Guide for SEO Client Questionnaire

If you are an SEO expert, you know that a solid foundation is key to achieving outstanding results for your clients. And that foundation begins with understanding their business.

Asking the right questions in the right way can help you create a winning SEO strategy tailored to client needs. But what are these ‘rights questions’? 

The answer lies in this blog. We bring you a well-rounded SEO client questionnaire. It will take you through all the relevant questions you must ask and why while onboarding an SEO client. 

An SEO client questionnaire is a blueprint to ask the right questions, paving the client’s and your path to success. 

So, without further ado, let’s begin. 

Know the Client’s Business

A deep understanding of your client’s business and positioning on SERPs will help you ensure your strategy is in their best interest. 

You can use this knowledge to ensure your keyword research, content creation, deliverables, and optimisation strategies are aligned with the client’s goals.

Questions About Your Client’s Business

• What are your business’s Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)?
• Who is your target audience? And what are their key demographics (age group, gender, education level, etc.)?
• Is your business affected by any seasonal or industry-specific events?
• Are there any specific locations or countries you want to target?
• Who are your major competitors?

Questions About Their Website

• Will your website go through any significant change, like migration or redesign, in the near future?
• Do you have more than one domain?
• Have you conducted a backlink audit to assess the quality of external links pointing to your site?

You can further ask questions about previous technical SEO testing and any algorithm update that could have impacted their website’s SEO ranking. 

Access

Access to the client’s past and present data is essential for identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. For developing actionable strategies, a complete assessment is necessary. And to do the same, you need access to their past and present data and other platforms they use. 

Having Access to What You Need

• Do you have Google Analytics/Google Search Console/Google Ads set up on your website? If yes, please share access. 
• Can you share your website’s analytics and past performance data?
• Have you worked with other SEO agencies in the past? If yes, can you share the relevant reports and documentation?

Apart from these questions, you can request access to strategy documents and reports related to technical changes if required.

Goals & Objectives

Your ultimate SEO goal is to increase the client’s business visibility online. After all, visibility is the gateway to all other success metrics like sales, engagement, and more.

Your strategy needs to be aligned with their short-term and long-term goals to manage their expectations.

Remember to ask for specific numbers like revenue, ranking, conversion rate, etc. 

Understanding Your Client’s Goals

• What KPIs do you use to measure your website’s success?
• Do you have specific traffic targets that you want to achieve through this collaboration?
• What keywords are important for your brand to rank for?

Strategy

Strategy-oriented questions, including the client’s previous marketing strategies, can benchmark success and further tailor your approach. It will also help you avoid repeating strategies that did not work for the client.

Understanding Their Previous Marketing Efforts

• Can you share documents related to your previous digital marketing campaigns?
• Do you want us to use any parts of your previous strategy? 

You can also ask questions that will help you develop your SEO strategy. For example:

• Are there specific parts of the website that should be prioritised?
• Do you want to prioritise any products or services?

Challenges

Identifying your client’s pain points and challenges will let you effectively address their concerns and deliver successful outcomes.

Get to Know About Their Major Challenges

• What are the major challenges you face in growing your business online?
• Have you faced any issues related to technical SEO?
• Do your competitors have a strong online presence?

Team

Another crucial part of your SEO client questionnaire is the questions about the client’s team and specific responsibilities. This will ensure you know who to communicate with in case of concerns and issues. 

Understanding the Roles and Responsibilities of Their Team

• What are the roles and responsibilities of your team members?
• Who is your primary point of contact for all SEO discussions?
• Who are the decision-makers in your team?

Ways to Communicate

• What is your preferred mode of communication (emails, calls, in-person meetings, online meetings, etc.)?
• Do you use any specific collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, or Asana?

Conclusion

A well-designed SEO client questionnaire can make your SEO operations efficient and effective.  

The questions in this blog can help you understand your client’s business in depth. But it stands true as daylight that this list is not exhaustive. These questions are perfect to get you started and create an SEO client questionnaire to fit unique requirements. 

You must know that no two clients are the same. So, do not be afraid to design your own curated questionnaire!