SEO contract templates: Eight things you must include
As an SEO consultant, you are often hired to help businesses increase their visibility on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. However, before entering into a working relationship with businesses, you should always ask them to sign an SEO contract. This will help make sure both parties are on the same page about the project details, payments, deliverables, and possible consequences.
While composing an SEO contract may not be the most exciting part of your job as an SEO consultant, having the contract helps you run your business smoothly. You should consider including these eight terms in your SEO contract:
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SEO services
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Duration of the contract
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Deliverables
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Payment
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Subcontractor
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Client’s responsibilities
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Disclaimer
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Cancellation
What is an SEO contract?
An SEO contract (or an SEO agreement) is a legally binding document between you and your client. This contract outlines all relevant information related to an SEO project such as the project’s scope, expectations of both parties, specific deliverables, and payment details. Most importantly, it defines the terms about what will happen in case of disagreements such as delayed payments.
Why is an SEO contract important for you and your client?
Working without a contract can put you at risk. Here are some of the possible situations that you may encounter without a contract:
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The client may ask for more work than you agreed to
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The client may pay you less than what was agreed upon or may refuse to pay you at all
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The client may cancel the project prematurely
It’s situations like these that make it important for you to have a contract in place with every client that you work with. An SEO contract not only defines the business relationship between you and your client but also protects you from any unforeseen events.
SEO contracts are for clients, too
This contract helps safeguard clients’ businesses from any black hat SEO techniques that SEO agencies or SEO consultants can use to rank a website in a search engine.
What to include in your SEO contract?
At the beginning of any SEO campaign, SEO consultants or SEO agencies send an SEO proposal that outlines their services. This is followed by an SEO contract. Here are eight terms that every SEO contract should include:
1. SEO services
This is a critical component of an SEO contract. This is where you can get specific on the SEO services or reporting services you plan to provide. Your services may include keyword research, fixing HTML tags, obtaining backlinks, and adding additional web pages or content for optimizing the client's website. Regardless of what services you list, ensure they’re written in detail to avoid confusion.
2. Duration of the contract
What is the duration of your contract? Is it for six months or 12 months, or is it a one-time project? It’s important to specify the duration of your working relationship with the client because there are usually two types of contract term lengths. The first type is finite and the other one is auto-renewal. Some SEO agencies go for finite contracts that mention a specific start date and end date. This is usually for a one-time project. Others find auto-renewal contracts better as search engine optimization is an ongoing process.
3. Deliverables
When it comes to their SEO campaigns, clients are often concerned about what deliverables they’ll be receiving during and after the campaign. This is the place where you’ll explain what you’re going to deliver to the client. The deliverables may include a website audit report, competitive analysis report, keyword research report, content creation (for example, web page content, social media posts, blogs, etc.), and link-building report.
This section should also mention the timeframe for each deliverable. It’ll keep clients informed about what you’re working on and what they can expect at each stage.
4. Payment
Do you use a flat rate or an hourly rate? Do you want your clients to pay per month or at the end of the project? Do you want clients to pay via cash, cheque, or credit card? Will there be any late payment fee? Will you charge any additional fee for reconstructing the content?
The contract should clearly state all the details related to the payment so there is no confusion between you and your client.
5. Subcontractor
If you intend to take help from a subcontractor to perform additional SEO work, make sure it is mentioned in the contract. This will set clear expectations for all the stakeholders involved in the SEO campaign.
6. Responsibilities of a client
While you might be responsible for ranking the website in the search engines, some tasks might involve the client. This section lists down everything the client or the client's webmaster will be responsible for so you can continue working on your results.
Some of the responsibilities of a client may include:
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Granting you tech access to the website for SEO optimization
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Authorizing you to use logos, trademarks, website images, etc. for SEO purposes
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Providing you with textual content, photos, designs, elements of text, etc. to include on the website
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Providing you with the FTP access
7. Disclaimer
It is important to communicate to the client that the ranking of pages is affected by the competitiveness of search terms, constant changes in the ranking algorithms, and other competitive factors. Therefore, when drafting your SEO agreement, be sure to include the disclaimer clause that outlines that you do not promise specific website traffic numbers or first-page search engine rankings for specific keywords to your client.
8. Cancellation
You and your client may terminate the contract for one of the following reasons:
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Breach of the contract by any party involved
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Unsatisfactory experience
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The project is no longer required
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Payment is not made on time
Whatever the reason is, your contract should include a cancellation clause that states what will happen if one party cancels the contract and what will be the financial obligations.
Draft your SEO contract with Revv
When busy focusing on work, you may have trouble finding the time to put your legal documents together. But no worries! Revv has got you covered.
SEO contract templates from Revv contain all the essential information related to the SEO industry. These templates are drafted and reviewed by a dedicated legal team. You can easily customize the template using Revv’s document editor according to your brand. Also, you can collaborate with your clients to negotiate the terms of the contract and track their activities using Activity Tracker. With the in-built eSignature, you can enable the client to accept and sign the document from anywhere.
These advanced features of Revv make the process of drafting and managing the contract much simpler and error-free.
Ready to draft your contract? Get started with Revv to put together a solid SEO contract to protect you and your SEO agency.