10 Questions to Ask
Your SEO Agency

You’re about to sign a contract with an SEO agency. Before you do, run them through these 10 questions. Their answers will tell you more than any sales deck or case study ever could. (And if you haven’t decided whether to hire an agency or keep SEO in-house, start there.)

For our complete guide to evaluating and selecting a legal SEO agency, see the definitive agency selection guide.

We’ve watched firms burn $30,000 or more on agencies that promised first-page rankings and delivered nothing — or worse, triggered a Google penalty that put the firm in a deeper hole. A 15-minute phone screen using these questions would’ve flagged every one of those bad hires. Print this list. Bring it to your next agency call. And pay attention not just to what they say, but how comfortable they are saying it.

Question 1: Do You Specialize in Law Firm SEO?

This is the first filter, and it eliminates about 80% of agencies immediately.

Law firm SEO is different from e-commerce SEO, SaaS SEO, or restaurant SEO. The keywords are among the most competitive and expensive in any industry — “personal injury lawyer” clicks cost $150-300 in Google Ads, which tells you how valuable those organic positions are. The content requires legal accuracy. The schema markup requires specific types (LegalService, Attorney, FAQPage). The link building requires sources that carry topical authority in the legal space. And the ethical constraints around advertising — bar rules vary by state, and some prohibit specific language in marketing materials — mean a generalist agency can inadvertently create compliance issues.

An agency that specializes in legal SEO already understands all of this. They’ve built content strategies for dozens of law firms. They know which legal directories matter for citations. They’ve handled the nuances of attorney advertising rules. They don’t need to learn your industry on your dime.

What you want to hear: “We work exclusively with law firms” or “Legal is our primary vertical.” They should be able to name specific practice areas they’ve worked with and speak fluently about legal-specific SEO challenges.

What should concern you: “We work with businesses of all types — law firms, dentists, plumbers, restaurants.” An agency that serves everyone specializes in no one. The strategies that rank a dentist are not the strategies that rank a personal injury firm.

Question 2: Can You Show Me Case Studies with Measurable Results?

Talk is cheap. Case studies aren’t.

Any agency claiming they can rank law firms should be able to show you documented before-and-after results from real clients. Not hypothetical projections. Not a testimonial quote. Actual data: starting traffic, ending traffic, keyword rankings before and after, lead volume changes, and the timeline it took to achieve those results.

What you want to see:

• Specific practice area and market (not just “a law firm”)
• Starting organic traffic and keyword positions
• What the agency did (technical fixes, content created, links built)
• Results after 6, 12, and 18 months
• Ideally, lead or revenue impact — not just traffic numbers

What should concern you: Vague claims like “we increased traffic 300%” with no context. A 300% increase from 100 to 400 visits per month is meaningless for a firm that needs 2,000. Also watch for case studies that only show ranking improvements without connecting them to business results. Rankings that don’t produce leads are vanity metrics.

Question 3: What’s Your Link Building Strategy?

This question alone will tell you more about an agency’s quality than anything else they say in a sales call.

Link building is the hardest, most resource-intensive part of SEO. It’s also the area where bad agencies cut the most corners. And for law firms, the quality of your backlink profile directly determines whether you’ll rank for competitive terms.

What you want to hear: A specific, transparent methodology. Good agencies build links through legal publications, bar association partnerships, local media coverage, legal guest posts on authoritative sites, and relationship-based outreach. They should be able to tell you what types of sites they target, how they earn placements, and how many links per month you can expect.

What should concern you: Any of these responses:

• “We have a network of sites we place links on” — This is a PBN (Private Blog Network). Google penalizes these.
• “We use automated outreach tools to build links at scale” — Quantity over quality. These links are typically low-quality and can hurt you.
• “Our link building strategy is proprietary” — Translation: they don’t want you to know what they’re doing because it wouldn’t survive scrutiny.
• They can’t name specific examples of links they’ve built for other law firm clients.

Question 4: Who Actually Does the Work on My Account?

Agencies sell on their best people and deliver with their newest. This is so common it’s practically an industry standard. The senior strategist who impressed you on the sales call hands your account off to a junior coordinator on day one, and you never speak to the senior person again.

What you want to hear: A clear explanation of the team structure. Who develops strategy? Who writes content? Who builds links? Who handles technical SEO? Are these in-house employees or outsourced contractors? Will you have a dedicated strategist, and how many other clients does that person manage? A good ratio is 8-12 clients per strategist. If your strategist manages 30+ accounts, you’re getting assembly-line service.

What should concern you: Evasiveness about who does the actual work. Heavy use of offshore content writers (the content quality for legal topics drops dramatically). Inability to introduce you to the person who will manage your account before you sign.

Question 5: How Do You Handle Content Creation for Legal Topics?

Content is the foundation of law firm SEO. Your practice area pages, blog posts, and resource content need to be accurate, authoritative, and written at a level that reflects well on your firm. A blog post about “what to do after a car accident” that contains legal inaccuracies doesn’t just hurt your SEO — it exposes your firm to reputational risk.

What you want to hear: The agency has writers with legal knowledge or a review process that includes attorney oversight. They research topics using legal sources, not just competing blog posts. They understand E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) and build content that demonstrates genuine legal expertise. Content should be custom-written for your firm — not templated across clients.

What should concern you: Content that’s clearly written by someone with no legal knowledge. Spinning the same article across multiple law firm clients with minor word changes. No attorney review process for legal accuracy. Content that reads like it was generated by AI with no human editing — generic, surface-level, and devoid of specific legal insights or case references.

Question 6: What Does Your Reporting Look Like?

Reporting tells you whether an agency is actually doing what they promised — and whether it’s working.

What you want to hear: Monthly reports that include organic traffic trends, keyword ranking changes, Google Business Profile metrics, links built (with actual URLs), content published, technical work completed, and a strategic plan for the next month. The report should connect SEO metrics to business outcomes: leads, calls, consultations. The best agencies tie this all the way to signed cases when possible.

What should concern you: Reports that only show vanity metrics — domain authority increases, total keyword count, or “impressions” without context. Reports delivered as automated PDF exports from a tool with no analysis or commentary. Agencies that are reluctant to give you access to their reporting dashboards or your own Google Analytics and Search Console data. If an agency gates your access to your own data, that’s a control mechanism, not a reporting strategy.

Question 7: Do You Address AI Search and Answer Engine Optimization?

Search is changing. Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, and other AI-powered search tools are reshaping how potential clients find information. An agency stuck in 2020 SEO playbooks is not preparing you for where search is headed.

What you want to hear: The agency understands how AI-generated search results pull information from websites. They structure content for featured snippets, strong FAQ sections, and direct-answer formats that AI systems reference. They implement schema markup that helps AI systems understand your content. They’re monitoring how AI Overviews affect traffic to legal queries and adjusting strategy accordingly.

What should concern you: Blank stares when you mention AI search or answer engine optimization. An agency that dismisses AI search as a fad or says “we’ll worry about that when it matters” is already behind. The firms that position their content for AI-generated answers now will have a massive advantage as these platforms grow.

Question 8: What Are Your Contract Terms and Cancellation Policy?

Contract structure reveals how confident an agency is in their ability to deliver results. For a deeper look at the tradeoffs, see our comparison of monthly retainers vs project-based SEO.

What you want to hear: Month-to-month agreements or 6-month initial terms with month-to-month continuation. Clear cancellation policies with 30-day notice. No hidden fees. A clear scope of work document that itemizes exactly what you receive each month — how many blog posts, how many links, what technical work is included. You should know exactly what you’re paying for before you sign anything.

What should concern you:

• 12-month or 24-month contracts with early termination fees
• Agencies that own your website, content, or domain — if you leave, you lose everything
• Vague scopes of work that say “SEO services” without specifics
• Setup fees exceeding one month’s retainer without clear justification
• Any contract that doesn’t let you leave if the agency isn’t performing

Question 9: How Do You Handle Local SEO and Google Business Profile?

For most law firms, local SEO and Google Maps visibility drive the majority of organic leads. The map pack captures 42% of clicks on local searches. An agency that treats local SEO as an afterthought is ignoring where most of your clients are coming from.

What you want to hear: A detailed local SEO strategy that includes full GBP optimization, citation building and NAP consistency management, review generation systems, weekly GBP posting, local link building, and location page creation. They should be able to explain the local pack ranking factors and how they address each one.

What should concern you: Agencies that only focus on organic blog content and backlinks without a local SEO component. Agencies that “set up” your GBP once and never touch it again. Agencies that have no strategy for review acquisition. If an agency doesn’t mention GBP optimization in their pitch, they don’t understand law firm SEO.

Question 10: Can I Talk to Your Current Law Firm Clients?

References are the ultimate test. Any agency can say the right things on a sales call. Their current clients will tell you whether those promises turn into reality.

What you want to hear: “Absolutely. Here are three clients in similar practice areas you can call.” And those clients should confirm: the agency communicates proactively, delivers what they promise, produces measurable results, and is responsive when issues arise.

What should concern you: Refusal or hesitation to provide references. “We can’t share client names due to confidentiality” is usually an excuse, not a policy. Most satisfied clients are happy to share their experience — especially if the agency has genuinely helped their firm grow.

Red Flags That Should End the Conversation

Beyond the 10 questions above, walk away immediately if an agency:

• Guarantees rankings. No one can guarantee a #1 position on Google. Google’s algorithm considers hundreds of factors, and no agency controls all of them. Guarantees are either dishonest or come with fine print that makes them meaningless.
• Won’t explain their methods. Transparency is non-negotiable. You should know exactly what work is being done on your behalf, every month.
• Contacts you with unsolicited cold emails about your “terrible SEO.” The irony of an SEO agency that relies on spam email to get clients should not be lost on you.
• Name-drops Google as a “partner.” Being a Google Ads Partner does not mean Google endorses their SEO services. These are completely separate things.
• Offers prices far below market rate. If the market rate for quality law firm SEO is $3,000-$10,000/month and someone offers to do it for $500, they’re cutting corners you can’t afford to have cut.

What Good Agencies Look Like

We’ll be transparent — we’re a law firm SEO agency ourselves, and everything in this article reflects how we think about the work at LawFirmSEO.pro. But beyond our own approach, here’s what consistently characterizes agencies that deliver real results for law firms:

They have a defined process. Month 1 looks like X (audit, technical fixes, GBP optimization). Month 2 looks like Y (content strategy, initial link building). Month 3+ looks like Z (ongoing content, link acquisition, ROI tracking). You should be able to see the roadmap before you sign.

They communicate proactively. You shouldn’t have to chase your agency for updates. Good agencies reach out with monthly reports, quarterly strategy reviews, and real-time alerts when something significant happens (algorithm update, ranking change, technical issue).

They educate you. An agency that keeps you in the dark about what they do and why they do it is an agency that benefits from your ignorance. Good agencies want you to understand SEO well enough to appreciate the work and hold them accountable.

They focus on leads, not just rankings. Ranking #1 for a keyword nobody searches is worthless. Good agencies tie their efforts to business outcomes — consultations booked, cases signed, revenue generated. Rankings are a means, not an end.

They have depth, not just breadth. They don’t just “do SEO.” They have specialists in technical SEO, content strategy, link building, and local SEO. Each discipline requires different skills, and the best agencies have dedicated people for each one.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Here’s the math that keeps managing partners up at night. A bad agency that charges $4,000/month for 12 months costs you $48,000 in direct fees. But the real cost is the 12 months of opportunity you lost. If a good agency could have generated 10 additional organic leads per month by month 6, and your average case value is $15,000, that’s $150,000 in revenue you’ll never recover — plus the $48,000 you burned.

The total cost of choosing wrong: roughly $200,000.

That’s why these 10 questions matter. The time you spend evaluating agencies now is the cheapest insurance policy your firm can buy.

Take this list to your next agency call. Ask every question. Pay attention to how they respond — not just what they say, but whether they’re comfortable with transparency. The right agency will welcome the scrutiny. The wrong one will deflect it.