Updated 30 October 2026

You have spoken to three SEO providers in Nairobi. One promises more traffic. Another sends a long list of technical tasks. The third offers a package with more articles and links for a lower monthly fee.

Which one should you choose?

You do not need to become an IT expert to make a sensible decision. You need to understand what problem the provider plans to solve, what work you are buying and how you will judge progress.

Choose a working arrangement you can evaluate, not a promise you cannot verify. That is the central recommendation of this guide for Kenyan small and medium business owners.

SEO means improving your website so search engines can understand it and people can find relevant information. It can support customer acquisition, but no agency can guarantee a particular Google position or a profitable flow of customers.

This guide is published by SEO Consulting Kenya, an SEO service provider. Use the same questions when considering us as you would when assessing any other provider.

First, explain the business problem

Before requesting proposals, write a short brief:

• Your website address and main products or services.
• The customers and areas you can serve.
• The kind of enquiries or orders you want more of.
• What seems to be going wrong now.
• Who can approve content and make website changes.
• The level of spending you can sustain.

“We want more suitable enquiries for commercial printing in Nairobi” gives a provider more to work with than “make us number one”. If you do not know why enquiries are low, say so. Investigation may be the first job.

Our practical SEO strategy guide can help you define that starting point.

Ask every shortlisted provider the same questions

Consistent questions make proposals easier to compare. You are looking for a clear explanation, not the most confident presentation.

A provider may need a paid investigation before giving a detailed diagnosis. That can be reasonable if the scope, cost and output are clear. Avoid expecting a complete strategy from a brief sales call, but also avoid accepting a confident diagnosis without evidence.

Compare the work, not just the package name

“Full SEO” can mean different things. Ask for the tasks in plain language.

• Website investigation: checking whether important pages can be reached and understood by search engines.
• Page improvements: making service or product pages clearer and more useful.
• Content: researching, writing, checking and updating relevant material.
• Local work: accurate business information and eligible profile management, where appropriate.
• Promotion: explaining how relevant people will discover or refer to your business.
• Reporting: showing the work completed and what the evidence suggests next.

Not every business needs all of these at once. A narrow project that fixes a documented problem may suit you better than a broad retainer.

Also distinguish advice from implementation. An audit can identify problems without including the work to fix them. If the agency recommends changes but your developer is unavailable, the project can stall even though the report has been delivered.

Check case studies beyond the headline percentage

A chart showing a large increase needs context. Ask about the starting point, dates, work performed and business outcome.

For illustration, growth from 10 visits to 40 is a 300% increase. It is still only 30 additional visits. Those numbers are hypothetical, but they show why a percentage alone is not enough.

Useful questions include:

• Was this search traffic, all traffic, enquiries or completed sales?
• Did the business name already attract most of those searches?
• Were promotions, a redesign or other campaigns running?
• What work did this provider actually perform?
• What did not work, and what changed as a result?

Client confidentiality may limit what a provider can share. An anonymised explanation, permitted reference or sample work can still be useful. Do not ask them to expose another client’s private records.

Reviews can tell you about communication and delivery, but they do not independently prove every performance claim. An agency’s position for one search phrase is also insufficient evidence of whether it can solve your problem.

Make the price comparison fair

There is no single correct fee for every Kenyan business. The website’s condition, scope, implementation effort and available team time affect the work required.

Ask each provider to separate:

• Initial investigation or setup.
• Ongoing work and reporting.
• Writing, editing and content approval.
• Developer work and website fixes.
• Software, hosting or other third-party costs.
• Advertising spend, if a separate campaign is proposed.
• Applicable taxes and any other charges.

Check the billing currency, payment schedule, commitment period and process for approving extra work. These are commercial points to clarify in the written agreement, not assumptions to leave until an invoice arrives.

A cheaper proposal may have a narrower scope. A higher fee may include work you do not need. Compare the work and responsibilities before judging either.

Keep business ownership and access clear

Your business should retain control of its domain, website and reporting accounts. Give the provider appropriate access through account roles where possible, rather than sharing one password across everyone.

Before starting, record who controls:

• The domain registration and hosting.
• Website administrator access.
• Google Search Console and analytics.
• Your Google Business Profile, if applicable.
• Advertising accounts, if they are part of a separate service.
• Content files, photographs and reports.

Clarify content rights, software licences, backups and handover arrangements in writing. Some tools may belong to the provider; ask what you will retain when the engagement ends.

You should also know who approves consequential changes, such as removing pages, changing addresses or submitting a disavow file. Ask for an explanation and a backup plan before that work proceeds.

Agree on a report that helps you make decisions

A report full of graphs can still leave you unsure what you paid for. Ask to see a sample before hiring.

A useful report answers five questions:

1. What work was completed, and on which pages?
2. What is happening to relevant search visibility and visits?
3. How many suitable enquiries or orders were recorded?
4. What remains uncertain or blocked?
5. What work is recommended next, and why?

Keep completed tasks separate from outcomes. An improved page can be delivered on an agreed date; a particular ranking cannot be guaranteed for that date.

Also separate a contact-button click from a confirmed enquiry and an enquiry from a sale. If customers order by phone or WhatsApp, agree how your team will record those outcomes and acknowledge any gaps in attribution.

Understand your responsibilities too

The provider will need facts that only your team can supply: accurate services, prices or quotation requirements, service areas, product availability and permission to publish examples.

Nominate someone to review content and answer questions. Agree how approvals and developer dependencies affect the schedule. Otherwise, both parties may expect progress while essential decisions sit unanswered.

Ask who will do the work day to day, who checks it and who you contact if something goes wrong. A familiar sales contact may not be your ongoing project manager.

Warning signs worth questioning

Pause when a provider guarantees rankings, refuses to explain methods or claims a special relationship with Google that secures organic positions.

Ask for more detail if the proposal centres on bulk link counts, a fixed number of articles without a purpose, invented reviews or a proprietary score with no connection to customers. More activity does not automatically mean more value.

Also be cautious about a demand to rebuild the whole website without explaining what the existing site prevents you from doing. Sometimes substantial work is justified; sometimes a smaller fix is enough.

Google’s guidance on hiring an SEO is a useful independent reference when preparing your questions.

A simple way to compare your final shortlist

For each provider, write down whether the following is clear, partly clear or missing:

• The problem they will investigate or solve.
• The initial scope and implementation responsibilities.
• Evidence of relevant work and an explanation of its limits.
• Total costs and conditions for additional work.
• Reporting, business measures and review arrangements.
• Account ownership, content rights and exit process.

Treat missing information as a question to resolve before signing. Do not let a strong presentation compensate for unclear account ownership or a vague scope.

After starting, review both delivery and learning: was the agreed work done, what does the evidence show, and does the next priority make sense? SEO requires judgement under uncertainty, so honest explanations matter as much as confident plans.

If you are considering SEO Consulting Kenya, send us your website address, priority service and the problem you want to solve. Use this checklist to assess the proposed scope and ask about anything that is unclear.

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose an agency or a freelancer?

Either can be suitable. Compare relevant experience, availability, implementation ability and accountability. A larger team is not automatically better, and a freelancer is not automatically cheaper or less capable.

Does my SEO provider need to be based in Nairobi?

Location can help if you value in-person meetings or need local coordination, but it does not establish competence. Ask how the provider will understand your customers, service areas and business constraints.

How soon should I expect results?

There is no dependable deadline for a particular ranking or sales outcome. Agree dates for work, progress reviews and a clear starting baseline. Ask how the provider will respond if the evidence does not support the original plan.

Is a long contract necessary?

That depends on the work and commercial arrangement. Understand the commitment, notice process, renewal terms and handover before agreeing. A longer contract does not itself prove that the strategy is sound.

Should I pay extra for AI SEO?

Ask what additional work is included and why your business needs it. A label alone does not explain value. Be cautious about promises of guaranteed mentions in AI answers or work that duplicates an existing scope.

What should I do when changing providers?

Review your existing agreement, confirm account control and collect relevant reports, content and change records. Plan the handover, then remove access that is no longer needed. Avoid unnecessary changes to the domain or website simply because the supplier has changed.