7 Questions to Ask a B2B SEO Agency Before You Sign

The best questions to ask a B2B SEO agency revolve around:

• Its experience in your industry
• Its results for B2B companies
• Its AI and search engine optimization methods
• Its attribution capabilities for leads, lead quality, and closed pipeline

Strong answers show whether an agency can turn search visibility (from paid ads to AI mentions) into qualified leads for B2B businesses. Learn more about what questions to ask a B2B SEO agency below:

Questions to ask a B2B SEO agency

Learn which questions to ask a B2B SEO agency (and what answers to look for) now:

1. What experience do you have in my industry?

When you’re vetting B2B SEO agencies, you want to look for ones that have experience with your industry. It’s easier to work with a B2B SEO agency that understands your industry.

If they have experience with your industry, they will know how to create an SEO campaign that works for you. To find out if a B2B SEO agency has experience with your industry, look at their portfolio and case studies.

You will gain insight with a portfolio, such as whether a company has worked in your industry. You can also see the type of campaigns they’ve created for other clients.

If they don’t have experience with your industry, that doesn’t mean they aren’t a good fit for B2B SEO. You can see if an SEO company works with multiple different types of B2B companies.

If they have a diverse portfolio, it’s an indication that they’ll be willing to learn about your industry to help you produce the best SEO campaign for your company.

As you look into SEO marketing services, see if an SEO company has experience with your industry and a diverse portfolio. These types of SEO companies will provide the best service for your business because they will take time to get to know your company and industry.

2. What do your results for clients look like?

When you look at an SEO company’s portfolio, look for real results.

An SEO company can say they drive great results, but they must have repeatable proof to back it up. You should see metrics for increased organic and AI referral traffic, more SEO- and AI-attributed leads, improved lead quality, and business revenue growth.

3. What techniques do you use for B2B SEO?

To find the best SEO agency for your SEO needs, look for companies that use white hat SEO techniques. These are reputable companies because they’re using an approach that aligns with Google’s commitment to delivering helpful content to users.

White hat SEO techniques include:

• Creating quality content
• Utilizing effective keywords
• Linking internally on your website
• Claiming and optimizing local listings and directories referenced by users and AI training data
• Structuring pages with clear, direct answers that AI Overviews and AI assistants can cite

White hat techniques are best for your business because it will naturally help you rank in Google’s search results.

As Google changes its algorithm, your site will adapt and change with it. Not to mention, white hat SEO techniques abide by Google’s rules.

Black hat SEO, on the other hand, is terrible for your B2B company.

Black hat techniques, like keyword stuffing, link farming, and cloaking, are all unethical practices for SEO. Google frowns on these practices and will punish your website when they catch you using these techniques.

When companies use black hat SEO, they cheat the system. They try to take advantage of Google’s algorithm to achieve high rankings fast. These practices, however, don’t provide long-standing rankings and result in Google hurting your website.

If any B2B SEO agency guarantees higher rankings or citations in a short amount of time, they are using black hat SEO techniques. SEO takes a few months to generate business impact, so any company that promises a quick uptick isn’t the right company for your business.

Google also warns against services that claim or imply their work is approved by Google, since it doesn’t evaluate third-party services. As you look into SEO services for B2B companies, make sure your SEO company utilizes white hat SEO practices.

4. How do you approach B2B vs. B2C SEO?

When it comes to SEO, your approach for B2B is different than B2C businesses. It’s vital that your B2B SEO agency understands how your B2B company is different. As you look at different SEO companies, make sure they understand these critical aspects of B2B:

You’re dealing with multiple decision-makers

When you choose an SEO company, make sure that they know that you’re dealing with various decision-makers. You aren’t just appealing to one person to get them to choose your business. Your SEO company should understand that you need a strategic SEO strategy that will help you appeal to multiple decision-makers.

You have a longer sales cycle

The right B2B SEO agency will understand that you have a longer sales cycle. Your SEO company should be aware that many B2B companies, like yours, sell products that cost more money, so decisions take longer to make. They should know how to create an SEO campaign that adapts to this longer sales cycle, compared to the short sales cycle of B2C.

Your success will come from high-value, low-competition keywords

A good B2B SEO company will focus on high-value keywords or prompts for your company. B2B businesses’ best keywords have high value, but low competition since they are more specific.

Those longer, specific queries are also where AI answers appear most often: B2B queries of 7+ words triggered an AI Overview 61.9% of the time in WebFX’s 2.37M-keyword study.

Your agency should find these keywords and write those pages so AI Overviews can cite them and make your brand visible to its target market.

5 What services do you offer in addition to SEO?

When you start investing in professional SEO services, you’ll find that you want to invest in other methods. While SEO works great on its own, there are other digital marketing services you may want to invest in to take your SEO campaign to the next level.

One method you may also want to invest in is web design.

When you’re using SEO to drive leads to your site, you want to be sure that they remain on it. Inadequate or outdated website design can deter users, making your SEO efforts ineffective.

By having a well-designed website, you’ll keep leads on your site longer.

They are more likely to engage with your page because it is visually appealing and user-friendly. If you want to see success with SEO, you must invest in building a quality website to keep leads engaged on your page.

In addition to web design, you may also need to invest in copywriting for your business. Copywriting in the content that goes on the core pages of your site. This written information is where your audience gets their knowledge about your B2B business, so you want to ensure that it is well-composed and accurate.

Copywriting services will help you create a professional and clean copy for your website. You’ll get keywords integrated into your pages so you can rank in Google’s search results. It’s great for your business because you don’t need to worry about writing (or rewriting) all the pages on your website to help them rank better for SEO.

Another service you may need is content marketing. Content marketing has a substantial impact on your SEO ranking. It’s a great way to drive leads to your page and get them to stay on it.

Content marketing keeps leads on your page longer and educates them about your business. This method goes hand-in-hand with your SEO campaign. Content marketing supports your SEO by answering buyer questions on pages that search engines and AI assistants can surface and cite.

These are just a few of the many services that are supplemental to SEO.

While you may not invest in these services right away, you’ll want to invest in them down the line. To keep your campaign cohesive and in one place, look for a full-service company when searching for the right B2B SEO agency.

A full-service company will specialize in SEO but offer additional services that can help your business grow. Instead of having to hire an SEO company, a freelance copywriter, and a content marketing company, you can use one company for all your needs. It will help you have a more cohesive campaign for your B2B business.

6. What tools or technology do you use to support client success?

When you’re running an SEO campaign, you want to ensure that your SEO company has the right tools to run your campaign.

Marketing tools help make your campaign more efficient and produce better results. For instance, you’ll want to make sure that your B2B SEO agency has a keyword or prompt research tool they like to use to find relevant keywords.

A keyword research tool, like BuzzSumo or KeywordsFX, is vital to help you continue to find the best keywords for your B2B company. Also, you’ll want to look for marketing tools that keep your overall campaign strategy organized and track your visibility in AI search.

In comparison, OmniSEO®, which is WebFX’s AI search visibility platform, provides prompt query volume data so businesses can make data-driven decisions on which AI searches to target and invest resources in. (As an aside, companies can also track within OmniSEO® whether their site is cited or mentioned in these prompts).

The right business-to-business SEO company will have the tools to drive success for your campaign. As you research different SEO companies, look for ones that have access to tools to make your campaign better.

7. How do you track AI search visibility against leads and pipeline?

A B2B SEO agency should report how often AI search tools like Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity mention or cite your brand, and show that data next to organic traffic, leads, and pipeline.

Ask for this reporting before you sign, because AI answers can shape a buyer’s shortlist before anyone visits your site. Not to mention, measuring that visibility is where many teams fall short.

In Semrush’s 2026 study of marketers, 49% named the impact of AI on pipeline or revenue as a hard-to-measure metric. Use these questions to see whether an agency can close that gap:

• Ask which AI platforms they track: A good agency names the platforms, the prompts it monitors, and how often it refreshes its citation and mention data.
• Request a sample report: Look for AI mentions and citations reported beside organic sessions, leads, and sales-accepted opportunities from your CRM.
• Ask how their AI work connects to core SEO. Crawlable pages, clear answers, and earned mentions on trusted sites support both, so be wary of AI visibility sold as a guaranteed add-on.

Here’s what that tracking looks like in practice.

For RC Mowers, a manufacturer of remote-operated mowers, the setup included a custom GA4 channel for generative AI traffic and lead and call tracking tied to Salesforce. With that in place, RC Mowers could measure the results of its broader AI search optimization program, including a 1,164% increase in traffic from AI sources.

Bonus questions to ask B2B SEO agencies

Remember — when you’re vetting different B2B SEO agencies, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Google’s own tips for hiring an SEO suggest asking about past work, adherence to Google Search Essentials, expected results, and communication practices.

With that, here are a few questions you can ask B2B SEO agencies:

• How do you prioritize your SEO projects?
• How do you work on campaigns?
• Who will be working on my campaign? What type of experience do they have?
• How do you communicate with your clients?
• How do you measure results for your clients, including leads, pipeline, and AI search visibility?

These are just a few questions you can ask an SEO company to understand better how they operate and bring success for your clients. When you know an SEO company better, you can determine if they are a good fit for your B2B business. Asking questions will allow your B2B business to vet SEO companies and find the best one for your needs.

WebFX helps companies like yours reach their business goals

“Our marketing department has a lot of key performance indicators that WebFX has always helped us achieve… WebFX has always worked hard to make sure that we’re getting what we need out of the partnership, not just what may seem like the best result.”

HydroWorx

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Got questions for our B2B SEO agency?

If you want to help your B2B business grow online, you must invest in SEO. SEO helps your website earn visibility in search results and AI answers and drives more valuable traffic to your site. If you’re looking for the right B2B SEO agency that will help your business grow, see if WebFX can help!

We’re a full-service digital marketing company that specializes in custom SEO campaigns. We’ve driven more than $10 billion in revenue for clients in the last 5 years and over 24 million leads.

Our team connects your SEO and AI search results to leads and revenue in RevenueCloudFX, so you can see which work drives pipeline. If you’re ready to hire a B2B SEO agency that will grow your business, contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist.