12 Questions to Ask an SEO Agency Before You Hire One

The best questions to ask an SEO agency test how it thinks, not what it promises. Ask what it would do first and why, how it measures results, what it covers for AI search, who does the work, and what it would refuse to do. Good agencies answer specifically and admit limits. Any guaranteed ranking is a reason to walk away.

Most businesses hire an SEO agency on the strength of a confident sales call and a deck of case studies. Six months later, they have a monthly report full of numbers and no clear idea whether anything changed. These twelve questions are the ones worth asking before you sign. They're grouped by what they reveal.

What questions to ask an SEO agency about its approach?

These questions show whether the agency has a point of view or a package.

1. "What would you do first on our site, and why?" A good answer names something specific to your site after a look at it, and explains the order. A weak answer describes the same onboarding every client gets. The order matters: there's no point publishing content before crawlers can reach your pages.

2. "What would you refuse to do for us?" This is the most useful question on the list. A good agency has limits: it won't buy links, won't publish thin content at volume, won't promise rankings, or won't take you on if you're not a fit. An agency that will do anything you pay for has no judgement to sell you.

3. "How is your approach different for our industry?" Google suggests asking about experience in your industry and your country or city (Google Search Central). Listen for whether the answer reflects how your buyers actually choose, not only which keywords they type.

What should you ask about AI search?

AI assistants now answer many of the questions your buyers used to search for. An SEO agency in 2026 should have a clear answer here, not a vague mention of "AI-readiness".

4. "How do you make sure ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features can cite us?" A good answer starts with access: allowing search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, and checking bot protection isn't blocking them. Then content written as direct, quotable answers. If the answer is "we add an llms.txt file", keep asking.

5. "How will you measure whether AI assistants mention us?" No tool captures every AI answer. A credible agency will describe a fixed list of buyer questions, checked regularly across the main assistants, with the results tracked over time. How answer engine optimisation works covers the method in full.

What should you ask about results?

6. "What results should we expect, and by when?" Google lists this as a question to ask, and a good agency answers in ranges, tied to what it plans to do. Technical fixes can show up within weeks. Content and authority usually take months. Beware of anyone who answers with a specific traffic number before they've looked at your data.

7. "Which numbers will you report, and which one matters most?" The answer should connect to revenue: enquiries, qualified leads, booked calls. Rankings and traffic are useful signals, not the goal. If the main number in the sample report is "keywords in the top 100", that tells you what the agency is optimising for.

8. "Can you show me work for a business like ours, and what didn't work?" Asking for examples is standard. Asking what didn't work tells you more. Every agency has projects that underdelivered. One that can explain why is one that learns.

What should you ask about how the work gets done?

9. "Who will actually do the work?" The person on the sales call is often not the person doing the work. Ask to meet them, and ask how many other clients they handle.

10. "Will you show us every change you make to our site?" Google suggests this question too. You should be able to see every change, and keep it if you leave. Be wary of work that only exists inside the agency's own tools.

11. "What do you need from us, and how much time will it take?" Good SEO needs input: access to your site, answers to questions about your business, and someone to approve content. An agency that needs nothing from you is writing about your business without knowing it.

12. "What happens if we stop working together?" You should keep your content, your accounts, your data and your access. Ask before you sign, not when you leave.

What answers should end the conversation?

Some answers are disqualifying on their own:

• A guaranteed ranking. Google states plainly that "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." The same goes for guaranteed citations in ChatGPT or any other assistant.
• A "special relationship" with Google. Google warns about this claim specifically.
• A content volume promise as the strategy. "Twenty articles a month" is an output, not a plan.
• No questions about your business. If the agency doesn't ask what makes you different, who you compete with and how customers find you, it can't write anything that sets you apart.

That last point matters more than any tactic. The pages that rank and get cited take a position. If your agency can't help you say something your competitors wouldn't, the problem is upstream of SEO. Why marketing ends up sounding like competitors explains it.

How does Alchelyst answer these questions?

Alchelyst would rather you ask. Here's the short version. It starts with an AI search audit, fixes access and indexing first, and then rewrites the pages closest to a buying decision. It reports on enquiries and on what assistants say about you, against a fixed list of your buyers' questions. It doesn't guarantee rankings or citations, doesn't buy links, and doesn't publish at volume. What a good AEO service should include covers the rest.

If you're comparing agencies, take this list into each call, including ours.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most important question to ask an SEO agency?

Ask what it would refuse to do. The answer shows whether the agency has standards and judgement, or will do anything a client pays for. Good answers include not buying links, not publishing thin content at volume, and not guaranteeing rankings.

Should an SEO agency guarantee results?

No. Google says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and no one controls what AI assistants say either. A credible agency explains what it will do, what results to expect in what range, and how it will measure them.

Should my SEO agency also handle AI search?

Yes. AI assistants now answer many of the questions buyers used to search for, and most of the foundations are shared with SEO. Ask how the agency makes your site citable by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features, and how it measures that.

How long before SEO results show?

Technical fixes such as crawler access and indexing can show results within weeks. Content and authority work usually takes several months to show reliably. Treat an exact traffic forecast made before the agency has seen your data with suspicion.