SEO: a guide for pros
What customers ask, how to win the job, and what to put on your profile.
Offering seo
You improve how clients' websites appear in search results through audits, technical fixes, content work and quality links. Your value is clear priorities, honest reporting and methods that hold up over time.
What customers ask
- Will you get me to the top of Google?
- What is wrong with my site?
- How long until I see more traffic?
- Can you fix the site yourself, or do I need a developer?
- How do you build links?
How to win the job
- On the first call, ask for the site address, the business goals, the main services and locations, the current analytics access and the developer contact, then confirm the scope in writing.
- Run the audit and share a short list of the first five fixes, with the reason and the effort for each, before the client agrees to the full scope.
- Show a sample report with the measures you will track, and explain in plain words what the measures can and cannot show.
- Write a fix list for the developer with each item's location, the problem and the expected result, so the work is easy to hand over.
- Keep link work limited to sources a real visitor might use, and explain each link method to the client in writing.
- Set a review schedule and report changes with dates, so the client can connect the work to what they see.
What to put on your profile
- List the types of sites you work on, such as local service, e-commerce or professional practices.
- Describe your audit and reporting method in plain steps.
- Name the tools you use, and whether the client needs to pay for any of them.
Follow-up that helps the customer
- Schedule a review after the first major fixes are live, to check that search engines can read the pages.
- Offer a content plan for new pages that match the searches the client's customers use.
- Suggest a yearly audit to catch problems that new pages or site changes create.
Licenses and permits
SEO work is usually not licensed. Keep your business registration current, and check your state or local rules for any registration your work requires; do not promise rankings or results, and state the limits of the work in every contract.
Questions
Do I need a certification to offer SEO?
Usually not. Clients look for references, examples of audits and a clear explanation of your methods. Some tool providers offer training that you can list if you hold it.
How do I respond to a client who wants a ranking guarantee?
Explain that no one can guarantee a search position, since search results depend on many factors. Offer the measures you will track and a review schedule.
What should I do if a client's site loses traffic after my changes?
Check the changes against the log, look for technical errors and report the findings in writing. Do not blame outside factors without evidence.
Pro reviewers
Pros who offer seo remotely can improve this guide, like Wikipedia. We check every edit before it goes live. Every approved edit is credited in the edit history and on the pro's profile.
Edit history
- Oct 29, 2026: Drafted by infinibell to our content guidelines.
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