Most teams know they “should be doing more SEO,” but choosing the right partner can feel like guesswork. Everyone promises rankings, traffic, and leads. The language is similar. The proposals look comparable.
The difference is usually in the approach and the fit with how your team actually works.
This article walks through the questions we encourage clients to ask any SEO partner — including us.
1. Do they start with your business model or with keywords?
A good SEO program is built on your:
- Services and offers
- Ideal customers
- Sales cycle and buying journey
- Capacity to follow up on leads
If the first conversation jumps straight into keyword tools and search volumes, that is a red flag. Strong partners start with:
- “What does a qualified lead look like for you?”
- “What does a good month of inbound interest feel like?”
- “Where does your current site help or hurt your sales process?”
SEO is a supporting channel, not a magic trick. Your partner should be fluent in your business, not just in SERPs.
2. Can they explain their technical process in plain language?
You do not need to be an expert in crawling, indexing, or Core Web Vitals. But you should be able to understand:
- What they are changing
- Why it matters
- How it will be measured
Ask them to describe:
- How they handle technical audits
- How they prioritize fixes
- How they work with your developer or hosting environment
If the answer is either too vague (“we’ll do best practices”) or too opaque (“don’t worry about it, it’s complicated”), that is a problem. Look for someone who can explain technical SEO in accurate, non-patronizing plain language.
3. Do they treat content as a checklist or a real asset?
Many SEO engagements reduce content to:
- A list of blog post titles
- A quota of “X articles per month”
That can work in the short term, but it rarely compounds.
Ask:
- How do you decide what to write first?
- How do you connect blog content back to service pages and offers?
- What does a “good” piece of content look like in your program?
A solid answer will mention:
- Mapping topics to services and audience pain points
- Internal linking between articles and service pages
- Updating and improving existing content, not just publishing new pieces
This is the core of a deep SEO silo: services as pillars, content as structured support.
4. How will you know if it’s working?
SEO is slow by nature, but that does not mean you should wait six months in the dark.
Clarify upfront:
- Which metrics they will report on
- How often you will review progress
- What “early wins” might look like
Healthy expectations usually include:
- Technical fixes and on-page improvements in the first 30–60 days
- Early movement on less competitive terms after a few months
- Clear communication about what is in your control vs. what is not
You should never feel like you are guessing whether you are getting value.
5. How do they work with your existing team and vendors?
SEO does not live in a vacuum. It touches:
- Web design and development
- Content and brand voice
- Paid campaigns
- Sales and CRM systems
Ask how they prefer to collaborate:
- Will they work directly with your developers or send recommendations?
- Do they coordinate with your marketing team or agency?
- How do they handle disagreements or trade-offs between SEO and design?
The best SEO partners are comfortable being one part of a larger picture — and know when to lead vs. when to support.
6. What happens after the first few months?
The early phase of an SEO engagement is usually:
- Audit and baseline
- Fix obvious technical issues
- Clean up on-page basics
After that, you should see a shift into more strategic work:
- Building and refining content clusters around your services
- Testing and improving key landing pages
- Expanding into new, higher-intent topics
Ask what the engagement looks like at month six or twelve. If the answer is “we just keep publishing more blog posts,” the program may plateau quickly.
When to bring in a technical review first
Sometimes, the right next step is not a full SEO engagement, but a Website Audit & Technical Review. If your site is unstable, confusing to navigate, or running on a fragile stack, an SEO program will struggle.
A structured audit gives you:
- A clear picture of performance, SEO, and security
- A prioritized roadmap of fixes
- A better foundation for any ongoing SEO work
From there, an SEO & Content Strategy program can build on a site that is ready to support it.
If you are evaluating SEO partners now, and this approach resonates with how your team works, our SEO & Content Strategy service is designed for exactly this kind of long-term, compounding program.