Questions to Ask an SEO Agency Before You Sign a Contract

By Penny Beaty | Independent SEO & AI Visibility Consultant

Before hiring an SEO agency, ask what it will do, who will do the work, how results will be measured, and what your business will retain if you leave. Request examples and written commitments so you can compare proposals with fewer assumptions.

Two proposals can both promise “monthly SEO” while covering very different work. One may include website changes and content. Another may provide recommendations that your developer still needs to carry out. Until those details are clear, comparing the monthly fees tells you very little.

These are the questions I recommend bringing to a hiring conversation. You do not need to know every technical term. You need to understand what you are buying.

1. What do you need to understand about my business first?

Listen to the questions the agency asks you. Before proposing priorities, it should understand your customers, the services or products you want to sell, your market, and the work your team can handle.

For example, imagine a Lafayette, Indiana, contractor who wants more siding projects within a limited service area. A national article attracting DIY readers may bring visitors without helping fill that contractor’s schedule. The proposal should explain how the planned pages connect to the jobs and locations the business actually wants.

Ask the agency to describe your main goal back to you. If its answer is simply “more traffic,” discuss which visitors matter and what you want them to do.

2. What will you deliver during the first 90 days?

Ask for a starting plan that separates investigation, implementation, and ongoing work. The details may change after an audit, but the proposal should explain what happens first and how priorities will be chosen.

“Technical SEO” is too broad to compare on its own. A more useful answer identifies the planned checks, how findings will be documented, and whether the agency will make the repairs. Content work should clarify who researches, writes, reviews, and publishes each piece.

Request a sample deliverable with client information removed. You should be able to tell what was examined, what was found, and what the business was expected to do next.

3. Who will make the changes, and what will you need from me?

Find out who is responsible for implementation before the agreement begins. An audit can be useful on its own, but a list of recommendations still needs someone to act on it.

If your website needs a developer, ask whether that cost is included. Agree on who approves edits, how significant changes are checked, and who handles a problem after an update. Also ask who your regular contact will be and whether the specialists doing the work will join review calls when needed.

Get your own responsibilities in writing. Content approvals, product information, and access delays can affect the schedule just as much as the agency’s workload.

4. How will we measure whether the work is helping?

Agree on the business outcomes you want to improve, then ask how the agency will measure progress toward them. Depending on the business, those outcomes might be qualified inquiries, booked consultations, or online purchases.

Ask how reports will connect relevant searches and landing pages to recorded inquiries. Discuss how spam submissions, existing customers, and calls with an unknown source will be handled. If tracking needs repair, the proposal should account for that work before treating the numbers as a reliable baseline.

Request a sample report and ask the agency to walk through a decision it would make from the data. A useful explanation should help you understand what it would investigate or change next.

5. What results are realistic, and what could delay them?

Ask for expectations tied to your website’s starting point, competition, budget, and implementation capacity. Separate delivery dates from expected search improvements: the agency can commit to completing agreed work while acknowledging that search outcomes are uncertain.

Google’s guidance on hiring an SEO warns against guaranteed first-place rankings. Ask anyone making that promise to explain exactly what is being guaranteed and for which searches.

Set a review date and decide what evidence you will examine then. If progress is disappointing, you want a specific investigation and a revised plan rather than another unexplained request to wait.

6. Can you show relevant work and explain your contribution?

A case study is more useful when it explains the starting problem, the work completed, and the period measured. Ask what the agency actually handled and what the client or another provider contributed.

Look for experience with a comparable business problem. That might mean a local service area, a large product catalog, or a website migration. An identical industry is helpful, but it should not replace a clear explanation of how the agency approached the work.

Where a client has agreed to serve as a reference, ask about communication and follow-through as well as results. Did the business understand the work? Were unexpected costs or delays explained?

7. What methods will you use to create content and earn links?

Ask how the agency selects topics, checks factual claims, and gets subject knowledge from your team. If it uses AI in content production, establish who reviews the output and confirms that it accurately represents your business.

For link work, request examples of the placements or outreach it proposes. Ask whether money changes hands, where links appear, and how the approach complies with Google’s policies. A promised quantity of links gives you too little information to assess the work.

You should also know whether the agency plans to create websites, publish articles, or contact other organizations using your business name. Agree on what needs your approval before it happens.

8. What exactly is included in your AI visibility service?

If the proposal includes AEO, GEO, or AI optimization, ask which platforms and customer questions it covers. Request an example showing the test date, prompt, answer, and cited sources, along with an explanation of how checks are repeated.

Ask the agency to distinguish a mention of your business from a recommendation or a link to your website. Then ask what specific work it proposes and how that work addresses the observed problem.

For Google specifically, its guidance on AI features says there are no special optimizations or additional technical requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Its existing SEO guidance still applies. Ask for supporting documentation if a proposal claims special files or exclusive access are required to appear there.

9. What accounts and materials will my business control?

Clarify business-controlled access to the domain, website, analytics, Search Console, and any relevant Business Profile. Ask what permissions the agency needs and how its access will be removed when the work ends.

For content, designs, reports, and other deliverables, confirm what your agreement allows you to retain and reuse. Agency tools and licensed assets may have different terms. Get those distinctions settled before they become a handover problem.

If an agency dashboard displays your results, ask what records you can export and which underlying accounts your business can access directly.

10. What is the total cost, and how does the engagement end?

Compare the work covered by each proposal alongside its price. Ask about setup charges, development, content revisions, software fees, and any work billed separately. Establish who can authorize spending beyond the agreed amount.

Read the cancellation and renewal terms before signing. Confirm the notice period, minimum commitment, and handover process. Ask what happens to unfinished work and which records or files you will receive.

A small paid diagnostic may be a sensible starting point if neither side yet understands the problem. Ask what that diagnostic delivers and whether you can use the findings without buying ongoing services.

What to collect before making your decision

Ask each provider for the same basic information so you can compare the offers fairly. Before signing, you should have:

• A written scope identifying included work, exclusions, and additional costs.
• An initial work plan with responsibilities and approval requirements.
• An example deliverable and report you can understand.
• Agreed goals, measurement methods, and a date for reviewing progress.
• Written access, reuse, renewal, cancellation, and handover terms.

If an answer is unclear, ask for a concrete example. You should leave the conversation able to explain what the agency will do and what your team needs to contribute.

Already working with an agency? Read how to tell if your SEO company is working for a closer look at completed work and ongoing results.

Need a second opinion on your SEO investment?

I’m Penny Beaty, an independent SEO consultant with more than 25 years of marketing experience. If you are unsure what your current SEO investment is delivering, I can review the available evidence and help you decide what deserves attention before you spend more.

Learn about my Independent SEO & AI Visibility Review and tell me which decision you need help making.