How to Hire an SEO Expert: A Brief Template You Can Copy

If you are working out how to hire an SEO expert, the step most businesses skip is the cheapest one: writing down what you want before anyone sends a proposal. Without a brief, every candidate picks the scope that suits them. One quotes for an audit, one for twelve months of “SEO”, one for links. You end up comparing three sales pitches, not three prices.

I have worked in SEO and digital marketing for more than 16 years, and the best enquiries I receive are the ones that arrive with a short brief. They get a better answer from me, faster, and the client can hold my reply next to anyone else’s. Below is the template I would want a prospect to send, section by section, with notes on what to write and what to leave out.

How to hire an SEO expert in five steps

The brief sits in the middle of a simple process. Each step filters out a different kind of bad fit.

1. Write the brief. One to two pages, using the template below.
2. Shortlist three to five candidates. Fewer gives you no comparison, more wastes your time.
3. Send everyone the same brief, with the same deadline for replies and the same reply format.
4. Compare the replies on one sheet. Hours, people, deliverables and assumptions, side by side.
5. Start small. A paid audit or a fixed block of hours before any retainer.

This article covers step one and what it does to the rest.

Why a brief gets you comparable quotes

A sales call is designed by the seller. A brief is designed by you. That is the whole difference.

When the scope is left open, a candidate’s price reflects their business model, not your site. A retainer seller quotes a retainer. A link seller quotes links. A consultant quotes hours. None of them is wrong to do so, but you cannot tell which is cheaper, because they are not quoting for the same job.

A brief fixes the question. It also shows you who reads. An expert who replies to your actual goal, mentions your platform and questions an assumption in your brief has already done a small piece of real work. One who sends the same deck they send everyone has told you something too.

The quality of the reply to a good brief is the best free sample of work you will ever get from an SEO.

The SEO brief template, section by section

Copy the eight headings below into a document and write a few lines under each. Plain notes are fine.

1. About the business

What you sell, to whom and where. Your best customer in one sentence. Your main competitors, in your view (the businesses you lose deals to, not only the ones that rank). Example: “We install commercial kitchen ventilation for restaurants in the south-east of England. Most jobs come from referrals and Google searches.”

2. The goal

One goal, stated as a business result: more enquiries for one service, more online sales in one category, recovery after a drop, a safe migration. Say how you measure it today, even if the answer is “we count calls by hand”. If you have several goals, rank them. A brief that asks for everything gets a quote for everything.

3. Site facts

Platform (WordPress, Shopify, Magento or custom), rough number of pages or products, languages and countries, who can edit the site and how quickly changes get released. Name your money pages: the three to five URLs that bring in revenue or leads. These facts move the price more than anything else, so give them plainly.

4. Recent history

Redesigns, platform changes, domain moves, previous agencies, links bought or built, and any drop in traffic or leads, with rough dates. Be honest about past link buying. A good expert needs to know, and Google’s spam policies define link spam as creating links “primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings”, including buying or selling links for ranking purposes.

5. Scope requested

Say what you want quoted, in one of three shapes: a one-off review (audit and prioritised list), a fixed project (for example a migration), or ongoing work for a set number of months. Ask for anything outside that to be priced separately, so the core quotes stay comparable.

6. Access offered

State what you will give at the quote stage and what comes later. My suggestion follows in the next section.

7. Constraints

A budget range, a deadline, internal resources (a developer for two days a month, a writer, nobody) and anything that cannot change, such as a booking system or a brand rule. Giving a budget range does not mean you will be charged the maximum. It stops candidates quoting for a project you cannot fund.

8. Reply format

This is the section that makes quotes comparable, so it gets its own checklist below.

Access to offer at the quote stage

Google’s page Do you need an SEO? gives clear advice for audits: “only grant read access to Search Console (at this stage, don’t grant them write access).” I would apply the same rule to quotes.

Search Console Help explains the permission levels: an owner “has full control over properties”, a full user “has view rights to all data and can take some actions”, and a restricted user “has simple view rights on most data”. Only an owner can add users. For a quote, restricted access is usually enough for a candidate to see what is happening on your site.

I covered the wider contract side, including exit terms, in red flags and contract terms when hiring an SEO freelancer.

The reply format: what to ask every candidate for

Put this list at the end of your brief, word for word if you like. A candidate who skips half of it has answered a question you didn’t ask.

The last two lines come straight from Google’s list of questions to ask an SEO, which includes “Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?” and “What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?” The line about what they would not do is mine. It is the quickest honesty test I know.

When replies arrive, compare them on one sheet with the same rows. If you want a full list of follow-up questions for the shortlist, use my 12 questions to ask before signing with an SEO company.

How to hire an SEO consultant for technical work

If your problem is technical (pages not indexed, a slow site, a migration, JavaScript rendering), add a short technical section to the brief. It also answers a common question: how to find a technical SEO expert rather than a generalist.

Add three things:

• Search Console evidence. The Page indexing report “shows how many URLs on your site have been crawled and indexed by Google”, and groups the rest under reasons such as “URL marked ‘noindex'”, “Soft 404” or “Crawled – currently not indexed”. A screenshot of the summary and the top reasons is enough. Google also says that if your site has fewer than 500 pages, you probably don’t need this report, so for a small site say so instead.
• Your release process. Who deploys changes, how often, and whether there is a staging site.
• Known constraints. Theme or framework, plugins you cannot remove, hosting limits.

Then judge replies on one point: does the candidate explain what they would check first and why? A technical expert reads your reasons list and starts forming hypotheses. A generalist sends a list of everything an audit tool can flag. Our technical SEO service page shows how I scope this kind of work.

Mistakes that make a brief useless

• Asking for “SEO” with no goal. You will get quotes for whatever the candidate sells most.
• Hiding the budget. You will get quotes sized for someone else.
• Leaving out the history. A past penalty, a migration or bought links changes the plan, and finding out later costs hours you pay for.
• Asking for a guaranteed ranking. Google’s hiring page says “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google”. A brief that asks for one invites the people you should avoid.
• Sending it to twenty firms. You cannot read twenty replies properly, and good candidates often decline mass tenders.

How I answer a brief

I charge by the hour, with no fixed packages, so my reply to a brief is a list of tasks with estimated hours, the order I would do them in and the assumptions behind each estimate. If part of your brief is not worth paying for, I say so. If you would be better served by someone else, for example a content writer rather than a consultant, I say that too. My background and certifications are on my profile page.

A brief also makes a first call shorter and more useful. If you would rather talk before writing anything, my guide to preparing for an SEO consultation covers what to bring.

FAQ

How do I hire an SEO consultant without wasting money?

Write a short brief with one goal, your site facts and a budget range, and send it to three to five candidates. Ask each for hours, named people and a first-month plan. Start with a small paid piece of work, such as an audit, before committing to a longer contract.

How do I find a technical SEO expert rather than a generalist?

Include Search Console evidence in your brief, such as the main reasons in the Page indexing report, and ask candidates what they would check first and why. A technical expert answers with specific hypotheses about your site. A generalist answers with a standard audit checklist.

Should I tell an SEO expert my budget?

Yes, as a range. It lets candidates propose work you can fund and stops them quoting for a different size of project. A fair expert will tell you if your budget only covers part of the goal, and which part to do first.

How long should an SEO brief be?

One to two pages is enough. A few lines under each of the eight headings gives a candidate what they need, and anything longer is rarely read closely. Put attachments, such as a ranking check or a Search Console export, at the end.