Top SEO Companies – July 2026

Cost of SEO Services

The average monthly cost of SEO services of our listed providers is (USD).

How We Evaluated SEO Companies

Most advice online about hiring an SEO company is, how shall we put it, generic. 

Yes, you want an SEO company with a strong track record, stellar client reviews, and a customized, non-cookie-cutter strategy.

Those are table stakes. Here are the criteria we look for in working with a new SEO company:

Understanding Business Value – The company should ask what our ultimate business objectives are and have a plan to actively work towards them. We don’t want to hire a company that simply seeks vanity traffic and rankings.

Speed to Work – SEO takes time to get results, so we want our SEO team to get up and running as quickly as possible. We avoid companies that drag out the process with multiple introductory and onboarding meetings. Research that takes a few weeks is fine, but it shouldn’t drag on for months.

Project Ownership – We ask upfront about who owns what assets the agency works on. We should own most, if not all, creative work, logins, and account access. Many companies want and need to hold onto proprietary processes and software, which is fine. We dislike companies that don’t let us access our own online accounts.

Exit Strategy – We find out the process for ending our relationship with our SEO Company if we’re not happy. Many agencies use 6-month contracts (or sometimes longer), which is fine and necessary for planning. We stay away from companies that look to lock us into unreasonably long contracts, such as 1-2 years, or those with overly punitive cancellation penalties.

Questions We Consider When Hiring an SEO Company

Consider asking these questions we provided when talking with potential SEO agencies and consultants about your project. It’s often best to speak with 2-3 agencies or consultants before signing a contract.

1. If we hire you, who will handle our account? Will we meet with them before we commit?
2. For new content, how do you decide what keywords and topics to target that are relevant to our business goals?
3. What kind of reporting do you deliver?
4. What kind of account access do we need to provide? E.g., Google Analytics, Search Console, CMS, etc?
5. How will you promote our brand in your SEO plan?
6. If we are unhappy with the work, how do we cancel?
7. Can you share case studies or examples of other clients where you had success?
8. How do we increase visibility in AI search?
9. Will you perform an SEO audit of our site? What are your top auditing priorities?
10. Will we have ownership of all accounts? How about content and creative work?