I'm going to say something unusual for an agency: most businesses don't need an agency. What they need is a clear digital strategy, the right tools, and either the time to execute it themselves or a trustworthy partner to do it for them. The problem is that finding a trustworthy partner is genuinely hard — and the agency industry has done an excellent job of obscuring the difference between good work and good-looking reports.
We've talked to hundreds of business owners over the years who've been burned. They paid $1,500 a month for 18 months. Their rankings didn't move. Their leads didn't increase. The agency kept sending PDFs with graphs that went up and to the right, but the phone wasn't ringing. When they pushed back, they got jargon. When they tried to leave, they found they didn't own their own website or their own Google Business Profile.
This guide is the checklist I'd hand to a family member before they signed with any digital marketing agency — including us.
Question 1: Who Will Actually Be Doing My Work?
This is the most important question you can ask, and most agencies hate it. The standard agency model is a sales team that closes clients, account managers who relay messages, and offshore or junior contractors who do the actual work. You meet one person on the sales call and never speak to another again.
Ask specifically: "Who writes my blog content? Who manages my SEO? Who do I call when I have a question?" If the answer is vague — "our team," "our specialists," "our content department" — that's a red flag. You should know the name and background of the person doing the work before you sign.
When we take on a client, they work directly with Rhea and Eric. Every strategy call. Every monthly report. Every phone call when something isn't working. This is not the industry norm. But it should be — and it's what you should hold out for.
Question 2: What Does Success Look Like — In Writing?
A good agency should be able to define success for your specific engagement before the contract is signed. Not "more traffic" and not "improved visibility." Specific, measurable outcomes: "Within 90 days, we will have your site passing Core Web Vitals. Within 6 months, you will be ranking on page one for [specific keyword] in [specific city]. Within 12 months, you will have X new organic leads per month."
If an agency can't or won't put specific outcomes in writing, it's because they're not confident they can deliver them — and they want the wiggle room to point at vanity metrics instead.
That said, be realistic: any legitimate agency will tell you that SEO results take time and that exact ranking predictions are inherently uncertain. What they should be able to tell you is their methodology, their past results for similar clients, and the leading indicators they'll be tracking month over month to show progress.
Question 3: Do You Own Your Website and All Your Assets?
This is non-negotiable. Your website, your Google Business Profile, your Google Analytics account, your email marketing lists — you need to own all of them, regardless of who manages them. Some agencies build websites on their own platforms, or manage GBP through accounts they control, or set up analytics in their own Google account. When you leave, they take everything with them.
Before signing, confirm in writing: "I own my domain, my website files, and all digital accounts. At the end of this engagement, I can take all of it with me." If an agency resists this, walk away.
Question 4: Can I See Work You've Done for Similar Businesses?
Not a general portfolio — specific examples. "Have you worked with any businesses in my industry? Can I see the results? Can I talk to that client?" A legitimate agency will have case studies, references they're willing to share, and real data from real engagements. Generic testimonials on a website mean almost nothing. A phone call with a client who can tell you exactly what the agency delivered is invaluable.
Pay attention to how specific the case study results are. "Increased traffic by 300%" is good. "Increased organic traffic from 420 visits/month to 1,680 visits/month for a skilled nursing facility in Rockford, IL, within 6 months using a pillar page content strategy and technical SEO repair" is better — because it tells you they actually understand what they did and why it worked.
Question 5: What's in the Contract?
Read every word before you sign. Look for these specific traps:
- Long lock-in periods: 12-month minimums with no exit clauses are a red flag. Legitimate agencies are confident enough in their work to offer 3–6 month commitments with renewal options.
- Vague deliverable language: "We will provide digital marketing services" is not a deliverable. "We will publish four SEO-optimized blog posts per month" is.
- Automatic renewal clauses: Some contracts auto-renew for another full term unless you cancel in a specific window. Know exactly when and how to cancel.
- Ownership language: As noted above — confirm that all digital assets remain yours regardless of what happens with the engagement.
- Success metric definitions: If the contract defines success as "impressions" or "reach" without tying it to actual business outcomes, that's how they'll justify mediocre results.
Question 6: What's Your Pricing Model and What's Included?
There are three common pricing models: hourly, retainer, and project-based. Each has legitimate uses, but you need to understand exactly what you're paying for. The most common complaints we hear from business owners about past agencies involve one of two things: either they were billed hourly and had no idea how many hours something would take, or they were on a retainer and couldn't figure out what the retainer was actually covering each month.
Ask for a detailed breakdown: what services are included, what's billed separately, what the monthly time commitment is for each deliverable, and what happens if scope changes. Then compare that against the outcomes you defined in Question 2. Are you getting enough work to achieve those outcomes at this price?
Question 7: How Do You Report Progress?
Monthly reporting is standard. But there's reporting that shows you what the agency did, and there's reporting that shows you what changed in your business. Ask to see a sample report. A good report shows ranking movement for specific target keywords, organic traffic trends (sessions, users, new users), Google Business Profile performance (calls, direction requests, website visits), and lead attribution — ideally tied to specific pages or campaigns.
A bad report shows impressions, reach, follower counts, and vanity engagement metrics that have no clear connection to actual business outcomes.
Question 8: What Happens If Results Aren't Coming?
Every honest agency will acknowledge that not every campaign performs exactly as projected. The question is: what do they do when it isn't working? Do they adjust strategy? Do they communicate proactively? Do they have a process for diagnosing underperformance?
Ask directly: "If we're six months in and I'm not seeing the results we discussed, what happens?" The answer should involve a specific review process, a willingness to adjust strategy, and — if it comes to it — a clear exit path that doesn't trap you in a contract for another 12 months of the same thing that isn't working.
The Red Flags That Should End the Conversation Immediately
- Guaranteed #1 Google rankings (impossible to guarantee and often a sign of black-hat tactics)
- Offshore content at scale with no editorial oversight
- They can't or won't show you results from similar clients
- They build your site on their proprietary platform that you can't access independently
- They respond to every question with jargon instead of plain language
- They don't ask you any questions about your business, your customers, or your goals during the sales conversation
One Final Thing: Trust Your Gut
After twelve years in this business, I believe in one final filter beyond all the questions and contracts: how does this person make you feel? Do they listen more than they talk? Do they give you honest answers, even when the honest answer isn't what you wanted to hear? Do they seem genuinely interested in your business, or does it feel like you're just another contract?
Marketing is a long-term relationship. You need a partner who will still be engaged and accessible in month 14, not just in month one. That's the standard we hold ourselves to — and it's the standard you should hold any agency to before you hand them your trust and your money.