SEO proposal template

The SEO proposal template

Most SEO proposals read the same: "keyword research, on-page optimisation, link building, monthly reports". Clients have seen that list many times, and it tells them nothing about their own site. The proposals that win show the client something specific they didn't know about their site, then explain exactly what you'll do about it each month and how they'll see whether it's working.

This template is built around that idea. It includes a proper audit scope, a month-by-month plan, a reporting cadence with metrics clients can check in their own accounts, realistic expectations on timing, and three ways to buy: a one-off audit, a monthly retainer, or a retainer with content included.

The filled-in example further down uses a fictional client. Its names, findings and prices are illustrations, so use your own.

SEO proposal for [Client business name]

Prepared for: [Client name], [Company], [website address]
Prepared by: [Your name], [portfolio or case study link]
Date: [date]
Valid until: [date]

1. Where you are now
From a first look at your site and public search results:
- [Finding 1, e.g. 40 product pages share the same page title]
- [Finding 2, e.g. your most profitable service has no page of its own]
- [Finding 3, e.g. two competitors rank with dedicated guides on (topic)]
You told me the goal is [more enquiries / more online sales / more calls] from people searching for [main services or products].

2. Goals and how we'll measure them
Primary: [organic leads or sales, tracked as key events in your analytics].
Supporting: organic clicks and impressions in Google Search Console, non-branded search visibility, and rankings for [number] agreed priority keywords.
Baseline: I'll record your current numbers in month 1 so every report compares against the same starting point.

3. Scope of work
Month 1, audit and foundations
- Technical audit: indexing, sitemap, canonical and noindex tags, redirects, broken links, Core Web Vitals, mobile, structured data
- On-page audit: titles, meta descriptions, headings, internal links, duplicate or competing pages
- Keyword and competitor research, mapped to your services with the search intent for each target page
- Measurement check: Search Console, analytics key events and data retention
- A prioritised action plan: what to fix first, who fixes it and the effort involved
Month 2 onwards, every month
- [Number] technical fixes [or: [X] hours of implementation / recommendations for your developer]
- [Number] existing pages optimised
- [Number] new pages or articles [briefed / written]
- [Local SEO: Google Business Profile updates, listings, review requests]
- [Outreach or digital PR to earn links from relevant sites]
Not included: paid ads, buying links, [development beyond X hours], [writing beyond X articles].

4. Deliverables
- Audit report and prioritised action plan (end of month 1)
- Keyword map: the target search and intent for each important page
- Monthly report: work completed, results against the baseline, next month's plan
- Quarterly strategy call
- A shared log of every change made to your site

5. Timeline and what to expect
Month 1: audit, baseline and quick technical fixes.
Months 2 to 3: on-page improvements and the first new content.
Months 4 to 6: content and links build up, and we compare the trend with the baseline.
Month [6]: review results together and agree the next period's priorities.
Some changes show up in search within days; others take months. No one can guarantee a position on Google. What I commit to is the work above, done carefully and reported honestly.

6. Investment
Option A, audit and action plan: [price], one-off. Your team implements it.
Option B, monthly SEO (recommended): [price] per month for everything in section 3, minimum [3 or 6] months, then rolling monthly.
Option C, monthly SEO with content: [price] per month, adding [number] articles written each month.
Extra work outside the plan: [hourly rate], quoted before it starts.

7. What I need from you
- User access (not passwords) to Google Search Console, your analytics and Google Business Profile
- CMS access, or a developer who can make technical changes within [X] working days
- Your most profitable services or products, and the competitors you watch
- Someone to approve new content within [X] working days

8. Terms
Payment: the audit is paid before work starts; retainers are paid monthly in advance.
Methods: I follow Google's Search Essentials and spam policies. I don't buy links or use tactics that put your site at risk.
Ownership: reports, research and content I deliver are yours once paid. All accounts stay in your name.
Notice: after the minimum term, either of us can end the agreement with [30] days' notice.

9. Next steps
1. Choose an option, or tell me what to adjust.
2. I'll send the agreement and first invoice.
3. Once I have access, the audit starts within [X] working days.

[Your name]
[email] | [phone or messaging link]

Replace every [bracket] with your own details. Want a version written for a specific client brief? Paste it into the free proposal generator.

What to include in an SEO proposal

Spend 20 minutes on the client's site and public search results before you write anything. Two or three specific findings at the top of the proposal do more than any list of services.

• Where they are now: two to four concrete findings, such as duplicate page titles, a profitable service with no page of its own, or competitors ranking with dedicated guides.
• Goals tied to business results (leads, sales, calls), with supporting search metrics underneath.
• A baseline: the numbers you'll record in month one so every later report compares against a fixed starting point.
• The audit scope and the monthly work, written as quantities (pages optimised, articles briefed, fixes implemented), not vague verbs.
• Who implements technical fixes: you, the client's developer or both, and how quickly.
• Reporting cadence, a realistic timeline and a clear statement of what you can and can't promise.
• Two or three options, the minimum term, notice period and what the client owns.

What a proper SEO audit covers

An audit is the first deliverable in most SEO engagements, and the one clients judge you on. A crawler export with hundreds of warnings isn't an audit. A prioritised plan that says what to fix first, why it matters and who should fix it is.

• Crawling and indexing: Search Console page indexing report, XML sitemap, canonical and noindex tags, crawl rules, redirect chains and broken links.
• Performance and mobile: Core Web Vitals, where Google's "good" thresholds are a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.
• On-page: titles, meta descriptions, headings, internal links, thin or duplicate pages, and pages competing for the same search.
• Structured data: whether the right markup is present and valid for the business type, products, articles or FAQs.
• Content and keywords: which searches each important page should win, the intent behind them, and the gaps where competitors have pages and the client doesn't.
• Links: the quality of the current backlink profile and realistic ways to earn relevant links, such as digital PR, partners and industry resources.
• Local SEO for local businesses: Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone details, and reviews.
• Measurement: Search Console verified, key events set up in analytics, and Google Analytics data retention checked. In standard GA4 properties it defaults to 2 months for explorations and can be raised to 14 months.

How long SEO takes, and how to set expectations

Clients' biggest worry about SEO is paying for months with nothing to show. Answer it head on. Google's own starter guide says some changes "might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months", and results depend on competition, the site's history and how quickly fixes are made.

Separate early signs from end results. Fixes being live, pages indexed and impressions rising are early signs. Clicks, enquiries and sales from search are the end results, and they usually take longer. Agree a review point in advance, for example at six months, so both sides judge the trend on the same terms.

Never promise a position. Google says plainly that "no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" and warns site owners about SEOs who do. Promise the work, the reporting and your honesty instead.

• Month 1: audit, baseline, keyword map and the quickest technical fixes.
• Months 2 and 3: on-page improvements to existing pages and the first new content.
• Months 4 to 6: content and links build up, and you check the trend against the baseline.
• Review point: compare results with the baseline and agree the next period's priorities.

SEO reporting: cadence and the metrics clients care about

A monthly report and a quarterly strategy call is a sensible default. Keep the monthly report to one or two pages: what you did, what changed, what's next. Use numbers the client can check in their own Search Console and analytics, so the report never feels like a black box.

Search Console keeps about 16 months of performance data, which is enough for year-on-year comparisons. If you want longer history, export the data regularly. At the time of writing (October 2026), Search Console also has a generative AI performance report showing how often links to the site appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode, which is useful when a client asks about visibility in AI answers.

• Work completed this month, with links to the changed pages.
• Organic clicks and impressions from Search Console, split into branded and non-branded searches.
• Leads, sales or calls from organic search, from the client's analytics.
• Top gaining and losing pages, with a short explanation.
• Movement on an agreed list of priority keywords (useful, but secondary to clicks and leads).
• Next month's plan and anything you need from the client.

How to price SEO: audits, projects and retainers

You can sell SEO work in four main ways: a one-off audit and action plan, a fixed-scope project (for example a site migration or a set of new service pages), a monthly retainer, or hourly consulting for in-house teams. Offering the audit as the entry point and a retainer as the main option gives the client a low-risk way to start.

A retainer should state what's included each month in quantities, a minimum term that gives the work time to show a trend, and a notice period after that. Be careful with pay-for-rankings deals: rankings move for reasons outside your control, and they encourage short-term tactics that can harm the client's site.

• Size of the site and how many pages need work.
• How competitive the client's searches are.
• Whether you implement fixes or only recommend them.
• Content: briefing articles versus writing them.
• Link earning and digital PR, which take significant time.
• Local SEO across one location or many.
• Reporting depth and how often you meet.

SEO proposal example

Illustration only: a fictional client with made-up findings, prices and dates.

SEO proposal for Calder & Sons Roofing

Where you are now
- Most of your Google clicks come from people searching your business name.
- All six service pages share one generic title.
- Flat roofing, your most profitable job, has no page of its own.
- Two competitors rank with a page for each town they cover.

Goals
Primary: more quote requests from organic search, tracked as form submissions and calls from the site.
Supporting: non-branded clicks in Search Console and rankings for 25 agreed keywords.

Month 1
Technical and on-page audit, keyword map for 8 service pages and 6 town pages, Google Business Profile review, baseline report.

Months 2 to 6, each month
5 technical fixes, 2 existing pages improved, 2 new service or town pages written, a simple review-request routine for your office team, and a one-page report.

What to expect
Quick fixes live in month 1, new pages from month 2, and a full review against the baseline in month 6.

Investment
A, audit and action plan: $900
B, monthly SEO, 6-month minimum: $750 per month (recommended)
C, monthly SEO plus 2 extra articles: $1,050 per month

Use your own real work, numbers and prices in yours.

Short SEO bid for Freelancer.com or Upwork

Marketplace clients read short bids, not documents. Send this first, and the full proposal once they reply.

Hi [client name],

People find you when they search your business name, but not when they search for [the services or products you sell], so new customers are finding [competitors] first.

Here's how I'd approach it:
1. Audit your site's technical health, content and Search Console data to find what's holding it back
2. Map each important page to the searches it should win, then fix and expand those pages
3. Report monthly on clicks, enquiries and keyword movement against a baseline we set in week one

[proof: a similar site you worked on, what you changed and what happened]

Quick question: which service or product brings you the most profit, so I can prioritise it?

I can deliver the audit and action plan in [timeline] for [price], then continue monthly if it's a good fit.

[Your name]

More on bids in our Freelancer proposal template and how to bid on Freelancer.

Mistakes that lose SEO clients

• Promising a #1 ranking or a fixed amount of traffic. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and clients who've been burned before know it.
• Sending a crawler export as "the audit" instead of a short, prioritised plan.
• Reporting only rankings. Tie reports to clicks, leads or sales the client can see in their own accounts.
• Not agreeing who implements fixes, so results stall while changes wait in a developer's queue.
• Skipping the baseline, which leaves nobody able to show what changed.
• Selling link packages or tactics that break Google's spam policies, which can put the client's site at risk.

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Frequently asked questions

What should an SEO proposal include?

Specific findings about the client's site, goals tied to leads or sales, a baseline, the audit scope, monthly deliverables in quantities, who implements fixes, reporting cadence, a realistic timeline, pricing options and terms covering minimum term, notice and ownership.

How long does SEO take to show results?

It depends on the site, the competition and how fast fixes are made. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others take several months. Set a baseline, report monthly and agree a review point, for example at six months, to judge the trend.

Should an SEO proposal guarantee rankings?

No. Google states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google and advises caution about SEOs who claim to. Commit to the work, the reporting and the methods instead.

How should I price SEO services?

Common models are a one-off audit, a fixed-scope project, a monthly retainer and hourly consulting. The price depends on site size, competition, whether you implement or only advise, content volume, link earning and local SEO needs.

What goes in a monthly SEO report?

Work completed, organic clicks and impressions from Search Console, leads or sales from organic search, top gaining and losing pages, movement on priority keywords and next month's plan. One or two pages is plenty.

Should an SEO retainer have a minimum term?

A minimum term, for example three or six months, gives the work time to show a trend. After that, a rolling monthly agreement with a notice period keeps you accountable and the client comfortable.

Can I use this SEO proposal template on Upwork or Freelancer.com?

Use the short bid version as your first message. Send the full proposal once the client replies and you've looked at their site and Search Console data.