Choosing an SEO provider is difficult because the work is hard to evaluate before you buy it and slow to evaluate after. Proposals look similar, everyone can show a case study, and the difference between competent and worthless is not visible in a sales meeting.
What does distinguish them is how they answer specific questions about your site.
Ask what they would do, before they have looked
A provider who can describe your priorities in detail before auditing anything is describing their standard package, not your site. The correct answer to “what would you do for us” at first contact is that they do not yet know, followed by what they would look at to find out.
Conversely, a provider who has looked at your site and cannot name a single specific problem has not looked.
What good looks like
- They ask about your business, not just your website. Margins, customer value and which services you actually want more of determine what should be prioritised.
- They talk about pages, not rankings. Rankings are an outcome. The work is pages, structure, and technical fixes.
- They set a realistic timeframe. Six to twelve months for meaningful commercial results.
- They will show you the actual work, not only a dashboard. Ask what a monthly deliverable looks like.
- They are specific about what is excluded. Who writes content, who implements changes, whether development time is included.
- They are comfortable being questioned on technical detail and do not retreat into jargon.
Warning signs
- Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed positions. Nobody controls the results page. This alone is disqualifying.
- An immediate discount when you hesitate, which tells you the first price was arbitrary.
- Reporting that never shows a decline. Real accounts have bad months.
- Vanity metrics — keywords tracked, tasks completed, reports sent — in place of traffic, enquiries and revenue.
- Long lock-ins with no exit. Twelve months is reasonable given how long the work takes; twelve months with no termination clause is not.
- They will not say who does the work or where it is done.
- They own your assets. Your site, analytics, Search Console and content must remain yours.
That last one matters more than it sounds. Providers who register the domain, own the hosting, or build on their own platform create a dependency that is expensive to unwind. See when an SEO agency is not getting results.
How to check a case study
Ask which pages ranked and for which terms, then look at those pages. Ask over what period and what the starting position was. A case study that cannot be traced to specific live URLs is not evidence.
Agency, consultant or freelancer
Agencies bring capacity and often junior execution. Independent consultants bring seniority and limited capacity. Freelancers vary more than either. None is inherently better — what matters is whether the person doing the work has the experience your situation needs. See what an SEO consultant does.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose on price?
Price should rule options out, not pick the winner. Below a certain level the budget cannot cover the work regardless of who does it. See is cheap SEO worth it.
How long should I commit for?
Long enough for the work to show, with a way out if it does not. Six to twelve months with a notice period is normal and reasonable.
Can my web developer do it?
They can implement it, and implementation is not strategy. The two skills are different and both are needed. See can a web developer do SEO.
How do I know if it is working?
Agree the measures before starting, and check leading indicators early rather than waiting for revenue. See how to know if SEO is working.
Consulting CTA
For an independent view on a proposal you have received, book an SEO consultation.