ABOUT US | GALLERIA, KINGWOOD, CYPRESS
About Vertical Web: Houston SEO, Web Design and Hosting Since 1998
Our first client from 1998 is still with us. Design, development, SEO, AI search and hosting all happen in-house, which is why we can fix what other companies break and explain every choice in plain English.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253
WHO WE ARE
What is Vertical Web?
Vertical Web is a Houston web design, SEO and hosting agency. Our legal name is Vertical Web Hosting, Design and Marketing, and our tagline is the job description: We Make the Web Work. We build websites, get them found in Google and the AI engines, and keep them running on our own servers.
We started in 1998 as ACTWD, short for A Creative Touch Web Design. Design was the whole business back then. Over the years clients kept asking for more: hosting they could trust, then search rankings, then ads, email and social media. We built each of those departments inside the company instead of farming them out. The name changed to Vertical Web so it would match what we do. The team and the ownership did not change.
Today the work covers SEO services, AI search, web design, development, web hosting, paid search, voter outreach for campaigns, and classes. One team owns all of it, so there is nobody to blame but us when something goes wrong. We like it that way.
WHY IT STARTED
Why did Beth Guide start a web company?
Beth Guide came to the web from journalism and public relations. She tells the hosting part of the story in class with a laugh: she ran a web design business, she could not stand the hosting companies her clients were stuck with, and when she gets aggravated she does not complain, she fixes it. So she started her own hosting. That instinct still runs the company. If a vendor keeps breaking your website, we would rather own the problem than point at someone else.
She also figured out early that a website on its own does nothing. Clients needed people to find it, so she spent years testing how search rankings work, and in 2003 she started teaching it. She has taught digital marketing for the SBA, the University of Houston SBDC, Lone Star College and HCC, and she appears as a technology expert on Fox 26. Read the full story on Beth Guide’s bio page.
Beth admits she once worried that teaching everything would put her out of work. It did the opposite. Her view now is that SEO takes a particular kind of brain, because it is English and math at the same time, and owners who learn the basics in her Internet Marketing Clinic are better at spotting a vendor who is guessing.
HOW WE WORK
What happens when you hire Vertical Web?
That process is the same whether you need a new site, a rescue after a bad redesign or help getting back into the map pack. If you are not sure where to start, our free website analysis is the same first step every client takes. It shows you what we see before you spend a dollar.
We also tell you when you do not need us. Some owners need a simple site and a Google Business Profile, not a monthly retainer. Saying so costs us a sale now and then. It is also part of why so many clients have stayed for more than a decade.
THE CASE FOR VERTICAL WEB ON YOUR WEBSITE
Why owners pick us and stay
RECOGNITION
What can Vertical Web show you?
You can read the details of the chamber awards in our announcement of the Best of West Houston 2025 triple first place honors. We would still rather you judge us on the audit we hand you than on a trophy.
OFFICES
Where is Vertical Web located?
General questions go to info@verticalweb.com. Hosting support goes to techsupport@v-web.com or the client portal at the top of every page. If you would like to join the team, open roles are listed on our careers page.
SEO, design and digital marketing together
What does a Houston SEO and web design company do for your business?
A Houston SEO and web design company builds the website, gets it found, and turns the traffic into customers. Most agencies do one of those well and hand the rest to someone else. We built every piece in-house, so the design, the content, the search engine optimization and the hosting are planned as one project.
Here is why that matters. A beautiful website with no SEO gets no visitors. SEO pointed at a slow site with a weak contact form brings traffic that never calls. And a campaign on social media or paid search that lands on the wrong page wastes the click. Our digital strategy starts with the result you want, such as calls, quote requests, online sales or donations, and works backward to the services that get you there.
That is also why our services are listed together on one services page instead of sold as separate products. Your brand, your Google Business Profile, your reviews and your website should all say the same thing, and one team keeps them that way.
The honest answer on price
How much do SEO services in Houston cost?
SEO services in Houston cost what the work takes, and the work depends on your market, your competitors and the shape your website is in today. A plumber in one suburb and an ecommerce store selling across Texas need very different amounts of content, links and technical repair. That is why we start with an audit before we quote.
Beth’s rule of thumb from class is simple: if one quote is a small fraction of the others, ask what is being left out. A price that is too low usually means the work is not being done, and you find out six months later when nothing has moved. Ask every agency what they will do each month, who will do it, and how you will see the results.
Our published plans are on the SEO pricing plans page, and every audit arrives with a written price next to the plan. We would rather you compare apples to apples than guess.
How to judge an agency
What is the best SEO company in Houston for a small business?
The best SEO company in Houston for your business is the one that shows you its work, reports from Google’s own data, and tells you what not to buy. Rankings matter, but the real test is whether the traffic turns into customers and revenue you can measure.
Look for an SEO agency that can explain its plan in plain English. Ask to see results for a business like yours. Ask who writes the content, who builds the pages and who answers the phone when the site goes down. Ask whether you own your domain, your website and your accounts. If the answers are vague, keep looking.
Beth started teaching SEO in 2003 partly for this reason. She wants small business owners to know enough to tell whether their agency is spending their money well, even if that agency is not us. Our guide on how to choose an SEO company lists the questions she tells owners to ask.
Who we work with
Which industries does our Houston digital marketing agency serve?
We work with small and mid-size businesses and professional practices from Houston to Katy and from Kingwood to Conroe, and with clients across Texas and the country. Most are owner-led companies, both B2B and B2C.
Our core industries are law firms, real estate agents and brokers, political campaigns, dental and medical practices, home services, manufacturing, hospitality and restaurants, oil and gas, ecommerce and nonprofits. Each one searches differently. A law firm lives and dies by the map pack and reviews. A manufacturer needs product pages that an engineer can find by part name. An ecommerce store needs category pages, product schema and conversion work on the checkout. You can see the full list on our industries page.
The variety helps every client. What we learn about local SEO for a medical practice often improves a contractor’s visibility too, and the user experience lessons from a store carry over to any quote form.
Agency or do it yourself
Why hire a Houston SEO agency instead of managing SEO in-house?
You can do SEO yourself, and Beth teaches owners how in her classes. Many of them do the basics well: they claim their Google Business Profile, ask for reviews, fix their title tags and post on a schedule. If you have the time, it is worth learning.
Most owners hire an agency for three reasons. The first is time, because SEO is a weekly job that never finishes. The second is tools and experience, since a full technical audit, keyword research and competitor analysis take software and years of practice. The third is that search keeps changing. Google updates, AI engines and new features in the map pack all change what works, and an agency that does this every day sees it first.
If you want to try it yourself first, start with our free Internet Marketing Clinic. If you would rather hand it off, start with a free audit and see what we find.
QUESTIONS
Questions about Vertical Web
Yes. Design, development, SEO, AI search, PPC, texting, email, video, podcasting, political work and the hosting underneath it are all handled by our own team. There are no white-label partners behind the curtain.
Beth Guide leads strategy. Your account has a named project lead, and you can reach the developers directly through support. The person who built your site is the person who answers when something breaks.
We have three: the Galleria office at 5701 Woodway 220-B, the Kingwood office at 2316 Timber Shadows Drive Suite 102, and the Cypress office at 14871 Grant Road in Drake Technology Park. About half of our clients are outside Houston.
Since 1998. We have taught SEO in Houston since 2003, and the client who hired us first in 1998 is still with us.
Yes. ACTWD stood for A Creative Touch Web Design, the name we started under. We rebranded to Vertical Web to reflect everything we do now. The team, the ownership and the service level stayed the same.
No. Vertical Web, legal name Vertical Web Hosting, Design and Marketing, is the Houston web design, SEO and hosting agency at verticalweb.com. If you found a different vertical company in a search, it is not us.
It depends on your market, your competitors and the condition of your website. We start with a free audit, then send a written plan with the price. Our published plans are on the SEO pricing plans page.
The one that shows you its work, reports from Google’s own data, explains the plan in plain English and tells you what you do not need. Ask every agency who does the work, what they do each month and whether you own your accounts.
Quick fixes, like title tags, a broken contact form or a Google Business Profile category, can show up fast. Content and authority take longer to build. We report from Google Search Console so you can watch the progress yourself.
Complete and update your Google Business Profile, choose the right categories, keep your name, address and phone the same everywhere, and earn reviews. Then make sure your website has a page for each service and each area you serve.
Both. Vertical Web is a full digital agency: web design, development, SEO, AI search, paid search, social media, email, text campaigns and hosting, all done by one in-house team.
Tell us what your website is supposed to do
We will tell you why it is not doing it. One conversation, no pitch deck, and a plain answer about what is worth fixing first.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253 | info@verticalweb.com