Red Flags in SEO Proposals

Guaranteed rankings.

"Page 1 guaranteed" or "#1 in 90 days" is the clearest tell of all. No one controls Google's algorithm, and guaranteeing rankings violates Google's terms of service. An agency promising it is either lying or planning tactics that will eventually get you penalized.

A credible agency commits to a standard of care and a track record — not an outcome it can't control. The guarantee isn't reassurance; it's the first sign you're dealing with someone who'll say anything to close. The questions to ask →

The free audit that's really a sales pitch.

A "free audit" is almost always a templated PDF built to manufacture urgency — a list of scary-looking problems engineered to push you into a contract. Real diagnostic work takes senior time and produces something you keep; it isn't given away to win a deal.

The free audit isn't generous — it's bait, and the analysis behind it is usually shallow. A paid diagnosis filters out tire-kickers on both sides and signals an agency that does real work. Why we charge for audits →

Reporting built on vanity metrics.

If the proposal's sample report leads with impressions, total traffic, and "engagement" — and never mentions leads or booked jobs — that's the report you'll get every month while your phone stays quiet. Vanity metrics are what an agency shows when the real numbers aren't there.

Look for whether they'll report leads traced to source and let you verify it yourself. A proposal that promises a dashboard but not accountability is promising theater. The KPIs that matter →

They keep your accounts.

Watch for any arrangement where the agency registers your domain, owns your Google Business Profile, or holds your ad accounts in their name. This is how agencies hold clients hostage — leave, and you lose the assets your business runs on.

Your accounts should be yours, full stop, during and after the engagement. A proposal that's cagey about ownership is building in a trap you'll only feel when you try to leave. When to switch agencies →

Vague deliverables and no GBP plan.

"We'll optimize your SEO" with no specifics is a proposal designed to be unaccountable — you can't hold them to deliverables they never defined. And for a local business, a proposal that barely mentions the Google Business Profile is a national-SEO playbook wearing a local label.

A real local proposal names the work: GBP management, citation cleanup, review systems, specific content, the surfaces it targets. Vagueness isn't flexibility — it's the absence of a plan. What a real audit covers →

One red flag is a warning. Two is your answer.

Any single flag warrants a hard question; two or more is a pattern, and the pattern doesn't improve after you sign. The proposals worth taking seriously are specific, honest about what they can't promise, and built on a relationship where your assets and your data stay yours. Hold out for that one. The strategy hub →