How to Choose an SEO Provider Without Getting Burned
Most firms that get burned by an SEO agency were not careless. They just did not know which questions separate someone who does the work from someone who sells the idea of it. These are the twelve I would ask, including about me.
The short version
- Any guarantee of a specific Google position is a lie. Nobody controls the algorithm, so nobody can promise a place in it.
- Ask who owns the analytics, the content and the links. If the answer is not “you, in writing”, everything you pay for is rented.
- A twelve-month lock-in is a confidence problem. Work that keeps clients does not need to trap them.
Search work is unusually easy to sell badly. The results arrive months after the invoices start, the reporting is full of numbers that sound like progress, and almost nobody buying it has the background to tell effort from theatre. By the time a business owner knows something is wrong, they have often spent five figures and lost a year.
The good news is that you do not need to understand search engines to buy search work safely. You need twelve questions and the patience to sit through the answers.
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The twelve questions
Ask all of them. The pattern across the answers tells you more than any single reply, and the ones that get vague are the ones to press on.
1. “What exactly will you do in the first month?”
What you want to hear A specific list: technical audit, these five pages rewritten, tracking verified, this many internal links fixed. Dates against each item.
What should worry you “We start with a discovery phase.” A month of discovery on a fifteen-page website is a month of billing you for reading.
2. “Who actually does the work?”
What you want to hear A name. If it is a team, which named person writes the content and which one touches the site.
What should worry you “Our team handles that.” Ask again. If nobody will name the person, the work is going to a subcontractor you are not allowed to meet, at a margin you are paying for.
3. “Can I see a report you sent a real client last month?”
What you want to hear A redacted real one, with commentary that says what changed and what they did about it.
What should worry you A sample dashboard full of impressions and “keyword movements”. Impressions are not money. If the report never mentions enquiries, it was built to look busy.
4. “How do you build links?”
What you want to hear Digital PR, guest articles on real publications, supplier and association listings, fixing broken mentions. Slow, and they will say so.
What should worry you “We have a network of sites.” That is a private blog network. Google has been de-indexing those for a decade, and when it lands on yours the damage is yours to clean up.
5. “Do you guarantee first position?”
What you want to hear “No, and nobody can.” That is the correct answer and the only one.
What should worry you Any yes. Nobody controls Google's ranking systems, and the only way to guarantee a position is to pick a phrase so obscure that ranking for it is worthless.
6. “Which keywords, and what is each one worth?”
What you want to hear A short list with estimated monthly searches, and an honest note on which are winnable this year against your current authority.
What should worry you A spreadsheet of four hundred keywords. Volume without a view on difficulty is padding, and long lists exist to make the retainer feel large.
7. “How long before I see something?”
What you want to hear Movement in three to four months, meaningful traffic in six to nine, on a new domain. Anyone honest gives you a range and explains what shortens it.
What should worry you “You will see results in thirty days.” On an established site with easy fixes, maybe. Said to a brand-new domain, it is a sales line.
8. “What do you need from me each month?”
What you want to hear An hour for a call, quick answers on technical questions, and sign-off on content. Real SEO needs your expertise, because they cannot invent what your buyers ask.
What should worry you “Nothing, we handle everything.” Then the content will be generic, because nobody asked you anything about your business.
9. “What is the contract term, and how do I leave?”
What you want to hear Three months to start, then rolling monthly, thirty days' notice. Long enough to do real work, short enough that they have to keep earning it.
What should worry you Twelve months, no break clause. Ask why the work cannot hold you voluntarily. The answer is usually that it does not.
10. “Who owns the accounts, the content and the links?”
What you want to hear You do, in writing. Analytics, Search Console and the ad accounts are created under your email and stay yours.
What should worry you Accounts under the agency's email. When you leave you lose your own history, and every rebuilt page goes with it. This is the single most common way small firms get trapped.
11. “What will you refuse to do?”
What you want to hear A real list. Bought links, doorway pages, spun content, fake reviews. Someone with standards can name the things they turn down.
What should worry you “Whatever you need.” Someone with no limits will eventually apply that flexibility to your site.
12. “What happens if it is not working at month six?”
What you want to hear “We look at why, together, and if the channel is wrong for you I say so.” Some businesses genuinely should not buy SEO.
What should worry you “It always works, it just needs time.” Time is what they sell. Notice how conveniently that answer extends the invoice.
If you would rather see the standard than read about it: both my prices are on a public page, no form. See the pricing ➤
The three answers that predict the outcome
If you only have ten minutes, these three carry most of the signal.
Ownership. Question ten decides whether you are building an asset or renting one. Every account under your own email, every page and link yours to keep. A firm that resists this is telling you their retention plan is hostage-taking rather than results.
Refusal. Question eleven is the character question. Anyone who has done this properly for a few years has turned work down and can tell you what and why. “We do whatever you need” sounds accommodating and is the opposite of a standard.
Honesty about time. Question seven. Search is slow, and the people who are good at it say so before you pay, not in month five when you ask why nothing has moved. Anyone promising speed is either working on an easy site or not working at all.
What a fair price looks like in Europe
For a small B2B firm or an online store, monthly retainers in Europe land roughly between €800 and €2,500 depending on how much content is being produced. Below about €600 the arithmetic stops working: after tools and overhead there is not enough time left to do more than run an automated audit and send a report.
Be equally careful at the top. Paying €4,000 a month buys senior attention at a good firm, and at a bad one it buys the same junior work with a nicer deck. Price tells you very little on its own, which is exactly why the twelve questions matter more than the number.
My own SEO work starts at €950 a month and the figure is published on the pricing page rather than quoted after a call. That is not generosity. It is the fastest way for both of us to find out whether this is a fit.
Common questions
Is it safer to hire a big agency?
Not automatically. Larger firms have more process and more people who can cover for each other, which is real. They also have more layers between the person who sold you and the person doing the work, and small accounts tend to sit at the bottom of that pile. Ask question two either way. What matters is whether a competent person is genuinely spending hours on your site, not how many people work at the company.
What if I already signed a twelve-month contract?
Read the termination clause before you do anything else, then ask for the accounts to be transferred into your ownership now rather than at the end. Most contracts allow that, and it costs a provider nothing to agree if they were not relying on it. The response tells you what you are dealing with.
How do I check the work is actually happening?
You do not need technical skill for this. Ask for Google Search Console access under your own email — it is free and it is your data. You will see which pages Google is indexing and which searches you appear for, independently of anything the agency sends you. If someone objects to you holding your own Search Console, you have learned something important.
Should I ask these questions of you as well?
Yes. My answers are on the search rankings page: no bought links, no guarantees of position one, no locked contracts, and every account in your name. If any of that turns out to be untrue, it is in writing and you should hold me to it.
Find out what your website could be doing.
Send your web address and you get a written 15 point check within two working days — free, no call needed. It says what is holding the site back, in the order worth fixing. Use it to brief whoever you hire, even if that is not me.