Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Local SEO Agency

Most bad SEO engagements are avoidable with six questions asked before signing. The goal is simple: find out what will actually be done, who owns it, and how you will know whether it worked.

1. What exactly will you do in the first 90 days?

You want a named list of deliverables — audit, profile optimisation, specific pages, technical fixes — not “ongoing optimisation”. If the answer is vague now, the reporting will be vague later.

2. Who owns the accounts and the work?

Your Google Business Profile, Search Console, Analytics, website and content should be owned by your business, with the agency added as a user. If an agency keeps ownership, leaving costs you everything.

3. How do you report, and on what?

Ask for a sample report. Look for rankings, clicks, impressions, calls and map views, plus a plain list of what was done that month. Beware reports built only on traffic from branded searches.

4. Do you guarantee rankings?

The right answer is no. Nobody controls Google. What can be guaranteed is scope, communication and effort — ask for those in writing instead.

5. How do you build links and citations?

You want manual, relevant placements and cleaned-up directory listings. If the answer involves bulk packages, private blog networks or thousands of links a month, walk away — you will be paying to repair it later.

6. What happens if I stop?

Ask about notice periods, whether content and pages stay with you, and what typically happens to rankings. An honest agency will tell you that gains hold for a while and then decay as competitors keep moving.

Two more worth asking

• Can I speak to a client in a similar industry or city?
• Who actually does the work — the person in this meeting, or a subcontractor?

Red flags

• Guaranteed number one rankings.
• No audit before a proposal.
• Refusal to share account access or raw data.
• Long lock-in contracts with no deliverable list.
• Reporting that never mentions what was done, only what improved.

If you want a straight answer about your own site first, run the Local SEO Score Checker or request a free manual audit — no lock-in, no obligation.

← Back to all articles