Companies for SEO: 8 Questions to Ask Before You Hire

Searching for "companies for SEO" returns agencies, freelancers, software tools, and AI services. On the surface they all promise the same thing: more people finding your business through search. Underneath, they differ in who does the work, what you pay for, and how much you can verify.

This guide gives you eight questions to ask any SEO provider, whether it is a local agency, a solo consultant, or a monthly software subscription. Use them to compare options side by side. Near the end you will find how common tools answer these questions (as of October 2026) and where goodSEO.tech fits.

What "companies for SEO" covers

When small business owners look for SEO help, they usually land on one of four types of provider:

• SEO agencies. A team handles strategy, content, links, and reporting for you, usually on a retainer or project basis.
• Freelancers and consultants. One person, or a small group, takes on some or all of the work. Scope varies widely.
• Research and writing tools. Software such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Jasper, and Frase gives you data or drafts. Someone on your side still writes, edits, and publishes.
• AI SEO services. Software that researches, writes, and publishes content for you, often on a fixed monthly price per website.

None of these is right for every business. A company with a large budget and a complex site may want an agency. A busy owner who mostly needs steady, accurate content may prefer software. If you are weighing those two paths, our guide on choosing between an SEO company and SEO software goes deeper.

Google also publishes its own advice on hiring an SEO, which is worth reading before any sales call.

Question 1: What does it cost, and how is pricing structured?

The headline number matters less than the structure behind it. Ask:

• Is the price per website, per article, or per hour? Per-website pricing is easiest to budget. Per-article pricing tells you what each piece of content actually costs.
• How many finished pieces does the price include? "Unlimited" or "custom" can mean very different things in practice.
• Is there a setup fee?
• How do you cancel, and is there a minimum term?
• What happens to fees already paid if you leave?

Write the answers down. A provider that can't state what you get each month for a set price makes comparison hard. For a broader look at what different kinds of help tend to include, see what SEO services cost and what you should get.

Question 2: Who actually does the work, and how much is left for you?

SEO work breaks into a few steps: finding topics worth targeting, researching them, writing, editing, adding images and links, and publishing. Some providers do all of it. Others hand you a report or a draft and stop there.

Ask the provider to walk through one piece of content from idea to live page. At each step, ask: "Is that you or me?" If the answer to editing and publishing is "you," factor in your own time. A tool that gives you excellent research is still a weekly task on your to-do list.

Question 3: Where do they get data, and do they connect to Search Console and Analytics?

Good SEO decisions start with your own site's data. Google Search Console shows the searches your pages already appear for, how often they show up, and how often people click. Google Analytics shows what visitors do once they arrive.

Ask:

• Do you use my Search Console data, or only third-party keyword estimates?
• Do you also connect Google Analytics, so we can see whether visits and conversions change?
• What level of access do you need? Read-only access is enough for analysis.

A provider working only from generic keyword lists may chase topics you have little chance of winning. One that reads your Search Console data can spot searches you are already close to winning. Our guide to Google Search Console SEO tools explains how to find those quick wins.

Question 4: How do they keep content accurate about your business?

This matters more now that much SEO content is drafted with AI. A fluent paragraph can still state the wrong price, invent a guarantee, or describe a service you don't offer. Those errors cost you trust and can create real problems with customers.

Ask:

• Where do facts about my business come from?
• Can I see and edit that source?
• What happens if a draft states something that isn't verified?
• Can I review content before it goes live?

A clear answer names a specific source you control and a specific check that catches unverified claims. A vague answer ("our writers are careful") gives you nothing to hold them to.

Question 5: How do they build backlinks, and do they use link exchanges or link farms?

Links from other websites still help search visibility, but how they are earned matters. Google's spam policies on link schemes describe practices such as excessive link exchanges and buying links for ranking purposes as violations.

Ask the provider to describe their method in plain terms:

• Where do link opportunities come from?
• Who sends the outreach, and from whose email address?
• Do you use link exchanges, private networks, or link farms?

Outreach-based link building, where someone contacts relevant sites and asks for a link, is slower but more transparent. You should be able to see who was contacted and why.

Question 6: Do they check whether AI assistants recommend your business?

More people now ask tools like ChatGPT for recommendations before they search Google. If an assistant names three of your competitors and not you, that is a missed customer that never shows up in your analytics.

Ask whether the provider tests the questions your customers would actually ask an AI assistant, and what they do when your business is missing from the answers. Our guide on checking whether AI assistants recommend you explains how to run that check yourself.

Question 7: How do they prove results?

Monthly reports can be full of numbers that look good but don't connect to the work. The clearest proof ties a specific piece of content to a specific change in search traffic.

Ask:

• Can you show before-and-after traffic for each page you publish?
• Does that data come directly from Google, or from your own estimates?
• Can I check the same numbers in my own Search Console?

Be cautious of any provider that guarantees rankings. Google itself warns that no one can guarantee a number one ranking.

Question 8: How much control do you keep over what gets published, and where?

Two things to pin down:

Approval. Can you approve every piece before it goes live? If they offer automatic publishing, does that apply to new posts only, or can they also change your existing pages without asking? Edits to pages that already rank or sell deserve your sign-off.

Platform. Can they publish directly to your site? Ask specifically about your platform (WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, or a custom-built site). If they can't publish directly, find out what you receive instead and how long it takes you to post it.

How common SEO tools and services compare (as of October 2026)

Agencies and freelancers vary too much to summarize, so ask them the eight questions above directly. For software, here is how a range of popular tools answer some of the same questions. All competitor details are as of October 2026; check each provider's current terms before you decide.

For a fuller breakdown of what each category of tool does, see search engine optimization tools compared by what they do.

Where goodSEO.tech fits

goodSEO.tech is an AI SEO service, operated by Good Solutions, that does a website's SEO work. Here is how it answers the eight questions.

1. Cost. $49 a month per website, or $490 a year. Each month includes $15 of AI usage, which covers about 30 complete articles, and the site states a cost of less than $1 per finished article, including an image. There is no setup fee, and you can cancel at any time. Fees already paid are not refunded except where the law requires.

2. Who does the work. goodSEO.tech finds the topic, researches it, writes the draft, runs a quality check, creates an original featured image, adds links to relevant pages on your site and outside sources, and includes a closing FAQ section with FAQPage structured data. Then it publishes.

3. Data. It connects to Google Search Console and Google Analytics in one click, with read-only access and nothing to install. Search Console is used to find searches your site is close to winning. Analytics shows whether visits and conversions move afterwards.

4. Accuracy. Every draft is checked against a Knowledge Base built from your own website pages plus anything you add, and you control it. A second AI reviews each draft, and any draft that states something unverified about your business fails the check and is rewritten instead of published.

5. Backlinks. goodSEO.tech finds sites that link to your competitors, finds contact details, and drafts outreach emails that are sent from your own mailbox. It never uses link exchanges or link farms.

6. AI assistants. It asks AI assistants the questions a customer would ask, checks whether they recommend your business, and writes content aimed at the answers you are missing.

7. Proof. It shows before-and-after traffic for published pieces, taken from Google. The goodseo.tech blog itself is written and published by goodSEO.tech on autopilot starting November 9, 2026, and the results page shows live Google Search Console numbers for those articles.

8. Control and platforms. You choose between approving every piece before it publishes, or letting brand-new posts publish automatically on autopilot. Changes to existing pages always require your approval in either mode. goodSEO.tech publishes directly to WordPress, Wix, and Shopify, and to custom-built sites (Lovable, Bolt, v0, or hand-coded) through one small API endpoint. Sites on other platforms, such as Squarespace, receive finished, ready-to-paste content.

goodSEO.tech is not the right answer for every business. If you need services it doesn't list, an agency or specialist may suit you better. If your main need is steady, accurate content built on your own Search Console data, with outreach and AI-assistant checks alongside, it is worth a look.

How to start

The full site analysis is free and needs no credit card. It shows the opportunities found on your site and what each is worth. Generating and publishing content requires the $49 a month plan. Run the free analysis first, then use the eight questions above to compare it with any other provider you are considering.

Frequently Asked Questions

What questions should I ask before hiring an SEO company?

Ask how pricing is structured (per site, per article, setup fees, cancellation), who does each step from research to publishing, and whether they use your Google Search Console and Analytics data. Also ask how they keep content accurate about your business, how they build backlinks, whether they check AI assistants like ChatGPT, and how they prove results with data from Google. Finally, ask how much control you keep over what gets published.

How can I tell if an SEO company uses link farms or link exchanges?

Ask them to explain exactly where links come from, who sends the outreach, and whether they use link exchanges, private networks, or link farms. A transparent provider can show you which sites were contacted and why. Google's spam policies treat link schemes such as excessive link exchanges as violations, so vague answers are a warning sign.

What access should I give an SEO company to my Google accounts?

Read-only access to Google Search Console and Google Analytics is enough for an SEO provider to find opportunities and measure results. They should not need to change settings in those accounts. goodSEO.tech, for example, connects to both in one click with read-only access and nothing to install.

How should an SEO company prove its work is getting results?

The clearest proof shows before-and-after search traffic for each specific page the provider published, using data that comes directly from Google. You should be able to confirm the same numbers in your own Search Console. Be cautious of providers that guarantee rankings, since no one can promise a top position in Google.

Can I pay for goodSEO.tech yearly instead of monthly?

Yes. goodSEO.tech costs $49 a month per website or $490 a year, and paid plans bill per website, monthly or annually. There is no setup fee and subscriptions can be cancelled anytime, though fees already paid are not refunded except where the law requires.