How to choose an SEO company (without getting burned)
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To choose an SEO company, decide what kind of SEO you need, then ask each company how they'd do it, how they'll report on it and who owns the work, and walk away from anyone who guarantees rankings. The right company explains its methods plainly, shows you what it changed every month, and leaves you owning every account and page.
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What do you need before you start looking?
Start by deciding which kind of SEO problem you have, because companies are often strong in one area and weak in others. Most needs fall into three groups:
- Local SEO: you serve customers nearby and need to show in map results and local searches. See our local SEO services.
- Technical SEO: your site has crawling, indexing, speed or migration problems. A technical SEO audit finds them.
- Content SEO: you need pages that answer what your customers search for, and links and mentions that build authority.
Write down your goal in business terms too: more calls, more quote requests, more online sales. A company that asks about your goals before talking about keywords is a good sign.
10 questions to ask an SEO company
The best questions make a company explain exactly what it will do, how you'll know it's working and what happens if you leave. Ask each one:
- What would you do first on our site, and why? A good answer refers to your site, not a generic package.
- How do you decide which keywords to target? Look for talk of search intent and business value, not just search volume.
- What will you change on the site itself? You should know whether they'll edit pages, write content or fix technical issues.
- How do you build links or mentions? Ask for specifics. Vague answers can hide paid link schemes.
- What will the monthly report show? Ask to see a sample.
- Which numbers do you measure success by? Leads and revenue beat rankings alone.
- Who will actually do the work? Find out whether it's done in-house or passed on to someone else.
- Who owns the accounts, content and data? The answer should be you.
- What do you need from us? Good SEO usually needs your input and approvals.
- What happens if we stop working together? You should keep everything, with no penalty for leaving.
What are the red flags?
The biggest red flag is a guaranteed ranking. Google's own page on hiring an SEO (opens in new tab) says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google, and warns against companies that make that claim.
Other warning signs Google and experience point to:
- Secret methods: a company that won't explain what it does is often doing something it shouldn't.
- Link schemes: buying links, link networks or mass directory submissions break Google's spam policies and can hurt your site.
- Unsolicited cold emails promising quick page-one results.
- Owning your assets: setting up your analytics or Business Profile under their own accounts.
- Rankings-only reporting: reports full of rankings for terms nobody searches, and nothing about leads.
- Fake reviews or doorway pages: shortcuts that risk penalties.
What does good SEO reporting look like?
Good SEO reporting shows what was done, what changed and what's next, tied to numbers that matter to your business. You should be able to read it in a few minutes and understand whether things are moving.
A useful report includes organic leads or sales, clicks and impressions from Google Search Console, the pages and queries driving them, and a plain list of the work completed. Rankings can be part of it, but they shouldn't be all of it. Our guides on SEO reporting KPIs that matter and how to read Google Search Console show what to look for, so you can check reports yourself.
Who should own the accounts and content?
You should own everything: your domain, website, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, and every page and piece of content created for you. The company should work through access you grant, not accounts it controls.
Ask this before you sign, and get it in writing. If a company leaves, you shouldn't lose your data, your profile or the content you paid for.
How long should SEO take?
There's no fixed timeline, and any company that promises a specific date is guessing. Technical fixes and better pages can help relatively soon, while content and authority usually build over months, depending on your site and competition.
A good company sets expectations without promises: what it will do in the first months and how you'll see progress along the way. Our post on how long SEO takes explains what affects the timeline.
Agency, freelancer or in-house?
Each option fits a different situation; none is right for everyone.
- Agency: a team with mixed skills, such as technical, content and design, and cover when someone's away. Usually costs more than a freelancer.
- Freelancer: often good value and direct contact, but one person's skills and time are the limit.
- In-house: someone who knows your business deeply and works only on it, but you carry the full salary and they need tools and support.
Many businesses combine them: an in-house marketer working with an agency or freelancer on specialist work. Whichever you choose, the same questions and red flags apply.
How do you compare SEO proposals?
Compare proposals on what each company will actually do and how it will prove it, not on the length of the document or the price alone. Put them side by side and check the same things in each.
- Diagnosis: does the proposal mention specific problems on your site, or could it have been sent to anyone?
- Deliverables: pages written, technical fixes, listings cleaned up, links earned. Count real outputs, not hours.
- Measurement: which numbers they'll report and how often.
- People: who does the work and who you talk to.
- Terms: length of commitment, notice period and what you keep if you leave.
- Fit: whether they understand your customers and how you make money.
If a proposal is vague on deliverables but specific on promised results, treat that as a warning. It's usually the other way round with good companies: clear about the work, careful about the outcome.
Ask for a short call to walk through the proposal. How a company answers follow-up questions, and whether it admits what it doesn't know, tells you a lot about what working with it will be like.
How we work
We run SEO as one in-house team that also builds websites and makes photo and video, so fixes and new content don't wait on other vendors. We explain what we'll do and why, report monthly on leads and Search Console data, work only in accounts you own, and never promise rankings.
Read what clients say on our reviews page, see the projects on our work page, or learn about our SEO services.
FAQs
How much should SEO cost?
SEO pricing varies widely with scope, competition and how much content and technical work is needed, so there's no single right number. Be wary of very cheap packages that promise a lot. Our own SEO is priced as a custom quote after we've looked at your site.
Can any SEO company guarantee rankings?
No. Google says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and it lists guaranteed rankings as a warning sign when hiring an SEO. Google decides rankings, and its systems change. A good company will explain what it will do and how it will measure progress instead.
How long until SEO shows results?
It depends on your site, your competition and the work involved, so be cautious of anyone who promises a fixed date. Technical fixes can help sooner, while content and authority build over months. Our post on how long SEO takes explains what to expect.
Should I sign a long SEO contract?
Not without a clear way out. SEO takes time, so a few months' commitment can be reasonable, but look for clear deliverables, regular reporting and a fair notice period. Avoid contracts that lock you in for a long term or keep your accounts and content if you leave.