SEO contract template: what to change before you use one

Before you use an SEO contract template, change every part that describes someone else's agency: the names, the work, the fee, the reports and the state. Then find the template's date and ask what's changed since it was written. Have a lawyer read your version before a client signs it.

What should you change in an SEO agreement template?

Change every part that describes the agency the template was written for, and put your own facts in its place. A template holds another writer's answers. Your contract holds yours.

Work through it in this order:

1. The names. Put in your agency's legal name and your client's. Search every page for the old names.
2. The work. Swap the template's task list for your own. Add a short list of what isn't included.
3. The term and the fee. Put in your start date, your length, your renewal, your price and your due date.
4. The reports. Name each report, its timing, and the data behind it.
5. Account access and client data. Name the accounts the client lets you into, and who on your side signs in.
6. Who owns the work. Write this part with your lawyer. The template's writer made a choice here, and it may not be the one you'd make.
7. How it ends. Put in your own notice period and what you give back on the last day.
8. The state. If the template names a state's law or courts, ask your lawyer what belongs there.

When you've made your changes, read the whole document out loud once. Mark any line you couldn't explain to a client in plain words. Those lines go on your list for the lawyer.

The eight steps follow the parts of the contract itself. For what each part of the contract says, see the parts of an SEO contract.

What has changed since an SEO contract template from 2017?

California's privacy law is newer than a template from 2017, and it has been changed since. It's the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, and voters approved changes to it in 2020.

California's privacy agency says those changes went into effect on January 1, 2023. California's Attorney General says the same: the 2020 changes added privacy protections, and they began on that day.

Here's how to date any template against those three dates:

1. Find the template's date. Look for a year in the footer, a "last updated" line, or the date on the page you got it from.
2. Set that date beside the three dates above.
3. Write down which of the three come after it.
4. Take the template and your note to a lawyer.

We give the dates and stop there. We don't say what the law asks of anyone, and we don't say whether a template of any age is fine to use. For the law's own words, see Which California rules apply when a helper works under my brand?.

Whether any part of that law applies to your agency is a lawyer's call. Other things may have changed since your template was written, too. A lawyer who works with agencies in your state can tell you which ones matter for your contract.

What should you check an SEO agreement sample for?

Check a sample for six things before you borrow a line: its date, its state, its writer, the work it was written for, the parts it leaves out, and any blanks left in it. A sample shows you one shape a contract can take. It was written without knowing your state, your clients or your work.

Go down this list with the sample in front of you:

• The date. Is there one on the document or on the page it came off? How old is it?
• The state. Does it name a state's law or courts? Is that state yours?
• The writer. Does the page say who wrote it: a lawyer, a software company, another agency?
• The work. Was it written for SEO alone, or for a wider set of services?
• The gaps. Is there a part for the work, the term and the fee? One for reports and for access? One for client data, for ownership and for ending the agreement?
• The blanks. Are there empty lines, brackets or sample names still in it?

A sample may cover SEO alone, or it may cover a full set of marketing services. For one contract for more than SEO, see marketing agency contract templates.

Give the reporting part its own pass: what's sent, the schedule, and where the numbers come out of. For the reporting clause, see reporting terms in an SEO agreement.

When to have a lawyer read it

Have a lawyer read your edited version before the first client signs it. Bring three things:

1. The template's date and where you got it.
2. Your list of changes.
3. The lines you marked because you couldn't explain them.

Bring it back for a second read when you add a new service or a new helper, or when you start work for clients in another state.

This isn't legal or tax advice.