SEO Agency Hiring Checklist (Kerala): 25 Questions + Scorecard

ByBNW TEAM

Choosing the right SEO company in Kerala requires more than a Google search. Most businesses fail at SEO not because it doesn’t work, but because they hire the wrong partner. This guide provides a structured 25-question framework with a 100-point scorecard to evaluate agencies objectively based on strategy, execution, transparency, and ROI.

Why You Need This Checklist

Kerala’s digital market is flooded with SEO agencies making big promises. The problem? Ranking your own website differs vastly from ranking a competitive business across industries. Many agencies offer rigid, low-cost packages that ignore your industry competition and apply generic strategies to every client.

Hiring the wrong agency doesn’t just waste money—it can suppress long-term growth, trigger Google penalties, and damage brand credibility. Recovery often costs more than doing it right initially. A structured checklist removes emotional decision-making, helps you ask the right questions, and exposes shallow expertise quickly.

How the 100-Point Scorecard Works

The checklist divides into five critical areas, each worth 20 points:

  •       SEO Strategy & Fundamentals – How well they understand your business goals
  •       Technical SEO Capability – Their ability to handle performance and technical health
  •       Content & On-Page SEO – How they optimize for user intent
  •       Backlinks, Authority & Trust – Quality and safety of link-building
  •       Reporting, Communication & ROI – Clarity in tracking business impact

Each question carries 4 points. Score based on answer quality: 4 points for clear, confident responses with examples; 3 for good but shallow answers; 2 for generic buzzwords; 1 for vague responses; 0 for evasive or unsafe answers.

SEO Strategy & Fundamentals

1. How Does the Agency Define SEO Success for Your Business?

Strong agencies discuss leads, conversions, target audience, and business model—not just rankings. They should tie SEO goals to your specific business objectives with different KPIs for different business types.

2. Do They Conduct a Full SEO Audit Before Recommending a Plan?

Proper audits identify technical issues, content gaps, keyword opportunities, and competitor strengths before prescribing solutions. Agencies offering instant pricing without reviewing your site are guessing. A comprehensive SEO audit is foundational to any successful strategy.

3. How Do They Approach Keyword Research?

Effective research considers search intent, local behavior, competition difficulty, and conversion potential—not just high-volume terms. Look for discussion around buyer versus informational intent.

4. Can They Explain SEO Concepts in Simple Language?

Capable agencies explain strategy and decisions without hiding behind jargon. If you don’t understand their explanations now, you won’t understand their reports later.

5. Is Their SEO Strategy Customized or Template-Based?

Strategies should differ based on industry, competition, website maturity, location, and goals. Custom roadmaps with flexible timelines indicate long-term thinking versus fixed monthly tasks for everyone.

Technical SEO Capability

6. Can They Clearly Explain Your Website’s Technical Issues?

Look for simplified explanations of indexing, crawling, duplicate content, mobile usability, and Core Web Vitals issues with clear connections between problems and impact. Strong technical SEO expertise separates exceptional agencies from mediocre ones.

7. Do They Fix Technical Issues or Only Provide Reports?

Agencies should have in-house technical capability for hands-on implementation and developer coordination, not just advisory reports.

8. How Do They Handle Website Speed and Performance?

Strong agencies prioritize real-user metrics and mobile performance with practical improvement steps, not just PageSpeed scores.

9. Do They Follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines Strictly?

Agencies must follow white-hat practices and reject risky shortcuts. Safe SEO compounds over time; risky tactics eventually collapse.

10. Are They Experienced With Your Website Platform?

Platform-specific experience (WordPress, Shopify, custom builds) reduces errors and speeds results. Generic solutions ignore CMS limitations.

Content & On-Page SEO (20 Points)

11. Who Creates the Content?

Human-written or human-edited SEO content with clear editorial processes outperforms fully automated generation.

12. How Do They Optimize for Search Intent?

Strong agencies tailor content based on informational, navigational, transactional, or local intent—not just keyword insertion.

13. Do They Optimize Existing Pages or Only Create New Ones?

Content audits, page refreshes, and strategic consolidation often deliver better results than constant new content.

14. How Do They Handle Internal Linking?

Strategic internal linking through content clusters and contextual links improves rankings without external dependencies.

15. Do They Understand Local SEO Content Needs?

Experience with Kerala-based businesses, location-specific pages, and local intent strategies distinguishes genuine local SEO expertise.

Backlinks, Authority & Trust (20 Points)

16. How Does the Agency Build Backlinks?

Quality backlink strategies focus on relevance, editorial context, and natural placement through outreach—not bulk packages.

17. Do They Avoid Spammy or Paid Link Networks?

Clear rejection of PBNs and link farms with emphasis on Google-compliant methods protects long-term rankings.

18. Can They Show Real Backlink Examples?

Willingness to show anonymized examples with explanation of link placement demonstrates transparency and confidence.

19. Do They Focus on Brand Mentions Beyond Links?

Modern SEO values brand mentions, co-citations, and PR-style outreach alongside traditional link building.

20. How Do They Manage Anchor Text Strategy?

Safe anchor distribution with mix of branded, generic, and contextual anchors protects against penalties.

Reporting, Communication & ROI (20 Points)

21. What Metrics Do They Report Regularly?

Useful reporting includes organic traffic trends, keyword performance, conversions, and page-level impact—not just rankings.

22. Do They Provide Full Access to Search Console and Analytics?

You should own your analytics accounts and have full visibility. Refusal or delays are major red flags.

23. How Often Do They Communicate and Review Strategy?

Regular scheduled reviews with clear communication channels and responsiveness build trust and results.

24. How Do They Measure and Demonstrate ROI?

Strong agencies connect SEO to leads, sales, inquiries, and revenue contribution through conversion tracking. Measurable ROI is what separates exceptional SEO work from busy work.

25. Can They Show Relevant Case Studies?

Kerala-based or similar market examples with clear challenges, strategies, and measurable outcomes demonstrate relevant experience.

Critical Red Flags (Auto-Fail)

Certain signs should make you pause regardless of other scores:

  •       Guaranteed rankings or “first page in X days” promises
  •       No access to your Google Search Console or Analytics
  •       Same strategy applied to every client
  •       Unclear or secretive link-building methods
  •       Extremely low pricing without explanation

If you encounter two or more red flags, the safest decision is not to proceed.

Scorecard Interpretation

Total possible score: 100 points

  •       90–100: Excellent. Strategically strong, transparent, and reliable.
  •       75–89: Solid choice. Minor gaps may exist, but overall capability is strong.
  •       60–74: Average. Suitable only if expectations and risks are clear.
  •       Below 60: High risk. Likely to underperform or cause long-term issues.

A perfect score isn’t required. What matters most is transparency in answers, logical explanations, willingness to educate rather than impress, and alignment with your business objectives.

Choose an SEO Partner, Not Just a Service Provider

SEO is a long-term partnership affecting your visibility, credibility, and revenue. The right agency educates instead of confusing, plans before executing, measures impact not just activity, and protects your site’s future growth. Agencies like Techpullers align naturally with this checklist because their processes are built around clarity, ethics, and performance.

Before signing any SEO contract, use this checklist. Ask these questions. Score honestly. Compare carefully. A few structured conversations now can save months of wasted effort and protect your long-term digital success.

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