SEO Contract

What is an SEO contract?

An SEO contract is a legal agreement between a service provider and a client that defines the scope, terms, and responsibilities related to search engine optimization for a client’s website. It helps both parties manage expectations, set measurable goals, and reduce misunderstandings. An SEO contract template helps to define clear terms and conditions for cooperation.

A good example of an SEO contract usually includes the following elements such as:

• full names of the parties involved;
• description of the services to be provided;
• terms and conditions of payment;
• start and end date for the provision of services;
• termination clause;
• confidentiality clause.

An SEO contract is a special type of services agreement that deals with the provision of professional SEO services for website optimization in Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. The present SEO contract template can be used for various types of SEO services like off-site and on-site SEO, keyword search, and more.

An SEO services contract could be helpful in various situations, for example:

• A freelance SEO consultant needs to enter into an agreement with the new client;
• A digital marketing agency is being hired by a medium-sized company to grow its traffic.
• A start-up needs an SEO expert to improve its monthly traffic.

The main parties to an SEO contract are the client and the SEO consultant. A client could be a self-employed person, a start-up, a business, or any other organization that runs their business fully or partially online. An SEO consultant could be a freelancer, an independent SEO specialist, or a professional SEO agency.

Why choose the SEO contract template from FasterDraft?

By customizing this template with FasterDraft, you get the following benefits:

• a document that is created by real legal professionals;
• a document that is available for download in two minutes, not weeks;
• a template that is fully suitable for specific SEO services;
• a template that saves legal costs spent on a lawyer’s drafting a contract from scratch by 90%;
• a template that offers balanced legal protection for both parties—the SEO provider and the client.

What’s Included in a Customizable SEO Contract Template for Any State?

An effective SEO contract outlines several critical elements without which a contract cannot become a legally binding document. Those elements are the following:

Information about the parties

Every contract should provide detailed information about the parties, including their names, addresses, and contact information.

Both parties that are listed in the preamble of a contract should sign it. Without either party’s signature, a document is not valid. Along with a party’s signature, a date of signing the document should also be included.

Website details

An SEO contract template identifies the client’s website for which SEO services should be rendered. The following information should be listed:

• website’s address (domain name or URL);
• average monthly traffic;
• average domain’s authority;
• any manual actions detected by search engines (if applicable);
• any security issues detected by search engines (if applicable).

Scope of Services

This is one of the most important clauses of any SEO contract. This clause defines the exact scope of SEO services that should be rendered to the client.

A typical contract for the provision of SEO services also includes regular reporting by the SEO consultant. The parties may choose to deliver daily, weekly, or monthly reporting.

It is also advisable to include certain goals or KPIs for an SEO consultant in the text of a contract.

When the SEO provider is requested to provide content creation services, such as writing or reviewing product pages or blog posts, the parties may also need to enter a separate content creator agreement to define ownership of the rights to the created content, as well as separate payment terms.

Payment Terms

The contract must define how the SEO consultant will be compensated for rendered services. Payment terms include the following elements:

• fee structure (e.g., project fee, monthly rate, hourly rate, weekly rate);
• payment method (e.g., cash, bank transfer, PayPal);
• frequency of invoicing;
• late fees (if any).

Duration

The duration clause outlines how long the SEO services should be provided to the client. The template usually covers when exactly the SEO consultant shall start the provision of services—whether on the date of signing the contract, unless another date is agreed upon by the parties.

The services hereunder could be provided for:

• an indefinite period of time (until terminated by either party);
• until a specific date (should be defined separately in the contract); or
• until hitting certain milestones (e.g., 2000 clicks per month).

Applicable Law

Parties can choose the law of any state across the U.S. to customize this template for application and usage in a specific state. Selecting the laws of a specific state means that in case of a dispute the laws of that state shall apply to the dispute resolution process.

What to check before you sign an SEO contract?

This section is especially helpful for both the SEO consultant and the client, as making a solid pre-signing due diligence of a counterparty may prevent you from getting into trouble in the future.

For the Client

If you are a client who is entering into an SEO contract for the first time or simply wants to refresh the existing contractual arrangement with your ongoing SEO provider, check the following:

• Cancellation Policy. As the client, you must understand how to exit the ongoing contract correctly. Is there any cancellation fee you are required to pay on top, or maybe there is a retention or deposit sum that you will lose if the contract is cancelled within a specific period of time after its conclusion?
• Reviews. It is better to make a customer review from other clients who have already used the services of the SEO provider you are planning to engage with.
• Strategies. It is also important to understand which techniques the SEO provider is planning to use while providing services under this agreement. Please note that black hat SEO, aggressive link building, and other similar malpractices may significantly hurt the ranking of your online business, and it is better to ask this directly from the start rather than be sorry later.

For the SEO Provider

To protect your business against any potential legal claims, check these most important things in the SEO contract, which generate almost 90% of all disputes between clients and service providers:

• Scope creep. Make sure the scope of your duties under the contract is clear and precise. Avoid vague wording or general phrases like “the SEO provider shall provide SEO services and other similar services.” The precise list of duties prevents scope creep, which means you do not perform additional work for free.
• Be careful with guarantees. Clients usually have lots of expectations regarding the services to be provided. Make sure the document does not include any explicit guarantees regarding the percentage by which traffic should be increased, any specific ranking that should be achieved, or any other specific metrics. Once any specific written guarantee is given towards a specific outcome, it becomes your obligation under the contract. If you are unable to achieve that, it will be considered a material breach of the contract, which usually allows the client to insist on reducing the fees or not paying at all.

State-Specific Requirements for SEO Contracts in the US

Provision of digital marketing services is not regulated specifically, neither on the federal nor the state level. State laws across separate states may separately target provisions of SEO services when it comes to false advertising or misleading representations made by SEO providers.

For example, the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act (§ 44-1522) provides a prohibition of any deception, false pretence, or misrepresentation in connection with the sale of merchandise. This can be relevant in a situation when SEO providers guarantee to the new clients during the onboarding process the achievement of certain specific ranking results or guarantees. In contrast, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act in Texas provides specific punishment for deceptive trade within the state, up to compensation of damages plus mandatory attorney’s fees for the SEO provider involved in the deceptive trade.

How to Get an SEO Contract Template (PDF & Word) in Under 2 Minutes

In order to customize your SEO contract template, follow a few easy steps below:

1. Click the button “Create Document.”
2. Answer questions in the questionnaire.
3. Select a document’s format: SEO contract template Word or SEO contract template PDF.
4. Make a payment.
5. Download a customised document.