Choosing the right SEO agency is key to driving organic traffic and other measurable results for your business. But how do you make the right choice if you don’t know what to look for in an SEO agency?
Some of the first things to look for in a reliable SEO agency are skill, experience, and expertise. Your SEO partner needs all three of those attributes to deliver successful campaigns. But no matter how good they are at their job, they must also be able to prove their worth with clear communication and effective SEO performance reporting.
This guide shares the most important traits that set the best SEO companies apart.
12 Things to look for in an SEO agency
With so many companies offering SEO services, often making bold claims about what they can achieve for you, it’s not easy to distinguish the true experts from the hype.
The following checklist of green flags will help you identify the best SEO agencies out of those you’re considering:
- Transparent pricing
- Experience and expertise
- Proven track record
- Client reviews and testimonials
- Specialized services
- Comprehensive SEO strategy
- Culture and ongoing education
- Size and scalability
- Tech stack
- Certifications
- Awards
- Reporting and support
1. Transparent pricing
You want an SEO partner that offers a transparent pricing structure. Steer clear of firms that don’t openly share their pricing structures, because you risk being slapped with hidden fees, and they may be unable to justify your marketing investment. Your prospective partner needs to offer a clear and upfront pricing structure, not one buried in jargon.
2. Experience and expertise
SEO is a complex and ever-evolving process, making it necessary to work only with agencies with experience and expertise. The right SEO agency also has a deep level of understanding and experience working with businesses in your industry to ensure they adapt campaigns to industry standards and goals.
WebFX, SEO.com’s parent company, has 25+ years of experience in the industry, 500+ SEO experts, and experience across numerous industries (including home services, professional services, healthcare, and more).
3. Proven track record
Your SEO agency should be able to demonstrate their ability to drive results through SEO, starting with their own. Take a look at their website and their presence in search results. If their website is poorly optimized and they don’t appear very high up in relevant rankings, that’s not a good sign. You can also look into their backlink profile and organic traffic for further insights.
4. Client reviews and testimonials
The agency’s word is not enough to go by when making a long-term investment like SEO. You need to look at what their clients are saying.
Reading through client reviews and testimonials on the agency’s website or independent review sites like G2 or Clutch will tell you whether they deliver on their promises and whether they’re a cultural fit for your business.
WebFX has well-documented case studies and testimonials that speak to our transparency, responsiveness, and technical expertise.
5. Specialized services
An experienced SEO agency offers a variety of specialized services for your industry and business growth needs. They can combine a few SEO services to provide you with a highly effective custom strategy.
For instance, if you offer localized services like healthcare or HVAC, they should recommend local SEO. And for franchise companies, maintaining consistent contact information online is a priority.
6. Comprehensive SEO strategy
You want an SEO agency capable of providing all the services you find most valuable to boost your online visibility, rankings, and organic traffic. Additionally, a comprehensive SEO strategy should include all technical, on-page, and off-page strategies. It aligns with broader digital marketing strategies, including paid ad campaigns, social media marketing, and conversion rate optimization (CRO).
7. Culture and ongoing education
An SEO agency’s internal culture directly impacts the quality of service you receive. Look for a few signs of a strong company culture like a dedicated in-house team of SEO experts, ongoing team training, and a client-first mindset. At SEO.com, we have an impressive company culture rooted in continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation.
8. Size and scalability
Your SEO agency must have the capacity, expertise, systems, and techniques to adapt to your growth. A scalable agency has a specialized team, proven success across business sizes and industries, and the infrastructure to accommodate your business growth.
WebFX, the team behind SEO.com, wins in terms of size, as we have 500+ SEO experts behind our over 2,000 campaigns for our more than 1500 clients. Our capacity shows our ability to handle small, medium, and enterprise-scale businesses.
9. Tech stack
A technical stack refers to the set of tools, software, and platforms that an agency uses to execute and track SEO campaigns. A team with a well-integrated tech stack improves campaign efficiency, facilitates actionable results tracking, and powers data-driven decision-making.
So, when you talk with an agency, be sure to ask which tools they’ll be using for keyword research, technical SEO, and competitor analysis. Those tools should integrate with your existing CRM, CMS, and analytics tools.
10. Certifications
Certifications act as proof of an SEO company’s skills and credibility granted by a third party. Some certifications also show that an agency’s team has a good grasp of tools and platforms that contribute to SEO campaign success. Look out for the Google Premier Partner, HubSpot Certified Partner, and SEMrush Agency Partner certifications.
11. Awards
Some awards and recognitions — such as the Clutch Top SEO Company, the Horizon Interactive Awards, and Inc. 5000 and Best Places to Work — speak to a company’s excellence. These awards go to show that the company has been vetted by major tech platforms.
12. Reporting and support
Your SEO campaign is not complete unless you have detailed performance reports in the end. So, you must partner with an agency with effective reporting skills and tools, such as SEO.com. When you work with us, we use RevenueCloudFX, which integrates with our customers’ existing technologies to track and measure digital marketing results.
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Resources to help you find the right SEO agency
We want to help you make the most informed decision about your SEO agency to maximize your organic traffic and online visibility. So, we have a number of other pages on our website that can help you narrow down your search for the best SEO agency:
- How To Choose an SEO Company for Your Business in 2025
- 21 Questions to Ask an SEO Agency Before You Hire Them
- What Does an SEO Company Do? (& How to Choose One)
- What to Expect From an SEO Company (And How to Get It)
- Best SEO Companies: Everything you need to find the right one
- Get a free SEO proposal from SEO.com
Learn firsthand what makes a good SEO company with SEO.com
Now you know what to look for in an SEO company, but there’s still the task of finding one that matches all those criteria. Thankfully, you don’t have to look too far. SEO.com is one of the leading SEO agencies out there, embodying all the SEO green flags on this list (and none of the red flags).
When you partner with us for our SEO services, you’ll be able to drive a lot more traffic to your website and turn that traffic into revenue for your business. Plus, if you need help with other marketing strategies beyond SEO, you won’t have to go elsewhere — we’re a full-service digital marketing agency, so we offer a variety of services.
Interested in partnering with us? Contact us online to get started today!
SEO Services That Aren’t Cookie Cutter
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SEO Services That Aren’t Cookie Cutter
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