A second opinion is worth having when you are paying for SEO and cannot tell whether it is working. That is an uncomfortable position to be in, and it is more common than most business owners assume, because the work is genuinely hard to evaluate from outside.
When to get one
- Months of reports and no commercial change. Rankings and traffic can rise while enquiries do not, which usually means the wrong terms are being targeted.
- You cannot get a straight answer about what was done last month.
- Traffic dropped and the explanation is a Google update, every time.
- You are about to sign a longer contract and want to know whether the first term delivered.
- A proposal looks expensive and you have nothing to compare it against.
- You are about to migrate or redesign and want the plan checked before it is executed.
The last is the cheapest possible moment to get an independent view, and the one people most often skip.
What a review looks at
- Whether the targeting is commercially sensible — are the terms being pursued ones your buyers actually search?
- What has actually been delivered, as pages and changes on the site, not as reported activity.
- Whether technical problems are being addressed or worked around.
- Whether the reporting reflects reality, checked against Search Console and analytics directly.
- Whether the spend is proportionate to the competitiveness of the market. See how much to spend on SEO.
What it is not
It is not an exercise in finding fault. Plenty of engagements are working and simply have not been explained well, and a review that concludes the work is sound is a useful outcome — it lets you stop worrying and commit properly.
It is also not a pitch. A review that concludes with a proposal to take over the work is not independent, and you should treat it accordingly.
Common findings
- Effort spread too thin across many low-value terms rather than concentrated on the few that convert.
- Recommendations delivered but never implemented, because nobody was assigned to do it. See implementation support.
- Content published onto a site with unresolved technical problems, so it is not crawled properly.
- Reporting on rankings for terms with no commercial value.
- Genuine progress that was never explained, which is more common than it sounds.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell my current provider?
No. A review works from your site, Search Console and analytics, all of which are yours. Many are done without the provider’s involvement.
What if the review says the work is fine?
Then you have paid a small amount for confidence in a much larger ongoing spend, which is a reasonable trade.
Can you take over if it is not working?
The review is independent of that question. If you want a recommendation on next steps you will get one, including where the honest answer is to fix the current arrangement rather than replace it.
How long does it take?
Usually a week or two depending on site size and how much history there is to work through.
Consulting CTA
To arrange an independent review of work you are already paying for, book an SEO consultation. See also when an SEO agency is not getting results.