Before hiring an SEO person, ask what they'll do in the first month, what success looks like in numbers you can check, who will actually do the work, what happens to the work if you leave, and when you'd stop needing them. Walk away from guaranteed rankings, vague answers about what they'll change, or any setup where they own your domain, website, or Google profile. A good one will tell you when you don't need them.
You're suspicious of SEO people. Honestly? That's healthy.
The industry is full of people who are hard to evaluate on purpose: monthly reports full of charts, promises you can't check, and contracts that make leaving painful. But there are good ones out there, and there's a simple way to tell them apart.
Five questions a good one will welcome
- What will you do in the first month? A good answer names specific work: pages, fixes, listings. A weak one says "audit and strategy" and stops.
- What does success look like, in numbers I can check? Calls, form fills, booked jobs. Not "visibility" or "impressions."
- Who actually does the work? The person selling it, a team, or a contractor somewhere else? Any of those can be fine. Not knowing isn't.
- What happens to the work if I leave? Your website, your content, and your Google profile should stay yours, in accounts you control.
- When would I stop needing you? This is the one that tells you the most.
Three answers that should end the conversation
- "We guarantee first-page rankings." Nobody controls Google's results, and Google itself says no one can guarantee a top ranking.
- "We'll set up your domain and profile under our account." That's not a convenience. That's leverage, and it's your business they're holding.
- "Our methods are proprietary." A good SEO person can tell you exactly what they'll change on your site. Secret sauce is usually no sauce.
A monthly report with no decisions in it belongs on that list too. If every report is charts and nothing on your site changes, you're paying for the report.
The part most people won't tell you
Plenty of local businesses don't need a retainer at all. They need a few afternoons of attention: a complete Google profile, matching contact details everywhere, clear page titles, and a site that loads fast on a phone. Then they need to get back to running their business.
A good SEO person will tell you that. If they can't name a point where you'd stop needing them, that's your answer.
How to run the conversation
Thirty minutes, with a notepad.
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Write down what you want to happen
Before you talk to anyone, write one sentence about what you want. More calls for a specific service. More jobs in a specific area. Fewer calls you can't use.
It's a lot harder for someone to sell you something vague once you've said what you want in plain words.
You have one sentence that describes the result you want, in terms you could count.
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Ask all five questions, and write down the answers
Ask them in the same order every time, and write down what each person actually says. Not what you think they meant.. what they said.
Comparing two or three people this way makes the differences obvious.
You have written answers to all five questions from each person you talked to.
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Check who owns what
Before you sign anything, make sure your domain, your website, your Google Business Profile, and your analytics are in accounts you own. If someone needs access, add them as a user. Don't hand over the keys.
You can log in to your domain, your website, and your Google profile yourself, today, without asking anyone.
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Decide with the contract in front of you
Read the cancellation terms before anything else. A fair contract lets you leave without losing your site, your content, or your profile.
And if the honest answer is that you need a few afternoons, not a retainer.. that's a perfectly good answer.
You know exactly what happens to your site and your accounts if you cancel, because it's written in the contract.