By Andy Wu
How to choose an SEO company comes down to five checks: their own website, six questions in writing, a sample report, two reference calls and three quotes on the same scope. Done in order, that takes about 30 minutes, and it does not need you to understand the technical work.
Most guides on this topic are written by agencies, and they end by describing themselves. I will never be on your shortlist, because I sell no SEO. So this version can be blunt. Set a timer and go.
First check: did the SEO company cold-pitch you?
If an SEO company found you with an email or call you never asked for, start from doubt, not trust. Google’s own guide to hiring an SEO says: “Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue.” A cold pitch does not rule anyone out, but the typical SEO company scam starts exactly that way.
There is an earlier question still: do you need an SEO company at all? If customers do not search for what you sell, or you need leads next month, no agency on your shortlist is the right hire.
Minutes 0 to 8: what to look for in an SEO company’s own website
On an SEO company’s own website, look for named people, a registered business, case studies with numbers, and a promise that all work happens on your domain. Open their site with the proposal closed; you are looking for proof they chose to publish.
- Named people. Real names, real roles, people you can find on LinkedIn. A team page with only job titles means you cannot tell who will touch your account.
- A real business. An address and a legal name. Look the name up in your state’s business registry. It takes two minutes.
- Case studies with numbers. A client name, a starting point, a time frame and a result in leads or sales. “Traffic up 400%” from almost nothing is not a result.
- Your site, not theirs. Some firms rank pages on a domain they own, so the traffic leaves with them. Ask: “Will all work be done on my domain, in my accounts?”
Minutes 8 to 15: six questions to ask by email
Ask every SEO company the same six questions by email: who does the work, whether you can see a real client report, what their last five links were, who owns your accounts, what happens if you cancel in month two, and why you should not hire them. You want answers in a file, with no salesperson steering the talk.
- Who will do the work on my account, and is any of it subcontracted? You want names and a plain yes or no.
- Can I see a real monthly report you send a client, with names blacked out? More on this below.
- What were the last five links you built for a client, and how did you get them? A real answer names sites and a method, like a local sponsorship or a supplier listing.
- Who will own the domain, website, analytics, Search Console and Google Business Profile? The only good answer: you do, from day one.
- What happens if I cancel in month two? This exposes long lock-ins and silent auto-renewals fast, two of the SEO contract terms that cost owners the most.
- What would make you tell me not to hire you? A good agency has an answer ready: your budget is too small for your market, or your site needs a rebuild first.
Google publishes its own list of questions in the same hiring guide. The most useful one is this: “Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?” Send it with your six. An agency that will not agree to show its changes is asking you to pay for work you cannot inspect.
Minutes 15 to 20: read one sample report
A good sample SEO report reaches calls, forms, bookings or sales, lists the work done that month, and makes sense read alone on a Sunday night. If you only do one step, do this one, because a report shows what the agency thinks its job is.
A report that stops at rankings measures activity, not money, and owners notice: in Backlinko’s survey of 1,200 business owners, 25% said “I am not sure what I am really paying for with SEO.” Which numbers really show whether SEO is working is a separate check you can run yourself once the work starts.
No sample at all, even with names removed, is an answer.
Minutes 20 to 25: how to read an SEO agency review
Read an SEO agency’s one- and two-star reviews first, check the dates for bursts, and look for named people and numbers. Star ratings are the weakest evidence you will look at, but the law now makes them worth reading closely.
Since October 21, 2024, a Federal Trade Commission rule lets the FTC seek civil penalties from businesses that knowingly break it. The rule bans buying or selling fake reviews, paying for reviews only if they are positive, staff reviews posted without saying so, “independent” review sites the business secretly controls, and threats used to remove bad reviews. So a review page is now a legal record, and the patterns the FTC bans are the ones to look for:
- Read the one- and two-star reviews first. Then read the agency’s reply. A calm, specific reply is a good sign. A reply that threatens the reviewer is a warning: using threats to get bad reviews removed is one of the things the rule bans.
- Check the dates. Twenty five-star reviews in one week, then silence, is a campaign, not a track record.
- Look for detail. Real clients name a person, a time frame or a number. “Great team, highly recommend!” tells you nothing.
Then call two references: one current client, and one who left. How they react to the second request tells you a lot. On the call, ask what happened in the first 90 days, who they actually talk to, and whether anything in the contract surprised them later.
Minutes 25 to 30: make three quotes comparable
To make three SEO quotes comparable, write the scope yourself and send every agency the same one-page brief, because monthly prices mean nothing until the scope matches. List the parts of what SEO agencies do that you actually need:
- Business: what you sell, where, and to whom.
- Goal: the outcome you want more of, like calls, bookings or quote requests.
- Budget range: for example, $1,000 to $2,000 a month.
- Please price each item: pages written per month, links per quarter with the method, technical fixes by name, Google Business Profile work, and what the monthly report includes.
- Terms I need: accounts in my name, 30 days’ notice to cancel, no auto-renewal.
When the quotes arrive, put them side by side. The cheap one usually got cheap by dropping an item, and now you can see which. A quote that leaves three items “unspecified” cannot be compared at all.
How to choose an SEO company when two look equally good
When two SEO companies look equally good, pick the one that answered your six questions in specifics and priced every item in your brief. The tie-breakers are already in your notes from the last 30 minutes:
- Who answered the six questions in specifics. Names, sites and dates beat adjectives. An agency that is concrete before the sale is more likely to stay concrete in month six.
- Who priced every item in your brief. An agency that filled in all five lines has shown it can be held to a scope.
- Who gave a real answer to question 6. A reason not to hire them, offered when they had nothing to gain, is the most honest thing you will hear in the process.
- What the former client said. A reference who left and still speaks well of the agency is rare, useful evidence.
A serious red flag is never a tie. If either agency guaranteed rankings or wanted your accounts in its name, stop there. Then read the winner’s proposal clause by clause before you sign, with the same care you gave the agency.