If you write "I want to improve my website's SEO" to three agencies, each will picture a different job. One thinks of reviewing the site once and giving you a list of fixes. Another of running your rankings every month. The third of producing content. All three prices can be fair and have nothing to do with each other, because they are not quoting the same thing.

What moves your quote within the market ranges is, above all, the information you give when you ask. For the ranges themselves, see our SEO audit and SEO consulting pages.

What to tell the agency

1. Your website, and which part of it makes you money

The address, what you sell and to whom. A business serving its own city is not the same as one selling across a country or several countries, and every language you add is almost another website to rank. If one product or service earns more margin than the rest, say so: it is where to start.

2. What you want to achieve, in customers or money

"I want to rank first in Google" cannot be quoted, because it does not say for which search or what you gain. "I need ten more quote requests a month" or "I want to sell more out of season" can be worked on, and gives you something to measure afterwards. We measure our own SEO this way: by quotes accepted, not by rankings.

3. What you have today

Whatever figures you have, even approximate: monthly visits, sales or enquiries from the website, where customers come from. If you have Google Search Console or Google Analytics, say so, because with access to that data an agency can quote on evidence rather than by eye. Also tell them the website's history: who built it, whether it changed recently, and whether a redesign is coming. A redesign changes the order of the work.

4. What you tried before, and what happened

If you worked with another agency and it did not work, say so. Knowing what was done and what failed saves you repeating it and paying twice.

5. What you want to spend, even as a range

It is the hardest thing to say and the one that helps most. It is not about showing your hand: with 500 EUR a month one kind of work is done, with 3,000 EUR another, and both can make sense. Give a range and the agency proposes what fits in it and in what order. Without one, you get a menu and have to guess which part you can afford.

6. By when, and why

A date with its reason: the season opens, you launch a product, the new website goes live. SEO takes months to show, so the deadline changes what is done first.

7. Who decides, and who will do the work

If someone on your team can edit the website and write copy, a diagnosis and a plan your people carry out may be enough. If not, you need someone to do it for you every month. These are two different formats with different prices.

8. Your priorities, in order

If you ask for everything at once and with no order, the agency has to decide for you what matters, and will probably get it wrong. A numbered list of priorities is what allows quoting in phases.

What to ask the agency

Are the accounts mine? Search Console, Analytics, the ads account and the domain should be in your name, with the agency as an invited user. If the ads account belongs to the agency and you leave, you lose years of campaign history.
Who will run my account, and who do I talk to? Not who signs the proposal, but who does the work. Ask also what they do themselves and what they subcontract.
What happens in the first month? A good answer starts with a diagnosis of your website and ends in a prioritised plan. A closed package of actions sent without looking at your site is the same package everyone gets.
How will we know it is working? Ask which number they will watch and how often they will report it. If they only talk about rankings and visits, ask how that reaches customers or sales.
What is not included? New copy, development changes, ad spend or paid tools are often separate. Better to know before comparing two prices than after signing.
Is there a lock-in contract, and what if I leave? How long you commit, how much notice you give, and what you take with you: access, reports, work done.
Do you have similar cases? Ask for a case from a business like yours: what was there, what was done, what happened. Agencies often will not name clients in your own area, so ask for the case without a name but with figures.

Signs a quote does not start from your case

They guarantee you first place in Google. Nobody can.
They give a fixed price without having seen your website or asked you a question.
The proposal talks of "packages" with a fixed number of monthly actions, identical for any business.
They ask nothing from the list above.

A briefing you can copy

To save yourself the work, fill this in and send it as it is:

Website: (address)
What we sell and to whom: (main product or service, area or countries, languages)
What we want to achieve: (in customers, enquiries or sales, and by when)
What we have today: (visits, enquiries or sales through the website, even approximate; whether we have Search Console or Analytics)
What has happened to the website: (who built it, recent changes, planned redesign)
What we tried before: (other agencies, campaigns, what worked and what did not)
Indicative budget: (range per month or total)
Deadline: (date and reason)
Who will do the work: (we have a team that executes, or we need it done)
Priorities, in order: 1. ... 2. ... 3. ...

If you use an AI tool to draft it, go ahead, but read it before sending, particularly for figures and details it may have invented.

Send it to us

If you would like to send it to us, write through our contact page or see our monthly SEO plans and pricing first. With the information above we reply with a proposal with numbers. We work with no lock-in contract.

How to Request a Quote from an SEO Agency: What to Say and Ask