SEO proposal: what wins the client, with a filled example

An SEO proposal is the document that turns a prospect's interest into a signed project: what you found, what you will do first, what it costs and what you will not promise. About 170 people in the US search for "seo proposal" every month, and 140 for "seo proposal template". The proposals that win are rarely the longest. They are the ones that show the prospect their own market.

This guide covers what goes into a proposal that wins, a filled example of its most important section, and the mistakes that send the client to the agency that wrote a better one.

SEO pitch or SEO proposal?

An SEO pitch is the first message: one or two sentences that earn a reply. The proposal comes after the reply, when the prospect is ready to compare you with other agencies. The pitch needs one strong fact; the proposal needs all of them, in an order the owner can follow and forward.

If you are still at the first message, start with SEO prospecting with a line for each prospect. This page picks up once the prospect has asked for a proposal.

What a winning SEO proposal includes

Six sections, in this order. Each one answers a question the owner will ask whether or not you put it on paper.

• The market in numbers. What the prospect's customers search for, grouped by need, with the US monthly searches behind each group. It answers "is there enough demand to bother?"
• The gaps. The searches the leading competitors answer with a page and the prospect does not, with the links. It answers "what are we missing?" This section wins or loses the deal.
• The plan. Which pages you will build or fix first, and why those. It answers "what will you actually do?"
• What the client provides. Access, answers, photos, reviews, a person to approve pages. It answers "what does this ask of me?"
• Price and terms. What it costs, how long it runs, how either side can stop.
• What you do not promise. Rankings, traffic numbers, dates for either. Saying it up front builds more trust than any promise.

A filled example: the gap section

The gap section is where a proposal stops being a template. Here is a worked example for a made-up accounting firm. The searches are typical of the market; the numbers are round and shown only to illustrate the layout.

• Need: bookkeeping for contractors

  320US searches a month (example)

  Leading competitor's page

  Yes, linked

  The prospect has

  No page

• Need: small business tax preparation

  1,300US searches a month (example)

  Leading competitor's page

  Yes, linked

  The prospect has

  One line on the home page

• Need: payroll services for restaurants

  140US searches a month (example)

  Leading competitor's page

  Yes, linked

  The prospect has

  No page

Three rows like these do more than ten pages of audit charts. The owner sees the customers going to a named competitor, can click the link and check it, and understands the plan before reading it: build a page for each row, biggest first. For more on reading a table like this, see content gap analysis.

Why SEO proposal templates lose

A template gives you headings. It cannot give you the prospect's market, and that is what the owner is comparing when three proposals land on the same desk. The proposal built from a template reads like the other two; the one with the owner's searches, competitors and missing pages reads like it was written for them, because it was.

Use a template for the parts that are the same for every client: terms, reporting, what the client provides. Write the market, the gaps and the plan fresh every time.

Mistakes that cost the deal

• Leading with a site score. Scores and error counts mean nothing to an owner. Missed customers do.
• Promising rankings or traffic. The client will judge you on the promise, and nobody controls it.
• Vague deliverables. "Ongoing optimisation" cannot be checked. "Twelve new service pages in three months" can.
• A plan with no order. If every task is priority one, the owner cannot tell what the first month buys.
• Too long. The owner forwards the proposal to a partner who reads two pages. Put the gaps on those two pages.
• Price before value. A price on page one, before the gaps, invites a comparison on price alone.

After you send the proposal

Follow up with something new, not a reminder: one more gap you did not include, or a competitor page that went up since. Offer to walk through the gap table, because the conversation about a named competitor is the one that closes. Keep the rows once you sign. The same searches become the first month's work and the yardstick for your reports.

Querytally delivers the market and gap sections

The market and gap sections are what Querytally delivers: one site or one market as rows you can check, with US monthly searches and the link to each competitor page. A person checks every row before delivery, within 24 hours. See the page for SEO agencies, or how competitor gap analysis works.

Frequently asked questions

What should an SEO proposal include?

The prospect's market in numbers, the gaps against the leading competitors with links, a plan with an order, what the client provides, price and terms, and what you do not promise.

How long should an SEO proposal be?

Short enough that the person who signs reads all of it. Two pages for the market, gaps and plan, and the terms after, is plenty for most small and mid-size clients.

Should an SEO proposal include the price?

Yes, after the gaps and the plan. The owner should understand what the money buys before they see the number.

What is a good SEO pitch?

One fact the owner can check: a search their customers make, a competitor page that answers it, and the missing page on their own site. The proposal then shows the rest.

More on finding the clients to send proposals to in lead generation for marketing agencies.