Choosing an SEO agency: a checklist for your business
Choose an SEO agency that understands the jobs you want and sets out priorities, implementation, measurement and costs in writing. Use a specific service page to check what work you will receive. The eight questions at the end help you compare proposals for your trades business in Austria.
Key points
- An analysis and fully implemented changes are different services. Ask explicitly which implementation work is included.
- Check references for the task, period and data source. A chart alone explains neither the work nor the enquiries won.
- Clarify costs, contacts, your own account access and handover before commissioning the work.
How do you recognise a good SEO agency?
A useful SEO proposal connects your business goal to specific work. For a trades business in Austria, that might mean suitable enquiries for a particular service within its service area. A fixed number of new texts or links does not explain how this goal will be achieved. The agency needs to justify which SEO measures your business needs first.
| Criterion | What the answer should include |
|---|---|
| Understanding your business | Desired services, audience, area and open questions about the starting situation |
| SEO strategy | Justified priorities and suitable existing or planned pages |
| Implementation | Changes included, people responsible and checks after publication |
| Measuring success | Metrics, data sources and feedback on real enquiries |
| Working together | Costs, communication, approvals, duration and handover |
Mark open points in the proposals and ask for them to be added. You do not need a finished SEO plan for an initial conversation. A thorough analysis can be a separate commission; clarify its deliverables and price beforehand.
Example: two proposals for a bathroom business
A fictional business wants to take on more complete bathroom renovations. The first proposal offers a monthly SEO package with a fixed number of texts. It leaves open which questions these texts answer and whether they will be published.
The second proposal starts with the existing bathroom renovation page. It specifies a review of relevant searches, improvements to missing information and technical implementation. It also states who will publish the changes and check the finished result.
With the second proposal, you can see which work you receive. A standard package can also fit if its tasks and limits suit your business. Price, support and available capacity also count when choosing.
Does the agency understand which jobs you want?
An SEO strategy for a regional trades business differs from one for a nationwide online shop. The provider should ask about services, area and capacity. Complete renovations, individual plumbing jobs and maintenance address different needs.
Ask for an explanation using your website: which page should be improved first, and what is wrong with it? Important service information may be missing. A search engine may be unable to process the page technically. Or the existing content may reach people whose projects you do not take on.
The cause needs to be checked. Your information about previous enquiries helps; research and technical analysis are tasks you can commission. Additional social media or advertising management needs its own goal and a clear scope.
Lists of “top SEO agencies” can be a starting point for the search. Check the selection criteria, date and any paid placements. A list of large providers does not tell you who fits your business and budget.
Which SEO services will actually be implemented?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. On-page optimisation covers things such as text, page titles and internal links. Technical SEO checks crawling and indexing, among other things: can search engines fetch the pages and process them for search? Off-page work includes links from other websites.
The proposal must describe the work your starting situation requires. “Ongoing optimisation” is too vague. Ask instead about the result: which changes will be fully implemented on our website afterwards?
Analysis, research and content optimisation
An audit should identify affected pages, problems and justified priorities. Keyword research should explain which services and areas are being researched and which page each keyword will be assigned to.
For content creation, clarify research, writing, professional questions, revisions and adding the content to the website. A content strategy may start with improving a service page. An additional blog article needs its own purpose.
Content marketing uses helpful content to answer prospective customers’ questions. For your business, this could be a documented renovation process with relevant project examples. Ask which audience the content is planned for, which information is missing and where the technical details come from. Experience of the actual work is more useful than text that simply repeats keywords.
Ask to see a sample text. Can a customer understand which work the business undertakes and how to request a site visit? A project description can explain the starting situation, solution and completed work. That requires real projects approved for publication. You confirm the technical details; the agency can handle structure and wording.
Technology and local visibility
A technical finding identifies the specific problem and its correction. Clarify who will implement it and whether your existing website provider will charge additional costs. Another provider can carry out recommendations if time and budget are allowed for this.
For local visibility, real business locations should be correctly distinguished from the area where your team works. Ask which service pages or profiles will be updated. For new pages or changed URLs, mobile checks, internal links and any necessary redirects belong in the acceptance checks. SEO during a website relaunch explains more.
If the proposal includes several town pages, ask which additional customer question each page will answer and what information is available. A different town name alone does not justify a new text. Our guide to local landing pages helps you assess the suggestion.
How do you check experience and references?
Ask for an example with similar requirements: a regional service provider, a manageable website or a business without its own marketing department. Industry experience can make getting started easier. The agency does not need to have worked with every trade already, but should explain its approach clearly.
Ask to see results in context
For a chart, you need the website, period, market considered and data source. Does it show measured search visits, estimated traffic or real contacts? Also ask which work the agency implemented itself. A rising curve without these details is hard to judge.
A design example answers a different question. The BrandHoop RAUMBAD Vienna concept, for example, shows a possible website for bathroom renovation. It is a demo, not a client project or evidence of achieved SEO results.
Customer reviews offer clues about other businesses’ experiences of working with the agency and being able to reach it. Add a conversation with the person who will manage your project. Who answers questions, who covers absences and how are decisions recorded?
What does a Google Partner badge tell you?
Google Partner status relates to the Google Ads programme. It does not replace evidence of SEO work on a comparable website. Google’s Partner badge guidelines prohibit using the badge to suggest that Google endorses the SEO services offered. For other certificates, also ask who issued them, what they cover and how they relate to the work you are commissioning.
Which reports and results can you expect?
A clear report shows completed work, changes in relevant searches and the next justified step. The agency should discuss its observations and the effect of the measures with you. Ask to see an anonymised example beforehand. Pages, period and data sources must be identifiable.
Google and Bing belong in separate evaluations, as do organic visits and paid ads. Searches for your business name answer a different question from searches for a service. A rise in total visitors can also come from advertising or greater brand awareness.
For your business, it also matters whether suitable enquiries arrive. The agency sets up the agreed measurement; your office feeds back whether contacts are suitable and whether quotes or jobs follow. A phone-number click does not confirm a conversation. Our guide to measuring SEO success explains these differences.
When do SEO results become visible?
A corrected technical setting can be checked directly. Changes in search results require processing by search engines and enough observations. A blanket timeframe says little if the starting situation and expected result remain unclear.
Agree on verifiable steps: analysis completed, important pages improved, changes published and search data evaluated. This lets you see which work has been completed while further developments are still emerging.
Clarify costs, duration and access in advance
Compare the same services. In addition to monthly management, analysis, text, technical implementation or tools may be charged separately. Additional work needs an agreed approval process.
SEO providers may charge by project, by the hour or through ongoing management. For a project price, the deliverable, revisions and acceptance are described. For hourly billing, you need a cost limit and records of work. With ongoing management, clarify the tasks for each period and how changing priorities will be handled.
Compare proposals on the same cost basis
For a proposal with a fixed monthly fee, you can calculate: Cost over the minimum term = one-off costs + monthly fee × number of months + necessary work charged separately. Ask for that work to be priced or listed as an unresolved cost item. Unknown implementation costs do not count as zero.
Record any differences in minimum terms, then also calculate costs over the same period to compare proposals. Use the same basis including or excluding VAT. Also clarify whether advertising spend, paid tools or work by your website provider are included. The total shows the financial commitment; the scope tells you whether it covers the work you need.
Record your involvement, access and handover
Your business needs to be able to provide technical details, project images and approvals. Ask the agency to name the contacts, materials and dates it needs. Also ask what happens if an approval is missing or your website provider has not yet implemented a change.
Record the minimum term, renewal, notice period and handover. Which rights to use texts and images, which reports and which records of changes will you receive? Which tool licences or other costs continue after the commission ends? Agree in advance on the format and deadline for handing over the materials.
Your business should have its own access to the website and relevant search accounts. For the initial review, Google recommends starting with read-only access to Search Console. Permissions needed for later changes are agreed specifically.
Also clarify who manages the domain, hosting and website, and which accounts your business can access itself. For Google Business Profile, Google’s policy is that the business is the owner and its agency is a manager. Use individual invitations rather than shared passwords. Handover should preserve data and measurement history; the agency’s permissions are then removed from the relevant accounts.
Which promises should you question?
Google explains that no one can guarantee a top ranking. A binding deadline for revising a page is a different promise from a particular ranking. Expected effects need a clear basis and stated uncertainties.
Ask for explanations of methods and tool scores
An SEO tool can point to problems. Its score, however, is not an internal Google ranking metric. For a proposed change, ask for the specific problem and expected benefit to be explained. The number of texts or links alone does not demonstrate useful work.
For link activities, ask what will appear in your name on which websites and what you will approve in advance. Hidden text or purchased links to manipulate rankings can violate Google’s spam policies. A method label such as “white hat SEO” does not replace an explanation of the planned work.
Check proposals for AI search
Clarify which system is meant, the planned changes and the evaluation. A single mention does not demonstrate lasting visibility. For AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google specifies no additional technical requirements or special optimisations beyond the SEO fundamentals. This cannot automatically be applied to other services.
Even with AI-assisted writing, someone must check the facts and statements about your business. For multiple languages, there also needs to be a justified choice of markets you actually serve; additional language versions are a separate scope of work.
Eight questions for your first meeting and proposal comparison
Send providers the same short outline: your website, desired services, service area and available capacity. Record their answers to these questions side by side. Anything that can only be established through a paid analysis should remain clearly marked as open.
- What will you check first, and why? Ask them to use an important service page to explain the suspected problem, the checks needed and the first priority.
- What will be fully implemented at the end? Which pages, texts and technical changes are included, who publishes them and who checks the finished work?
- What do you need from our business? Clarify technical information, images, approvals, contacts and the time required from your team.
- Which comparable project can you explain? Ask about its starting situation, the agency’s own work, the period, data source and limits of the result shown.
- How will you assess the effect? Ask for a sample report showing relevant search data, contact actions, feedback on enquiry quality and next steps.
- What is the total cost of the agreed scope? Check one-off and recurring fees, implementation by third parties, additional work and approval of extra costs.
- What happens if suitable enquiries do not arrive? Agree when you will review data together and how you will decide on new priorities or ending the management arrangement.
- What stays with us when the collaboration ends? Clarify content, usage rights, documentation, measurement history, your own account access and the handover date.
An open point calls for a follow-up question. If implementation, total costs or your access to the results remain unclear, have the proposal completed before commissioning it.
With BrandHoop, you can discuss SEO analysis, implementation and evaluation. Your website, desired services and service area are enough to start. In the proposal, we record which work we undertake, who implements it and how you check the finished result.
Conclusion
Compare proposals using the same questions and cost items. Commission the work once the tasks, your involvement, acceptance checks and handover are clearly recorded. Whether the work brings suitable enquiries is then assessed using data you can understand.