Score your candidate across five pillars — credentials, strategy, transparency, red flags, and fit. Takes about 5 minutes. Use it in your evaluation call or after, while the conversation is fresh.
15 questions
5 pillars
5 minutes
No email required
0 of 15 answered
Pillar 01Credentials & Experience0/3
Q1
Can they point to specific sites they've improved — with real traffic or ranking data?
Vague references to "clients in your industry" without specifics are a yellow flag. Named examples with verifiable outcomes are the green light.
Q2
Have they worked on sites similar to yours in size and type?
Enterprise SEO and local service business SEO are different disciplines. Someone who has only managed Fortune 500 accounts may not be the right fit for a 10-page local business site — and vice versa.
Q3
Does their own website rank for their own services?
The clearest signal of capability. A consultant who can't rank themselves for "SEO consultant [city]" has a significant credibility gap. Look them up before the call.
Pillar 02Strategy & Process0/3
Q4
Did they look at your site before the call and have specific opinions about it?
Experts form hypotheses quickly. If they came to the call with specific observations about your site — "your title tags are generic" or "you have a crawl issue on your blog" — that's a strong signal. If they waited to be paid before having an opinion, that's not.
Q5
Can they walk you through your first 90 days with specific deliverables at day 30, 60, and 90?
Vague phases ("discovery, optimization, growth") without specific deliverables at each stage are a yellow flag. Experts can tell you what specifically will happen in month one because they have a methodology, not just a sales process.
Q6
Can they tell you what they'd deprioritize on your site right now — and why?
This tests strategic thinking, not just knowledge. An SEO consultant with genuine expertise has opinions about what's NOT worth doing as well as what is. If they can't identify something they'd deprioritize, they're either not strategic thinkers or they're afraid to take a position.
Pillar 03Transparency & Reporting0/3
Q7
Does their proposal have line-item deliverables — not just phases and objectives?
"We'll improve your SEO" is not a scope. A real scope has line items: 2 blog posts on [topics], technical fix for [specific issue], schema markup on [pages]. If the proposal doesn't have line items, ask for them before signing.
Q8
Does their reporting tie to business outcomes — calls, leads, revenue — not just impressions and rankings?
Impressions going up is easy to produce — you rank at position 80 for 500 more keywords. Your phone doesn't ring. Ask what their monthly report looks like. If it's impressions and keyword counts without business context, it's a vanity report designed to justify the invoice.
Q9
Can they describe a strategy they tried that didn't work — and what they learned?
Anyone with 5+ years of SEO experience has strategies that didn't work. If they can describe one specifically — what they tried, what happened, what they changed — that's a sign of intellectual honesty and real experience. If they can't, either they haven't been doing this long or they're managing impressions.
Pillar 04Red Flags0/3
Q10
Did they avoid making guarantees about specific rankings or traffic numbers?
No ethical SEO professional guarantees rankings. Google's algorithm involves hundreds of factors outside any consultant's control. If they promised first-page results or specific traffic increases, that's a disqualifying red flag — not a selling point.
Q11
Did they avoid pushing a platform migration primarily to improve SEO?
Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow rank just as well as WordPress when configured correctly. A consultant recommending you migrate platforms primarily for SEO is either uninformed or motivated by the implementation work. Ask them to show you non-WordPress sites they've ranked if they push back.
Q12
Is the contract flexible — month-to-month or quarterly with an exit clause?
A consultant confident in their ability to deliver results doesn't need a mandatory 12-month contract before showing you anything. Month-to-month or quarterly engagements with a reasonable exit clause are the standard for a consultant who expects you to want to stay voluntarily.
Pillar 05Fit & Execution0/3
Q13
Is it clear who will actually be doing the work on your account?
The most common source of agency disappointment: you evaluate a senior person and a junior analyst does your work. Ask directly: "Who specifically will be executing the deliverables, and what is their experience level?" If the answer is vague, push for a name and background.
Q14
Did they tell you what they don't do — and where the boundaries of their work are?
Specialists who know their lane are better at their work. An SEO consultant who is also offering paid search, social media management, and web design is spreading thin. A consultant who clearly scopes their work and says "I don't do X" is telling you they have a focused methodology.
Q15
After the call, do you have a clear picture of what the first month looks like — and what success means?
The ultimate fit test. If you finish the call with clarity about what's happening in month one, what you'll receive, and how you'll know if it's working — that's a well-run sales process from someone who knows their work. If you're still vague on all three, trust that feeling.
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