How do you choose an SEO partner? Ask them to name a URL, the query that URL should own, and the next task in a sentence a developer or a writer can do. If the answer is a position, a traffic number, or a date, you do not have a plan yet.
Search Engine Optimization does not promise a ranking, and the partner you want should be able to say the same thing without flinching. Google's SEO Starter Guide is about making a site understandable. It is not a score you hire someone to inflate.
Takeaways
- Hire the person who can name a URL and the next task.
- A rank, a traffic total, or a date is not a scope.
- The first month should end in a short list you can check.
- Hand over Search Console access, not a password to everything.
- Refuse paid placements dressed up as SEO.
What You Are Hiring
You are hiring judgment about the pages you already have: which URL should own which query, whether the crawler can fetch it, whether the title and the first screen agree, and whether a nearby customer's profile matches the site. Those are the jobs. A retainer that cannot point at one of them is a retainer for activity.
The Starter's Guide to Essential SEO lays out the order: fetch, then one query, then measure. A partner who starts with a bundle of posts, or with a list of sites that will mention you, has skipped that order. You can still hire them later for a later step, but not to skip the earlier ones.
You are not hiring a guarantee. Anyone who sells a position is selling something the page cannot sign for, so walk away or ask them to replace the promise with a task.
The useful proposal can be read as a URL, a query, and a next task.
What the First Month Should Show
A useful first month looks like a short list, not a dashboard. SEO Audits describes that list: what is indexed, what the important pages say, and the order to change them. You should be able to read it without a second translation.
Ask for these before you sign, and expect them in the first weeks:
- The URLs that matter commercially, written down.
- Whether a crawler can fetch them.
- The one query each of those URLs should own.
- The single next task, with the URL on it.
If the first delivery is a score that went up, ask which URL changed and what a person can now read there. If they cannot answer, the score is not the work.
What to Hand Over
Give access to Search Console and to the pages, not the keys to every vendor you use. The partner needs to see queries and pages, and to see the template if the finding is technical. They do not need your bank login, and they do not need to own the domain.
Write down who publishes. If they change a title, you should know where that change lives and how you would undo it. A partner who will only work inside a tool you cannot export from is a partner you cannot leave.
Agree on a mailbox for questions. A monthly PDF that arrives with no one to ask is not a relationship. It is a file.
What to Refuse
Refuse a guarantee of a position, a traffic number, or a date. Refuse a package of posts with no query assigned to each URL. Refuse a list of sites that will link to you for a fee, which is a different product and can put the site at risk. Mentions are earned by a page that deserves them, which is the subject of Link Building.
| Ask | A useful answer | Walk away if you hear |
|---|---|---|
| What will you change first? | A URL and a task | A rank or a package name |
| How will we know it happened? | The fetched page, or Search Console | A score with no URL |
| What do you need from us? | Console access and someone who can publish | Every password |
| What will you not promise? | A position or a date | "Page one in 90 days" |
The table is a filter, not a score of the vendor. One vague answer is a conversation, while a proposal made only of the right-hand column is a no.
How to Compare Two Proposals
Lay the two proposals on a table and ignore the cover page. You are looking for three lines that can be checked: the URL, the query, and the next task. A proposal that names a service, a monthly theme, and a hope is not yet a plan. Ask both firms to rewrite the first month as those three lines, and the one that can do it without inventing a position is the one you can manage.
Read the order of the work, not the length of the menu. Fetch problems come before title edits, and title edits come before a conversation about mentions. A partner who opens with a link quota, or with a bundle of ads and posts, has skipped the order in The Starter's Guide to Essential SEO. You can still hire them, but not for a job they have not described.
Ask what you will see in week two that you can open yourself: a Search Console screen, a short list of URLs, a note saying this template hides the text. Those are inspectable. A dashboard score, a projected traffic curve, and a rank you cannot reproduce are not. If the two proposals disagree, do not average them. Write down which URL each would touch first, and if they name different URLs, you have learned that the site's priority is still unsettled, which is useful to know before anyone invoices.
Access is part of the comparison. A partner needs a way to see the pages and the search property, but not every password on the first call, and they do not need to own the domain. Say what you will grant, who on your side approves a change, and how a task reaches the person who can ship it. A firm that will not work that way is telling you the work will happen off to the side, where you cannot check it.
Price is the last column, not the first. A lower fee on a proposal that will not name a URL is not a saving, and a higher fee on a list you can read is still a choice made with your eyes open. SEO Audits is a fair first purchase when you do not yet know which work the partner should take on. A retainer that starts before that list exists is a bet that the firm will discover the job while billing for it.
Write the decision down in a sentence you would say to the other firm: "We chose this one because the first task is a fetch on these URLs, and we can see it." If you cannot finish that sentence, you are not ready to sign, so ask for the missing line instead of filling it in yourself to be polite.
Questions
Should the Partner Also Run Ads?
Only if you hired them for ads as a separate job. SEO and paid ads run on different clocks. A bundle is fine when each line names its own task, but not when one promise covers both.
Do I Need an Audit Before a Retainer?
You need a look at the site before a long engagement. That can be a short audit or the first month of work, as long as it ends in a list you can check. A retainer with no list is just activity.
What If Two Proposals Disagree?
Ask each to name the same URL and the next task. A disagreement about that task is one you can use, while a disagreement about who promises the higher rank is not information.
Can I Do This Without a Partner?
Yes, if someone inside can fetch the page, assign the query, and read Search Console. Hire when that person does not exist, not because a proposal said the work is too advanced to understand.
Conclusion
How do you choose an SEO partner? Choose the one who names a URL, a query, and a next task, and who will not sell you a position. Give them Search Console and a way to publish, refuse paid mentions and scores with no page attached, and expect the first month to leave you a list you could act on even if you never spoke again.
If you want that first list from the pages you already have, Speak With Us.
