom-funnel pages you are missing, and how often assistants name you in your category.