Topic 07 / 5 primary articles

Buying and Evaluating SEO

Evaluate audits, reports, guarantees, pricing, and providers by the evidence they expose and the decisions they help a business make.

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  1. 01

    How to read an SEO audit without getting snowed

    A useful audit connects every finding to evidence, consequence, priority, and a practical next action.

  2. 02

    Ranking guarantees are a contract-reading exercise

    Treat guarantees as prompts for better questions, never as evidence of competence.

  3. 03

    SEO pricing without the decorative averages

    Compare the work, access, assumptions, and accountability—not just the monthly number.

Complete primary inventory

Every article
in this topic.

Evaluate audits, reports, guarantees, pricing, and providers by the evidence they expose and the decisions they help a business make.

Playbook01

Buying SEO

How to read an SEO audit without getting snowed

A long PDF is not a strategy. Here is how to separate reproducible findings from expensive formatting and recycled warnings.

Documented practice2 min read
Playbook02

Buying SEO

A local SEO provider scorecard you can actually use

Evaluate access, operating discipline, local evidence, reporting, and ownership before charisma gets a vote.

Documented practice1 min read
Claim check03

Claim checks

Ranking guarantees are a contract-reading exercise

The promise is only as useful as its query set, geography, device context, exclusions, and remedy.

Primary sources1 min read
Explainer04

Buying SEO

SEO pricing without the decorative averages

Most pricing questions are scope questions wearing a dollar sign. Ask what actually happens after the invoice.

Desk analysis1 min read
Checklist05

Measurement without theater

Seven questions every SEO report should answer

Reporting should reduce uncertainty and change decisions. If it only inventories activity, it is a receipt for busyness.

Desk analysis1 min read

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