Hiring an SEO Agency for Your Store: 3 Tests the Fee Won't Show You

Three tests tell you which SEO agency to hire for your store, and the monthly fee is not one of them: access, links and reporting scope. Before you sign anything, ask every candidate the same questions in writing and drop any agency that fails a test. Then rank the ones still standing on the scorecard near the end.

• Access: the agency starts with restricted, read-only Search Console access, not write access.
• Links: it does not buy or sell links to lift your rankings.
• Reporting scope: it reports from Search Console, and its reports cover your whole site, not one corner of it.

An agency that fails any of the three is out.

Affiliate disclosure: MarketingRating may earn a commission from some links on this site. No agency pays to appear in this guide.

Not advice: This guide is general information, not legal or business advice. Check any contract with your own adviser before you sign.

How we evaluated

This framework draws on four Google documents: its guide to hiring an SEO (search engine optimization) provider, its search spam policies, its Search Console help page on property types, and web.dev’s page on Core Web Vitals. Search Console is Google’s tool that shows how your site performs in Google search. The three tests come from the first three documents.

Start every candidate on read-only Search Console access

This is test 1. Google’s guide to hiring an SEO recommends giving a prospective SEO restricted, read-only access to Search Console before you grant write access.

While you are still choosing, give each candidate read-only access and nothing more. An agency that insists on write or owner access before you hire it fails this test.

Drop any agency that buys or sells links for ranking

This is test 2. Google’s spam policies define link spam as creating links mainly to manipulate search rankings, and that includes buying or selling links for ranking purposes.

Ask each candidate in writing: “Do you buy or sell links, and how do you get the links you build?” An agency that sells link packages, or pays for links to lift rankings, fails this test. A written answer also puts its position on record.

Ask for a Domain property so no part of the site drops out of reports

This is test 3. Ask which Search Console property the reports will use. Google’s help page on property types lists two:

• A Domain property includes all subdomains and protocols.
• A URL-prefix property covers only the URLs under the prefix you specify.

Say your store and your blog sit on different subdomains. A single URL-prefix report then shows only one of them, so you never see a drop on the other. An agency passes if it reports from a Domain property, or from URL-prefix properties that together cover the whole site. It fails if it reports from one URL-prefix property that covers only part of the site, or if it will not report from Search Console at all.

Ask which page templates miss Google’s Core Web Vitals targets

Technical work should aim at published targets. According to web.dev, Google’s Core Web Vitals targets are:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint, how fast the main content appears): within 2.5 seconds.
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint, how fast the page responds to a tap or click): 200 milliseconds or less.
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift, how much the layout jumps while loading): 0.1 or less.

Each target is measured at the 75th percentile of page loads. In plain terms, at least three of every four page loads must hit it, so one fast load on office Wi-Fi proves nothing. Ask which of your page templates miss these targets today, and which deliverable fixes each one.

Price the job over a year, not a month

Google says SEO results typically take four months to a year from the time changes are made before benefits begin to appear. So the early months of any contract pay mostly for changes, not traffic. Be wary of an agency that promises results much sooner without saying why.

For the same reason, compare agencies on a 12-month total for the same scope: the monthly retainer × 12, plus any audit or setup fee. A lower retainer with a shorter fix list is a smaller job, not a cheaper one.

Who should skip an agency: a store whose 12-month total does not fit the budget. Buy a one-off technical audit instead, and work through its fix list in-house.

Check deliverables, past work and exit terms yourself

No Google document covers these, so treat them as your own questions.

Write down the pages you want found (category pages, product pages or guides), the technical problems to fix first, and the numbers you will judge by. Then ask for deliverables you can check off, each with a date. “Ongoing SEO work” is hard to check. “Fix duplicate category URLs” is easy to check, because you can see whether it happened.

Ask about past work in writing:

1. Which sites like mine have you worked on, and may I see their Search Console data from before and after your work?
2. Who does the work, and who writes the reports?
3. What did you change on those sites, and in what order?

Ask what you keep if you leave, such as the content and the reports. Keep the Search Console account in your own name and add the agency as a user.

The scorecard: drop any agency that fails a test, then compare the rest

Record each finalist’s written answers. Rows 1 to 3 are pass or fail. On rows 4 to 6, note whether each answer is weaker or stronger.

Row	Based on	Question to ask	Fails / weaker answer	Passes / stronger answer
1. Access (test 1)	Google’s hiring guide	What Search Console access do you need to start?	Write or owner access up front	Restricted, read-only access first
2. Links (test 2)	Google’s spam policies	Do you buy or sell links for ranking?	Sells link packages or buys links for ranking	Says in writing that it does neither
3. Reporting scope (test 3)	Search Console property types	Which Search Console property will your reports use?	No Search Console reporting, or one URL-prefix property covering only part of the site	A Domain property, or URL-prefix properties covering the whole site
4. Technical targets	Core Web Vitals	Which of my templates miss the targets?	No plan for LCP, INP or CLS	Failing templates mapped to LCP ≤2.5 s, INP ≤200 ms and CLS ≤0.1 at the 75th percentile
5. Timeline	Google’s hiring guide	When should I expect results?	Much sooner than four months, with no reason given	In line with four months to a year
6. Deliverables and cost	Your own check	What will you deliver, by when, and for what 12-month total?	Activity only, no dates or total	Named, dated deliverables and a 12-month total

How to use it:

1. Drop any agency that fails row 1, 2 or 3.
2. Compare the rest on rows 4 to 6, and favor the one with more stronger answers.

The scorecard has two weak spots. First, it cannot show results before you sign. Results typically take four months to a year, so even the best candidate bills you for months before the data can confirm your choice. The fix is to keep Search Console in your own name, give the agency only the access it needs, and read the reports yourself every month. Second, the Links row depends on what the agency tells you, and a quietly bought link will not show up in its answer. The fix is to keep its written answer on file and ask to see the links it builds for you. With both fixes in place, hire the agency that passes all three tests and gives the most stronger answers on rows 4 to 6.

FAQ

My store uses one web address. Does the property type still matter? It can. A URL-prefix property covers only the URLs under the prefix you specify, so a property set up for https://www.example.com/ does not include pages served at http://www.example.com/. A Domain property includes all subdomains and protocols, so it covers both.

How long before an agency’s work shows in search? Google says results typically take four months to a year from the time changes are made before benefits begin to appear. Budget for that wait before you judge the agency.