How to hire a web designer or SEO company: questions to ask before you sign

Before you hire

Hiring someone to build your website or improve your search presence can be money well spent. It can also leave you with a site you don’t own, a domain in someone else’s name and a monthly bill you can’t explain. The difference usually shows up in the proposal, before you sign.

Two lines from Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO set the tone. First: “If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself.” Our guides on your Google profile and what a small business website needs cover a lot of it. Second: “Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire.” If a vendor breaks Google’s rules, it’s your site that pays for it.

The questions Google says to ask

Google publishes its own list of questions for anyone thinking about hiring an SEO. They work just as well for a web designer. Here they are, minus one about international sites. Ask them on the call, and get the important answers in writing:

1. “Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?”

2. “Do you follow the Google Search Essentials (previously known as Webmaster Guidelines)?”

3. “What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?”

4. “What’s your experience in my industry?”

5. “What’s your experience in my country/city?”

6. “How long have you been in business?”

7. “How can I expect to communicate with you?”

8. “Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?”

Add two questions of our own: “Whose name will my domain and accounts be in?” and “What do I keep if I cancel?” The answers tell you more about a vendor than any portfolio.

Red flags

Google’s advice is blunt: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google,” and “Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results.” From the same page and Google’s other policies:

• Guaranteed rankings or map placement. Google: “If they guarantee you that their changes will give you first place in search results, find someone else.” Google’s rules for companies that manage Business Profiles also prohibit guaranteeing top placement.
• A “special relationship” with Google, or “priority submit.” Google names both as warning signs.
• Bought links. Google’s spam policies list “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” as link spam. Google also says you should never have to link to an SEO.
• Review packages. Under the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews, marketing and reputation firms can be liable if they write, create or sell fake reviews. A business that buys reviews it knew, or should have known, were fake can be liable too.
• Secrecy. Google warns about companies that won’t clearly explain what they intend to do. Ask them to share every change they make to your site.
• Cold emails and calls. Google lists unsolicited offers as a warning sign, and says it will never call to guarantee your business a special spot.

What you keep, whoever you hire

A good vendor works inside accounts you own. ICANN, which oversees domain names, puts it directly: “It is not recommended that you list website designers, hosting providers, or any other third parties as the registrant(s) of your domain name.” Google’s rules for companies that manage Business Profiles say “all end customers must retain ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times,” and give you the right to regain exclusive control within seven business days of asking.

The website itself is the one people forget. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that copyright in a work initially belongs to whoever created it, which here means the designer or their company, and that a transfer generally has to be in writing and signed. Ask for a written assignment of the finished site to your business, and have a lawyer look at the clause. Themes, plugins, fonts and stock photos are usually licensed to you rather than owned, so ask what licenses come with the site. Our guide Who owns your website logins? walks through every account.

What to get in writing

A proposal you can compare has the same parts every time. Before you sign, make sure yours says:

1. Exactly what’s included. Number of pages, number of revisions, who writes the words and supplies the photos, and what you receive at handover.

2. One-time and ongoing costs, separately. Hosting, domain, software and any monthly service, and who you pay for each. In Texas, the Comptroller lists website creation, hosting and maintenance as taxable data processing, with 20% of the charge exempt, so ask how tax will appear on the invoice.

3. Who owns what. Your domain and accounts in your name, and the finished site assigned to you.

4. How you leave. How to cancel a monthly service, how long the handover takes, and what you keep.

5. Accessibility. The Justice Department’s guidance says the ADA covers businesses open to the public, including what they offer online, and names WCAG as a helpful standard. Ask which standard they build to.

6. What they’ll change and how they’ll report it. A list of changes and a plain report, not “proprietary methods.”

What we found on ten El Paso pages

On October 24, 2026, we read the public page that each of ten providers uses to market web design or SEO to El Paso businesses. Some are local; some are out-of-town agencies with an El Paso page. We found them through our own keyword research and two web searches. We looked for five things an owner should care about, then read every match in context.

The point isn’t that these providers are bad. A page is marketing, not a contract, and ownership may well be covered in their paperwork. The point is that you can’t tell from the outside. Ownership, total cost and accessibility are questions you have to ask, and answers you should get in writing.

Compare your proposals

Answer each question from what the proposal says in writing. The check flags red flags, lists what to ask before you sign, and puts up to three proposals side by side.

How our own terms answer these questions

It’s only fair to hold ourselves to the same list. These are the terms published on our own service pages today:

Whoever you hire, including us, ask the questions above and compare the answers in writing.

Calls and invoices that aren’t what they seem

Not every offer comes from a real provider. The FTC warns small businesses about:

• Fake invoices that look like you ordered products or services.
• Directory and listing scams, charging for nonexistent advertising or a phony business directory.
• Threats about your web address, claiming your business will lose its website URL if you don’t pay immediately.
• Tech support scams that start with a call or a pop-up pretending to be from a well-known company.

ICANN adds that phishing emails may claim your domain needs renewing for a fee, and that ICANN never asks registrants for payment. Google says it will never ask for payment information over the phone: “If someone calls you pretending to be from Google, hang up.” If you’re unsure, check with your own registrar, using the login you already have, not a link in the message. Our review guide covers the rules on reviews.