What to ask an SEO agency before you hire them
Start with the work itself: what will change, why it needs changing and who will do it. Then ask how you will see the result and what the agency needs from your business. Those answers should still make sense after the sales meeting, when you read the written proposal on your own.
You do not need to become an SEO specialist to make a decision. You do need enough detail to distinguish a useful service from an attractive description. This is particularly important when a proposal combines website work, Business Profile management and visibility in AI-generated answers under one label.
What questions should I ask an SEO company?
Google's guidance on hiring an SEO recommends discussing experience, expected results, measurement and communication. It also recommends checking references and, at the audit stage, granting only read access to Search Console.
Use that as a starting point, then make the questions specific to the offer in front of you:
| Ask | What the answer should help you establish |
|---|---|
| What problem have you identified? | Whether the work responds to something observable |
| What exactly is included? | Whether you are buying advice, implementation or both |
| What needs my approval or input? | Whether the work can proceed with your available time and information |
| What will the report show? | Whether you can trace a claim back to evidence |
| Who will work on the account? | Who answers questions and who is responsible for delivery |
| What remains with my business if we stop? | Whether ownership, records and handover are clear |
These questions do not require every provider to use the same process. They let you compare the substance of different processes. If one offer includes implementation and another ends with recommendations, compare them on that basis before comparing their totals.
What happens in the first phase of work?
Ask for a concrete description of the opening phase. Which pages or profiles will be assessed? What information will the agency ask you to confirm? What will be delivered for review, and what can actually be changed under the agreed scope?
A phrase such as "develop the strategy" can describe a useful deliverable, but it leaves important questions unanswered. Ask what the document contains and who carries out its recommendations. If your team must supply photographs, approve factual claims or make website changes, put those dependencies beside the proposed tasks.
Also ask how priorities are selected. A hypothetical example might be a service page with an incorrect contact link. The immediate task would be to verify and correct the route, then check it. That explanation is easier to evaluate than a broad promise to improve the website. It is an example of a clear scope, not a claim about work already performed for a client.
Who owns the accounts and who can change them?
For Business Profile, separate Google Accounts and assigned roles allow collaboration without sharing a password. Owners can manage users; managers can carry out much of the daily work but cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. The access list is under Business Profile settings > People and access. See Google's owner and manager guidance.
Google's third-party policies require clients to retain ownership or co-ownership of their profiles. They also require providers to communicate profile changes. Ask how the proposed arrangement will meet those requirements.
For the website, analytics and other services, make a separate access list. Do not assume a Business Profile role controls another product. Record the account owner, the person receiving access, the task that requires it and the planned removal or handover process. Check the permissions available in each service before granting them.
An agency may need permission to do agreed work, but "give us everything" is not a useful access specification. Clarify the difference between an initial assessment and implementation. Do not send a personal mailbox password merely because an account is registered to that address.
How do I know if an SEO agency is any good?
Look at how the provider moves from your business problem to its recommendation. Does it ask what you sell, where you operate, who you want to reach and which enquiries you can actually serve? Does it distinguish confirmed information from assumptions?
Ask for relevant examples, but examine what they prove. A provider's involvement in a successful project does not mean it controlled every part of the result. Ask what it was responsible for, what period the example covers and which important differences exist between that business and yours. Respect other clients' confidentiality and request only examples the provider is entitled to share.
Business Profile metrics have a specific boundary: Google's third-party policy on Insights prohibits sharing or comparing one customer's Business Profile-specific data with other customers. For that part of a sample report, request a purpose-built demonstration with synthetic data, not another customer's metrics. Do not treat anonymisation or permission as an exception stated by that policy.
For content work, request a sample and check the facts. Can each claim be supported? Does the wording help a prospective customer understand the service? Repeated phrases and polished prose do not establish who wrote a text. Assess accuracy and usefulness instead of trying to infer authorship from style.
If the proposed method involves adding keywords or acquiring links, ask why it serves readers and how it follows the relevant rules. Google's spam policies address manipulative keyword stuffing and link practices. Do not approve a technique simply because it has a technical name.
What does GEO mean in SEO?
GEO can mean generative engine optimization, a term used in research on visibility in generated answers. In a commercial proposal, ask the seller to define the term rather than assuming that the name specifies the work.
Which systems does the agency mean? Is it proposing to improve information on your own website, correct business facts elsewhere, or observe whether particular answers mention your business? Each requires a different explanation of scope and evidence. A research result or demonstration is not a forecast for your business.
For Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode specifically, Google's AI features guidance says no special additional optimisations, AI text files or special structured data are required. A page must be indexed and eligible for a Search snippet to qualify as a supporting link. Eligibility does not guarantee that a link will appear.
That guidance concerns Google's named features. It should not be stretched into a claim about every AI product. If an agency proposes work for another platform, ask for that platform's evidence and a clear description of what the agency can and cannot measure.
What is AEO?
In SEO proposals, AEO commonly means answer engine optimization. The useful follow-up is which answer experience the provider means. A plan to make a page answer a customer question clearly is something you can inspect. A promise that a system will always select your answer is a different claim.
Google itself uses AEO and GEO as labels when discussing services in its hiring guidance. The labels do not remove the need to evaluate recommendations against the documentation for the named feature.
Apply the same approach if an offer mentions LSI, LLM SEO or another abbreviation. Ask for a plain-language description of the action, the evidence behind it and the observation that would count as progress. You should not have to accept an unexplained bundle merely because the vocabulary is unfamiliar.
What should the agreement and report make clear?
Google's tips for working with Business Profile providers recommend a written agreement specifying services and costs. The guidance also stresses reviewing profile performance rather than accepting placement promises.
Before agreeing, ask for the reporting format. A useful example should show what was completed, what remains open, what was measured and what decision follows. Ask how the provider will report work that did not produce the hoped-for result. That answer can tell you more about the working relationship than another favourable chart.
Clarify who handles your questions and how changes to the scope are agreed. If additional work is suggested later, establish how it will be described and approved. This article does not set service prices, response times or contract terms; those must be explicit in the offer you are considering.
What if I do not understand the answer?
Ask the provider to take one recommendation and explain it using a page or service from your business. Then restate it in your own words: what will change, who will do it and what you will receive. If your version and theirs differ, resolve that before signing.
You can also ask for a revised written explanation. A patient conversation is helpful, but the document should not become incomprehensible as soon as the meeting ends. You will need it later to approve work, interpret reports and decide whether to continue.
For the related approach to the work, see our method, written out.
This article is part of the Local visibility guide.