Start with what you need, not who to hire
Many hiring mistakes begin before the first meeting. A business decides it needs 'SEO', collects three proposals and picks the most confident salesperson. A better start is a short note on the problem you want solved.
Write down which services earn you the most, which areas you serve, and what a good result looks like. For example, 'more phone calls for emergency work in Belconnen and Gungahlin' is a goal an agency can test. 'Be number one' is not.
Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO makes the same point from the other side. It advises you to notice whether a provider asks about your business, your competitors and your customers. If they are not interested, it says to find someone who is.
Questions worth asking in the first call
These questions draw mainly on Google's published advice for people hiring an SEO. A good agency should answer each without hedging.
- What will you change on my site? Google suggests asking whether the provider will share all the changes they make, with reasons.
- How will you measure success? The answer should include enquiries, calls or sales, not only keyword positions.
- What results should I expect, and when? Honest answers describe ranges and dependencies, not a date.
- Have you worked in my kind of market? Experience with similar customers matters, and so does knowing how people search in Canberra.
- Who will actually do the work? Find out whether the people on the sales call are the same people handling your account.
- Do you follow Google's guidelines? Ask them to point to the official documentation behind their main recommendations.
- How will we communicate? Agree the contact person, the reply time and how often you will meet or receive reports.
What to bring to the first call
Preparation makes proposals comparable and keeps the call short.
Your website address and goal
Say what you want in business terms, such as booked jobs or phone calls from named areas.
Your Google Business Profile link
Local visibility often depends on it, and an agency should look at it before quoting.
A list of current accounts
Know who holds your domain, hosting, analytics and Search Console logins today.
Any existing contract
Bring the notice period, scope and fee terms so a new provider can see what overlaps.
Red flags and green flags
Google lists several warning signs for people hiring an SEO. We have added a few of our own. The list on the left describes behaviour worth trusting, and the one on the right is worth walking away from.
Signs of a sound provider
- Explains the plan in plain words and answers follow-up questions directly.
- Starts with an audit and gives realistic estimates of improvement.
- Names the limits of SEO, including what they cannot control.
- Refers to official documentation when recommending changes.
- Is comfortable with you owning every account and login.
Signs to walk away
- Promises a number one ranking or says they have a special relationship with Google.
- Contacted you out of the blue with an unsolicited email.
- Is secretive or will not clearly explain what they intend to do.
- Sells link schemes or submission to thousands of search engines.
- Asks you to build links to them, or claims a third-party tool is approved by Google.
What the reporting should look like
Reporting is where weak agencies tend to show themselves. A page of charts that only goes up is easy to produce and easy to misread. A useful report ties the work to business outcomes and records what was done.
At a minimum, you should see what changed on the website, which pages or profiles were worked on, and how calls, enquiries or tracked conversions moved. Keyword positions can sit alongside, as context rather than as the headline.
Our own approach to reporting is described on the our process page. Whatever agency you pick, ask to see a sample report before you sign.
Contracts and ownership
Contracts are not exciting reading, but they decide how easy it is to leave. This table lists the terms to look for. We are not lawyers, so have anything binding reviewed by yours.
| Term | What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum term | A clear length and a notice period. | Long lock-ins make it costly to leave if results disappoint. |
| Scope of work | A written list of deliverables. | Without it, 'ongoing optimisation' can mean almost nothing. |
| Ownership | Your domain, hosting, Google profile and content stay yours. | You should never need permission to access your own accounts. |
| Access levels | Only the access the task requires. | Google advises read-only Search Console access for an audit. |
| Payment | What is billed monthly and what is one-off. | Setup fees and add-ons can change the true cost. |
| Exit | How handover works and what is delivered at the end. | A clean exit protects the work already paid for. |
| Standard terms | Whether the agreement is a standard form you cannot negotiate | Unfair contract term rules can cover standard form contracts with small businesses, so ask a lawyer about one-sided clauses. |
Checks you can do yourself
You can verify much of what an agency says without any technical skill.
- Search for the agencySee whether its own site is clear, current and easy to use, and whether it explains its services without hiding behind jargon.
- Ask for references you can callGoogle suggests asking past clients whether the work was useful, easy to work with and produced positive results.
- Look at their advice, not their promisesRead a blog post or two. Good advice is specific and cites official sources, and it admits uncertainty.
- Request a sample audit findingAsk for one example of a problem they would fix and how they would check it worked.
- Check what access they wantBe careful if they ask for full control of your site before they have explained why.
Claims about AI search visibility
Many proposals now add AI search visibility as an extra. Google's hiring advice says to compare any claims about optimising for generative AI with its official guidance, which says optimising for its AI features involves no extra technical requirements and no special markup. A provider who cannot point to documentation for a claim is guessing, whatever the sales page says.
Treat promises to be cited by a named assistant the same way as promises of a number one ranking. Our plain account of what is and is not known sits in this post on AI search for Canberra businesses.
Agency, consultant or in-house
An agency is not always the right answer. A solo SEO consultant can suit a business that has someone in-house to carry out the advice. An agency suits businesses that want the work done for them, including content, technical fixes and profile management.
If you only need a view on what is wrong, a one-off SEO audit is usually cheaper and lower risk than a long retainer. You can then decide whether to act on it yourself or hire help. Our guide to what SEO costs in Canberra explains how the pricing models compare.
Remember too that you remain responsible for the actions of any company you hire, a point Google makes directly. That is a good reason to keep ownership of accounts and to ask for explanations of every change.
How we would like to be judged
To keep this guide fair, here is how we measure up against it. SEOBerra is a Canberra-focused agency, and our team has spent 18 or more years on SEO in competitive markets. We make no ranking promises, because no one outside Google controls rankings.
We offer a free SEO audit that looks over your site and sets out what to fix first. You can compare that list with what other providers tell you, and you owe us nothing for asking. Pricing is by custom quote, which our pricing page explains.
If another agency answers the questions in this article more clearly than we do, hire them. The goal is a good match, not a signed contract at any cost.
Frequently asked questions
How many SEO agencies should I speak to before choosing?
Two or three is usually enough. More than that tends to produce confusing, hard-to-compare proposals. Give each the same brief, ask the same questions, and compare the answers and the written scope. The clearest explanation is more useful than the lowest or most confident quote.
Does an SEO agency need to be based in Canberra?
Not necessarily. SEO work is done remotely, and what matters is whether the provider understands how people in the ACT search and who competes in your market. Ask for evidence of that understanding, such as how they would approach your service area, rather than a street address.
What access should I give an agency?
Give the minimum needed for the job. Google advises read-only Search Console access for an audit. If someone needs to edit your site, ask them to explain each change, and keep ownership of your domain, hosting and Google accounts in your own name.
Is it a red flag if an agency will not name its clients?
Not always, since confidentiality clauses are common. But a provider should still be able to offer some way to verify its work, such as a reference you can call or a described example. If it can offer nothing at all, treat the claims with caution.
What if I am already locked into a contract that is not working?
Read the termination and notice clauses first, then raise your concerns in writing and ask for a specific plan. If you still want out, get legal advice before acting. Make sure you hold your own account logins and a copy of all content before the relationship ends.
Sources and further reading
- Do you need an SEO? (Google Search Central): Questions to ask, warning signs, no guaranteed rankings, read-only Search Console access for audits, responsibility for hired companies, advice to check generative AI claims against official guidance.
- ACCC urges businesses to remove unfair contract terms ahead of law changes (Business Victoria): From 9 November 2023 the rules cover standard form contracts with businesses employing fewer than 100 people or turning over under $10 million