SEO agency time tracking

Know which SEO retainers are actually profitable.

SEO agencies sell retainers but rarely measure the hours behind them. Keito tracks time by client and deliverable so you can see retainer margin, defend scope, and price renewals from real data.

$49
Flat team plan from
0
Per-seat billing surprises
14 days
Trial workspace
app.keito.ai / retainers

Monthly review

Ascend Search Agency

Retainer margin

$31.4k

Active work

24

Reviewed

91%

Ready to bill

$18.4k

Time captured with context

seo agency time tracking

Live

Billing review complete

Client and project checked

Done

Invoice evidence ready

Approved summary prepared

Next
01

Built around the work before the invoice

seo agency time tracking needs more than a timer. The billing record has to keep client, project, approval, and invoice context together before the work reaches finance.

Capture delivery work by client and role

Record time by client, project, and team member role so billing reports reflect actual team composition without needing a separate tracking system per person.

Review team-level billing before it leaves the project

Give project leads a combined view of who worked on what, what is billable, and whether the team effort matches the client story before invoice prep starts.

Report team delivery in client billing language

Produce summaries that explain team effort by deliverable, milestone, or service area so clients understand what they are paying for.

02

Retainer profitability

Turn SEO retainer hours into a profitability and scope record

SEO agencies almost universally sell monthly retainers, and almost universally lose money on at least one without realising it. A retainer is priced on an assumed scope — so many hours of technical audits, content briefs, link outreach, and reporting per month — but the actual hours drift. A demanding client requests an extra reporting call every week; a technical issue eats a full day of a senior strategist; content production runs over because a client keeps changing the brief. Because the retainer fee is fixed and the hours are invisible, the margin erodes silently until the agency is doing twelve thousand dollars of work for an eight thousand dollar retainer. Keito gives SEO agencies a place to track time against client and deliverable so retainer profitability stops being a guess. Strategists, writers, and link builders log hours against the right retainer and work type, account leads review the time before monthly client reports, and the agency sees true margin per retainer. That data does two things: it surfaces the unprofitable retainers that need a scope conversation or a price increase at renewal, and it gives account managers evidence to push back when a client asks for work beyond the agreed scope.

Track SEO retainer time by client, deliverable, and work type

Review hours before monthly reports to protect retainer margin

Price renewals and defend scope from real profitability data

Workflow fit

Fixed retainer vs actual hours

Keito keeps seo agency time tracking connected to client, project, billable status, approval, and invoice context before the work reaches finance.

Track SEO retainer time by client, deliverable, and work type

Review hours before monthly reports to protect retainer margin

Price renewals and defend scope from real profitability data

03

What Keito adds to seo agency time tracking

Team billing without per-seat penalties

Keito flat pricing means project leads can add contractors, specialists, and reviewers without facing a billing escalation each time the delivery team changes composition.

  • Flat-rate team plans from $49/month
  • Mix of full-time and contract contributors
  • Finance and project lead reviewers included

Delivery context the whole team fills in

Keito is designed for teams who move fast. It captures the minimum needed for billing accuracy: client, project, task, and billable status, without turning every entry into a form.

  • Quick entry with client and project tags
  • Billable or non-billable classification per entry
  • Manager review before entries become billing evidence

One billing view across the full team

Project leads can see all team contributions to a client engagement, not just their own entries, so the billing review is a single step rather than an aggregation exercise.

  • Project and team utilization view
  • Combined billing summary by client
  • Exportable team report for invoice backup
04

Compare the workflow

The difference is not just recording time. It is whether the record can support billing, project decisions, and client conversations.

Area Keito Typical setup

Fixed retainer vs actual hours

Keito keeps seo agency time tracking tied to clients, projects, billable status, approvals, and billing summaries in one workspace.

Typical setups capture time in one tool and rebuild the billing explanation later from exports, comments, or spreadsheet cleanup.

Review before invoicing

Managers review entries before they become invoice evidence, so missing context is fixed internally rather than during a client dispute.

Raw timer exports usually reach finance before delivery leads have confirmed whether the work is billable, complete, or client-ready.

Predictable team pricing

Flat-rate plans let delivery staff, reviewers, contractors, and finance users participate without per-seat pricing friction.

Per-seat time trackers make teams choose between clean billing participation and controlling tool spend.

05

Related solution pages

06

Useful reading

Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to manage seo agency time tracking?

Use a workspace where time is captured against the right client and project, reviewed before invoicing, and exported as billing evidence. Keito is built around that workflow, so seo agency time tracking is not separated from the approval and invoice context it needs.

Can Keito help with seo agency time tracking?

Yes. Keito tracks work by client, project, person, billable status, and review state, then turns approved records into client-ready summaries. That makes it useful when seo agency time tracking needs to support billing, profitability, and client reporting rather than just attendance.

How is this different from a generic timer?

A generic timer records duration. Keito records billable context: who did the work, which client and project it belongs to, whether it has been reviewed, and how it should appear in billing evidence.

03

Start solo. Add people when you need them.

Solo is built for one human owner and unlimited AI agents. Pro adds human teammates. Business adds integrations, exports, and online invoice payments.

Solo

One human owner

For independent consultants, freelancers, and small studios running work with AI agents.

$19 /mo

Start Solo
1 human owner
Unlimited AI agents
API access and API keys
Time, expenses, projects, and invoices
Agent source tracking
AI agent work invoice grouping
Most popular

Pro

Team collaboration

For teams that need shared workspaces, approvals, and team-level project visibility.

$49 /mo

Start Pro
Unlimited human team members
Everything in Solo
Team management and invites
Timesheet and expense approvals
Team reports and utilization
Per-member billing rates

Business

Advanced operations

For organizations that need integrations, exports, online payments, and stronger controls.

$199 /mo

Start Business
Everything in Pro
Xero and QuickBooks
Stripe invoice payments
CSV and Excel data export
Custom roles and SSO
Priority support
Agents are included

AI agents do not count as human seats on any plan.

API on every paid plan

Solo, Pro, and Business can use API keys for agent workflows.

Business-only payments

Stripe payments, exports, Xero, and QuickBooks are on Business.

Build a cleaner billing record for seo agencies, content marketing agencies, and digital marketing teams running monthly retainers who need to track time against deliverables and protect retainer profitability.

Start with Solo, add people on Pro when you need reviewers or collaborators, and see how Keito turns tracked effort into clearer reports.

Track SEO retainer margin with Keito