How long do SEO contracts typically last?

Author: Ryan Walsh
Date: 21/07/2026
Subject: SEO contracts / SEO agencies

One of the first questions to roll off the tongue when visiting a local SEO agency will be “How much does SEO cost per month?”.
Following swiftly after that question is “how long will we have to pay that for?”

This is understandable; if you’re hiring, say, a painter and decorator, you’re going to want to know rough time scales and prices.

However, search engine optimisation, well that’s a whole different kettle of fish! It’s a strategic form of marketing; it requires constant work and investment. Take your foot off the accelerator; it’s only a matter of time before a competitor zooms past you.

However, we appreciate that directors, whether in the UK or abroad, will want to know the different types of contract models that agencies tend to offer. Perhaps one will work better than the rest; perhaps one will suit your company’s cash flow that bit better?

So, if you’re wondering who the author of this piece is, my name is Ryan Walsh. I have been running a well-known agency for 14 years. I am well placed, therefore, to guide you through the various types of contracts that typically get agreed upon when visiting your local agency.

 

6-12 month contracts (The pros and the cons)

Agencies, like all businesses, carry overheads and therefore need some level of certainty to ensure they have the right staff manning the marketing campaign throughout its duration.

Link builders, PR specialists and copywriters that are blooming good, well, they’re not cheap!

Therefore, talent is expensive to hire, unless you want one of the agencies which trains people on the job!

However, the best agencies- well, you will see they typically have staff with 10-plus years of experience.

As such, to lock in a robust marketing campaign, a roll out of that work generally takes 6 months.

Therefore generally speaking, agencies tie in customers for around 6-12 month time frames.

 

Getting the on-page work sorted (Months 1-3)

Various agencies will have different ways of generating results. Generally speaking, in months 1-3, the agency carries out technical and on-page audits and changes.

Often in this timeframe, it’s all about competitor analysis and understanding what’s been indexed and where the business ranks on Google for important keywords.

 

Months 3-6

This is where the actual implementation of work should be in peak flow. By that we mean the backlink profile should be flourishing, and the content marketing should be added regularly.

During this time, on-page SEO should be improved, and technical SEO issues should be sorted as well.

Basically the manager assigned to this work should have a solid grasp of the business products or services. The main keywords should at 3-6 mark start to be nudging on first page or close to it.

 

Months 6-12

Every business is different; therefore, its website will be different as well. Therefore, “template” SEO campaigns do not work. The best in the business will appreciate that it’s a process of implementing work, monitoring the impact, and adjusting the marketing campaign accordingly.

 

Now what are the pros of investing in the 6–12-month timeframes?

Well, a good SEO strategist, someone who thinks of this profession a bit like playing chess, which is exactly what it is, well, this allows ample time to implement and roll out a robust strategy.

You have to outsmart and out move the competition. This can’t be achieved in a matter of days or weeks.

Therefore, having an agreement in place allows a plan to be rolled out over the long term.

 

What are the drawbacks of long agreements?

The drawbacks of long SEO agreements are that the agency gets a little complacent. They have locked in a client for, say, 12 months, and no real tangible work perhaps gets rolled out until right towards the end of the contract.

This is disappointing, yet it does happen. Basically the customer wont see the results they wanted.

However, you get agencies on the other hand that get to work like bees collecting nectar. They are industrious and want you to be successful so the 12 contracts keep getting signed every year. Now the team at Walsh & Partners definitely work to that approach.

 

Month-to-month rolling contracts

A lot of agencies can’t offer this due to the fixed overheads; they often need long-term contracts in order to retain their staff.

Month-to-month contracts are therefore sometimes reserved more for SEO consultants with low overheads.

However, for some businesses, this might be the best solution. This keeps all sides focused on the goal. An agency / consultant will want to nudge your rankings higher, as that’s what they’re paid for.

Plus, the client doesn’t feel like they have the burden of forking out for an SEO retainer over 12 months just in case the company doesn’t deliver.

 

12 months moving into a rolling contract

Okay, this option is one that some agencies may offer. It may be sold with the condition that more work is rolled out within the first year, then after that it’s just maintaining that work.

This means to maintain may need less work, so after first 12 months the retainer fee may sometimes drop.

We recommend considering a rolling contract from the outset, or at least a very short-term commitment of 3 months at a time.

 

Websites current health

DA, or “Domain Authority,” is a metric first invented by Moz. Basically, it measures how good the website’s backlink profile is. This is just one part of the SEO jigsaw, yet an important one that needs to be analysed.

The point we are therefore making is this: if the website had a rubbish agency working on it in the past, well, it might be like a crash-damaged car.

There’s no point trying to polish and hoover it ready for sale if front bumper is missing and the bonnet is all crumpled.

Therefore, first things first: what’s the condition of the SEO at present, and has the work in the past been completed by competent marketing professionals? Or has someone had a go from down the pub, saying something like “yeah, I sorted out my last employer’s SEO for them!”.

 

How competitive is your industry

Okay, so this is not so much about contract duration, more about how long it takes to see actual results. If you are facing more competition online than you can shake a stick at, then it’s not going to be any walk in the park.

 

Results will be slow.

Fixed work should be a fixed price.

Let us give you a golden nugget of advice: why not dip your toe in the water and try your SEO agency out before you marry them with a long contract?

 

What do we mean by such a statement?

Well, rather than signing up to a 12-month contract, then finding out that the agency is not to your liking, why not do this instead?

Identify a weakness with your website; let’s say the on-page SEO is haywire, and it’s a bit of a mess. You could go out and ask for a fixed price to take care of that aspect of the work. Then, if the agency is a lovely bunch of people and the organic traffic starts to go to infinity and beyond, why not sign up for a longer-term deal after that instalment of work is complete?

 

Get your mitts on an SEO report first.

If your car’s instrument panel was throwing out spurious readings, you may not have a clue what’s going on with the engine. Instead of engine temperature reading, let’s say it’s telling you instead the temperature in Spain today when you’re in Cardiff, UK!

 

That would be odd, wouldn’t it?

Well, some SEO reports do something similar, they aim to confuse!

Vanity metrics basically try to pull the wool over your eyes: lovely colourful graphs, pages and pages of technical waffle. So much so, they know the director won’t read that rubbish and will go back to more pressing issues, like how to get Bill back to work!

So, don’t be fooled by marketing jargon.

Regardless of whether you’re a one-person operation or you have thousands of staff who rely on you to make the right shots, you can ask for a simplified marketing report.

Now, that simplified marketing report shouldn’t be filled with “heat maps”; instead, get the basics on there- the important details. The important details are:

 

• Number of organic visitors
• Where the rest of the website visitors have come from
• How long the average shopper spends on the website
• How many backlinks and where from
• Bounce rates: are they high, increasing or decreasing?
• And most important of all, sales: what’s happening with sales via, say, organic, compared to PPC, etc.

 

What does Walsh & Partners have to offer?

Well, for over 14 years, we have retained clients with our SEO performance.

Taking the attitude that “your success is our success” has kept our clients’ businesses in business.

We don’t like long contracts.

Therefore, if you want to hire one of the best and most experienced agencies in the country, come to Walsh & Partners.