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What an SEO proposal should contain

The sections a sound SEO proposal includes, and the gaps that tell you a provider has not yet decided what it will do.

By Antoine Martin, Founder, Web Marketing International.
Published 4 November 2026. Last reviewed 4 November 2026.

Short answer

A sound SEO proposal states what it found in an audit, what will be done each month, how links will be earned, how long results usually take and how success is measured. It makes no ranking guarantee.

Use this page as a checklist when a proposal arrives. Each heading is a section the proposal should have. A missing section is not proof of a poor provider, but it is a question to put before you sign.

Findings from your site

The proposal should say what the provider found on your site and why it matters, in plain language and with your pages as examples. If the findings could be pasted onto any other business, the audit was a template.

The plan and the deliverables

Ask for a list of what will be done in the first three months and what you will receive each month. Technical fixes, content and links should each have their own lines, with who does the work. Anything described only as “ongoing optimisation” needs a definition.

Timeframe

Google’s starter guide says some changes might take effect within hours and others could take several months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging a change[2]. A proposal should say what it expects to see and when, and what the provider will do if it does not appear. Google’s suggested questions include what results to expect and in what timeframe[1].

Be wary of any proposal that names a ranking. Google states that no one can guarantee a number one ranking[1].

The proposal should explain how links will be earned. Google treats buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam, and sites that break its policies may rank lower or not appear at all[3]. If the plan includes paid placements, ask how they will be marked, because Google says paid links belong to advertising or sponsorship and should carry a nofollow or sponsored attribute.

Measures and reporting

Agree what success means before work starts: which pages, which queries, which action on the site. Ask that reports can be checked against Search Console and analytics accounts that your business owns. A report you cannot trace to your own data is a summary you are trusting.

Terms

Check the minimum term, the notice period, what happens to your content and access when the work ends, and whether the fee and any VAT are stated clearly. Take professional advice on the contract itself.

When you have the proposals side by side, enter them in the scorecard. The wider method is in how to choose an SEO agency in Dubai. To see how I set out these sections, ask me for the SEO services I offer in writing and score what I send.

Sources

  1. Google Search Central, Do You Need an SEO? Tips for Hiring an SEO. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  2. Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide: The Basics. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  3. Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search. Accessed 4 November 2026.