Hiring an SEO agency is harder than hiring most suppliers. The work is partly invisible, results take time, and there’s no shortage of jargon to hide behind. It’s quite possible to pay for a year of SEO and still not be sure what was done.
That doesn’t mean agencies are bad. Plenty do excellent work. It means you need to ask the right questions before signing anything.
Here are the ones worth asking, and what good and bad answers sound like. Yes, we’re an agency that offers SEO. Ask us these too.
Questions to ask an SEO agency about the plan
“What would you do first, and why?”
A good SEO agency will want to understand your business before proposing a plan: your services, margins, locations, competitors and what a good customer looks like. They should talk about auditing your current site and search presence, then prioritising.
Good sign: a clear first few months, linked to your goals, with the reasoning explained.
Warning sign: a generic package with a fixed list of “deliverables” that would be identical for a solicitor, a plumber and an online shop.
“Can you guarantee first-page rankings?”
This is a trick question, and the right answer is no. Google itself says nobody can guarantee a ranking. Agencies can improve your chances, but they don’t control the results.
Good sign: honest talk about what’s realistic, based on your competition, plus the measures they’ll use to show progress.
Warning sign: guarantees, especially for specific positions or short timescales. Also be wary of guarantees for obscure phrases nobody searches for, which are easy to hit and worth nothing.
“What exactly will you do each month?”
SEO covers a lot of ground: technical fixes, content, local SEO, links, reporting. You should know how your fee is split across these, roughly, and who does the work.
- Will they write content, or expect you to?
- Will they make changes to your website directly, or send recommendations for your developer?
- Who will you actually speak to, and how often?
- Is any of the work outsourced, and if so, to whom?
None of these have a single right answer, but you need to know. A plan that relies on your developer implementing changes, when you don’t have a developer, isn’t going anywhere.
Questions about methods and measurement
“How do you build links?”
This question reveals a lot. Buying links or using link networks goes against Google’s spam policies and can harm your site.
Good sign: talk of digital PR, relationships, local partnerships, useful content and outreach, with honesty that it’s slow and not guaranteed.
Warning sign: a specific number of links per month, vague mentions of “our network”, or reluctance to tell you where links come from.
The best question to ask any SEO agency is “how will I know if this isn’t working?” A good agency will have a proper answer. A poor one will change the subject.
“How will you report, and what will you measure?”
Rankings and traffic are useful, but they’re not the goal. Ask how they’ll connect SEO to enquiries or sales, and whether they’ll help set up tracking if it’s not in place.
Ask to see an example report, with client details removed. Is it readable? Does it explain what happened and why, or is it pages of exported charts?
Questions about the paperwork
“Who owns everything?”
This one is often forgotten until the relationship ends. Make sure you, not the agency, own:
- Your domain name and website hosting account.
- Google Search Console, Google Analytics and Google Business Profile, with the agency added as users rather than owners.
- Any content they write for you.
- Any accounts created in your business name.
If they suggest setting these up under their own accounts, ask why, and insist on ownership.
“What’s the contract, and how do we end it?”
SEO does take time, so a minimum term of a few months isn’t unreasonable. Long lock-ins with no break clause are a different matter. Ask:
- What’s the minimum term and notice period?
- What happens to work in progress if we stop?
- Will anything they’ve installed stop working when you leave?
Other things worth checking
- Can they explain SEO to you in plain English? If not, they’ll struggle to explain results.
- Do they ask about your business goals, or only about keywords?
- Are they honest when something isn’t a good fit, such as suggesting paid ads would suit a short-term need better?
- Do they have relevant experience you can verify, such as reviews or references you can actually contact?
What to do next
Write these questions down and ask each SEO agency the same ones. Compare the answers side by side, not just the prices. If you’d like to put them to us, our SEO service page explains how we work, and we’re happy to answer every one of them. If your business is mainly local, our local SEO page is the better place to start.
