How to Choose an SEO Agency: Criteria for Small Business

What to look at when choosing a promotion contractor, and which promises should raise red flags. A list of questions worth asking before signing a contract.

The promotion market is set up so that a client can't easily verify a contractor's work. So you have to choose based on indirect signals. Here are the ones that actually mean something.

What Should Raise a Red Flag

  • A ranking guarantee. Nobody controls search results, including us. A promise of "top-3 in a month" means either they don't know what they're talking about, or they're betting you won't check.
  • A price with no conversation about your site. A ready-made "promotion" price list with no look at your specific site is selling a process, not a result.
  • Reports listing "work performed." If a report lists actions but has no Webmaster or Metrica data, there's nothing to verify.
  • Everything at once. One studio promising development, design, promotion, ads, and social media with a team of three — something in that list will get done half-heartedly.

Good Signs

  • They start with analysis. Before making an offer, they look at your site and tell you exactly what's holding it back.
  • They give honest timelines. Including "there won't be results before...".
  • They explain what you'll get. Not "optimization work" — specifics: this many pages, rewritten metadata, a plan for next month.
  • They tell you when a task isn't theirs. If the problem is technical and the studio does copy, it's more honest to send you to a specialist.
  • They hand the result over to you. The copy, access credentials, and analytics stay yours even after the work ends.

Questions Worth Asking

  • What exactly will be done in the first month?
  • How will I know the work is happening if rankings haven't changed yet?
  • Who writes the copy, and who checks it?
  • What stays with me if we stop working together?
  • What don't you do?

About Us, Honestly

We work on content: structure, copy, metadata, regular material. The technical side — speed, markup, indexing errors — is handled by our partner studio, seowebdev.ru; design by kb77.ru. We don't run ads. We don't guarantee rankings. What's included in the price and how it's calculated — on the pricing page; to discuss your project — through a request.