If you've never hired an agency, it's easy to miss SEO company red flags, because on a sales call they sound like normal talk. I learned what good work looks like by doing it on my own business first. Here is what would make me walk away, and what I'd want to see instead.
The clearest SEO company red flags are guaranteed rankings, a contract you can't get out of, and any setup where the company owns your website, domain, or Google Business Profile instead of you. Vague reports and anyone charging to "list you in ChatGPT" belong on the list too. Two or more of these and I would walk away.
Sources: Google Search Central and Google Business Profile Help.These are the nine I'd act on, each red flag with the green flag to look for instead.
Still shopping? Here's what to ask an SEO company before hiring.
No. Google's own hiring guide says so:
"No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." (Google Search Central)
Rankings depend on your competitors, your reviews, and changes Google makes without asking anyone. A company that promises a spot is picking a phrase nobody searches, or hoping you won't check.
I don't guarantee rankings either. It's in my terms. What I will commit to is the work: what I'll change, when, and how you'll see it.
A short minimum term, a written 30-day exit after it, and everything you paid for handed back when you leave. SEO is slow, so giving it a few months is fair. A year with no way out is not.
Here is how I'd read the main clauses:
| Clause | Fair | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Term | A short minimum, then month to month | Twelve months, renewing on its own |
| Exit | 30 days' written notice | No exit, or a fee to leave early |
| The work | What gets done each month, in plain words | "Ongoing optimization" |
| Ownership | Your domain, profile, content and accounts stay yours, during and after | Silent on ownership, or the site lives on their platform |
You should. Your domain, your hosting, and your Google Business Profile belong under an email address you control.
This is where leaving gets hard. If an agency set up your profile under their own account, they're the owner, and Google lets an owner remove users or delete the profile. A manager can't do either. You'd be asking permission to keep your own listing.
Set it up the other way: you're the primary owner and your SEO person is a manager. If they leave, you remove them in a minute instead of negotiating to get your profile back.
Ask for three things. A company doing real work can send all three within a day.
Then give it fair time. In its How to Hire an SEO video, Google says an SEO will usually need 4 months to a year to make improvements and then see potential benefit. In my experience, Search Console impressions move before calls do. Flat impressions after four months, with no change log, is the "nothing" case, not the "slow" one.
It's how I track my own business. Liquid Breathwork went from 17 to 1,647 clicks a month (Google Search Console), and I can show you the chart because the account is mine.
Get your accounts back before you cancel, not after. Once the contract ends, you have no leverage. Work down this list:
Not into its answers. OpenAI sells ChatGPT ads through a beta Ads Manager that it is gradually opening to businesses of all sizes. Those ads are clearly labeled and run on separate systems from the answers. OpenAI's other programs, a product feed for approved partners and an app directory for developers, put products and tools inside ChatGPT. None of them puts your business into its answers.
So paying for a labeled ad is real. Paying someone to get you "listed" in the answers is not.
What does matter is whether ChatGPT can read your site. OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler (OAI-SearchBot) will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
The real work is making sure your site doesn't block that bot, then making your site and reviews the obvious answer. I cover it in how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT.
To see where you stand today, my free Website + AI Audit asks ChatGPT and Gemini the questions your customers ask and shows you who they name.
Partly because SEO takes months to show up, and partly because a long contract keeps paying them whether it works or not. A fair shape is a short minimum, around three months, then month to month with 30 days' written notice. For what the work should cost, see how much should I pay for SEO services.
If you can't get Search Console access, a list of what changed, or ownership of your domain and Google Business Profile, yes. Get your domain, Google Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console moved to you first, then cancel in writing.
Not by itself. I reach out to local businesses too. The red flag is a pitch that can't name one specific thing about your site, or one that runs on fear instead of facts.
No, and I'm biased, because I am one. With a solo consultant you talk to the person doing the work. The questions stay the same: who owns what, what changes each month, and how you'll see it.
With me, you own your website outright. Here's how I handle websites, SEO and AI visibility.