How to Choose an SEO Company in 2025: Tips & Must-Ask Questions

If you have ever thought about using your site to get customers from the Internet, you probably already have an understanding that everything is not so simple here. It is necessary not only to take care of its high-quality optimization to align it with the current requirements of search engines but also to constantly increase traffic and attract buyers through all possible channels.

It is clear that, with the appropriate knowledge and experience, it is possible to choose an SEO company. Even if you just experiment with a high degree of probability, the budget will be wasted. The task of finding contractors, a company that would take responsibility for SEO promotion and work in other areas of Internet marketing, becomes relevant.

The advantage of working with an agency — is that you are dealing with a team of professionals who have been working in this field for many years and take into account all the changes in Internet marketing technologies that do not stand still. They can provide you with expertise in many areas without hiring a staff specialist.

When choosing an SEO or internet marketing agency, there are more than enough options to choose from. There can be many offers, and before entering into a long-term contract, you need to make sure that your choice is the right one. We have put together a series of recommendations to help you make the right decision and to tell you how to find the best SEO service provider.

Where and how to choose an SEO agency to promote your website

The first piece of advice that can be seen is that there is no need to rush. Not always a company at the top of search results is right for you. The information on aggregators and in the ratings may not correspond to reality or need to be updated.

Here are some recommendations on where to conduct the initial selection of specialists:

• Google search

This is banal advice, and it partly contradicts the previous paragraph. But let’s speak objectively: if a company can reach the top, its specialists understand the issue and know how to work.

• Search through forums and sites of marketers and entrepreneurs

Sometimes, someone else’s advice can be constructive. Ask those who have already worked with SEO companies for help choosing a contractor.

• Search through various business and image sites

Naturally, you can ask for help choosing from familiar entrepreneurs, top managers, and marketers. They can objectively tell about all the advantages and disadvantages of working with a particular company.

• Use specialty catalogs

To find vendors for SEO services, you can use sites like Clutch, DesignRush, TopDevelopers, or SemRush. These sites provide detailed information about each company, customer reviews and overall ratings based on various criteria.

Learn about the company’s experience in SEO promotion

It is essential to distinguish between “general experience of the company” and “experience of promotion in a specific niche,” for example, in the market for furniture products, cosmetology, or in any other areas.

The thing is that SEO strategies can vary depending on the specific area. Specialists with experience promoting a similar business will save time getting to know a niche or topic. They can get to work faster. Such professionals will already have an understanding of the SEO strategies that competitors are using, their strengths and weaknesses, and the general situation in the market. This information will help them develop a personalized approach to beat the competition, build brand awareness, and drive relevant organic traffic.

In addition, it is desirable to find out how long the contractor has been working with this or similar business. When an SEO agency comes to an already launched and optimized project, there are situations. A high result — is most likely prepared by the previous contractor.

Also, see if your chosen company has experience in highly competitive niches. If an SEO agency reports success only in low-competitive areas, more is needed to conclude a cooperation agreement.

While niche experience is essential, other factors, such as the overall track record of the company, customer reviews, communication skills, and pricing, also need to be assessed. We will talk about them below. The balance of niche experience and high reputation will help you find the right SEO company for the project.

Ask for SEO Case Studies

To know how to find an SEO marketing company, remember the rule: if the agency does not show its previous clients and does not talk about its work with examples, it is better to remove it from your list immediately.

Real cases demonstrate the ability of an SEO company to meet customer expectations. By viewing these materials, you can evaluate the level of knowledge of specialists, the features of their strategies, and see the results of their work. This way, you will understand whether the agency’s approach meets goals and expectations.

SEO promotion is a line of business that is constantly evolving. Suppose a company talks about the tools used in the work, and you see that specialists know trends and innovations. In that case, it is clear that such an organization adapts to new circumstances and can implement effective strategies for the site. Don’t forget to critically examine the cases and look for measurable results and concrete evidence of success. This evaluation process will allow you to choose the right SEO company.

Also, the opinions of people who have already worked with your potential contractor often become the decisive argument in making the final decision on cooperation. After reading the reviews, you will learn about the agency’s strengths and weaknesses, employees’ effectiveness, and communication features.

Negative or critical opinions can provide insight into potential issues or concerns you should be aware of before choosing an SEO company. While every organization can have negative reviews, look for recurring themes or possible patterns. This will help you identify red flags that may influence your decision.

Good strategy plays an important role

Everyone in the digital market is talking about the “personal approach.” It is easy to evaluate an individual approach even when receiving a commercial offer. If you see that it is a template, not customized for your business, this is a reason to doubt the existence of a personalized approach. You can ask clarifying questions on individual points: “What do you mean here?”, “How exactly will this service help my business?”. If the answers are stereotyped or blurry, the CP is not individual.

You can evaluate the approach at the stage of receiving a commercial offer. If it takes into account the specifics of a business and the current state of the site, everything is fine. If not, then look for another contractor.

The methods of work of various contractors differ from each other, and each of the projects requires its own approach, taking into account the capabilities and goals of the customer. A good SEO company can provide you with a strategy for how they intend to achieve the desired results and justify why this strategy is right. Thus, even at the beginning of the work, you will understand what to expect in the future and how the work will proceed.

Realize There Are Risks With a Low-Cost SEO Agency

When it comes to SEO, in most cases, you indeed get what you pay for. Low price tags are usually found in those companies that experience customer problems or simply promise “mountains of gold” and, as a result, do nothing. Also, for those who are a company only on paper, all work is outsourced to remote freelancers, many of whom often do not worry about quality.

In the long run, it is much more cost-effective to work with partners who focus on quality and achieving value for your business. Such specialists do not have the lowest price tags and do not use promotion methods prohibited by search engines.

On the other hand, overpaying for a well-known name is also not worth it. This is not an effective budget investment. Therefore, it is better to focus on a certain average price tag by comparing the offer of a company you are interested in with the prices for a similar service from top market players.

Time and money — if you choose the wrong agency to promote and market your business online, you lose both. Moreover, there is even a possibility that a business will be damaged due to poor-quality work. For example, the site will fall under the filters.

Most often, the main reason for the error is the desire to save money and the pursuit of cheapness. Quality is rarely cheap, especially when it comes to intellectual services. Therefore, think carefully before deciding because we are talking about the development of the business. And the cost of a mistake can be very high.

Visit With the SEO Company If You Can

When choosing between specialists who work in the market of your particular country, and contractors who are oriented to the global market, it is always better to choose the former. Most likely, they are much better versed in the specifics of online business in a particular region.

It is even better if the contractor is located in your city (relevant for the capital and regional centers) because this makes it possible to meet face-to-face to discuss specific tasks or solve any problems. Although the distance in our time is a secondary issue, the main thing is the quality of work.

SEO Pricing & Guarantees

SEO is an investment, and you must be clear about where money is spent. You can accurately measure your return on investment (ROI) with detailed reports.

But if the contractor did not provide a clear price list and cannot explain all the items of expenses, then you should immediately refuse further interaction with him.

As in any area of Internet marketing, it is also challenging to give guarantees in SEO. In contextual advertising, there may be clicks, but no calls, or the cost of the click is unprofitable for a particular business; in SMM, a lot of preliminary work is also required before an advertising campaign can be started; in content marketing, a large amount of content can be generated, which in the end is not will bring results.

Those who give guarantees in SEO (exact positions and calls, requests), as a rule, just want to make a deal faster, and what happens next is the business of lawyers.

You can see such factors when choosing a contractor:

• Faith in words

The schedule of work, the volume, and the timing of the work performed must be fixed in the contract. It often happens that in a few months of work, even with a reasonable budget, the contractor wrote only ten articles and created five pages on the site, not paying attention to other aspects.

• Guarantees

It is better to focus on the work being done.

• Price

The exact cost of the work and what is included in this budget must be indicated so that it does not turn out that additional money will be required from you during the work.

Remember — from SEO companies that guarantee you the first place in the search engine results, you need to run without looking back. This is the first sign that you are dealing with evil performers. No one can ever guarantee first place in Google, except perhaps the owners of this search engine themselves.

The formation of search results is carried out through complex and secret algorithms with many variables. Qualified contractors are constantly working to improve the site and bring it into line with search engine quality criteria. And only in this case, do the positions and visibility of the site begin to grow. Therefore, the only possible guarantee in SEO — is the conscientious performance of the work.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing the Right SEO Partner

Do not blindly believe everything that the company writes about itself on the site. Somewhere, the information can be slightly embellished or at least smoothed out, but somewhere, it turns out to be an outright lie to appropriate the merits that the contractor does not have.

Next, we will tell you what questions you need to ask a partner to learn more about qualifications and professionalism.

1. Ask for an analysis of the current state of the site

Without an initial analysis of the state of the site, namely, the identification of technical and other shortcomings, it is impossible to determine the pool of necessary work, and the technical improvements of the site are one of the essential parts of the budget.

1. Work schedule

Paying great attention to the list and deadlines for completing all work is necessary. Completing all the necessary tasks is the key to success. For example, building a house includes several tasks, only the consistent and competent implementation of which will lead to the desired result.

1. Project development forecast

Request a forecast for the development of the project: growth in attendance and requests. You can also additionally be tied to the work schedule, and the completion of all necessary work leads to an increase in attendance. You also need to select a list of target requests.

1. Which optimizer will lead the project?

We recommend you get acquainted with the specialist who will lead your project.

What are the most common mistakes when choosing a contractor for SEO website promotion

Choosing the right SEO contractor can be a tricky process, and there are a few common mistakes to avoid:

• The need for a low price

While the cost of services is important, choosing a contractor based on price alone can make you choose an inexperienced and inefficient contractor.

• Unclear or incomplete requirements

If you don’t provide your contractor with enough information about your requirements and goals, they may be unable to develop the best plan for promoting the site.

• Insufficient study of the reputation of the contractor

It is important to research the reputation and experience of a potential contractor to ensure they can deliver high-quality SEO services.

• Misunderstanding the SEO process

Some clients may expect instant results from SEO, but the process takes time and patience. It is important to choose a contractor who can explain the process and tell you what to expect within a given time frame.

• The need to guarantee results

Some contractors may promise guaranteed results, but SEO does not guarantee that you will reach a specific position in the SERPs. The best contractors can deliver the expected results but need to promise guarantees.

Competent SEO will allow the site to take positions in the TOP-10 search results, increasing the traffic to your resource and, as a result, sales grow.

How to check an SEO contractor?

As with any other service provider, choosing an SEO company or Internet marketing agency begins with asking the right questions and evaluating the information received, based on which a decision is made. You need a partner who is committed to transparent and open relationships and able to provide a clear understanding of how the online presence will grow your business.

In choosing a contractor, you need not arrange an interrogation with prejudice, requiring the utmost detail of all points even before work begins. As a client, you need a good idea of how the project will work and what results you can expect in the next few months.

Let’s look at a few more tips for evaluating the professionalism of the SEO contractor you plan to work with.

• Age of the company/studio

The bigger it is, the better. This means that the team has gone through many changes in site ranking rules, changes in SEO algorithms, dozens of Google updates, etc.

• Number of projects

Extensive experience in different niches is always good. Naturally, the contractor may not have the most successful projects. This is fine. We also made mistakes and spoke openly about them. This is an experience.

• Request access to site analytics

If a potential contractor requests such access, this is a good sign. This means that optimizers want to personally assess the current state of the site and its position, as well as identify existing problems at least at a basic level.

• Express site analysis

In part, this is a continuation of the previous paragraph. Express analysis helps to form at least a basic plan for further actions. If you start to impose services without even looking at the site, we advise you to choose an SEO contractor among other companies.

• The number of projects per SEO specialist

If a dozen projects “hang” on one optimizer, you understand how much time he will have left for yours. He may be the best SEO expert in the city or country, but what’s the use if he can’t manage the site even at half-strength?

The primary advice: try to find out as much as possible about a potential contractor before you sign a cooperation agreement and start paying for his services. It’s better to spend more time studying and delaying the start of SEO promotion than later lamenting about lost budgets and wasting months on fruitless attempts to get your site to the top.