Choosing a local SEO company is mostly a test of control and honesty, not of service lists. The right company is the one that leaves you as owner of your Google Business Profile, puts its fees and scope in writing, explains exactly what it will change in the first month, and refuses to promise rankings. Google publishes rules for agencies that manage Business Profiles, and they give you a free standard to measure every pitch against. Below are the 12 questions I’d ask, the answer that should end the call for each, and the contract terms worth reading twice.
A quick disclosure. I run Skyranko, and we sell local SEO. So I’ve written this to work on any provider, including mine. If a question below makes us look bad, ask it anyway.
Why Is Choosing a Local SEO Company So Hard?
Because every proposal looks the same. Business Profile optimization, citations, reviews, local pages, a monthly report. The words match, so buyers end up comparing price and gut feeling.
What actually separates providers is behavior you can’t see on a sales page. Who logs into your profile. Whether they’d stuff a city name into your business name to win a quick bump. What happens to your listings the day you leave.
The questions below are built to drag that behavior into the open. If you’re hiring for an online store, a SaaS product or a content site instead, my guide to choosing an SEO agency covers organic work.
When I audit a local business that already paid an agency, the damage rarely comes from laziness. It usually comes from a shortcut somebody took in month two to make the first report look good, like a keyword-stuffed business name or a batch of reviews from people who never walked through the door, and the owner only finds out when the profile gets suspended. Every question below exists because of a shortcut like that.
If you haven’t built a shortlist yet, my comparison of the best local SEO services covers eight providers on price and fit. This guide is the next step: interviewing the ones you picked.
Before the First Call: Know These Three Things
You’ll judge answers better if you walk in with your own facts. Spend 20 minutes on these.
- Your location type. Do customers visit you, or do you travel to them? A storefront and a service-area business need different work, and a good provider will ask which one you are in the first 5 minutes.
- Your current access. Open your Business Profile and check who’s listed as owner and manager. If you can’t get in, sort that out before you hire anyone.
- What a lead is worth to you. Know roughly what one new customer brings in. It turns every monthly fee into a simple question: how many extra calls does this need to pay for itself?
Why bother? Because a provider who asks about none of these on the first call is guessing.
Location type decides whether service areas, city pages or foot traffic matter. Access decides whether month one is spent on growth or on recovering a profile somebody else controls. And lead value decides whether the plan chases volume or a few high-value jobs, which for a roofer and a coffee shop are completely different plans.
The 12 Questions to Ask a Local SEO Company
I’ve grouped them the way a good call flows: control first, then the work, then results. For each one, the walk-away answer matters more than the good one.
Control and Money
1. Will I stay the owner of my Business Profile? Google’s third-party policies say businesses must keep ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times. The agency should be added as a manager. Google’s own help page explains that managers can edit almost everything but can’t add or remove users or delete the profile. Walk away if: they ask for your Google password or want to be sole owner.
2. Will you put every fee in writing before you start? The same policy requires agencies to disclose management fees in writing before managing a profile. This includes setup fees, per-location fees and any tool subscriptions passed on to you. Walk away if: the price only exists as a number someone said on a call.
3. Who does the work day to day, and where are they? Plenty of agencies subcontract (the reseller side is explained in white label local SEO). That’s not automatically bad, but you deserve to know. Ask for the name and role of the person who’ll touch your profile each week. Walk away if: nobody can name that person.
The Work Itself
4. What will you change in the first 30 days? A real answer names specific fixes: primary category, services list, hours, a location page, a review request process. Walk away if: you hear “a full strategy” with no named tasks.
5. Which primary category would you pick for me, and why? This one is my favorite test. Google says local results depend on relevance, distance, and popularity, and your category is the biggest relevance lever you control. A competent person will look at your top competitors’ categories before answering, and in my experience the good ones ask you a question or two about which jobs make you the most money before they commit to anything. Walk away if: they don’t know what a primary category is.
6. How will you get me more reviews? Google’s review policy bans incentives for reviews and bans selectively asking only happy customers. In the US, the FTC’s rule on fake reviews and testimonials has been in effect since October 21, 2024, and it bans buying or selling fake reviews. Walk away if: they mention review packages, “reputation boosting” or a funnel that only sends 5-star customers to Google.
7. Which citations and links will you build, and do I keep them if I leave? Ask for the actual list of sites, and ask whose email address the logins will sit under. Ten relevant listings beat 300 random ones. If you want the background, I explain which local citations matter in a separate guide. Walk away if: they sell citations by volume or can’t say whether listings survive cancellation.
8. Will you build city pages, and what makes each one different? Location pages can work when each one has real local detail. Dozens of near-identical pages with the city name swapped are a doorway pattern. Walk away if: the plan is “one page for every town within 50 miles.”
Results and Reporting
9. What will my monthly report show? Your Business Profile already records calls, direction requests and website clicks. A report should start there, then add leads from the website. Rankings can sit underneath as context, but a map ranking checked from one spot in town tells you very little, because results change with where the searcher stands. Walk away if: the report is only a list of keyword rankings you never agreed on.
10. What results do you expect, and by when? Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. For local work, distance to the searcher is a factor nobody can move for you. A fair answer gives a range and explains what could slow it. Walk away if: you hear “guaranteed top 3 in the map pack.”
11. Have you worked with businesses like mine? Google suggests asking for examples of past work, and local work varies a lot by trade. A dentist, a roofer and a restaurant win in different ways. Walk away if: they can’t describe one comparable client, even without naming them.
12. What happens on the day the contract ends? You should leave with your profile, website content, listings logins and reporting data. Walk away if: anything you paid for stays locked in their account.
Red Flags That Should End the Conversation
Some answers don’t need a scoring sheet. If you hear any of these, thank them and hang up.
- A ranking guarantee. Google’s third-party policies list “guarantees top placement” as a prohibited claim.
- “We’re Google certified for SEO.” Google Partner badges relate to Google Ads. Google’s badge rules say an agency showing one next to SEO services must add a notice that those services aren’t verified or endorsed by Google.
- Threats about your listing. Google’s help page for owners says third parties can’t remove your business from Google without your permission.
- Keywords in your business name. Google’s guidelines say unnecessary information in the name could get the profile suspended.
- A virtual office address. Google doesn’t allow them for Business Profiles. An agency suggesting one to “rank in another city” is putting your listing at risk.
- Pressure to sign today. Real providers can wait 48 hours while you check references.
A word on cold outreach, since plenty of pitches arrive that way. Google’s hiring advice tells you to be wary of unsolicited SEO emails, and its tips for working with third parties say anyone claiming to call from Google should be able to email you from an @google.com address.
I’d go further. If the pitch opens with a scary claim about your listing, don’t reply. Open your own profile and check it yourself.
Contract Terms Worth Reading Twice
The proposal tells you what they’ll do. The contract tells you what happens when things go wrong. These are the clauses I’d read slowly.
| Clause | What good looks like | What to push back on |
|---|---|---|
| Term length | Month to month, or a short first term | 12 months with no exit |
| Notice period | 30 days or less | 90 days or auto-renewal you must catch |
| Setup fee | Stated up front, tied to named tasks | Vague “onboarding” charge |
| Scope | Specific monthly tasks listed | “Ongoing optimization” only |
| Ownership | You own profile, content, listings | Agency keeps accounts or pages |
| Reporting access | You see raw Business Profile data | Only their dashboard, only their numbers |
| Subcontracting | Disclosed, with who does what | Silent on it |
| Cancellation | Clear handover checklist | Content removed when you leave |
Auto-renewal is the clause that catches people most. A 12-month term that silently rolls into another 12 months unless you give 90 days’ notice is common, and it’s easy to miss. Put the notice date in your calendar the day you sign. Google’s tips for working with third parties also tell owners to keep an official copy of the agreement listing services and costs, so ask for the signed version as a file, not a link to a portal you might lose access to.
How to Choose a Local SEO Company When Two Proposals Look Equal
Score each company on the 12 questions. Give 2 points for a clear, specific answer, 1 point for a vague one and 0 for a walk-away answer. Any 0 on questions 1, 2, 6 or 10 knocks the company out regardless of total, because those four protect your profile and your legal exposure.
Here’s the scoring template. Copy it into any spreadsheet.
question,company_a,company_b,company_c,notes
1 Profile ownership,,,,
2 Fees in writing,,,,
3 Who does the work,,,,
4 First 30 days,,,,
5 Primary category,,,,
6 Review method,,,,
7 Citations and links,,,,
8 City pages,,,,
9 Monthly report,,,,
10 Expected results,,,,
11 Similar clients,,,,
12 Contract end,,,,
total,,,,
In practice, the winner is rarely the cheapest or the most expensive. It’s usually the one whose answers to questions 4 and 5 were specific enough that you could open your own profile a month later and check, line by line, whether the promised changes actually happened. Specific beats impressive. Every time.
When Should You Not Hire a Local SEO Company Yet?
Sometimes the honest answer is “not now.” If your phone goes to voicemail half the day, more visibility just means more missed calls, more annoyed people leaving one-star reviews about never hearing back, and a monthly bill for traffic you can’t convert. Fix response times first.
If your profile is suspended, go through Google’s reinstatement process yourself before paying anyone. And if you have a few hours a week, you can run the basics alone. My local SEO checklist walks you through a full audit in the order I do it.
When you’re ready to hire, put every provider on your list through the same 12 questions. That includes Skyranko’s local SEO plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Should a Local SEO Contract Be?
I prefer month to month, or a first term of 3 to 6 months followed by monthly renewal. Local work needs a few months to show results, so a short commitment is fair. A 12-month lock-in with no exit clause mostly protects the agency, not you. Freelancers are often more flexible on terms; I compare both routes in local SEO agency vs freelancer.
Is It a Red Flag if an Agency Asks for Owner Access?
Usually, yes. Manager access lets an agency edit your profile, reply to reviews and post updates. The main things it can’t do are add or remove users and delete the profile. An agency that insists on ownership wants control it doesn’t need.
Should I Hire a Local SEO Company in My Own City?
It helps if they know your market, but it isn’t required. What matters more is whether they understand your trade and your competition. A remote team that studies your top three competitors will beat a local one that doesn’t.
What Should I Do if My Current Agency Owns My Business Profile?
Ask them in writing to transfer primary ownership to you. If they refuse or disappear, Google has a request-ownership process for the business owner. Do this while you’re still on speaking terms, and before you cancel.
Last updated: September 2026 by Mizanur Rahman
