Questions to ask before hiring an SEO or GEO provider
Ask what will change, why it matters for your customers, how it will be verified and what you will own. Compare the proposed work rather than the number of pages or keywords. A useful proposal connects discovery improvements to an enquiry journey and clearly separates commitments from outcomes outside the provider's control.
What problem are we fixing first?
Ask the provider to describe the current issue using available evidence. Is the site difficult to index, unclear about its services, attracting the wrong visits or losing requests after submission? A proposed solution should follow from that diagnosis.
Request a short list of priority pages and the purpose of each. If the plan begins with dozens of near-identical city pages, ask what distinct information a customer would gain from each one.
What will I receive?
Ask for the pages, edits, technical work, reporting and handover included in the scope. Clarify whether copywriting includes checking your facts and whether implementation includes checking the rendered page. Find out who supplies photographs, approves claims and maintains information later.
For an AI visibility service, ask which platforms will be checked and how observations will be recorded. A single favourable screenshot should not be presented as a complete measure of performance.
What evidence supports the claims?
Ask whether examples are client work, the provider's own businesses, demonstrations or projections. For a claimed result, ask for the date range, baseline and definition of the outcome. More clicks, more enquiries and more paid work are different claims.
Google says better local ranking cannot be requested or purchased. A provider can offer a defined scope and contractual terms, but those should not imply control over Google's ranking systems.
What will I own and what will I keep paying for?
Clarify control of the domain, hosting, website, content and business profiles. Ask which subscriptions are required, who holds the accounts and what happens when the engagement ends. Get the recurring work described separately from one-time implementation.
Ask how access will be granted and removed. The owner should not have to recover their business identity from an agency account after a disagreement.
How will we decide whether to continue?
Agree a starting point and review dates. Reports should show the work completed, relevant observations, enquiries and any data gaps. If there is not enough traffic to interpret a conversion rate, the provider should explain that rather than turn a tiny sample into a confident forecast.
Ask what happens if the plan attracts irrelevant visitors or if a form fails. A useful answer includes investigation and adjustment. It should not treat every lack of progress as a reason to buy more pages.
Common questions
Should I choose the cheapest quote?
Compare like-for-like scope, ownership, recurring costs and evidence. A low quote may cover fewer tasks; a high quote is not proof of quality.
Is a money-back guarantee the same as guaranteed ranking?
No. Contract terms describe what a provider agrees to do if conditions are met. They do not give the provider control over search or AI recommendations. Read the actual terms.
What should an AI visibility report contain?
The date, platform, questions checked, what appeared, cited URLs where available and factual errors, alongside the work completed and relevant enquiry data.
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