SEO Proposal Template

What to Include in an SEO Proposal

A typical SEO proposal includes the following five sections:

1. Highlight the Challenge & Opportunity in an Introductory Letter

Start with an introductory letter that thanks your potential client for their time on the SEO discovery call. Then, prove that you’ve truly listened to the client by reiterating their pain point(s) and goals.

What’s the biggest problem your prospect faces? During the SEO discovery call, you learned about your client’s specific needs and concerns by asking questions like, “How have you approached SEO in the past?”.

This question typically elicits responses such as:

• “I don’t know where to start with SEO.”
• “I can’t find my business on Google.”
• “I used to get more traffic from Google, but the results seem to be slipping.”
• “I’ve spent a lot of money on SEO in the past, and I’m not sure what I’ve gotten in return.”
• “I built a new website, and I’m worried I’m going to lose my current results when I send it live.”

Referring directly to the worries the client mentioned during the SEO discovery call in the SEO Proposal shows you clearly understand your client’s needs. Showing that you can empathize with their problems and offer active solutions is our starting point.

With the pain clearly described, you’ll want to outline some of the client’s campaign or business goals.

You might be tempted to set unrealistic goals like doubling traffic from Google or ranking a specific keyword on page 1 of the search results. At Pathfinder SEO, we recommend avoiding this type of goal-setting for two important reasons:

• They are hard to guarantee. Next to impossible, really. SEO is continually evolving and thus unpredictable.
• They don’t address what your prospect really wants and needs: business growth.

A client’s goals are widely similar: improving rankings, increasing traffic, and generating more leads/sales. But these are just a means to an end. When choosing your campaign goals, try to dig deeper than the surface of things. During the SEO discovery call, it’s wise to ask this exact question: “What would your business look like if Google sent you twice as much traffic as they do today?” This answer to this type of specific question tells you what the end destination truly looks like from your client’s perspective.

Examples of responses you may hear include:

• “I would add a second location.
• “I would hire an assistant and take more vacation this year.”
• “I would pay off a small business loan.”
• “I would add more vehicles to our fleet.”

You quickly discover that your client doesn’t just want more traffic to their website. They want the tangible benefits that having more traffic will bring. This is ultimately the end destination and what you are selling.

Here’s an example:

Dear [Prospect Name],

Thank you for your interest in SEO. We’re excited about the prospect of working together to increase organic search traffic to your website.

Based on our recent conversation, your business isn’t experiencing the growth you’d like to see. You built a beautiful new website last year, but leads and traffic haven’t followed.

The proposal below details how we’ll approach this problem by implementing a holistic approach to SEO, which will move your business towards long-term success.

And if we heard you correctly, your business’ success means adding a new location this year.

The proposed project is an SEO Assessment. During this phase of work, we will build your website’s SEO foundation.

I will follow up again next week. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

2. Describe the Strategy

Now, it’s time to describe your agency’s approach to SEO. This is the strategic section of the proposal where we reiterate our agency's holistic approach to SEO.

This strategy is rooted in real-world marketing best practices. It follows a framework that strengthens a client’s website across four areas:

• Technical SEO
• Content
• On-Site SEO
• Off-Site SEO

In the strategy section, you can also note how your agency phases your SEO projects. For example,

• SEO Assessment
• SEO Set-Up
• Monthly SEO Services

3. Define the Scope of Services

In the next section of the proposal, describe the proposed scope of services.

This will be specific to whichever SEO package you are proposing. You’ve already outlined what is included in each of your SEO packages so this step should be easy.

Here’s an example of what it might look like to describe the SEO Set-Up, where we solidify a client’s SEO foundation:

SEO Set-Up

This one-time project will establish a solid foundation for long-term growth. The project contains four phases, as noted below:

Onboarding — We get to know your business and your immediate goals while also ensuring we have the resources we need to be successful. This includes obtaining access to your website, Google Analytics, and verifying your website with the Google Search Console.

Research & Strategy — This phase focuses on analysis and strategic planning.

• Keyword Research: In-depth research to identify the words your audience searches for on Google.
• Competitive Analysis: A thorough high-level review of your top competitors.
• Content Strategy: An in-depth review of the website’s current content performance and rankings with a crafted content plan for future growth, including creating a strategic content calendar.
• Off-site SEO Strategy: A review of current domain authority and any existing backlink network(s) to craft a link building strategy based on real-world marketing.
  Implementation

Implementation — This phase includes tasks completed on the website to ensure it meets SEO best practices.

• XML Sitemap: Create an automatically generated sitemap that acts as the website’s resume to the search engines.
• Robots.txt: File creation/update. A robots.txt file tells the search engines which parts of a website we want them to avoid crawling and indexing.
• 301 Redirects: Respond to the page not found errors in Google Search Console by creating 301 redirects to improve website crawlability. Alternatively, if this is for a new website in development, then map old URLs to new URLs to ensure a seamless transition.
• Page Titles & Meta Descriptions: Create a custom title and description for each top-level page of the client’s website. Automate this for frequently updated content types such as blog posts.
• Alternative Text: Update and optimize descriptive text for images on your top-performing website pages.
• Headers: Review existing headers, updating content and hierarchy based on keyword research.
• Google Maps: Create/update listing.

Results & Transition to Monthly Services — Expect to see improvement in the search results within mere weeks of completing the implementation step. Review the initial results with the client and transition them to a monthly SEO service.

4. Pricing & Timelines

Note the project pricing and the proposed timeline from start to finish.

5. Agreement

The final step is the agreement itself. Don’t fill the SEO proposal with pages upon pages of legal language.

Instead, include a final page that confirms the client’s intention to proceed with the project. State that this SEO project falls under your Master Services Agreement (that’s where the actual contract should be), and provide that legal document separately from the SEO Proposal.

The agreement is worded:

By signing this Scope of Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the proposed scope of services therein.

All services rendered are subject to our Master Services Agreement.

To accept, please sign and date below.

If you don’t yet have a Master Services Agreement, contact your attorney to craft one.

Additional Tips: SEO Proposals

A winning SEO proposal shouldn’t include any new or surprising information. It simply solidifies what you already discussed during the SEO discovery call. Ultimately, taking the time for a short discovery call pays dividends down the road.

• It saves you from drafting a proposal that isn’t within the client’s budget range.
• It shortens the sales process by establishing trust right out of the gate.
• It creates a partnership dynamic through discussion versus dictation.
• Interviewing a client helps predict whether they will be a good/repeat client to collaborate with.

You may also find value in utilizing proposal software like Proposify to help organize your proposals. You can save each section as a snippet to make it easy to compile and customize a proposal with reusable blocks.

What's Next?

Create an SEO proposal template for your agency. Now, you’re truly ready to sell SEO services!