How to choose an SEO agency: the questions to ask first
Choose on five things you can check before you sign: who actually does the work, how results will be measured (in your own Google Search Console), the minimum term, who owns the site and the accounts, and how often you'll hear what changed. Then rule out anyone who shows the warning signs below. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO is a short, useful read before any meeting.
By Jarek Piotrowski · Last updated
What to ask before you sign
- Who does the work? The person in the sales meeting, a junior team, or a subcontractor? Ask for the name of the person who will change your site and write your pages, and whether you can talk to them directly.
- How will results be measured? Clicks and impressions come from your own Search Console, which you can check yourself. For an audit stage, Google suggests you "only grant read access to Search Console" (Google). A report built only on the agency's own tool is harder to check.
- What results, and when? Google suggests asking "What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe?" and "Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?" (Google). Ask for dates on every number you're shown.
- What's the minimum term? Many retainers have one. Ask how long it is, what happens after it, and how much notice ends it.
- Who owns the site and the accounts? Your domain, hosting, Search Console, Google Analytics, your Google Business Profile and the content should be in your name, so leaving the agency doesn't mean losing them.
- How often will you report, and in what form? Ask to see a sample report: what changed, what they did, and what's next.
Warning signs
- A promise of a #1 ranking. "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" (Google).
- A claimed special relationship with Google, or secret methods. Google warns against SEOs who "allege a 'special relationship' with Google", and says "Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do" (Google).
- Bought links. "Buying or selling links for ranking purposes" is link spam under Google's spam policies.
- Old fixes sold as new. FAQ markup no longer produces FAQ results in Google Search (what changed on 7 May 2026), and an llms.txt file is not something the major AI tools say they read (the evidence). Neither is a reason to pay for a package.
- No access to your own data. If you can't see your own Search Console and analytics, you can't check anything you're told.
Local or national?
A local agency can meet you, knows the suburbs and districts your customers search, and may already know your market. A national one may have more specialists. What matters more than the address is the five questions above: the same method and the same checks work from anywhere, and most of the work happens on your site and in your accounts, not in a meeting room.
If you're in Canberra and want someone local: SEO and web design in Canberra.
How AI answers change the brief
Buyers now ask Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity which business to use, and those answers quote pages that state plain facts: what you do, where, for whom, and from what price. So ask any agency how it will check what AI answers say about you, and how often, not only where you rank. What generative engine optimisation (GEO) involves, and how to check what AI says about your business yourself.
Before you compare prices
Price only makes sense next to scope: what SEO costs in Australia and what a website costs in Australia set out what the published figures cover. What I offer, at published prices: SEO and AI search visibility.
See what the work includes and what it costs: SEO and AI search visibility, or SEO and web design in Canberra.
Jarek Piotrowski runs LayerOps from Canberra: fast, lead-ready websites, and SEO and AI-answer visibility for professional and service businesses Australia-wide.