How to choose an SEO company and evaluate its proposal
You have received an SEO proposal covering keyword research, content and technical fixes. Before comparing monthly fees, establish how those items relate to your website. We recommend clarifying which pages will be addressed, who will write and implement changes, and how you can check what has been completed. Start with one service page and ask the company to explain why it needs attention and exactly what it plans to do.
Define what the business needs before comparing companies
Write down what someone arriving from search should understand and be able to do on your website. If the aim is to receive enquiries about a particular service, specify which requests suit the business and which jobs you do not accept. If you sell products, the question might be which categories need attention and what their pages are missing. Ask the company to explain how its proposal addresses that need rather than the website in general.
For illustration, imagine a business in Eilat providing one local service and selling a different service to customers across Israel. A proposal treating both audiences as visitors who must come to the city would not match that brief. We would ask the company to separate the services and clarify which pages and audiences it intends to work on. This is a planning example, not a client case.
If your business profile on Maps also matters, check whether work on it is included or whether the proposal covers only the website. Do not assume that a heading such as local SEO includes everything you expect. Our guide to business visibility on Google Maps explores that subject before you define the scope.
Ask for an assessment that explains the order of work
When a company proposes starting with content or website changes, ask what its assessment found and why that work comes first. You do not have to expect a detailed plan for free before engaging the company. You should establish whether the proposal is based on an assessment already completed or whether a proper assessment will be the first paid stage.
We suggest choosing one important service page and discussing it during the meeting. Ask what the company considers missing and what it intends to change. A response identifying information the reader needs gives you more to discuss than a general statement that the website is not optimised. If the issue described is technical, ask for an explanation of its expected impact and the check that will confirm the fix is complete.
A recommendation to build a new website deserves a separate discussion. Ask what cannot be corrected on the existing site and what requires rebuilding. If technology becomes part of the decision, our guide to WordPress versus custom development offers a way to compare options around the work your business needs to do. Do not approve a replacement simply because the provider prefers another approach.
How to review the company's previous work
Ask to see work the company has permission to share that relates to your needs, even if it comes from another industry. We would rather understand how it improved a service website than look at a list of logos. Ask what the page was like beforehand, which changes the company implemented itself and what it reported to the business owner afterwards. You do not need access to another client's account to have that conversation.
If you are shown a chart of growth in search, ask about the period and metric it covers. Check whether it describes the whole website or one page and whether searches for the business name are included. Ask what else changed during that period. We suggest treating the chart as a starting point for discussion, not proof that one action caused every improvement or that your website will achieve the same result.
You can also request a reference call with the client's consent. Ask how the ongoing work is managed, who responds when a fix is needed and whether completed tasks are clearly reported. If confidentiality prevents sharing results, ask for an anonymised example or an explanation of the process. We value a clear account of the work more than disclosure of business information that does not belong in the conversation.
Compare what the SEO proposal actually includes
The table below is a worksheet we suggest using to compare proposals, not a specification every business must adopt. Send it to the company and ask it to clarify the items relevant to your website. Work that is not included should stay outside the comparison or be considered separately rather than disappearing behind a broad description.
| Proposal item | What to clarify |
|---|---|
| Assessment and work plan | What has already been checked and what will be decided after assessment |
| Page improvements and content | Which pages will be addressed and how approval works |
| Technical fixes | Who implements each fix and who checks it after release |
| Local SEO | Whether the scope covers the website or also the business profile |
| Links and mentions | The purpose of the activity and how published work will be documented |
| Reporting and measurement | Which data will be shown and what will be compared with the baseline |
| Excluded work | What requires separate approval and what happens if it is not approved |
Instead of asking only for more articles or more keywords, establish what each item delivers. Writing may include research and editing but not publication on the website. A fix may mean a recommendation passed to a developer rather than work the company implements. We suggest comparing the work that will actually be completed, not counting the names of activities.
A keyword list should also support a decision. Ask for an example connecting a search with a service and a suitable page, together with an explanation of why it was selected. You do not need to turn the conversation into a technical examination. The point is to understand whether the proposed focus matches what you offer.
Who turns a recommendation into a website change?
For illustration, suppose the company recommends adding information to a service page. Agree who supplies the professional information and who writes it, who approves it before publication, and who publishes and checks the page. This lets you identify where unfinished work is waiting. It is a possible allocation of responsibilities, not a mandatory procedure.
If SEO and development are handled by different people, ask for implementation to be coordinated in the proposal. Record what is included in the fee and which changes need your separate approval. When an assessment identifies a development requirement, ask what can proceed meanwhile and what depends on that fix. Do not treat a task as implemented when its only deliverable is a recommendations document.
We also suggest agreeing how approval will work when you are busy. For example, you could nominate someone in the business who knows the service terms and is authorised to approve content, without preapproving changes nobody has read. The aim is to keep work moving while protecting what is presented in the business name.
What to look for in the proposed content
Guidance from Google and Bing calls for useful, original content. Our advice when choosing a company is to ask how that requirement will be reflected in your page rather than relying on the amount of text promised.
Choose a question customers ask before booking your service and establish how the company will gather a reliable answer. If it needs professional information from you, find out which information and when you will be asked for it. If the text makes external factual claims, ask how those claims are checked. Agree who reviews the terms and professional description before the content goes live.
Read a writing sample as a potential customer. Is it clear what the service includes and when it is suitable? Can you understand the answer without specialist terminology? Does it describe things you do not offer? We prefer filling a gap on an important page before opening another blog topic. Our guide to content for a small business website provides a framework for choosing between improving an existing page and writing a new guide.
Also establish what happens if the draft is unsuitable. Who revises it and what editing is included are parts of the scope worth understanding in advance, not a discussion to begin only after the text has been written.
What to ask about links and mentions on other websites
Google link policies and Bing Webmaster Guidelines warn against link schemes designed to manipulate rankings. We therefore recommend asking about the nature of the activity, not just the number of placements offered.
If links or mentions on other websites are included, ask for a general explanation of their purpose and how they will be reported. Establish what content will be published in your business name and how you will see the publication and the page it points to. Clarify whether any activity is temporary or depends on continuing payment. Do not assume all work outside your website will remain available on unchanged terms.
You do not need the company supplier list or its internal commercial arrangements. There is a difference between internal professional information and knowing what is published in your business name. We suggest agreeing on reporting that lets you check the deliverable and receive an explanation of material risks without exposing internal methods unnecessary to the decision.
Which reporting lets you review progress?
In search reports from Google and Bing, impressions refer to links being shown and clicks refer to those links being clicked, according to each report's definitions. These are not counts of enquiries or sales. Ask what each row measures rather than treating every increase as a business outcome.
Before work begins, we suggest recording a baseline for the pages and searches selected for attention. In the next report, review what changed on the website and what changes are visible in search data for those pages. When discussing more visits, ask to distinguish searches for the business name from searches for its services so you can understand which kind of visibility is being reviewed.
Compare periods the company can explain as suitable for comparison. If the business is seasonal or its services have changed, ask for that context to be included rather than attributing every movement to SEO work. When there is not enough information for a decision, agree what else needs checking instead of assigning unsupported meaning to a graph.
Alongside search data, request a short summary of completed work and work awaiting approval or implementation. We also want the report to explain what is proposed next and why. If the aim is to receive enquiries, agree separately how you will check what reached the business and which requests were relevant. Our guide to measuring marketing results explains the distinction between a reported metric, an enquiry and a sale.
A commitment to work is not a promise of first place
Google states that nobody can guarantee first place in its results. Bing also states that SEO does not guarantee rankings or traffic. We recommend seeking commitments the company can fulfil and documenting the work process.
You can agree on a date for an assessment or a content draft and a date for checking a change after release. When discussing expected time to results, ask for an estimate grounded in the state of the site and what is still missing. If conditions could change the plan, record them and agree when you will review the next steps.
Before signing, clarify who manages website permissions and what you will receive when the engagement ends. Ask which content and files will be handed over and how open tasks will be recorded. Review the engagement period and the procedure for giving notice rather than assuming one proposal has the same terms as another. These are questions for a commercial agreement, not statements about legal rights.
What to resolve before choosing a company
Return to the proposals and note the promised work and the person responsible for completing each item. Send unclear descriptions back as specific questions. You do not need another explanation of the entire SEO field if the missing detail is who publishes the content or whether a fix is included.
Our SEO service at alma studio includes assessing the website and working on content and fixes according to its needs. Where the site itself needs changes, this can connect with website building or development. Before choosing that scope, we recommend separating what needs fixing now from what makes sense to add later.
Try explaining in your own words what will happen at the start of the engagement and what is expected from you. If you can describe the need being addressed, who will implement the change and how you will check it, you have a basis for comparison. If you cannot yet explain those points, the proposal needs more clarification before approval.
This is exactly what we do at SEO in Eilat. If you want us to go over it together for your business, write to us.
Frequently asked questions
We suggest comparing what will be implemented, not only the headings or monthly fee. Clarify which pages will be addressed, what writing and fixes include, and who is responsible for implementation. Leave unclear items open until you receive an explanation.
Do not assume that from the outset. Ask for an assessment explaining what can be improved on the existing website and what requires broader changes. If rebuilding is proposed, clarify why the required fix is insufficient and what the new build will deliver.
Ask to see completed work and data for the pages and searches selected for attention. Understand the metric definitions and comparison period, and identify open tasks. If the discussion concerns enquiries, clarify how those are counted separately from search data.
We do not recommend choosing on quantity alone. Establish which questions the content will answer and who will provide and approve the information. Sometimes the work we propose is improving an important page before adding blog topics.
For comparison, we suggest checking whether the company understands your service area and audiences rather than relying on its address. Ask how it distinguishes local services from services sold outside the city and how approval and implementation will work. Also check whether work on your local business profile is included.
Want us to look at this for your business?
Just write to us on WhatsApp. The first conversation comes with no commitment. 050-294-0127
Write to us on WhatsApp