A white label SEO program is a standing deal where another company does the SEO work and your agency's brand goes on it. On the sellers' pages we read, you join, hand each client over, and get reports back as the months go by. How each part looks turns on the seller, so ask who talks to your client and get the answer in writing.
How does a white label SEO program work, month by month?
One seller's page lays a program out in four steps, from opening an account to looking at progress once the work has started. After that, two sellers' pages say what comes back: a keyword ranking check each week, reports each week and each month, and a monthly reporting call. No page we read speaks for every program, so treat each line here as one seller's own account.
Two shapes a program can take
Two sellers describe two shapes: a set path of steps, or an order model.
| What to compare | Set steps | Order by order |
|---|---|---|
| A seller that describes it | AgencyPlatform, which sells a reseller program | FATJOE, another seller |
| How that seller puts it | Its program is laid out in four steps | The agency places, tracks and manages orders from a dashboard |
| What else it says | The agency owns the relationship, and AgencyPlatform delivers the scope | Its services can be resold one at a time or as part of a wider campaign |
| What to ask | What's in the scope for one client, and how does it change? | What would I order for one client in a month, and who decides? |
Which shape fits turns on your clients: how many you'll bring, and how alike their needs are.
Joining and handing over a client
Here are AgencyPlatform's steps, in our words:
- Open an account and look at the platform.
- Add your branding and agree what's covered.
- Hand over the client's details and start the work.
- Look at progress, and add more when it fits.
Each client you bring has details to hand over. Common things to have ready include the site's address, the access the work calls for, and a note on what you've promised the client.
A seller's page shows the program as the seller sees it, so run a check of your own. The checklist to run before you join is in how to judge an SEO reseller program.
What comes back each month
Two sellers say what comes back. AgencyPlatform says its service includes a keyword ranking check each week, plus automated reports each week and each month. Boostability, another seller, says, "We also hold monthly reporting calls to show the progress made on a campaign".
Those are two sellers' own lines, and we go no further than they do. Put the same questions to any program before you join:
- What reaches me each week, and what reaches me each month?
- Whose name and logo are on each report?
- Is there a call, and who's on it?
- How long do I get with a report before my client sees it?
On your side, a month can run like this:
- Agree the month's work for each client with the program.
- Read each check or report as it comes in, and note what to tell the client.
- Add your own notes in plain words before anything goes to the client.
- Send the report on a set day, and take the client's questions yourself.
Decide early who builds the report your client reads. For the four ways to get reports out each month, see Why is white label SEO reporting important?.
Who talks to the client
Ask this of every program, and get the answer in writing. AgencyPlatform says the dashboard, reports and notices carry the agency's branding, and that it doesn't contact the agency's clients directly.
That's one seller's line about its own program. Another program may work another way, so ask:
- Does anyone on your side ever email or call my client?
- If my client writes to you by mistake, what happens next?
- Whose name shows on the logins, emails and files my client can see?
Once a client is handed over, the daily tasks begin. For who does the work after the sale, see white label SEO fulfillment.
If you'd like to talk through how a team under your brand could fit your agency, a call with us takes little time, and it comes with no obligation.
What's a white label SEO partnership?
A white label SEO partnership is the working deal between your agency and the company that does the SEO work. It settles who does which part, whose name goes on the work, and who talks to the client.
A partnership is easier to judge with a real one in front of you, so here's ours as one example. DeskTeam360 does SEO work for agencies, and the agency's brand is the one that goes on it. On-page SEO is covered. Link building and outreach aren't. You bring the words. And it's the same team every month: the developers, designers and technical Virtual Assistants you work with don't change.
Here's what one agency says about a partnership with our team. Duct Tape Marketing is a marketing agency for small firms, and its network takes in about 150 consultants and agency owners. It worked with another firm on a similar model for two years before it came to us. The work in its story is website builds and page updates for its monthly clients, along with logos and slide decks. Duct Tape Marketing says the quality went up and the work got done faster than with its last provider. It also says it's more profitable.
That story is about the partnership, and it says nothing about SEO results.
Whoever the partner is, settle these points in writing before the first client goes over:
- Which work is covered, and which isn't?
- Who sets the SEO plan for each client?
- Who writes the words?
- Whose name is on the work, the emails and the reports?
- How does either side end the deal?
If a seller calls its offer a reseller program, check what it means by that. For what the word means and who does which part, see what an SEO reseller is.
A program is as clear as what's written down: the steps, what comes back, and who talks to your client. To talk through how this would work for your own clients, book a call with our team. The call is short, and you're under no obligation.