15 questions to ask before you hire an SEO company
Hiring an SEO company is mostly about asking the right questions and knowing what a good answer sounds like. Use this list before you sign anything.
You do not need to understand SEO to hire an SEO company well. You need the right questions and a feel for what an honest answer sounds like. Ask them before any money changes hands. A good agency will enjoy answering them. A bad one will get slippery around question three, and that reaction tells you more than any portfolio.
Who is actually doing the work
1. Who will actually work on my account?
A good answer names people. You should know whether the person selling you also does the work, or whether your account gets handed to a production team, and if so, who checks its output before it ships.
A bad answer sounds like "our team of specialists handles everything." That is often code for outsourced fulfillment, where your website joins a queue of hundreds and the person you signed with never touches it again.
2. Who writes the content?
Content is where cheap agencies cut corners first. A good answer: a writer or strategist who learns your trade, with your review before anything publishes. AI tools in the workflow are normal now, but a human who knows your business has to check everything published under your name.
A bad answer: "we have a content team" with no detail, or a promised word count of generic blog posts. Five hundred words of filler about "the importance of plumbing maintenance" will not rank, and AI engines will not cite it either.
Contracts and what you own
3. Is this month to month, or am I signing a contract?
A good answer is month to month, or a short initial term with a clean, cheap exit. SEO takes months to compound, so an agency asking for a little runway is reasonable. An agency asking for a 12 or 24 month lock-in with an auto-renew clause is protecting itself, not you. Our own plans run month to month for this reason: the work should keep you, not the paperwork.
A bad answer is any contract they will not send you before the close, or a cancellation process that involves fees, notice windows measured in months, or "talking to a retention specialist."
4. If we part ways, what do I own?
The good answer is one word: everything. Your domain, website, content, Google Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console, all created under your accounts with the agency added as a manager. When the relationship ends, they get removed and you keep it all.
The bad answer involves the words "proprietary platform" or "licensed content," or accounts registered under the agency's email. That setup turns leaving into starting over, and it is one of the clearest bad-agency red flags there is.
Reporting and visibility
5. How do you report, and can I see a sample?
A good answer is a monthly plain-English summary a busy owner can read in five minutes: what was done, what moved, what is next, and where your calls and form fills came from. Any agency proud of its reporting will show you a sample before you sign.
A bad answer is a dashboard link and nothing else, or a glossy PDF full of impressions and "keywords tracked" that never mentions a lead. Reports that cannot connect the work to the phone ringing are decoration.
6. Can I see the work as it ships?
A good answer: yes, every month you can see the pages published, the profile updates made, the links earned, the changes shipped. You do not need to review every line, but you should always be able to spot-check.
A bad answer: "trust the process" or "our methods are proprietary." The fundamentals of local SEO are not secret. Secrecy usually hides thin work or shortcuts that get sites penalized.
The plan and the price
7. What happens in the first 90 days?
A good answer is a concrete sequence: audit the site and Google Business Profile, fix the technical and on-page basics, start publishing content, begin the review engine. It also includes an honest caveat that rankings and leads build over months, not weeks. We set a 90-day ramp expectation, and our post on how long SEO takes explains why that window is realistic.
A bad answer is a promise of fast rankings or no plan at all. "We'll get you to page one in 30 days" and "every campaign is different" are opposite dodges with the same meaning: they have not thought about your business yet.
8. What exactly does the price include?
A good answer is an itemized scope: what is built, what is written, what is managed, and what cadence, at each tier. Our plans run $750, $1,500, and from $3,000 per month, and each one lists its deliverables, including AI search optimization in every tier rather than as an upsell.
A bad answer is a single number with no scope attached, or a bargain price that quietly buys almost no hours. Real local SEO is skilled monthly labor. If the price could not cover a competent person's time, it does not.
AI search and reviews
9. How do you handle AI search?
This question sorts current agencies from stale ones faster than any other. A growing share of your customers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews instead of scrolling ten blue links. A good answer explains how the agency structures content, schema, and your Google Business Profile so AI engines cite and recommend your business, and treats that as core work. That is exactly what our AI search optimization service covers.
A bad answer is a blank look, a dismissal, or a vague nod with no method behind it. An agency optimizing only for 2019 Google is aiming at a shrinking target with your money.
10. How do you get reviews, and is it compliant?
A good answer is a system for asking real customers at the right moment, making the review link effortless, and responding to what comes in. No gating, no incentives, no purchased reviews, because all three violate Google policy and FTC rules, and enforcement lands on you, not the agency. Our guide to getting more Google reviews shows the clean version.
A bad answer is any promise of a specific number of five-star reviews, or squeamishness when you ask how reviews are sourced. If they will cheat Google for you, they will cut corners on you.
Loyalty and promises
11. Do you work with my direct competitors?
A good answer is a clear policy. Some agencies take one business per trade per territory; others work with competitors but tell you upfront. What matters is that you know before you sign, because an agency trying to rank two Naples roofers for the same searches is playing both sides of the same auction.
A bad answer is hedging, or discovering later that your "dedicated" agency runs campaigns for the three companies you bid against every week.
12. What results can you promise me?
The honest answer is none, and you are listening for exactly that. Nobody controls Google, and nobody controls what ChatGPT recommends. A good agency says so plainly, then shows you what it does control: the quality and volume of the work, the leading indicators that show it is paying off, and a realistic timeline. Confidence about the process, humility about the algorithm.
A bad answer is any guarantee: a ranking, a date, a number of leads. Guarantees in SEO are a sales tactic aimed at owners who have not read this page.
Three quick extras worth asking
If the first twelve go well, these three round out the picture:
- 13. What do you need from me? A good agency needs photos, fast answers on approvals, and a heads-up when your business changes. "Nothing, we handle it all" sounds convenient and produces generic work.
- 14. Can you walk me through one real example of your work? Not a logo wall. One business, what was done, what changed. Specifics are hard to fake.
- 15. What happens if it is not working after six months? You want to hear that they diagnose honestly, change the plan, or tell you to leave. You do not want "SEO just takes time" as a permanent answer.
The cheat sheet
If you only have five minutes on the call, these filters catch most bad actors:
| Ask about | Listen for | Walk away when |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | "Everything stays in your name." | Their platform, their accounts, their email. |
| Contract | Month to month or a short term with a clean exit. | 12+ month lock-in, auto-renew, exit fees. |
| Reporting | Plain-English monthly summary tied to leads. | Dashboards, impressions, no sample report. |
| AI search | A specific method for AI Overviews and ChatGPT. | A blank look or "that doesn't matter." |
| Promises | "We can't guarantee rankings, here's the process." | Any guaranteed ranking, date, or lead count. |
Take this list into every sales call, including one with us. We have been helping local businesses get found online since 2011, and we would rather lose a deal than dodge a question. To see where your site and Google profile stand before you talk to anyone, request a free SEO audit and a real person will review it by hand, or call (239) 747-0465.
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