You’re on a call with an SEO company in Port Charlotte. The pitch sounds confident. Page one. More traffic. Lots of reports.
Before you sign, ask seven questions. The answers tell you far more than a slide full of green arrows.
1. Which jobs are we trying to win? Say you own a tree company. Tree removal pays your crew. You don’t want to spend the next three months chasing lawn-mowing searches. Make the agency name the actual service and the area.
2. What is broken right now? Ask to see the Google Business Profile, the service pages, the call buttons and the forms. If the agency cannot show a specific problem, why is that problem in the invoice?
3. Who owns everything? Your domain, website, Google Business Profile and Search Console should remain under your control. Get that answer in writing. Losing access to your own business accounts is a nightmare nobody needs.
4. How do we count good leads? A report showing 500 visits is interesting. How many people called about work you actually do? How many estimates were booked? A useful report connects the search activity to real inquiries.
5. What about nearby towns? A Port Charlotte company serving North Port or Punta Gorda needs honest coverage information. Ask what each area page adds. Twenty copied pages with twenty city names is still copied work.
6. What happens this month? Get a short list of the planned work, who does it and how it will be checked. “Ongoing optimization” is a label. It isn’t a task.
7. What happens if the plan stalls? Ask how the agency reviews results and changes direction. If there’s a ranking guarantee, pin down the exact keyword, time frame, conditions and remedy. Otherwise the promise is just a sales line.
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Read its local ranking guidance. Its SEO Starter Guide also warns against guarantees of first-place rankings.
So read the actual agreement. Understand what is being promised and what happens if the promised result doesn’t arrive.
Compare the plan with what your business needs. One business needs a one-time fix. Another needs ongoing work. Paying a monthly fee doesn’t make an unclear plan smarter.
If you’re comparing an SEO company in Port Charlotte, ask for the work in plain English. At DeVoy Marketing, the work begins with a review of what customers see and where inquiries get lost.
Seven questions. Get seven real answers.