How to choose an SEO agency, and what drives the cost

An SEO agency is the team that gets a business found on Google for searches close to a purchase. It sorts out the site's technical set-up, content and local listing, then reports results with ranking data. The work has three parts: technical fixes so Google can read the site, content that matches the right page to the right search, and visibility on Google Maps.

Before you sign with an agency, it helps to know which of these three parts you are missing; that is the first step to reading proposals properly. We explain how to look at your own site in how to do SEO.

Ask for clear answers to these:

• Which searches will you target, and how did you decide they are close to a sale?
• What happens in the first month: a technical audit, content, or both?
• Will the report show rankings, organic visits and the enquiries those visits bring as separate figures?
• Whose name will the Search Console and Analytics accounts be in, and will I keep access when we stop working together?
• Do you buy links? Buying links to rank breaks Google's rules and can get a site penalised.

Read any proposal that guarantees a set position for a keyword with care. Google decides rankings and no agency controls them; Google's own SEO documentation warns against anyone who guarantees rankings. A promise of page one within days is usually made for keywords nobody searches for and nobody competes on.

A realistic timeline looks like this: technical fixes show within weeks, while meaningful progress on competitive searches usually takes 3 to 6 months.

Most of the difference between SEO proposals comes from a difference in scope. The main factors behind the fee:

• Site size and technical condition: the more pages and the more accumulated technical problems, the bigger the audit and the fixes.
• Competition: how strong the sites already ranking for your target searches are.
• Content production: will the agency write the pages, or your own team?
• Coverage: one city, the whole country, or more than one language?
• Local visibility: is setting up the Google Business Profile and a review routine part of the proposal?

Put proposals side by side against these items so you know you are comparing the same scope. Ask up front whether the work runs month to month and whether there is a minimum contract.

• Freelancer: usually one person, who may go deep on technical SEO or on content but will find it hard to cover every part of the job alone.
• In-house team: nobody knows your business better, but you need to hire and keep someone who understands technical SEO, content and measurement.
• Agency: technical work, content and measurement sit in one team; in return, you have to give the agency time and information to learn your business.

We run SEO and AI visibility (GEO) as one plan; we explain how we work on our SEO services page.