Questions to ask an SEO or marketing agency, for practice owners
Nine questions to ask any agency before you sign.
Ask any SEO agency nine questions before you sign: who owns the accounts, what the contract term is, which searches and competitors they'll report on, what changes at 90 days, what gets delivered each month, whether you keep Search Console, what they'd tell you not to buy, and whether you can see a real report. Bad answers cost nothing.
Local search is unusually easy to fake: results differ by who is searching and where they are standing, so almost any screenshot can be made to look like a win. That is not an argument against hiring anyone. It is an argument for questions whose answers can't be dressed up. Each one below ends with our own answer, so you can hold us to it.
Written by Gerad Patton, founder of Ark Visibility · Last reviewed September 23, 2026 · Sources listed at the end
The nine questions
Each has a good answer, a bad answer, and a reason it's on the list. The first one alone ends most bad conversations.
1.“Who owns the domain, the website, the Google Business Profile and Search Console at the end?”
- Good answer
- You do, from day one, on your own accounts. We're a user you can remove.
- Bad answer
- anything involving "our platform," "we host it for you," or "it transfers when the contract completes."
- Why it's here
- A website you don't own is a rental you are also paying to improve, and a Google listing an agency owns can leave with its reviews. If the answer is anything other than an immediate "you," stop there.
- Our answer
- Everything stays in your name. We work as a manager or contributor you can remove at any time.
2.“What's the contract term, and what does it cost to leave?”
- Good answer
- month to month, no termination fee.
- Bad answer
- twelve months, with a paragraph about how SEO takes time.
- Why it's here
- SEO does take time. That is an argument for patience, not a lock-in; a long term mostly protects the seller from a bad third month. Good work is what keeps you paying.
- Our answer
- No contract, either way. Per-piece work ends when you stop ordering; a monthly plan ends at the close of whichever month you choose, and you keep everything.
3.“Which exact searches will you report on, and will they be the same ones every month?”
- Good answer
- a written list, fixed, changed only with your agreement and with the old ones still shown.
- Bad answer
- "we track hundreds of keywords" or "we optimize for topics, not keywords."
- Why it's here
- A moving keyword set is the oldest trick there is. If the terms can be swapped, a flat quarter looks like a good one by reporting on whichever handful happened to move.
- Our answer
- The list is written down and approved before month one, and the monthly ranking report shows the searches that did not move beside the ones that did.
4.“Which competitors are you comparing me to, and will they be the same ones every month?”
- Good answer
- three to five named practices, fixed.
- Bad answer
- "we benchmark against the industry."
- Why it's here
- Same searches and same competitors. Both have to be fixed for a before-and-after to mean anything. This rule governs everything else on the list.
- Our answer
- Named practices, chosen with you from who actually appears for your searches today, and held constant.
5.“What happens at 90 days if the numbers haven't moved?”
- Good answer
- something specific they'd change: a different set of searches, pages for a different service, a directory record that still hasn't corrected.
- Bad answer
- a paragraph about how SEO is a long game.
- Why it's here
- You are testing whether they have a way of diagnosing a problem, or just a content calendar.
- Our answer
- The audit sets the order of work before anything starts, so at 90 days we can say which step fell short and what we'd change next. We won't say when results will move, because nobody can.
6.“What exactly gets delivered each month? Give me counts.”
- Good answer
- a table. Two condition pages, four profile posts, review replies drafted for your approval, the technical fixes from the report, one ranking report.
- Bad answer
- "ongoing optimization," "content strategy," "authority building."
- Why it's here
- If it can't be counted, it can't be checked, and then you never know whether a slow month was a slow market or a slow month.
- Our answer
- Every piece is named before the month starts, from a published price list, and billed only after you approve it.
7.“Do I keep Search Console and Analytics on my own login, and what will run on my intake pages?”
- Good answer
- yes, always, and here's how to read the numbers yourself. And nothing that records or sends what a patient types.
- Bad answer
- "we handle all the reporting."
- Why it's here
- Search Console is free, it is Google's own data, and it is the only independent scoreboard in this business. Anyone who prefers you not look at it is telling you something. The second half matters for a practice: Google states that it does not sign Business Associate Agreements for Google Analytics (source: Google); the detail is under the five claims below. We are not lawyers; ask yours.
- Our answer
- Read-only access to your Search Console, on your login. We recommend keeping ad pixels and session recording off intake, scheduling and portal pages; your compliance adviser decides.
8.“What would you tell me not to buy?”
- Good answer
- something real. "Don't buy the blog package yet; fix the listing and the booking path first."
- Bad answer
- everything is recommended.
- Why it's here
- Nobody needs every service. A seller who won't decline any revenue hasn't looked at your situation.
- Our answer
- The free audit marks what you can fix yourself in an afternoon. If the honest answer is "fix two pages and claim three listings," the report says that and there is nothing to buy.
9.“Can I see the report I'd actually get, and is it real or a template?”
- Good answer
- a real monthly report from another client with the name removed, or a complete sample that is labeled as invented on every page and shows the method, not just the layout.
- Bad answer
- a slide of logos, a template with impressive numbers and no dates, or "confidentiality" with nothing behind it.
- Why it's here
- Names can be blurred; structure and method can't. A full report shows what they measure and what they admit they couldn't see.
- Our answer
- Our sample audit is a wholly invented practice and says so on every page, because no client's findings appear on this site without written permission. The one real site we are allowed to show is on the About page, with the relationship disclosed.Related: sample audit.
The one test: search it yourself
Before-and-after screenshots only count if the searches and competitors are identical in both. The free version of that check is you, a friend across town and a staff member all searching the same term on a phone and comparing what you see. Google says distance from the searcher is one of the three things local results are based on (source: Google), so one screenshot from one place is an anecdote by design.
Do it properly; the sloppy version proves nothing either way
Use cellular data, not the office Wi-Fi. Your office network tells Google you are standing at your own address.
Use a private browsing window , or a phone that isn't signed in to the practice's Google account.
Have two other people in different parts of town run the same search. Map results are location-dependent on purpose.
Write down what each of you saw, with the date. Repeat in six weeks with the same people and the same search.
direct primary care [your city]That is a real measurement, and it costs nothing. A baseline you collected yourself is the only one nobody can adjust later. It is also why we won't show a map grid as proof unless the searches and competitors match across both snapshots.
Each of these is sold to practices today
Five claims that should end the meeting
Any one of them is enough to stop the conversation. Each is impossible, meaningless, or against Google's rules.
Two more that only a practice hears; the review claim above is the third
Green flags worth paying more for
The reliable good signs are all forms of turning revenue down.
Why the audit comes first and costs nothing
My family was on the buying side of a bad marketing engagement once: a twelve-month agreement signed before any results existed, monthly reports full of impressions we couldn't spend, and a template with our logo dropped into it. Every rule at Ark Visibility is a reaction to something that went wrong there.
That is why the audit comes first and costs nothing, why every page is shown to you before there is an invoice, why every price is published rather than quoted on a call, and why everything is month to month. I know what the other version feels like from the buying side.
Run these nine questions on us. If any answer disappoints you, that is useful information and you've lost nothing.
Asked by practice owners
Common questions about hiring an SEO agency
Sources and notes
- Google Search Central: do you need an SEO
- Google Business Profile Help: how local ranking works
- Google Business Profile Help: guidelines for representing your business on Google
- Google Maps: policy on fake engagement and review solicitation
- Google Analytics Help: HIPAA and Google Analytics
- FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A
- FTC: Health Products Compliance Guidance
- The questions in this guide come from engagements we have seen from both sides. No agency and no practice is named or described.
This guide is general information, not legal or medical advice. We are not lawyers; ask yours about contracts, HIPAA and health claims. We review this page and date each review at the top.
Start with a report nobody had to sell you.
The free audit is four plain-English reports on your own practice, from public information only, within two business days. Read it, then ask us the nine questions.