By the time proposals arrive, you've usually met several agencies and they've all seemed capable. Then the documents land and they're hard to compare: one is a 30-page deck, one is a two-page quote, one lists "deliverables" and another lists "hours". Prices differ widely and it's not obvious why.
This guide gives you a repeatable way to compare SEO proposals fairly. It works whether you're comparing two agencies or five, and whether your budget is small or large.
Start with the same brief
Proposals can only be compared if every agency answered the same question. Before requesting them, send each agency an identical brief covering:
- Your goals, in business terms (enquiries, sales, sign-ups) and by priority
- Your markets: countries, regions, cities and languages
- Your current position: organic traffic, conversions, main pages and known problems
- Constraints: platform, developer availability, approval processes, deadlines
- Budget range and preferred pricing model, if you have one
- What you want back: a plan, scope, team, price, terms and examples
If an agency's proposal ignores parts of the brief, that tells you something.
What a good proposal contains
Before scoring anything, check that each proposal has the basics.
Evidence they understood your business. It should mention your goals, your customers and your competitors in search, and describe your situation in a way that shows they looked at your site.
Early findings. Many agencies include a few specific observations from a quick review, such as indexing problems, thin pages or missing local signals. Specific findings are a good sign; generic ones copied between proposals are not.
A plan with a sequence. What happens in the first 90 days, then over the rest of the year, and why that order. Our guide to the first 3 months of SEO describes a sensible sequence.
A defined scope. What is delivered each month or each phase: technical work, on-page improvements, content, off-page and link building, local SEO, reporting and strategy time.
Who does the work. Named people or roles, their experience, and whether anything is outsourced.
How success is measured. The metrics, the tools, the reporting rhythm and the starting benchmark.
Price and terms. The fee, pricing model, minimum term, notice period, what's excluded and who owns the work.
Realistic expectations. A view of what's likely and what it depends on, without guarantees. If a proposal promises rankings, read our guide to spotting fake SEO guarantees before going further.
Normalise the scope
The biggest mistake in comparing proposals is comparing prices without comparing scope. Build a simple table with one row per type of work and one column per agency, then fill in what each one includes.
| Work area | Agency A | Agency B | Agency C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit and benchmark | Full audit, month 1 | Included, light | Paid separately |
| Technical fixes | Specifications only | Implements on our CMS | Specifications only |
| Keyword research and mapping | Included | Included | Included |
| New content | 4 pages a month | Not included | 2 pages a month |
| Existing page updates | Included | Included | Not stated |
| Link building or digital PR | Outreach, no numbers promised | "10 links a month" | Digital PR, quarterly |
| Local SEO | Not included | Included | Included |
| Reporting | Monthly report and call | Dashboard only | Monthly report |
| Senior strategy time | 2 hours a month | Not stated | 4 hours a month |
| Minimum term | 6 months | 12 months | 3 months |
The table above is an illustration, not real data. Once you fill in your own version, "expensive" and "cheap" often reverse. Gaps marked "not stated" become your follow-up questions.
Be especially careful with link building. A fixed number of links per month is a warning sign, because earned links can't be produced to order. Google's spam policies treat paid links that pass ranking credit as link spam.
Score each proposal
Once scope is clear, score each proposal on the criteria that matter. Weight them according to your priorities. Here is a starting point you can adapt:
| Criterion | Weight | What a high score looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding of our business | 20% | Specific to our goals, customers and competitors |
| Quality of plan and sequence | 20% | Clear priorities with reasons, realistic timing |
| Scope and value for money | 15% | The work we need, clearly defined, at a fair price |
| Team and expertise | 15% | Relevant experience; we know who does the work |
| Measurement and reporting | 10% | Tied to business outcomes, with access to raw data |
| Methods and risk | 10% | Follows Google Search Essentials; transparent about links and content |
| Terms and flexibility | 5% | Reasonable term and notice; we own everything |
| Communication and fit | 5% | Responsive, clear, easy to work with |
Score each criterion from 1 to 5, multiply by its weight and add up the results. The total isn't a decision on its own, but it makes your reasoning visible, and it helps when more than one person is involved in choosing.
A worked example
Suppose Agency A scores 4 for understanding (20% weight), 4 for plan (20%), 3 for value (15%), 4 for team (15%), 5 for measurement (10%), 5 for methods (10%), 4 for terms (5%) and 4 for fit (5%). Its weighted score is:
(4 × 0.20) + (4 × 0.20) + (3 × 0.15) + (4 × 0.15) + (5 × 0.10) + (5 × 0.10) + (4 × 0.05) + (4 × 0.05) = 4.05 out of 5.
Do the same for each agency. A gap of less than about half a point usually means they're close, and the decision comes down to fit and follow-up answers.
Check the numbers behind each proposal
If a proposal includes projections, test them. Ask what assumptions they used for traffic growth, search intent, conversion rate and timing. Then put the same assumptions into our SEO ROI Calculator to see whether the fee is likely to pay back and when.
It's also worth looking at the evidence in each proposal yourself:
- Check the pages they mention with our Google Index Checker to confirm any indexing issues they raised.
- Compare the strength of your key pages and competitors' pages with the Page Authority Checker.
- Look at your own Google Search Console data to see whether their observations match what Google reports.
Reading between the lines
Some of the most useful signals in a proposal aren't in the price table.
How specific is the language? "We'll optimise your site for search" says nothing. "We'll consolidate your three competing pages about commercial cleaning into one, redirect the others and expand it to cover pricing and service areas" shows the agency has looked at your site and knows what it would do.
Are the findings checkable? If a proposal says 40% of your pages aren't indexed, you can check that in the Page indexing report in Search Console. Accurate findings are a sign of care; inflated ones are a sign of a sales template.
Do they mention trade-offs? Good agencies say what they'd do first and what they'd leave until later, and why. A proposal that promises everything at once usually means the work will be spread thinly.
How do they talk about AI search? Many proposals now mention AI Overviews, "AEO" or "GEO". Google's guidance on AI features and your website says the same SEO fundamentals apply and no special markup or files are needed. Google's own hiring advice suggests checking that any AI-search advice is aligned with that guidance. Be wary of proposals that sell AI-search optimisation as a separate, mysterious service.
What do the case studies leave out? A case study showing "+300% traffic" without a timeframe, a starting point or a business result is marketing, not evidence. Ask for the before-and-after period and what the traffic was worth.
What do they ask of you? A proposal that sets out what the agency needs from you (access, approvals, developer time, product knowledge) is usually written by people who have done the work before and know where projects stall.
Questions to send back
Almost every proposal leaves gaps. Before deciding, send each shortlisted agency a few written questions, for example:
- Who exactly will work on our account, and how much of their time is included?
- What will be delivered in each of the first three months?
- How do you earn links, and can you show recent examples?
- Who implements technical changes, and what do you need from our developers?
- What would you need from us each month?
- What do we receive if we end the contract?
How quickly and clearly agencies answer is part of the evaluation. Our list of questions to ask an SEO agency has more, plus a printable checklist.
Common traps
- Comparing headline prices. Always compare scope first.
- Being impressed by volume. More pages, more links and more reports aren't better if they don't serve your goals.
- Ignoring terms. A long minimum term with a large exit fee changes the real price.
- Overlooking your own costs. Developer time, content approval and internal management all add up. Our guide to how much SEO costs lists the extras to budget for.
- Choosing the deck, not the team. The people who present aren't always the people who do the work.
Making the decision
Pick the agency with the strongest combination of understanding, plan and team at a price that makes sense, then confirm the details in the contract: scope, deliverables, reporting, term, notice and ownership. Agree a review point, usually at 90 days, where you'll compare results against the benchmark.
If you haven't got enough proposals to compare yet, you can get matched with up to three SEO agencies that fit your brief, or browse SEO agencies by country and contact them directly.