Vetting an agency and evaluating what they've actually offered to do are two different exercises. Once you've narrowed down who you might work with, here's what their proposal itself should contain before you sign anything.
1. Findings from an actual audit
A proposal built on a real look at your website — specific pages, specific issues, specific keyword gaps — is worth far more than a generic template. If nothing in the proposal is specific to your site, it probably wasn't written for it.
2. A clearly defined scope
You should be able to point at the proposal and know exactly what's included: technical fixes, content volume, how many pages, whether Local SEO or Google Business Profile work is part of it. Vague phrases like "ongoing optimization" without specifics leave too much room for a different definition of ongoing later.
3. A realistic timeline
SEO takes months to build momentum. A proposal promising fast, dramatic ranking changes in a few weeks is either misunderstanding your market or overselling. See our realistic SEO timeline for what to actually expect.
4. A defined reporting cadence
How often will you hear from them, and what will the report actually show — Search Console data, ranking positions, work completed? Agree on this upfront so "reporting" doesn't turn into an occasional message months apart.
5. Transparent pricing terms
What's included at the quoted price, what counts as additional scope, and what the contract term and cancellation terms are. Our own pricing overview is a useful reference point for what starting prices look like in this market.
What a weak proposal looks like
Generic content that could apply to any business, guaranteed rankings, no mention of your actual website, or pricing with no clear scope attached are all signs the proposal was mass-produced rather than built for you specifically.