What should I ask a digital marketing agency before I sign up?
Ask five questions before you sign anything: what exactly will you do for my money each month, how will you prove it is working, who actually does the work, can I speak to a current client, and what do I keep when I leave. A good agency answers all five without waffling. Google adds a sixth: nobody can guarantee a number one ranking.
Most business owners we meet have been burned at least once. They paid an agency for months, got a colourful report, and could not say what they had actually bought. These checks are how you avoid being that story. I would be happy for anyone to ask us every one of them.
What exactly will you do for my money each month?
This is the question that separates real agencies from report factories. The answer should be a list of actual work in plain English: pages improved or added, content written, links earned, ads managed, your Google Business Profile worked on. If the answer is “optimisation” or “syndication” or a diagram, push until it is plain.
To be honest, we have been guilty of the same vague wording ourselves in the past, and it is not good enough. The fee buys work, so the answer should read like a list of work. Our guide to what a monthly SEO fee should include sets out the full list.
How will you prove it is working?
The only honest measure for a small business is enquiries: calls, forms, bookings, sales. Rankings and traffic are steps towards that, not the result. Ask how the agency will track enquiries, and ask what happens if six months in the enquiries have not moved. A good agency has an answer. A poor one changes the subject back to impressions and clicks.
Who actually does the work?
Plenty of agencies are a sales front over a subcontractor you will never speak to. Ask who will work on your account, where they are, and whether you can talk to them. Day-to-day communication should be with the people doing the work, not a go-between. There is nothing wrong with specialists being brought in, but you should know who they are. If the person who pitched you vanishes the day you sign, everything else on this list gets harder.
Can I speak to a current client?
Case studies on a website are marketing. A current client you can actually ring is proof. Ask for one or two, in a business roughly like yours, and ask them the only question that matters: are you getting more enquiries than before? We wrote a whole guide on checking an agency’s reviews and case studies, because this is where most of the polish lives.
What do I keep when I leave?
This one catches people out badly. Ask before you sign: who owns the website, the domain, the Google Analytics, the Google Ads account and the content if we part company? The right answer is that you do, all of it. If your ad account, your reviews profile or your content sits in the agency’s name, you are a tenant in your own marketing, and leaving means starting again. Get the answer in writing.
And what Google itself warns about
Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO names the red flags better than anyone: be wary of firms that email you out of the blue; no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google; beware anyone claiming a “special relationship” with Google or a “priority submit”; and Google does not endorse third-party SEO tools, whatever the sales deck says. Any agency using those lines has told you what it is. Walk away.
The questions, condensed
| Ask | A good answer sounds like | A warning sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| What will you do each month? | A plain-English list of real work | “Optimisation” and jargon |
| How do you prove it works? | Enquiries tracked, with a plan if they stall | Traffic graphs only |
| Who does the work? | Named people you can speak to | “Our team”, no names |
| Can I ring a current client? | Yes, here are two | Case study PDFs only |
| What do I keep when I leave? | Everything: site, data, accounts, content | Hesitation, or “the platform is ours” |
| Can you guarantee rankings? | No, and nobody can | Yes, or “we have methods” |
What Bamsh can do
Everything on this page is how we work ourselves: named people, plain-English monthly work, enquiries as the measure, and everything owned by you from day one. Our SEO service and prices are on the site, plus VAT, and if you want to ask us these six questions, call the number on the site. We will answer them exactly as written here.
Frequently asked questions
What should a digital marketing agency include in a monthly report?
The work actually done, in plain English, plus the numbers that matter: enquiries, calls and forms first, then rankings and traffic underneath as supporting evidence. A report that leads with impressions and clicks is hiding the question you actually care about.
Is it a red flag if a marketing agency guarantees Google rankings?
Yes. Google states plainly that no one can guarantee a number one ranking. A guarantee tells you the agency is willing to say anything to get the signature, or plans to rank you for searches nobody makes.
Should I sign a 12-month contract with a marketing agency?
Be cautious. SEO genuinely takes months to show results, so some commitment is reasonable, but a good agency earns renewals rather than trapping them. If a long contract is required, ask what happens if they stop delivering, and make sure you keep your site, data and accounts whatever happens.
How much should a small business pay a marketing agency?
It depends on what you need done and how competitive your market is. Our guide to SEO costs gives honest UK figures, and our own prices are on the site, plus VAT. Be suspicious of anything very cheap: the work described on this page takes real hours.
What is the single most important question to ask a marketing agency?
“What do I keep when I leave?” It reveals everything: whether they expect to keep you by results or by lock-in, and whether your website, data and ad accounts are really yours.
Sources and checks
- Google Search Central, “Do I need an SEO?”. Google’s hiring advice, including the line behind our sixth question: if an SEO guarantees first place in search results, find someone else. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo
Sources checked 29 October 2026.
