SEO Red Flags: Top Questions To Ask An SEO Agency

Written By: Jesse Farley
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Top 5 Questions To Ask An SEO Agency

Hiring a good SEO company can work wonders for your marketing strategy. But, as with any other industry, some companies are better than others. It is important to choose your SEO team carefully so you know that they are capable of helping you achieve your goals.

It is a good idea to interview each company you are considering, much like you would interview job applicants. Since this is our industry, we are well-equipped to offer SEO agency advice to help with your interview process.

Read on to learn what we would ask an SEO agency and the answers we would look for. If you have any further questions, please reach out to our agency. We look forward to assisting you!

 

5 Questions You Should Always Ask an SEO Agency

If you want to know what questions to ask an SEO agency, you are not alone! It is the type of SEO agency advice we always give. Fortunately, it’s not too complicated. If you ask the following five questions, you should be able to narrow down your choices to the best options in your area.

 

1. What’s your philosophy with SEO?

A company’s philosophy dictates how they practice their craft. What is a good SEO philosophy? A good philosophy prioritizes creating high-quality content that delivers value to users and fulfills their search needs.

Some agencies are just looking for clicks. While you certainly want to encourage users to engage with your content, only focusing on generating clicks is a short-term strategy that can lead to generating clickbait and eventually drive users away. Other agencies follow the same blueprint for every client. Unfortunately, what works for one client might not work for another.

Ideally, an agency should try to match your company goals using strategies that generate long-term success.

 

2. Do you have industry expertise?

Experience matters in SEO. The better an agency knows your industry, the better job they can do with your marketing. That is why it’s great if you can find an agency that has worked with clients in your industry before.

Of course, it is not always possible to find an agency with experience in your industry. Skilled agencies should be more than capable of getting up to speed about your industry as they work on marketing your business. That is one of the reasons they ask you so many questions, conduct interviews with key figures in your organization, and so on. The longer they work with you and your team, the better they will become at marketing your products and services.

A record of working with multiple different types of industries is an indicator of an SEO company that is capable of learning new things.

 

3. How many clients have you not been able to help?

No one can do everything perfectly, even the most successful SEO companies. There are times when a marketing company and a client wind up not being a good fit for one another. It does not necessarily mean either the SEO agency or the client is doing anything wrong.

You want to find an agency that is willing to admit when things aren’t working. This question allows potential agencies to be open and honest – and you definitely want to choose an agency that prioritizes openness and honesty.

It is better to choose an agency that is willing to admit when it makes mistakes as well. Businesses are operated by humans and humans make mistakes. Fortunately, they are also capable of learning from those mistakes.

 

4. What’s more important, ranking or impressions?

This is an important question that will help you to better understand an agency’s philosophy.

Ranking is the position where a webpage appears in search results. Impressions refer to when a user sees a link to your site in their browser. Both of these things are important in SEO, but one can be more important than the other depending on your marketing goals. They also can vary depending on what platform you are referring to, such as Facebook versus X (Twitter).

 

5. How many of your clients would say you are the best?

This gives the agency another chance to be honest with you. It also allows them to highlight their wins.

You want a company that has clients who love them. But if you can get them to elaborate on what made them the best for certain clients, you can get a deeper understanding of how they build relationships with those clients and what their priorities are.

 

Here to Help with All of Your SEO Needs!

Your company deserves the best SEO agency out there! Speak with an SEO expert at CSP and see if we are the right agency to take your website to the next level.

More Knowledge
AI Search for eCommerce: Your 2025 GEO Action Plan
The landscape of online search is experiencing a fundamental transformation. We are moving away from traditional keyword-based queries toward conversational, AI-driven answers. For eCommerce brands, this…
Google SGE Impact: CSP’s ROI Framework for B2B SaaS
With the full rollout of Google’s AI Overviews, formerly known as the Search Generative Experience (SGE), the world of online search has changed for good. This…
CSP Agency Guide: Optimize for AI Overviews
The world of search is changing right before our eyes. We are moving away from the classic list of blue links toward a more conversational experience…
AI Search for Fintech: A 2025 Optimization Strategy
The digital marketplace is the primary arena for financial technology (fintech) companies. To succeed, a sophisticated digital marketing strategy is essential. We are witnessing a fundamental…
Speak with an expert

At CSP we carefully vet each project and only engage with those we are confident will be successful and deliver a strong ROI. We’re a low-turnover business and we take the outcome of every SEO project very seriously.

Get in touch today for an analysis by an SEO expert. No dog and pony show or big sales pitches, we will explore the project with you and if there’s a good fit, we’ll work hard to earn your business.