How to choose an SEO agency: Questions, red flags, and a quote comparison table

SEO specialist, agency, or in-house team?

There is no single correct answer to specialist or agency; the right model varies with the website’s workload and the business’s decision structure. Differences in cost, capacity, and risk across the three models are explained in a detailed table on the freelance SEO specialist page . Here, only situations clarifying model choice and the additional question for each are addressed.

Regardless of title, three things decide: who actually does the work, who accesses the website, and who prepares reports. In agency interviews, explicitly ask whether the salesperson is also the person running the project.

Questions to ask an SEO agency and how to interpret answers

The core questions come from Google’s own list: examples of previous work and success stories, compliance with Google Search Essentials , expected results, timing and success measurement, sector and city experience, international website experience, time in business, and communication style. The table below adds common selection topics and gives a reassuring and concerning example answer for each. These are not verbatim quotes, but patterns showing how to interpret an answer.

The final question also comes from Google’s list: the guide recommends asking whether suggestions offered as AEO or GEO comply with Google’s official documentation on AI features .

Interest, references, and sources for recommendations

Google’s guide asks businesses to check whether the candidate shows real interest in them. A good SEO specialist asks what makes the business different, about competitors, how search results could help, and how customers find the business; it recommends finding someone interested if a candidate shows no interest. If none of these questions appears in the interview, that signals a ready-made package sale.

For reference checks, the guide recommends asking former clients whether the service was useful, the provider easy to work with, and positive results achieved. It also asks whether recommendations are supported by official Google documents and states that Google does not evaluate or approve third-party SEO tools, which have no access to Google’s internal ranking data. Recommendations relying solely on a tool score deserve a second check.

Red flags: Which promises and behaviors are risky, and why?

The most expensive mistake in choosing an SEO company is accepting a method that risks the website’s presence on Google for a short-term promise. Google’s spam policiesstate that violating websites may rank lower or not appear in results at all. The SEO selection guide also emphasizes that the website owner is ultimately responsible for the hired company’s actions.

How ranking promises appear in quotes and the risk of manual actions are examined separately in our article on SEO guarantee promises . Google’s guide also says those believing they have been deceived by an SEO company can complain, and businesses outside the United States can submit through econsumer.gov .

Quote comparison table: Weighted scoring template

Ranking quotes solely by monthly fee treats different scopes as equivalent. Weighted scoring gives more weight to criteria important to the business and excludes verbal promises. The weights below are our suggestion; priorities differ across e-commerce, local services, and corporate websites, so weights can be adapted to the business.

Score each criterion from 1 to 5, multiply by its weight, and divide by 5; the eight criteria total the quote’s score out of 100. For example, a quote receiving 4 on the scope criterion weighted at 20 earns 16 points there. A quote scoring 1 on methods or account ownership should be eliminated even with a high total; these two criteria serve as thresholds.

The same table can be completed interactively in the quote checking tool . It calculates the score automatically, separately displays threshold items and red flags, and lists questions to ask the provider about missing items.

To see where the fee stands in the market, the compilation of agencies and specialists publishing prices in the 2026 SEO prices market research can be used. Scoring every quote on the same day by the same people makes the comparison more consistent.

Contracts and account ownership: Search Console, Analytics, domains, and content

A contract’s most important function is determining beforehand what remains with whom when the relationship ends. SEO’s accumulated value resides in Search Console history, Analytics data, website content, and the domain. If these are in agency-owned accounts, the business may lose access to its own history on departure.

According to Search Console’s managing owners, users, and permissions documentation, an owner has full control and can add or remove users. A verified owner proves ownership through a verification token; a delegated owner receives ownership from a verified owner without a token. A full user can view all data and perform some actions, while a restricted user mainly views data. A property must have at least one verified owner, and making that the business’s own account ensures the property remains with the business.

Google’s SEO selection guide recommends giving only read access to Search Console during audits and no write permissions at that stage. Google Analytics 4 has Administrator, Editor, Marketer, Analyst, and Viewer roles; according to Analytics’ access management documentation, Administrators can manage users, while Editors cannot. Google Business Profile’s owners and managers documentation also says managers cannot add or remove users or delete the profile; adding the agency as a manager is sufficient for most work.

Recommended subjects to document in the contract or attachment are as follows:

• That Search Console, Analytics, Business Profile, domain, and hosting accounts are in the business’s name, and which role the agency receives
• Monthly scope, number of content deliverables, and reporting frequency
• That usage rights for produced text, visuals, and technical files pass to the business
• The link-building method and that links will not be bought for rankings
• Approval processes for changes affecting URL structure or menus
• Termination notice period and departure handover items

The contract’s legal aspects, especially termination, penalty, and intellectual property clauses, should be confirmed with a lawyer. These are frequently overlooked practical topics rather than a legal opinion.

What should be expected in the first 90 days, and which headings should monthly reports contain?

A realistic first-90-days expectation is a completed, verifiable task list rather than a specific ranking. Google’s SEO starter guide says some changes may show effects within hours and others within months, and that generally waiting a few weeks to assess impact is appropriate. Factors affecting timing are explained in detail in the how long it takes to reach Google’s first page article.

The first 90 days, step by step

This is a general framework based on our working sequence; stages may shift with website size and technical condition. No row promises a ranking result; each only defines the work and verifiable output.

Monthly report heading template

A monthly report is a short document explaining what was done, why, and what the data says, rather than a pile of tool screenshots. Headings can follow this order:

1. Work completed this month: Date, page, and reason
2. Search Console: Impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position; comparisons with the previous period and the same period last year
3. Queries and pages gaining or losing ground
4. Analytics: Form, call, WhatsApp, or sales conversions from organic visits
5. Technical condition: Indexing problems, speed, and mobile findings
6. Open risks and decisions required from the business
7. Next month’s task list

Reading data from the business’s own accounts makes reports verifiable. Paid advertising and organic work must also not be mixed into one figure; Google states that advertising with it does not affect the website’s presence in search results. Differences between the two channels are discussed in the Google Ads or SEO article.

Common mistakes when choosing an SEO company and the correct approach

In practice, choosing an SEO agency often means deciding by the lowest fee or boldest presentation. In a documented process, the decision compares answers to identical questions and scores gathered in the same table.

The final item is often missed: an agency scoring highly initially may not maintain the same transparency in practice. Periodically completing the same table gives an impartial basis for continuing or leaving.

Handover checklist when leaving an agency

On departure, the objective is to close all unnecessary access and retain work history with the business. Search Console’s help document says a removed owner can reverify ownership while their token remains in the property; deleting the user alone is insufficient, and tokens must also be removed.

1. Remove agency users and delegated owners in Search Console; remove agency-owned verification tokens (HTML files, meta tags, DNS records).
2. Remove agency users in Analytics, Tag Manager, and Business Profile, confirming primary ownership remains with the business.
3. Close agency accounts in the website administration, hosting, FTP, and DNS panels, and change shared passwords.
4. Receive change logs, audit reports, keyword research, and content plans as files.
5. Request documentation of technical settings such as redirect lists and structured data.
6. Obtain a list of publication or promotional agreements the agency manages for the business.
7. Connect dashboard data sources to business accounts and obtain copies of agency-owned dashboards.
8. Record the latest state of Search Console and Analytics data before the new team starts.

Preparing this list as an attachment when signing, rather than on departure, makes handover quick and conflict-free. Both parties know from the outset what will be delivered.

How does Onur Freelance answer these questions?

Onur Freelance is a web design and digital marketing studio based in Maltepe since 2019, providing SEO for local, corporate, and e-commerce websites. Monthly SEO starts from 9,000 TL; the exact fee and scope are communicated in a written quote after a free preliminary website assessment.

Each question here can receive a written answer: who performs the work, which methods are not used, report headings, and departure handover items appear in the quote. Search Console, Analytics, and Business Profile accounts remain in the business’s name; only the necessary role is requested. Work targeting district and map searches for Istanbul businesses is explained on the Istanbul SEO agency page. Evaluating our quote in the same scoring table alongside other quotes is the most reliable approach.