seoagencydarwin.com.au Before you sign · Darwin, Northern Territory

Clause 1 of 5 · The interviewNo. 01

Google’s questions for an SEO

Google Search Central suggests interviewing a potential SEO, and publishes some useful questions to ask, from examples of past work to how they will tell you about every change to your site. It adds further checks beyond the interview, among them whether the SEO is interested in your business, what past clients say, how much access an audit needs, and whether their advice matches Google’s own.

General information

This clause draws on one page, Google Search Central’s “Do you need an SEO?”, which Google last updated on 5 June 2026. Google’s page is the place to check for its current wording.

The interviewThe questions, in Google’s words

Google’s page introduces these as some useful questions to ask an SEO. They are quoted here as Google wrote them.

  1. “Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?”
  2. “Do you follow the Google Search Essentials (previously known as Webmaster Guidelines)?”
  3. “What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?”
  4. “What’s your experience in my industry?”
  5. “What’s your experience in my country/city?”
  6. “What’s your experience developing international sites?”
  7. “How long have you been in business?”
  8. “How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?”

Two of these carry more weight once a contract is signed. The question about results and timeframes is where a promise can creep in, and Google is blunt about rankings: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” Promises no one can make sets that out. The last question, about sharing every change, becomes a line in the agreement; The contract and the handover covers what to write down.

Their adviceQuestions about the recommendations and the tools

Google also suggests evaluating an SEO’s recommendations and the tools they use. Before making significant changes to your site on the strength of a third-party tool’s audit, Google’s advice is to “be sure to check their recommendations against official guidance from Google Search, think critically about any claims or recommendations you hear, and make your own informed decisions.” It then lists three questions of its own:

  • “Do they cite official Google documentation as supporting evidence for their recommendations?”
  • Where they give advice on optimising for AI experiences, which Google says is also known as “AEO” or “GEO” services, does it match Google Search’s guidance on generative AI?
  • “Do they use tools that are aligned with Google’s guidance?”

Beyond the interviewFour of the checks Google adds

  1. Are they interested in you?

    “See if the SEO is interested in you and your business. If they’re not interested, find someone who is.” Google sets out what that interest sounds like: “Your SEO should ask questions about what makes your business unique, who your competitors are, how search results can help, and how your customers find you.”

  2. What do past clients say?

    Google suggests hearing from former clients: “Ask past clients if they felt that this SEO provided useful service, was easy to work with, and produced positive results.”

  3. How much access does an audit need?

    If an SEO offers an audit, Google’s advice is to “be sure to carefully consider what’s involved and only grant read access to Search Console (at this stage, don’t grant them write access).” It says an audit should give you realistic estimates of improvement and an estimate of the work involved, and adds: “If they guarantee you that their changes will give you first place in search results, find someone else.”

  4. Will they explain what they do?

    “Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do. Ask for explanations if something is unclear.” Google’s reason follows: “If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index.”

What you are buyingThe services Google lists

The interview goes better when you know what you want. Google says many SEOs, agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, and gives these examples:

  • “Review of your site content or structure”
  • “Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript”
  • “Content development”
  • “Management of online business development campaigns”
  • “Keyword research”
  • “SEO training”
  • “Expertise in specific markets and geographies”
  • “Optimizing for generative AI”

Naming the ones you want, and the ones you do not, gives the agreement a scope both sides can read the same way.

The cold approachThe email out of the blue

Some agencies find you first. Google’s advice: “Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue.” It says it receives these emails too, and quotes one addressed to “Dear google.com” that claims the site is “not listed in most of the major search engines and directories”.

“Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for ‘burn fat at night’ diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.”

Google Search Central, “Do you need an SEO?”

Google adds two more warning signs worth hearing in a first meeting. “You should never have to link to an SEO,” it says, and its advice is to “Avoid SEOs that talk about link popularity schemes or submitting your site to thousands of search engines,” which it calls “typically useless exercises”. Why linking schemes matter is the subject of Spam tactics that cost you.