Hiring SEO help can accelerate or stall your entire growth plan—there’s no middle ground.
A strong SEO program can compound into tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month in new revenue, while a reckless one can tank existing rankings, trigger manual actions, and erode brand trust.
It’s worth choosing carefully—that’s exactly what this guide will help you do.
If you’re considering hiring an SEO company, we’ve compiled 17 must-ask questions to help you make a confident, high-signal choice.
Ask these questions before you sign anything so you know exactly what to expect, how success will be measured, and how risks will be managed.
You don’t need to ask all of them, but we’ll explain why each matters so you can decide what’s most relevant for your situation.
Types of SEO help
Before we get into the questions, here are the common ways to hire SEO help today:
- Individual SEO consultants — Freelancers who offer strategy and execution. Some operate as fractional heads of SEO, others specialize (technical SEO, content, digital PR, local SEO).
- SEO companies/agencies — Teams with defined processes, cross-functional specialists, and capacity to move multiple workstreams in parallel. They typically work with businesses that can support ongoing budgets (often several thousand dollars per month or more, depending on scope and market).
- In-house SEOs — Building an internal team makes sense when SEO is a core growth channel and your business is large or scaling quickly. You can hire directly or bring in a consultant to set the strategy, frameworks, and roadmap your team will run.
The questions in this post are most useful for evaluating consultants and agencies.
There’s a wide range of quality. Some partners are excellent; others cut corners and create long-term risk.
Here’s a hard truth: a great SEO will rarely be the cheapest option. If you’re bargain hunting, you’re more likely to end up with someone using shortcuts that hurt your site later.
That said, a high price doesn’t guarantee great work. Some agencies repackage basics with enterprise pricing. Because many site owners don’t know how to evaluate SEO quality, these firms get away with it.
Luckily, you’re not the average site owner.
By reading this, you’re already doing the work to filter out low-quality options and set clear standards.
Ask the right questions and pay attention to the specifics of the answers (we’ll show you what to listen for), and you’ll find a partner who moves the needle for your business.
Ready? Let’s start…
1. How will you improve our search engine rankings?
You don’t get meaningful results without a focused, end-to-end SEO strategy.
Randomly picking keywords or “doing some links” may yield sporadic bumps, but it won’t deliver durable, compounding growth or protect you from core updates.
Good SEOs run a repeatable process. Expect to hear a plan that starts with discovery and a technical audit, moves into intent-based keyword mapping and content planning, fixes blocking issues, and layers on authority building (digital PR, partnerships, and high-quality mentions) alongside clear measurement.
They won’t promise links from specific sites up front.
But they should describe how they’ll earn coverage and links (e.g., data studies, expert commentary, product PR, partner content) and how they’ll validate that the work aligns with search intent and your revenue model.
Ask about links: Links still matter, but quality, relevance, and editorial standards matter more than ever. “Link building” today is largely link earning and reputation development, not automation.
As you know, not all backlinks are equal.
One highly relevant, editorially placed link can outweigh thousands of low-quality ones.
Low-quality links are typically automated or placed on low-trust sites. Think of gigs that sell “hundreds of links” for the price of lunch—those create risk, not results.
A quality placement takes research, pitching, and content worth referencing. If someone promises huge volumes of links at pennies each, run.
If a pitch leans on private blog networks (PBNs), automated blog comments, or “guaranteed placements” on irrelevant sites, that’s not a strategy—it’s a liability.
2. How will you keep me informed of changes you make to our website?
A reliable SEO partner documents work and reports consistently. Monthly reporting is common; many teams also share short weekly updates or a live dashboard.
To do the job, they’ll need access (CMS, analytics, Search Console). Hire someone you trust—and set role-based permissions.
If you prefer, have your developer implement changes. That’s slower but safer if there’s strong communication and a shared backlog. Agree on SLAs so fixes don’t languish.
If a consultant claims they won’t need to change anything on site, that’s a red flag. Off-site work helps, but on-site fixes and content are usually the fastest, safest wins—especially early.
Insist on change tracking: Every change should be logged—what changed, when, why, and who approved it—so you can correlate shifts in performance and roll back safely if needed.
If traffic drops, you need to know exactly what changed to troubleshoot quickly.
“We track changes internally” isn’t enough. You should have audit-ready logs or tickets you can access any time.
If a partner disappears and something breaks, external documentation lets you (or an emergency specialist) diagnose and fix faster.
Any good SEO team will provide a detailed change log alongside their performance reporting.
3. Can you share information on some of your past clients and their results?
Do your due diligence: reviews, testimonials, case studies, and proof of outcomes over meaningful timeframes.
They won’t hand over their entire client list, but they should provide a couple of recognizable brands (or anonymized mid-market examples) and walk you through the problem, strategy, implementation, and results.
If they can’t cite legitimate businesses, that’s a warning sign—either lack of experience at your level or a track record they’d rather not discuss.
Ask who their longest active client is: Short engagements can signal short-term tactics. Multi-year relationships usually mean steady impact, strong communication, and sustainable strategy.
A capable SEO partner can produce steady, compounding growth—not just quick spikes—and explain how they did it.
No rational company parts ways with a team delivering durable gains—unless they bring the function in-house or intentionally change strategy.
4. Do you always follow Google’s best practices?
Long-term growth depends on following Google’s published guidance (now framed as Search Essentials) and avoiding manipulative shortcuts. Bing and other engines matter, but Google sets the bar for most sites. See best practices.
Google rolls out thousands of changes each year, including major core and spam updates. The shared aim is better results for searchers—original, helpful, trustworthy content and a technically sound site.
Those “golden rules” exist to protect users. Break them and you risk losing visibility fast.
Historically, updates like Panda crushed thin or low-value content. More recently, helpful-content signals have been folded into core systems, and link-spam updates target manipulative patterns.
Recovery can take months and require extensive cleanup—lost revenue during that window can be substantial, so design for durability from day one.
The bigger risk isn’t just the penalty—it’s the opportunity cost of months spent rebuilding. Prioritize strategies that would survive a major update tomorrow.
5. Which tools do you use?
Using tools doesn’t make someone a “blackhat”. Tools amplify good process; abuse of automation creates risk.
“Tools” covers a lot of ground—analytics, crawling, rank tracking, outreach, content research, dashboards, QA—and the right mix saves time and money.
Before we go further—here are the kinds of tools SEO pros use.
Common categories include:
- Reporting tools — Automated, custom reports that combine analytics, Search Console, rankings, and conversions keep everyone aligned and free up time for actual work.
- Link tools — Prospecting and outreach platforms help find relevant sites and manage relationships. Avoid anything that places links automatically at scale.
- Technical SEO tools — Crawlers such as Screaming Frog surface broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, orphan pages, structured data issues, and Core Web Vitals opportunities (e.g., INP).
- Research tools — Prospecting and keyword tools (for example, platforms like BuzzStream for outreach) speed up contact discovery and help validate search intent and difficulty.
Most of these help you align with Google’s guidance. The exception: pure link-placement automation. Those are bad… very, very bad.
These tools spray low-quality comments and profile links across the web—exactly the patterns modern spam systems target.
6. What types of SEO work will you do?
Make sure they outline the actual workstreams—not just vague promises.
A proper engagement starts with a technical audit. If that’s missing, you’re not dealing with strong SEOs.
Technical SEO covers crawler access, indexation control, site architecture, Core Web Vitals (including INP), internal linking, structured data, canonicalization, and error handling (404s, redirects). Content and on-page optimization align pages to intent; digital PR and partnerships build authority. All three layers should be in scope.
7. Can you guarantee that our site will rank #1 for a major search term?
This is the quickest way to separate salesmanship from expertise.
If someone guarantees #1 rankings—especially on a timeline—that’s your cue to walk.
No one can guarantee specific positions every time—rankings vary by location, device, personalization, SERP features, and ongoing updates.
Here’s why guarantees are hollow:
- No one knows the exact Google algorithm — it’s proprietary and changes constantly. Claims of secret knowledge are a red flag.
- Algorithms evolve constantly — Google ships changes daily; major core and spam updates can reshape a SERP overnight. You can anticipate trends, not precise outcomes.
- Manual actions and spam systems exist — Reviews and automated systems can hit sites any time if patterns look manipulative.
Great SEOs drive consistent growth and reduce risk. If “#1 in 30 days” is the pitch, run.
The only reasonable “guarantee” you might hear is a refund on an ultra-easy term. Even then, be sure the tactics are safe, not shortcut-driven.
Pressure to hit a promise can push risky behavior. Sustainable wins beat short-term sugar highs.
8. How often will you report on your work, and what will it look like?
In addition to change logs, you need activity and outcome reporting you can actually use to make decisions.
Monthly is standard. If you want more or less frequent check-ins, most teams can accommodate.
Every SEO report should include:
- Activity summary — What shipped: technical fixes, content produced/updated, digital PR and outreach, and new referring domains or high-value mentions.
- Search traffic — Clicks and impressions trends, breakout by branded vs. non-branded, and year-over-year comparisons for seasonality.
- Rankings — Progress on strategic keywords and topic clusters (not vanity terms in isolation).
- Conversions — Leads, sales, assisted conversions, and pipeline/revenue where possible. Without conversions and ROI, traffic is just a number.
This won’t always separate good from bad, but it sets expectations and reduces future friction.
9. What is your payment structure?
Agencies and consultants price work differently; understand the model so budgeting is straightforward.
SEO is delivered in sprints and cycles, so many teams prefer monthly retainers covering ongoing strategy, content, technical, and PR work. Scope and market dictate price.
Industry research shows that most SEOs work on retainer. Expect wide ranges: lightweight retainers on the low end, and four- to five-figure retainers for comprehensive, competitive-market programs.
Surveys also show retainers can vary broadly by region and scope, from sub-$1k for limited local work to mid-four figures+ for robust programs.
Hourly work is common for audits or advisory. For experienced talent, rates often start around $100 and can exceed $250+ depending on expertise.
Clarify payment terms (e.g., net-15/30/45), deposits, late fees, and what triggers a change order. No surprises.
10. How will we contact you?
Most teams don’t need daily contact—but when something’s urgent, you need fast access.
Agree on preferred channels (email, Slack, project board) and response times. Share an escalation path for emergencies (site down, indexing issues, major traffic shocks).
Also align on meeting cadence and who needs to be in the loop (SEO, dev, content, product, leadership).
11. How will your work tie into our other marketing efforts?
SEO isn’t a silo anymore—it’s integrated with product marketing, content, PR, paid, and lifecycle. The handoffs should be seamless.
That’s why many SEO firms rebrand as “digital” or “inbound” agencies. Labels aside, make sure they can collaborate across functions and influence roadmaps.
Here’s the quick distinction you’ll hear:
- Inbound marketing attracts and nurtures demand with content, which also earns links and improves organic visibility.
- Digital marketing spans SEO plus PPC, email, social, CRO, and analytics—SEO should plug into the whole funnel and share insights both ways.
Don’t discount agencies branded as broader marketing partners—they often have deep SEO benches and the cross-functional muscle to execute.
12. What happens if we terminate the contract?
Know the rules before you commit—this protects both sides.
Most SEOs ask for an initial term (common: a few months). It takes time to ship work and see results.
If your company hits a crisis or pivots strategy, understand your options. It’s rare, but it happens.
You might also exit if results, communication, or fit aren’t there. That’s fair—just be clear on notice periods.
Check for early-termination fees, and ensure you retain ownership of all accounts, content, data, and assets created (including analytics, Search Console, and outreach lists). Avoid any arrangement where links rely on a provider-owned network.
13. Have you worked with penalized sites? If so, how did you fix them?
Penalties weren’t common years ago; now manual actions and spam systems are a fact of life.
Google used to simply devalue bad links. As detection improved, it began penalizing manipulative tactics.
Since the early 2010s, both manual and algorithmic hits have grown. Any experienced SEO has handled recoveries and can explain their process.
Recoveries aren’t trivial—link cleanup, reconsideration requests (for manual actions), disavows where appropriate, content improvements, and clear proof of change. It can be done, and good teams do it regularly—ask for examples and timelines.
Also ask how they’ll future-proof your site so you’re less likely to face the same issues again.
14. Are you up to date with the latest algorithm changes?
Thousands of changes ship every year, but only some materially affect you.
Most are minor; a handful are major core or spam updates that reshape rankings and the meaning of “quality.”
Any credible SEO should be able to explain recent core updates, helpful-content–related guidance now integrated into core systems, and current spam policies in plain language—plus how those translate into your roadmap.
Ask them to describe recent updates and how they adapted—then verify their understanding with reputable sources.
The goal isn’t date memorization—it’s evidence that they track change, test, and iterate with the community.
Moz maintains an accessible list of major updates you can use to cross-check.
Exact dates aren’t necessary, but if they can say, “A major core update rolled out this spring, followed by a spam update; here’s what we changed,” they’re paying attention.
15. How will your team adapt your strategy to my industry?
Many SMB owners hesitate to invest because they’re unsure SEO works in their niche.
You’re not wrong to ask—some tactics don’t translate across industries or business models.
Good teams adapt: they map your ICPs, buying stages, and compliance constraints to search intent; select formats that win your SERPs (guides, tools, case studies, data); and balance bottom-funnel pages with high-intent informational content that actually converts.
16. How do you determine if you’re successful?
Mismatched expectations create frustration. Alignment upfront prevents it.
Ask how they define success and over what timeframe. You want goals that ladder to revenue, not vanity wins.
This question reveals whether they’re outcome-driven or activity-driven.
- Are they targeting a % lift in qualified organic conversions or pipeline within a realistic timeframe?
- Do they commit to shipping specific work (audits fixed, pages launched, links earned) tied to measurable impact?
- Do they talk only about single-keyword rankings—or about share of voice across a topic cluster and business results?
Whatever the answer, decide if that level of outcome would justify your investment.
Also ask: “Which metrics do you track?” If this didn’t come up in reporting, bring it up now.
This is an easy way to separate seasoned operators from everyone else.
Most SEOs will include:
- keyword rankings
- search traffic
- on-page metrics (bounce rate, time on page, etc.)
The best partners also report sales-qualified leads, revenue, LTV/CAC, and assisted conversions. Rankings and traffic are nice; business impact is what matters.
17. Why should we hire you over other SEOs?
This open-ended question surfaces positioning, values, and potential red flags.
Be wary if you hear any of the following without context or proof:
- We’re cheaper than everyone else.
- We’ll build more backlinks (quantity over quality).
- We’re not sure.
- We can get you results fast (without explaining the risks).
Proceed cautiously if that’s the pitch.
Great SEO isn’t cheap because great SEO creates real enterprise value—and meaningful results take a few cycles to show up.
If a candidate suggests cutting corners or chasing aggressive link schemes, move on.
Ideal answers point to a track record: specific wins, long-tenured clients, respected practitioners, repeatable processes, and collaboration with your team—not just promises.
Conclusion
SEO is a long-term investment.
It often takes months before the full picture is obvious—good or bad. That lag is how shady providers hang on for as long as they do.
These 17 questions help you spot red flags early and avoid costly detours.
The rest help you evaluate fit, process, and likelihood of success for your business model and market.
Use as many as you need to find an SEO partner you can trust, collaborate with, and hold accountable.
It’s work—but the right SEO team can be a core growth engine for building to seven figures and beyond.