Win clients with your next SEO proposal (+ expert tips and templates)

In this article, I will explain what an SEO proposal is and how to craft it to win over potential clients. I’ll share my SEO proposal template based on my agency experience and tips from SEO professionals to give you an edge on your next SEO proposal.

An SEO proposal is a document (usually a slide) that outlines the services an SEO agency or consultant intends to provide to improve a website’s Google ranking (for a fee).

It serves two functions: first, as a persuasive sales pitch, and second, as a blueprint for proposed SEO efforts.

An SEO proposal is your manifesto for improving the SEO of your client’s website. It’s meant to close business – so it needs to be convincing.

So, what does a good proposal look like?

• Good SEO Advice – Clearly communicate the scope of work, prioritize important issues, and provide the SEO services you need at the right price
• Bad SEO Advice – Misunderstood introduction, poor communication, not providing required SEO services at the right pricee

In short, you have to balance these three things in order to keep winning.

I have converted this structure to SEO proposal template Below, you can make quick changes for your next promotion. You can personalize this template any way you want.

Here’s what it looks like, with each part explained.

title card

Your title card is the first thing your potential customers see.

It should include the following:

• date
• Potential customer’s website URL
• website logo

I’ve kept it as simple as possible to illustrate the key elements.

introduce

It’s easy to get carried away by introducing yourself and explaining methods and workflows. But it’s best to keep this section as short as possible – I like to keep it to three key slides.

• Introduce your team – put names to faces and explain who you are
• Showcase your expertise – Share the clients you work with
• Share your recent results – displays results from clients you have recently worked with

I’ve seen almost every agency I’ve worked for share clients you’ve worked with. It serves as social proof of the legitimacy of your SEO services.

Side note.

If you’re just starting out and don’t have any clients yet, include your website or skip this slideshow entirely.

Finally, it’s a good idea to provide a key example of your recent work.

You can share screenshots of your organic traffic Website browser overview page or Google Search Console. It’s often helpful if the example is relevant to the job you’re pitching.

hint

use arefs website browserAdded content change function to show how content changes you made helped increase organic traffic.

short

It’s a good idea to reconfirm the client’s SEO goals in writing to emphasize that you understand the prospect’s profile. For example, you can increase traffic to certain pages and improve rankings for different search terms.

Here’s a simple example showing what this looks like.

hint

Conduct “discovery calls” with potential clients beforehand. Take detailed notes about the call and use them for this section.

Insights and suggestions

I use two key tools to create SEO insights: Ahrefs website browser and arefs On-site audit. Between these two tools, you should be able to find performance and technical issues.

I’ve added some helpful resources below to help complete this section to help you troubleshoot some of the more common SEO questions and mistakes.

Project Timeline

Once you’ve outlined the key issues and recommended specific SEO services, it’s a good idea to establish a project timeline to show your potential clients how you will deliver the work.

The best format is usually a Gantt chart, with annotations to provide additional information.

Pricing

If you’re new to SEO, service pricing is one of the biggest hurdles – how much should you charge?

Fortunately, Joshua Hardwick After researching SEO charges, you can use our SEO Pricing Publish as a guide to what you should charge.

Your pricing usually depends on three things: The type of business you run:

Where in the world are you.

And your years of experience.

Once you have determined your rates, you can decide what services your potential clients require, how they will be delivered, and how much they will cost.

The best format for all this information is usually a pricing table like the one below.

Optional: SEO predictions

It is not mandatory to include an SEO forecast in your SEO proposal, but if you want to demonstrate the value of your SEO services, it is a good idea to include an SEO forecast as a follow-up document.

I typically don’t do forecasting at this stage because SEO forecasting can take time and often requires access to first-party data such as Google Analytics or Google Search Console. The reason is that during the proposal stage, clients are sometimes reluctant to provide access to their first-party data.

Steal our SEO proposal template

If you want to use the structure above, you can steal our SEO proposal template. Start by clicking the link below to make a copy.

Click here to copy our SEO proposal template

SEO Tips and Tips from Experts

Now that we have the basic structure, you can add some extra sparkle to your SEO proposal. I interviewed five SEO professionals to get their tips on creating a great SEO proposal.

James Norquay – Prosperity Media

“My advice for coming up with a great proposal is to research the business in detail and get to know the company during the discovery call. Understand what the pain points are from previous campaigns. You also want to make sure the prospect has the right expectations for the completed outcome and campaign.

Tools recommended by James

• Customize Google Looker Studio templates
• Excel and Google Sheets
• arefs
• screaming frog
• SEO data
• site light bulb

James’ SEO proposal structure

Charlotte Tomlinson – obviously

“Include very little generic content – ​​ensuring everything is 100% tailored to the client, their industry and target customers.

Avoid using numerous slides describing your agency’s processes and methods and instead focus on the challenges, research, and steps you will take to achieve your client’s goals. It’s also helpful to jump right into the interesting stuff (research, strategies) rather than covering a ton of information about your organization right at the beginning—you want to grab their attention as quickly as possible.

Charlotte’s recommended tools

Charlotte SEO Proposal Structure

Liam Quick – Strange digital:

“When it comes to creating a successful SEO proposal, my top tip is to create case studies from campaigns with similar budgets.

Real results and proven methods build trust and show that you can achieve your goals under similar conditions.

In my experience, these tangible pieces of evidence can be effective in swaying potential customers, sometimes leading to further questions about the campaign.

Additionally, reference activities with similar deliverables and provide a timeline for changes in your desired actions.

A clear timeline manages client expectations and highlights your expertise in delivering measurable results.

Tools recommended by Liam

• Ahfs website browser
• keyword insights
• screaming frog
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console

Liam’s SEO proposal structure

Itamar Brower – studio hawk

“The most important part of an SEO proposal is demonstrating that you understand the pain points of the business and the historical context of the website, and then matching that with appropriate priorities”

Itamar Recommended Tools

Itamar’s SEO proposal structure

Imogen Davis – Imogen Davis SEO Consulting

“Look at the website, listen to what the potential client is asking for, find out what they have done before, and then explain why and how you should do what you propose.

Conduct a technical audit, check rankings and SEO visibility, and if you have access to GA4/GSC, check trends and traffic contribution. See what’s working and what needs fixing, then base your proposals on the areas that will have the greatest impact over time.

Show how everything connects together. For example, “We need to solve this indexing problem so that in 3 months, these other fields start building, and in 6 months, we will be able to complete XYZ.” If you can show how everything is connected, it will It goes from a “should do” list to the foundation of a strategic roadmap.

Tools recommended by Imogen

• Ahfs website browser – Used for ranking history, visibility history, traffic share, and keyword movement
• screaming frog
• Excel

Imogen’s SEO proposal structure

final thoughts

An SEO proposal is your ticket to new business, so you need to get it right or you’ll lose potential clients.

This may seem like a lot of pressure for one document, but if you start with our template, customize it, and focus on delivering thoughtful insights and recommendations using: Waiting for SEO toolsyou’ll win your next SEO client in no time.

Want to contribute to this article? Add your thoughts here or leave me a message on LinkedIn.