A practical SEO RFP checklist for small and midsize businesses

Decide these things before you write anything

The most common RFP mistake is asking providers to define your goals for you. They will each define them differently, and you will end up comparing three unrelated plans. Settle the basics internally first.

• The business outcome you want (more qualified leads, online orders, bookings, foot traffic to a specific Oakland or San Jose location).
• A realistic budget range and how long you can commit. Providers scope differently for six months than for eighteen.
• Who on your side will own the relationship and how many hours per month they can give it.
• Whether you can publish content and make site changes yourself, or need the provider to do it.
• Which markets matter: a single neighborhood, the whole Bay Area, statewide, or national.

What to include in the RFP

Give providers enough context to write a specific proposal. Vague briefs produce vague proposals, and vague proposals are impossible to compare.

• A short description of the business, your customers, and how you make money.
• Your website platform (WordPress, Shopify, custom, etc.) and who maintains it.
• Current marketing activity, including any past or current SEO work and why it ended.
• Read-only access to Google Search Console and GA4 for shortlisted providers, or a screenshot summary if you prefer.
• Your top competitors as you see them, not just the ones who rank.
• Constraints: legal or compliance review, brand guidelines, seasonality, staff availability.
• Budget range, desired start date, and your decision timeline.

Questions to ask every provider

Ask the same questions of every provider so answers are comparable. Keep the list short enough that serious firms will actually answer it.

1. 01 Who specifically will do the work, and how many other clients do they handle?
2. 02 What would the first ninety days look like, and what would we see by then?
3. 03 How do you decide what to prioritize, and how would that change for our site?
4. 04 How do you acquire links, and can you show examples of links you earned for a client?
5. 05 What do we own at the end: content, accounts, tools, data?
6. 06 What does a monthly report contain, and can we see a redacted sample?
7. 07 What has gone wrong on a past engagement, and what did you change as a result?
8. 08 What are your contract term, cancellation notice, and price-increase terms?

How to structure the response

Ask for responses in a fixed format so you can lay them side by side. A simple structure is: approach, ninety-day plan, monthly deliverables, team, pricing, terms, and two references. Cap the length. A tight ten-page response is more useful than a forty-page template with your logo pasted in.

Give providers a deadline of two to three weeks. Good firms are busy and need time to look at your site; rushing them produces boilerplate.

How many providers to invite

Three to five is usually right. Fewer than three gives you no real comparison. More than five means you will not read the responses carefully, and strong firms may decline to compete in a crowded field.

Mix the shortlist deliberately: perhaps one larger agency, one specialist boutique, and one independent consultant. The comparison itself will teach you what operating model fits you.

What to do with the responses

Score every response against the same criteria before you talk to anyone, so early impressions do not dominate. Then hold a call with the top two or three and ask them to walk through their ninety-day plan for your site specifically. The quality of that conversation usually reveals more than the document did.