Choosing the right SEO agency can feel overwhelming, especially when everyone promises the same things: top rankings, explosive traffic, and endless qualified leads. The truth? Many agencies talk a big game but deliver generic, cookie-cutter strategies that waste your time and budget.
The right questions will help you separate real experts from those who vanish when results don’t show up. These 31 questions for SEO agency evaluation are designed to help you cut through the fluff and find a partner who’s actually equipped to drive measurable growth.
At Trustworthy Digital, we believe transparency should come standard which is why we welcome every one of these questions.
Table of Contents
- Strategy & SEO Approach Questions
- Evaluating Experience and Expertise
- Performance, Results & ROI Questions
- Communication and Reporting Questions
- Pricing and Contract Questions
- Questions for Culture Fit and Long-Term Vision
- Essential Factors for Evaluating Digital Marketing Agencies
Strategy & SEO Approach Questions
These questions reveal how an agency thinks about SEO: their process, philosophy, and how they define success. You’ll quickly learn whether you’re dealing with strategic thinkers or keyword stuffers following outdated checklists.
1. What’s Your SEO Strategy for New Clients?
This question exposes whether they use a one-size-fits-all template or actually customize their approach. Strong agencies will explain how they balance technical SEO fixes, content creation, and link building based on your specific situation.
Look for agencies that conduct audits, evaluate competitors, and take time to understand your business goals before jumping into tactics.
Red flag answers include vague promises about “optimizing everything” or agencies that immediately start talking about keyword density and meta tags without understanding your business model.
2. How Do You Define SEO Success?
This clarifies whether they’re focused on vanity metrics or actual business outcomes. The right answer ties SEO performance directly to your revenue goals, whether that’s lead generation, e-commerce sales, or brand awareness.
Look for agencies that mention conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value, not just traffic increases.
If an agency is fixated on keyword rankings without tying them to conversions or business value, you risk wasting budget on vanity metrics while competitors win market share.
3. How Do You Incorporate SEO Into a Broader Marketing Strategy?
SEO doesn’t exist in a vacuum, especially for growth-stage businesses running multiple marketing channels.
Smart agencies understand how SEO content supports paid advertising, how technical improvements affect conversion rates, and how organic visibility amplifies social media efforts.
They should ask about your existing marketing stack, paid media budgets, and sales processes. Agencies that treat SEO as completely separate from your other marketing efforts will create disconnected campaigns that compete against each other instead of working together.
4. How Are You Addressing Generative Search?
We’re actively optimizing for Google’s AI Overviews and emerging AI search platforms by creating comprehensive, authoritative content that AI models can confidently cite and recommend.
This means restructuring content to answer questions directly, implementing structured data markup, and building topical authority through content clusters. We’re also focusing on E-E-A-T signals since generative search heavily favors trusted, expert sources.
Look for agencies that understand generative search rewards depth and authority over traditional keyword tactics. If an agency is still focused primarily on keyword density without mentioning AI search optimization, they’re not prepared for where search is heading.
5. Do You Optimize for Technical, On-Page, Content, and Off-Page SEO?
Complete SEO requires expertise across all four pillars: technical infrastructure, on-page optimization, content strategy, and link building. Ask which areas they prioritize first and why, this reveals their diagnostic process and strategic thinking.
Beware of agencies that only focus on one area or claim they can fix everything simultaneously. The best approach tackles your biggest obstacles first, whether that’s technical debt slowing down your site or content gaps letting competitors dominate key topics.
6. Do You Require Access to My CMS, Google Analytics, or Other Tools?
Legitimate agencies need hands-on access to implement changes and track performance accurately. They should request admin access to your content management system, analytics platforms, and SEO tools to do the work properly.
If an agency only sends recommendations and never logs into your systems, you’re essentially paying for suggestions, not results. Make sure they’re equipped to implement, not just advise.
Evaluating Experience and Expertise
Get past the pitch deck. These questions uncover how deep their team’s experience runs and whether they truly understand your industry, scale, and complexity.
7. What Industries Do You Have the Most Experience With?
Industry experience shortens the learning curve dramatically. Agencies with industry experience already understand buyer behavior, seasonal trends, compliance challenges, and competitive dynamics. These all shape SEO strategy.
However, don’t automatically disqualify agencies without direct industry experience if they demonstrate strong strategic thinking and have successfully scaled businesses with similar complexity and customer acquisition models.
8. Have You Worked With Businesses Similar to Mine in Size and Stage?
A $50M lead gen business has radically different SEO needs than a $400K small business. Mid-market companies need sophisticated attribution modeling, complex site architecture optimization, and integration with sales systems that small businesses don’t require.
Make sure the agency has experience managing SEO campaigns at your scale, with your budget level, and understands the operational complexity of businesses your size.
9. Do You Work With Any of My Competitors Right Now?
Direct competitors create obvious conflicts of interest, but also ask about businesses targeting the same keywords or customer segments. Some agencies manage this through exclusivity agreements, while others maintain strict information barriers between client accounts.
Understand their policy upfront and decide whether you’re comfortable with potential overlap. Sometimes the best agencies in your space work with multiple players, but transparency about these relationships is non-negotiable.
10. Can You Share Examples of Recent SEO Wins?
Ask for specific metrics: traffic growth percentages, ranking improvements for valuable keywords, and most importantly, business impact like lead volume increases or revenue attribution. Ask for timelines and a brief walkthrough of the strategy, not just the end results.
Generic success stories without concrete numbers or businesses you can’t verify suggest they’re inflating results or don’t actually track meaningful outcomes.
11. What Certifications or Ongoing Training Does Your Team Have?
SEO changes constantly with algorithm updates, new features, and evolving best practices. Team members should have current certifications from Google, along with ongoing education through industry conferences, training programs, and professional development.
While certifications aren’t everything, they demonstrate commitment to staying current in a field where last year’s tactics can become this year’s penalties. Bonus points if their team contributes to industry thought leadership or has client-facing strategists with publishing experience. That’s a strong signal they’re both sharp and client-ready.
Performance, Results & ROI Questions
These questions help you evaluate whether an agency can actually deliver measurable outcomes, and how they connect SEO efforts to your business goals, not just flashy reports.
12. When Should We Expect to See Measurable SEO Results?
Honest agencies explain that SEO is a long-term investment with different milestones along the way. Technical fixes might show immediate improvements, while content and link building efforts typically take 3-6 months to generate significant results.
Be wary of agencies that promise first-page rankings within 30 days or guarantee specific positions. These claims often rely on shady tactics that can hurt your site or they’re just false promises.
13. What KPIs Do You Typically Track?
A well-rounded agency will track both traffic and keyword movement, but should also tie those metrics to what actually matters: conversions, cost per lead, and revenue.
They should measure both leading indicators (like content performance and backlinks) and lagging indicators (like pipeline and sales).
If they’re only focused on rankings or traffic, they’re missing the metrics that matter most to your bottom line.
14. What SEO Tools and Platforms Do You Use?
Professional SEO requires tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz for keyword and competitive research, Screaming Frog for technical audits, and specialty tools for content optimization and backlink tracking.
The tools they use reflect how seriously they take SEO execution and how deep they can go in diagnosing and solving problems.
15. How Do You Report on ROI and Connect SEO to Revenue or Lead Generation?
This is where most agencies fall short. They should explain their attribution methodology, how they track assisted conversions, and their process for connecting organic traffic to actual pipeline growth.
Sample reports should clearly demonstrate how SEO activity leads to measurable business growth, not just increases in traffic.
16. Do You Offer Analytics Setup or Help With Conversion Tracking?
Proper measurement requires sophisticated analytics configuration, goal tracking, and attribution modeling. Many businesses have incomplete or incorrect analytics setups that make it impossible to measure SEO ROI accurately.
Agencies that include analytics optimization as part of their service demonstrate understanding that measurement is just as important as the actual SEO work. If they don’t help you fix your analytics setup, you’ll never truly know if SEO is working.
Communication and Reporting Questions
Set expectations for how you’ll stay informed and how your agency will demonstrate progress, not just once a month, but throughout the engagement.
17. What Does Your Standard SEO Report Include?
A strong SEO report should include traffic trends, keyword rankings, content performance, resolved technical issues, and conversion data. Most importantly, it should explain what those numbers mean for your business, not just dump numbers without context.
Ask to see a sample report to evaluate whether their insights are actionable or just data regurgitation that requires you to interpret the results yourself.
18. How Often Will We Meet or Receive Updates on Progress?
Most successful partnerships include bi-weekly check-ins with monthly detailed reporting. Regular communication prevents surprises and allows for course corrections when market conditions or business priorities change.
You shouldn’t have to chase down your agency for updates between meetings. Responsiveness matters, especially when business priorities shift quickly.
19. Who Will Be Our Main Point of Contact?
Clarity on roles prevents the classic bait-and-switch where senior strategists sell the work but junior team members execute it. Ask whether your main contact is an account manager or the person actually driving strategy.
The best arrangements provide access to both strategic leadership and day-to-day execution, with clear escalation paths for different types of issues.
20. What’s Your Typical Communication Process?
Professional agencies use structured communication systems — whether that’s Slack for quick updates, scheduled Zoom calls for strategy discussions, or project management platforms for task tracking.
If communication feels disorganized, execution probably is too. You want partners who make it easy to stay informed without constant back-and-forth.
21. How Much of My Time Will You Need?
Set realistic expectations around collaboration requirements, especially for content approvals, technical implementations, and strategic planning sessions. Lean teams need to understand the time commitment upfront to plan accordingly.
If an agency needs constant input to move forward, it may signal a lack of internal resources. On the flip side, if they ask for nothing, they may not understand your business well enough to get results.
Pricing and Contract Questions
Make sure there are no surprises when it comes to scope, flexibility, and what you’re really paying for. Transparent pricing prevents scope creep and budget overruns that kill partnerships.
22. What Is Your Pricing Model?
Most professional SEO agencies use monthly retainers that provide predictable costs and ongoing optimization. Understand exactly what’s included in the base fee versus additional project work or hourly charges.
A transparent pricing model makes it easier to forecast spend, track ROI, and build long-term trust.
23. How Do You Handle Scope Changes or Additional Requests?
This tests their flexibility and transparency when work expands beyond the initial agreement. Good agencies explain their process for evaluating out-of-scope requests, whether they’re handled through hourly rates, project fees, or absorbed into the retainer.
Clear boundaries prevent misunderstandings and ensure both parties know when additional costs apply. If an agency is vague about scope, billing confusion and frustration are almost inevitable.
24. What Are the Terms of Your Contract?
Ask about contract length, renewal periods, and exit clauses. Flexibility often reflects confidence in their ability to deliver results. If an agency pushes for a long-term commitment before proving value, that’s worth questioning.
Understand what happens if you’re not satisfied with performance and whether you can adjust services or end the relationship without penalties.
25. What Happens If We Want to Pause or Cancel?
Look for fair terms and smooth offboarding processes. You should retain ownership of all content created, reports generated, and account access credentials when the relationship ends.
The best agencies support a clean transition, sharing documentation and access so your next team can pick up where they left off.
26. What’s Included (and Not Included) in Your SEO Pricing?
This helps uncover what services are truly covered in their monthly fee versus what might be considered extra. Content creation, technical implementations, link building, and reporting should all be clearly defined to prevent scope creep.
Be cautious of agencies with vague deliverables or confusing pricing tiers that make it hard to track what you’re really paying for.
Questions for Culture Fit and Long-Term Vision
Hiring an SEO agency isn’t a short-term transaction — it’s a strategic partnership. These questions help you uncover whether your teams will work well together over time or struggle with misalignment and breakdowns in communication.
27. What Do You Need From Our Team to Be Successful?
This helps set realistic expectations around content approvals, stakeholder access, and internal collaboration. Understanding what’s required from your side prevents surprises or delays down the line.
Agencies that need extensive client involvement should explain why and how they’ll make the process efficient. Those requiring minimal input should demonstrate they understand your business well enough to work independently.
28. How Do You Collaborate With In-House Teams and Other Agencies?
If you have an internal marketing team or other vendors, your SEO agency needs to integrate smoothly, not create silos. Look for teams experienced in working with PR, paid media, developers, and in-house content creators.
Ask about their experience working with PR firms, paid media agencies, web developers, and internal content teams. Integration capability is crucial for businesses with complex marketing ecosystems.
29. How Do You Stay Aligned With Changing Business Goals?
Your priorities will evolve — new product launches, market expansions, competitive threats, or budget changes all affect SEO strategy. Great agencies build flexibility into the relationship through regular strategy reviews and adaptable campaign structures.
Look for curiosity about your business roadmap and willingness to adjust tactics when circumstances change. Rigid agencies that resist strategic pivots become obstacles to growth rather than accelerators.
30. Why Should We Choose You Over Another SEO Agency?
This reveals their unique value proposition and competitive differentiation. Strong answers focus on specific expertise, proven methodologies, or unique service delivery approaches rather than generic promises about being “the best.”
Beware of agencies that can’t articulate clear differentiators or rely on vague claims about “cutting-edge strategies” without explaining what makes their approach different.
31. How Do You See SEO Evolving in the Next Few Years and How Are You Adapting?
This question reveals whether the agency is staying ahead of the curve. Look for familiarity with AI-generated search results (like Google’s SGE), entity-based optimization, UX signals, and how they’re adapting content strategy for tomorrow’s SERPs.
Agencies that can’t speak to where SEO is headed may not be prepared to guide you there.
Essential Factors for Evaluating Digital Marketing Agencies
Choosing the right SEO partner goes beyond checking boxes. Here are the key traits that separate transactional vendors from long-term digital growth partners.
Strategic Thinking Over Tactics
The best agencies ask about your business goals, customer acquisition costs, and competitive positioning before diving into keyword lists. They understand that SEO supports broader business objectives, not just search visibility. Look for partners who connect organic search performance to revenue growth, pipeline development, and market share expansion.
Tactical agencies focus on individual optimizations without understanding how they fit together strategically. Strategic agencies design comprehensive campaigns where content, technical improvements, and link building work together to achieve specific business outcomes.
Transparent Communication
You shouldn’t be chasing agencies for updates or wondering what they’re actually doing with your monthly retainer. Professional partners provide proactive communication through regular meetings, detailed reports, and accessible dashboards that show real-time progress.
Transparency extends beyond reporting to include honest conversations about challenges, timeline adjustments, and strategic recommendations. The best agencies admit when tactics aren’t working and pivot quickly rather than continuing ineffective approaches.
Integrated Expertise
Modern SEO requires understanding content strategy, technical optimization, user experience design, and analytics measurement. Agencies that only specialize in one area create gaps that competitors exploit.
Look for teams that understand how page speed affects conversion rates, how content supports paid advertising campaigns, and how technical improvements enable better user experiences. This integrated approach maximizes the impact of every optimization.
Adaptability
Search algorithms change constantly, and your business needs will evolve as you grow. Great agencies build flexibility into their service delivery and stay ahead of industry changes like AI overviews and Search Generative Experience features that are reshaping organic search results.
The most successful partnerships adapt strategies based on performance data, market conditions, and business priorities rather than rigidly following predetermined plans that become outdated.
Proof of Results
Ask for case studies, client references, and specific metrics that demonstrate real business impact. The best agencies can show revenue attribution, lead generation improvements, and cost-per-acquisition reductions that justify their fees.
Generic testimonials and ranking improvements without business context suggest agencies that optimize for the wrong metrics. Look for partners who measure success the same way you do — through actual business growth.
Ask Us These SEO Questions. We’ll Answer Them All!
The right questions reveal which agencies actually know what they’re doing and which ones are just making empty promises. These 31 questions for SEO agency evaluation will help you find a partner focused on measurable results, not just impressive-sounding tactics that don’t drive real growth.
At Trustworthy Digital, we welcome these questions because transparency builds trust, and trust drives performance. We’ve helped dozens of mid-market businesses scale from eight to nine figures through strategic SEO that connects directly to revenue.
Ready to get straight answers?
Schedule a free consultation with Trustworthy Digital and get clarity on what really matters for your growth.
