Hiring an SEO agency is a big step for any business. Doing it right can drive real growth. Done poorly, it can lead to a waste of time and money. This guide walks you through when to hire, what to ask, and how to work with an SEO team that actually gets results.
SEO in 2025 is more competitive than ever because it is not the same game as it was a few years ago. Google’s updates roll out faster, search intent is shifting, and AI-generated content is everywhere. That means more noise and an increased risk of falling behind.
The demand for SEO specialists is rising because in-house teams often don’t have the depth or tools to keep up. This blog covers when to hire an agency, how to choose one, what to expect when working with one, and how to get the most value from the relationship.
If you’re spending hours reading SEO blogs, tweaking meta tags, or trying to fix crawl errors between meetings, it’s probably time to bring in experts. SEO is knowing what to prioritise and why which is all rooted from experience.
Agencies bring three key things most internal teams don’t have: specialised tools, cross-industry experience, and time. Tools like crawlers, keyword platforms, and backlink monitors give you the technical edge, but only if you know how to use them properly. Agencies work with these every day, across different sites, markets, and challenges. That experience means they can spot problems faster and find solutions that actually work.
Hiring an agency also means you stop wasting time chasing algorithm updates or second-guessing whether to update old content or launch new pages. A strong agency will build a strategy around your goals, backed by data. You’ll spend less time reacting and more time progressing.
You’re ready to hire when things start to stall or never quite get moving. Maybe your rankings are flat, your traffic’s not growing, or leads from organic search just aren’t coming in. You might also be doing everything “right” but still not seeing results. That’s usually a sign there’s something deeper going on which is something an experienced agency can uncover and fix.
It’s also smart to bring in an agency before a launch. Whether it’s a new website, a rebrand, or entering a new market, early input from SEO experts can prevent big problems later. They can flag structural issues, help with URL strategy, and make sure your site is crawlable and user-friendly from day one.
If your internal team is stretched or you’ve got a big push coming, like a site migration, a content overhaul, or an international rollout, an agency helps keep the work moving without derailing your day-to-day. They act as an extension of your team, bringing the focus and technical know-how you might not have in-house.
Hiring an SEO agency isn’t about giving up control. It’s about getting the right people in the room so you can do more of what works and stop wasting time on what doesn’t.
Start with questions. Ask how they define success. Ask to see case studies. And ask how they’d approach your specific challenges.
To go deeper into the evaluation process, read our blog ‘How to Find the Right SEO Agency’. It walks through key questions, culture fit, and red flags in proposals.
If they avoid going into detail or promise instant results, move on. SEO takes time and skill. You want transparency, not fairy dust.
For instance, we worked with PRESS Healthfoods, a plant-based health food brand that came to us looking to grow their organic visibility in a crowded market. We began with a comprehensive technical audit to uncover crawl issues and opportunities to strengthen their site structure.
From there, our team developed a content optimisation strategy aligned with high-intent search terms, while also addressing key technical improvements like structured data, site speed, and internal linking.
Over the past years, this tailored approach delivered a 529% increase in organic revenue, proving that when technical foundations and content strategy work together, the results can be transformational. Read the full case study here.
Technical SEO often sits in the background until it fails. When a site becomes slow, when schema markup breaks, or when JavaScript hides content from Google, the impact isn’t immediate but it eats away at rankings quietly. That’s why ignoring it is risky.
Agencies that know their craft don’t just tick boxes on a checklist. They run proper audits, find the real problems, and then fix them in a way that won’t trigger new ones later. Take migrations as an example. Moving a website to a new domain or redesigning it sounds straightforward, but without careful redirects and indexing control, traffic can drop overnight. Once Google sees broken links or confused URL structures, it can take months to recover visibility.
Structured data is another area where mistakes cost you. Schema markup helps search engines understand content more clearly, which can win you features like rich snippets. But if the markup is broken or spammy, Google doesn’t just ignore it. In some cases, it can actually penalise the site, stripping away those rich results and reducing click-through rates.
Performance issues matter just as much. Search engines have made it clear that speed and Core Web Vitals influence rankings. Beyond that, users simply leave when a site is sluggish. Even a small delay in loading can increase bounce rates, which signals to Google that the page isn’t serving visitors well. Poor server response times or bloated code don’t just frustrate users, they give competitors an advantage.
The part people often forget is that technical SEO isn’t a one-off fix. Search engines constantly change their requirements, browsers release updates, and new site features like lazy-loading or indexing APIs can introduce fresh problems. Agencies that understand technical SEO know this is ongoing work. They keep monitoring and testing, so issues are caught early before rankings and traffic start to slip.
If this is new territory or you want to be sure you’re using the right terms, check out our guide ‘An Introduction to Technical SEO’ for a refresher.
SEO isn’t something you set and forget. It’s not a black box you hand off and check back in on six months later. To get real results, you need to stay involved.
That doesn’t mean micromanaging. It means meeting regularly, giving honest feedback, and keeping the work moving. One of the first steps is agreeing on how you’ll work together: how often you’ll meet, what kind of access the agency needs, and how progress will be tracked. Sorting this out upfront prevents confusion later.
The best results come when your internal team and the agency are aligned. That means working towards shared goals, having clear expectations, and staying open in your communication. When that relationship clicks, you get faster turnaround, better ideas, and stronger outcomes.
As the client, your role is active, not passive. You need to actually listen to the advice your agency gives and be willing to take action. If recommendations sit untouched for weeks, progress stalls. SEO builds momentum over time, so delays in edits or approvals can undo gains that were already in motion.
Feedback is just as important. If something doesn’t feel right, say so. If something’s working, flag it too. Keeping that loop tight helps the agency fine-tune their work. Fixes need to be made in a timely way. Edits left sitting create bottlenecks that affect the whole campaign.
Working with an SEO agency is a two-way street. While the agency brings the expertise, you bring the business context. The best outcomes happen when you both contribute. It’s a partnership, not a handover.
And if something’s not working, a good agency won’t brush it off. They’ll bring data to the table, show you what they’re seeing, and adjust the plan. Reporting shouldn’t be about showing perfect graphs every month. It should be about building visibility so both sides can make smarter decisions.
If you can’t see what’s working and what’s not, you can’t improve it. And neither can they.
Looking past surface-level metrics is non-negotiable.
Rankings and traffic numbers might look impressive on a slide, but they don’t always translate into real business outcomes. A serious SEO agency knows this, which is why reporting should focus on ROI, not vanity metrics.
That means you should expect more than a monthly report with charts. A good agency is transparent with raw data sources, not just polished dashboards. They should clearly explain why certain numbers changed, what they did to drive those changes, and how it connects to your revenue, leads, or conversions.
For example, if organic traffic increased, did it come from high-intent queries that actually drove sales, or from informational blog posts that attracted readers but no customers?
Accountability also comes down to storytelling with data. SEO is complex, and sometimes results take months to materialise. In those cases, your agency should explain what’s happening behind the scenes, such as; indexation issues being fixed, schema markup being rolled out, or link profiles being cleaned up. Without that context, numbers in isolation don’t mean much.
Finally, real accountability means a willingness to adapt.
Migrating to a new platform or domain? SEO should be involved from the start. Redirects, canonicals, and crawlability need careful handling. A bad migration can gut your organic traffic overnight.
Get your agency involved early so you don’t have to fix broken rankings later.
We’ve seen this first-hand. When Bain & Gray, a specialist recruitment firm, came to us ahead of a major website migration, we knew the risks involved. Our team handled the technical SEO groundwork including redirect mapping, metadata preservation, and crawlability checks while also creating a local SEO strategy to ensure they didn’t just maintain performance, but actually improved it.
The outcome? A 522% year-over-year increase in clicks for their most important commercial terms post-migration, alongside stronger visibility in highly competitive local searches. With the right planning, a migration can be a growth opportunity rather than a setback. Read the full case study here.
Hiring an SEO agency involves bringing in a team that can think critically, act strategically, and deliver results that actually move the needle. One of the clearest signs you’ve found a good agency? They take competitor analysis seriously.
A strong agency won’t just identify your competitors. They’ll dig into what those businesses are ranking for and why. This matters because it sets a benchmark. If you don’t know which keywords your competitors dominate or how they structure their content, you’re working without a plan. A solid agency uses this analysis to help you go beyond trial and error and focus on what actually works.
They’ll also look at your competitors’ backlink profiles. Backlinks are still one of Google’s biggest ranking signals. Knowing where your competitors get their authority, such as; from media mentions, niche directories, or partnerships, can show you what’s achievable and what’s worth targeting. If an agency isn’t talking to you about this, they’re missing a key part of the puzzle.
Technical factors are another area where good agencies dig deeper. They’ll assess how your competitors structure their sites, how fast their pages load, and how clean their internal linking is. These aren’t glamorous details, but they’re critical. A fast, well-organised site can be the deciding factor in whether you outrank someone or stay stuck behind them.
A smart agency knows that competitor analysis isn’t about copying. The goal isn’t to replicate what someone else is doing. It’s to spot patterns, identify gaps, and find your edge. Maybe your competitors ignore certain search intentions.
Maybe their content is shallow. Maybe they’ve missed opportunities in local SEO. A great agency will find those openings and build a strategy around them.
When you’re hiring an SEO agency, ask how they handle competitor research. It’s one of the fastest ways to separate the tactical thinkers from the box-tickers. Agencies that treat competitor analysis as a foundational step tend to be the ones who understand how to build real, lasting growth.
Competitor analysis still matters. And if you’re working with the right agency, it’ll never be an afterthought. It’ll be baked into every decision they make.
Bringing in the right agency should free you up to focus on other priorities. The right partner won’t just tick boxes, they’ll act as an extension of your team, bringing clarity, structure, and expertise to challenges that can otherwise feel overwhelming.
The key is to focus on what you actually need, ask the right questions up front, and stay actively involved once the work begins. SEO works best when there’s alignment between your business goals and your agency’s strategy.
A good agency will be transparent, show you the “why” behind their recommendations, and keep you accountable with clear reporting. And when that happens, SEO stops feeling like a mystery and starts driving real, measurable growth.
If you’re unsure where to start or want expert guidance on choosing and working with an SEO agency that actually delivers, talk to the team at StudioHawk. We’ll help you cut through the noise, build a strategy grounded in data, and partner with you for long-term, sustainable growth.