How to choose an SEO agency in London

London has a huge number of SEO agencies, ranging from excellent specialists to people selling reports they don’t really understand. It’s tricky to judge because results take months to appear, and by that point you’ve spent the money. Google has even published its own guidance on hiring an SEO, which is worth reading. Here’s how we’d go about choosing.

First: do you need an agency?

If your site is small and you have time, you can do a lot yourself with Google Search Console and the free advice Google publishes. A one-off SEO audit might be all you need if you’ve got developers to carry out the fixes. An ongoing retainer makes more sense if organic search is an important channel and you don’t have the skills in-house.

Also check whether SEO can work in your situation. If competitors have years of content and links, and you’re starting from nothing, a realistic plan might mean targeting narrower topics first, with paid advertising in the meantime.

Do they need to be in London?

Not really. An agency in Leeds can rank a London business just as well, and may charge less. What matters is experience with your type of business and search landscape. Being in London helps if you value meeting in person, but don’t pay a premium for the address alone. If you’re a local business relying on map results, make sure that they understand local SEO.

Red flags

• Guaranteed rankings. Google says clearly that no one can guarantee a number one ranking. Run away from anyone promising otherwise.
• Secret methods. Good SEO isn’t magic. If they can’t explain what they’re doing, or call it proprietary, ask yourself why.
• Link packages. Offers of “500 high-authority links per month” usually mean buying links, which breaches Google’s spam policies and can damage your site.
• Mass-produced pages. Hundreds of near-identical location pages or low-quality AI content. Google specifically targets doorway pages and scaled content abuse.
• Reports full of vanity metrics. Rankings for terms that nobody searches for, or traffic numbers not tied to enquiries.
• Ownership traps. The agency keeps your content, tracking accounts or links when you leave. Everything should be in your name.
• Cold outreach. Unsolicited emails claiming they’ve found problems with your site are usually automated. Google warns about this too.

What good looks like

• They ask about your margins, customers and sales process before talking about keywords.
• They want access to your Search Console and analytics early, so that they can talk about what’s actually happening.
• They’re willing to tell you what they won’t do, and what won’t work for you.
• Their recommendations are prioritised and include the reasoning behind them.
• They can explain how the work gets implemented, including who’ll change your site.
• They talk about what their last experiment taught them, including what didn’t work.

Questions to ask

1. What would you focus on in the first three months, and why?
2. Who will be working on my account, and what’s their experience? Will I speak to them directly?
3. How will you actually get changes made on my site? This matters a lot. Audits that never get implemented are a very common way of wasting money.
4. How do you get links? Ask for examples of links they’ve earned.
5. How do you use AI in your content, and who checks it?
6. How will you report on enquiries and revenue, not just rankings?
7. Can I see an example of a monthly report?
8. Can you share case studies, with a client that I can talk to?
9. What happens to my data and accounts if I leave?

Contracts and pricing

Pricing varies a great deal with competition, scope and the level of the people doing the work. Rather than comparing the monthly price alone, ask what you get for it, including hours, seniority and what’s being delivered. Be careful with long lock-in contracts, as SEO takes time, but a good agency shouldn’t need to trap you. A reasonable approach is a defined initial phase with a notice period afterwards. Be wary of very cheap monthly packages, since there’s only so much that can be done for that sort of fee.

What to expect from results

Google says that it commonly takes four months to a year to see the benefits of an SEO’s work. Technical fixes can show results sooner, and competitive terms can take longer. Search has changed as well: AI Overviews can answer simple questions without a click, so traffic alone is a less reliable measure than it was. Focus on commercial searches and on the enquiries you receive.

Have them look at something real

Before signing, ask each agency to spend a little time on your site and explain the top three things they’d do. It shows you how they think, and whether they’ve looked at your business specifically. If you’d like us to do this for your site, take a look at our SEO services. All the questions above apply to us too.