Google recommends carefully evaluating a potential SEO provider. Its guidance suggests asking about expected results, how success will be measured, how communication will work and what changes the SEO intends to make.[1]
This guide is designed to help you compare proposals without reducing the decision to “who is cheapest?” or “who promises the highest rankings?”.
A good SEO agency cannot be selected only by comparing price, the number of tracked keywords, monthly article quotas, promised DR of acquired links, guaranteed TOP 10 timelines or certificate logos.
More important questions include how the website will be diagnosed, what work will actually be carried out, who will implement changes, how content and links will be handled, whether you retain access to data, how results will be measured, how completed work will be reported, what the contract says and what happens when the relationship ends.
Before choosing an SEO agency, define what you actually need
Not every business needs the same type of SEO.
A local business may focus on local queries, Google Business Profile, calls, enquiries and visibility in local results.
An e-commerce business may need category development, indexation control, faceted navigation, product optimisation and revenue measurement.
For a B2B company, priorities may include valuable niche queries, qualified enquiries, service pages and content supporting a longer buying cycle.
A good first conversation should not begin with a ready-made “50 keywords” package. The provider should first understand the business model, products or services, customers, competitors, current acquisition channels and the role search should play in generating business.
Google also recommends that an SEO understands the business, its customers, competitors and the role search may play in its growth.[1]
What should an SEO proposal actually cover?
There is no single mandatory SEO package for every business. However, the proposal should make it clear which areas will be addressed and who is responsible for delivering them.
Technical diagnosis
Crawlability, indexing, redirects, URL structure, internal linking and technical errors.
Content
Topic selection, optimisation of existing pages, updates and publication of changes.
Link building
Off-site plan, publication context, reporting and alignment with Google’s policies.
Implementation
Who applies changes in the CMS, codebase or alongside your development team.
Analytics and reporting
Visibility, traffic, conversions and a record of work completed.
1. Technical diagnosis and SEO
Before significant work begins, the agency needs to understand the current condition of the website. This does not mean every relationship must begin with a separate, expensive, hundreds-of-pages audit — initial analysis may be part of ongoing SEO work.
However, you should know whether the provider intends to review crawlability, indexing, canonicals, redirects, URL structure, internal linking, sitemaps, rendering where JavaScript matters and technical problems that may genuinely affect visibility.
Google lists areas such as site structure review, technical advice, content development and keyword research among services that an SEO may provide.[1] In many cases, a structured SEO audit covering technical SEO, content and architecture is a sensible starting point.
2. Content creation and optimisation
A statement such as “four articles per month” does not tell you much about the quality of the SEO service.
Ask how topics are selected, which data informs the decision, whether existing pages are reviewed first, who writes the content, who checks subject-matter accuracy, who publishes changes and whether the content supports actual services, products or stages of the buying process.
A good content strategy does not have to mean publishing more blog posts every month. Sometimes the better opportunity is improving an existing service page, updating an older article, consolidating overlapping resources or improving internal linking — as with keyword cannibalisation.
Should the use of AI in content creation be a concern?
Not by itself. Google does not classify content as spam simply because generative AI was used during production. The problem is large-scale content creation primarily intended to manipulate search rankings without sufficient value for users.[2]
A more useful question than “Do you use AI?” is “How do you control quality before anything is published?” Ask who verifies facts, who edits the content, whether the page genuinely answers the intended topic and who takes responsibility for the final publication.
3. How does the agency approach link building?
If link building is part of the service, the client should understand what is actually being delivered. A promise such as “links from DR 40+ domains” is not enough.
Domain Rating, Domain Authority and Authority Score are third-party metrics, not Google metrics.[10][11]
Useful questions include where links will come from, whether the surrounding context is relevant, whether the websites make sense for the topic, whether acquired links and placements are reported, how commercial placements are qualified and how the agency limits the risk of practices that conflict with Google’s spam policies.
Google lists buying or selling links for ranking purposes among examples of link spam.[3] Our approach to off-site work is described on the link building page.
4. Who actually implements SEO changes?
This is one of the most important and frequently overlooked parts of an SEO proposal.
An agency may provide recommendations for your developers to implement, implement some changes directly in the CMS or codebase, or work jointly with your development team. All three models can work.
The problem begins when an audit contains 50 recommendations but nobody is responsible for implementing them.
Before signing, ask who makes the changes, whether development work is included in the fee, which tasks require additional budget, who approves changes and how implementation is verified afterwards.
5. How will SEO results be measured?
Keyword rankings can be useful as a diagnostic metric, but they do not show the full business impact of SEO. Measurement should usually combine several levels.
| Area | Example metrics |
|---|---|
| Technical | indexing, errors, implementation status |
| Visibility | queries, impressions, average position |
| Traffic | organic clicks, sessions, landing pages |
| Business | enquiries, calls, leads, revenue |
The right metrics will vary by business. For B2B, a lead does not automatically mean a qualified opportunity. For e-commerce, session growth may matter less than revenue and transaction value.
Why should branded and non-branded search demand be analysed separately?
If a company invests in advertising, PR, social media, offline marketing or other brand-building activity, searches for the company name may increase independently of SEO work.
For this reason, Google Search Console data can be analysed separately for queries containing the brand name and for non-branded queries.[8] This does not mean branded traffic “is not SEO” — the purpose is simply to understand where growth is coming from.
Google Analytics 4 primarily measures what happens after the user arrives on the website — sessions, events and conversions.[9] It does not replace GSC query reporting and does not provide the same query-level brand / non-brand split.
What should a useful SEO report contain?
A monthly report should not consist only of “TOP 3 / TOP 10 / TOP 50”. It should answer at least four questions: what was done, what changed in the data, what may explain important gains or declines and what happens next.
WORK COMPLETED → technical changes, content, links, implementation
DATA → visibility, clicks, traffic, conversions
INTERPRETATION → what is working, what needs attention
NEXT STEPS → planned actions, decisions required from the client
A raw export from a rank-tracking tool does not explain what the client has actually paid for.
Can an SEO agency guarantee a #1 ranking in Google?
It should not promise an outcome it does not fully control. Google explicitly states that nobody can guarantee a #1 ranking in Google and advises caution when an SEO claims guaranteed rankings, a special relationship with Google or priority submission to Google.[1]
This does not mean an agency should avoid setting goals. It may define a plan, measurable indicators, expected direction of change, scenarios and forecasts. But there is a difference between a target and a guaranteed specific Google ranking.
Does Google Partner status prove SEO expertise?
No. The Google Partners programme is designed for agencies and other businesses that manage Google Ads accounts.[4] Google describes programme requirements in areas such as Google Ads account performance, advertising spend and Google Ads certifications.
Google Partner status may therefore be relevant when choosing a company to manage Google Ads. It is not an official certification of “Google-approved SEO agencies”.
Does spending money on Google Ads improve organic rankings?
No. Google states that advertising with Google does not affect a website’s presence in organic search results.[1] Google Ads and organic SEO are separate channels. A company may offer both, but advertising spend does not buy a higher organic ranking.
How long should it take before you can assess SEO results?
There is no universal deadline after which every SEO campaign must produce a specific result. The timeline depends on the current state of the website, domain history, competition, technical problems, speed of implementation, content, links, recrawling and reprocessing, changes made by competitors and changes in Google Search.
Google emphasises that SEO changes may take time to show results and recommends discussing expected outcomes, timeframes and measurement with the provider.[1]
Who should control Google Search Console, GA4 and GTM?
A company’s SEO and analytics history should not disappear simply because the provider changes. A sensible business practice is for the client to retain administrative control over its key accounts, while the agency receives the permissions required to carry out its work. Do not describe this as a legal obligation.
Google Search Console
Search Console distinguishes between roles including owner, full user and restricted user.[5] Owners can manage users and have the highest level of control over the property.
For continuity, the business should have its own access that does not depend entirely on the agency. The agency does not need to become the sole owner. Google also notes that when carrying out an initial technical audit, read-only Search Console access may be sufficient.[1]
Google Analytics 4
GA4 access can be assigned at the appropriate level for the work being carried out. Google provides roles including Administrator, Editor and Analyst.[6] The client therefore does not need to give every provider the highest possible access. First determine what the agency needs to do — then assign the permissions required for that task.
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager supports permissions at both account and container level. Container access may include Read, Edit, Approve and Publish.[7] Google also warns against relying on a single account administrator, because access may be lost if that person becomes unavailable.[7]
What about the domain, hosting and CMS?
Depending on the scope, the agency may need access to CMS, hosting, DNS or a repository. That does not automatically mean it needs unrestricted administrative control over the entire infrastructure.
Good practice includes individual user accounts, permissions matched to the task and the ability to revoke access when the relationship ends.
What should you check in an SEO contract?
This section is not legal advice. From a practical business perspective, review the terms covering exact scope of services, contract duration, renewal, notice period, additional costs, publication budgets, development work, content production, reporting, account access, rights to created materials and handover when the relationship ends.
Check how the contract handles rights to created materials — do not assume copyright automatically transfers after an invoice is paid.
Is a 12-month SEO contract automatically a warning sign?
No. A longer agreement may make sense because of project scope, planned implementation, budget planning or the working model agreed by both parties. More important questions are how the contract can be ended, the notice period, whether it renews automatically and what obligations remain after termination.
Is performance-based SEO a bad model?
Not necessarily. The critical question is what exactly counts as “performance” — it may be defined as visibility, clicks, leads, revenue or another measurable outcome. A poorly designed performance-based model may incentivise optimisation for easily achieved metrics that have little business value. Performance-based pricing is not automatically a warning sign; the measurement rules simply need careful review.
How do you compare SEO proposals with very different prices?
Do not begin with the total monthly fee. Compare the scope first.
Proposal A may cover monitoring and reporting. Proposal B may include technical analysis, implementation, existing-page optimisation, new content, link building and analytics. These two proposals cannot be meaningfully compared on price alone.
| What to compare | Proposal A | Proposal B | Proposal C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals | — | — | — |
| Technical analysis | — | — | — |
| Implementation | — | — | — |
| Content | — | — | — |
| Link building | — | — | — |
| Analytics | — | — | — |
| Reporting of completed work | — | — | — |
| Access to data | — | — | — |
| Communication | — | — | — |
| Contract terms | — | — | — |
| End-of-contract handover | — | — | — |
| Price and additional costs | — | — | — |
Warning signs when choosing an SEO agency
Clear warning sign
- Guaranteeing first place or claiming a special relationship with Google.
- No clear explanation of what work will actually be carried out.
- Refusing the client access to its own GSC / GA4 data.
- No ability to identify which changes were actually implemented.
- Link practices that clearly conflict with Google Spam Policies.[2]
- No explanation of who is responsible for implementing recommendations.
Question that needs clarification
- Long contract.
- Use of subcontractors.
- AI-assisted content production.
- Performance-based pricing.
- No direct access to every specialist.
- Use of external publishing platforms.
What should not automatically disqualify an SEO agency?
No ranking guarantee
Often more realistic than promising #1.
Subcontractors
Quality control and accountability matter more than employment status.
AI
The final quality and review process matter more than the tool alone.
Longer contract
Check the terms, not only the number of months.
Short-term declines
May have many causes and should be diagnosed.
Not ranking #1 for “SEO agency”
The agency’s own ranking is one signal, not complete proof of client-service quality.
15 questions to ask before signing an SEO contract
- What exactly do you plan to do during the first few months?
- How do you decide which tasks have priority?
- Which technical SEO work is included?
- Who actually implements recommendations on the website?
- Is development work included in the fee?
- How do you select topics and pages for optimisation?
- How is content written, reviewed and approved?
- How do you acquire links?
- Will we see which publications and links have been acquired?
- How will SEO performance be measured?
- How do you report work completed, not just results?
- Will our company retain its own access to GSC, GA4 and GTM?
- Who will manage our project and how will communication work?
- Which additional costs may arise outside the core fee?
- What happens to accounts, data, content and documentation when the contract ends?
SEO agency checklist before signing a contract
- I understand the goals of the project.
- I know exactly what the monthly scope includes.
- I know who implements changes.
- I understand how content work will be handled.
- I know how links will be acquired and reported.
- I understand how results will be measured.
- Our company retains its own access to key data.
- I know how often reporting occurs and what it contains.
- I know who is responsible for communication.
- I understand additional costs.
- I understand the contract duration and renewal terms.
- I know the notice period.
- I have checked how rights to created materials are handled.
- I know what happens when the relationship ends.
What should be clear before the SEO relationship ends?
A good agreement should not only describe how the project starts. It is worth agreeing in advance who removes agency access, which documents are handed over, whether the client retains created content, how rights to created materials are handled, whether a history of completed work is available, what happens to external publications and which accounts remain under the client’s control.
The expected duration of external placements should follow the agreement with the provider and publisher — there is no universal rule requiring publications to remain live for a fixed period.
So how should you choose an SEO agency?
Do not choose the provider that promises the most. Look for a company that can clearly explain what it intends to do, why those actions matter, who will implement them, how performance will be measured and what you are actually receiving for your budget.
A well-structured SEO proposal should make it possible to evaluate not only results, but also the work behind those results. Price, number of tracked keywords and number of monthly articles may all matter, but without context they do not tell you enough about the quality of the service.
More about how we approach SEO is on our services page — without reducing the work to a keyword count in a package.