6 Promises an SEO Agency Can't Actually Make

Three SEO proposals land in your inbox, and each one promises something different. One guarantees the top spot. Another mentions a "special relationship" with Google. A third talks about a "proprietary method" without ever describing what it actually does. All three sound confident, because nobody has to prove a claim before you sign.

Telling the real work apart from the sales pitch is hard if you don't know how search actually works. The good news: Google itself wrote down exactly which claims to watch for, in its own guidance for people hiring an SEO. Here are six of those promises, and what to ask instead of taking them at face value.

1. "We'll get you to #1" — the guaranteed-ranking promise

Google's own page for people hiring an SEO says it plainly: no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Hundreds of signals decide a position, and most of them sit outside any agency's control — what competitors do, algorithm updates, even where the searcher is standing. An agency that puts a specific position in a contract either doesn't understand the field or is saying it purely to get the contract signed.

What it costs you: you pay monthly, the contract says nothing but "#1", and six months later the answer is "the market shifted" — with nothing measurable to hold anyone to.

Ask instead: have the contract list the actual work — an audit, technical fixes, a publishing schedule — not a ranking number. If the answer stays "we'll just get you to #1", don't sign.

2. "We have a special relationship with Google" — the insider-access promise

The same page warns directly: be wary of firms claiming a "special relationship" with Google or a "priority submission". In organic search, no agency has a paid channel that pushes your specific site up — that's a different product from having an account rep on Google Ads, and the two shouldn't be confused.

What it costs you: this claim can end up more expensive and less effective than an honest "we're not protected from the algorithm either" agency, because time goes into explaining the relationship instead of doing the actual work.

Ask instead: have them describe the "special relationship" as a concrete action. If the answer stays "we have a contact", that's no more than the ordinary reindex request you can already file yourself in Search Console.

3. "We have a proprietary method" — the undisclosed-technique promise

Google's own starter guide is blunt about this: there are no secrets that automatically rank a site first. Real SEO — technical structure, content, links — is work that can be named. A method kept "secret" is either trade-secret theatre, or a technique that violates Google's spam policies and isn't being written down on purpose, because that carries a real risk of the site being removed from the index.

What it costs you: once the agency leaves, the "proprietary method" doesn't stay with you — it was never explained, so the next team starts from zero.

Ask instead: request three specific actions planned for month one, in writing, before you sign.

4. "Top 10 in 30 days" — the fixed-timeline promise

The same guide warns that any change can take anywhere from a few hours to several months to be reflected on Google's end — before you even factor in what competitors are doing. A 30-day top-10 promise on a competitive term either targets a phrase almost nobody searches for, or it's simply false.

What it costs you: the deadline passes, the answer is "that's how the market works", and the money is already spent.

Ask instead: ask exactly which keyword the promise is about. If it's your own brand name (you're already first for that) or a phrase nobody searches, it's a demo number, not a business result.

5. "We'll build thousands of links" — the link-network promise

Google names "link popularity schemes" and submitting a site "to thousands of search engines" as typically useless exercises. Worse, artificial link networks violate Google's spam policies and can trigger a manual action that removes the site from the index entirely — the exact opposite of what you paid for.

What it costs you: months later, traffic hasn't grown, and if the site got penalized, you're rebuilding from a worse starting point than before you started.

Ask instead: ask which specific domains the links will come from, named before work begins. No names means no real plan — just a subscription to a bulk-submission service.

6. "500 new customers a month" — the specific-number promise

This is the same problem as #1, one layer downstream: if a ranking can't be guaranteed, neither can what that ranking turns into, because conversion depends on your own site, your offer, your price and the searcher's intent. A number quoted before an audit hasn't been calculated — it's been invented.

What it costs you: when the number doesn't show up, you hear about "other factors", but the contract is already signed.

Ask instead: ask to see the audit before any number gets quoted. A serious agency describes the process and the reporting cadence first, not a figure — it hasn't looked at your site yet.

Google itself says no one can guarantee a ranking — if an agency promises one anyway, ask "how, exactly" before you ask where to sign.

Before you choose

Start by knowing your own site's technical baseline — our free audit tool analyzes your address and shows the current picture in plain language, so you can check any agency's claim yourself.

See our SEO process, which never promises a position — it lays out step by step what we do and what we don't promise.