What is a good SEO contract length?

A good SEO contract has a three-month minimum, then runs month to month with a month's notice, and says in writing that every page, profile, property and report is yours if you leave. Three months is the shortest period in which impressions move in Search Console for named searches, so it is the honest minimum; twelve months from day one is long enough to bill for eight months of nothing.

Why three months

Month one is fixing and set-up: indexing, speed, titles, the profile, the first page. Google has to recrawl the site to notice any of it, which takes days to weeks on a small site. Judging the work at week four is judging the weather. By month three, impressions in Search Console should be rising for the searches the work targets, and that is enough to know whether the plan is right. A company that offers month to month from the first day is asking to be judged on nothing; a company that requires a year is asking not to be judged at all.

What the contract should say

• The minimum term, with the reason for it in plain words.
• What happens after: monthly, with a stated notice period, usually a month.
• Ownership: the Search Console property, the Google Business Profile, Analytics and any ads account are in your name, with the company as a manager, and every page and report stays with you.
• What the month contains, as a list, so the invoice can be checked against the work.
• The searches the work targets and the numbers at the start, so month six has something to be judged against.
• What is not included, and what is quoted separately.

What it should not say

A ranking guarantee, because nobody controls Google's results and a guarantee is either attached to a search nobody makes or is not a guarantee. An automatic renewal into another fixed term. A fee that rises because the market is competitive. Anything that keeps your accounts or your pages if you leave. A clause that prevents you from asking another company for a second opinion on the report.

How to judge at month six

Six months is the honest decision point, and a good contract makes it explicit: the company writes down whether the account is on track against the numbers named at the start, what it would change, and whether to continue. Impressions should have risen for the named searches by month four, and there should be enquiries you can trace to the work by month six. If neither has happened, the right response is to change the plan or stop, and a company worth keeping says so before you do.

After month six the work compounds: pages published early settle, reviews and mentions accumulate, competitive searches move. That is where the cost is covered several times over, and it is why the honest contract is short at the start and long in practice.