Agency Red-Flag Checker

Answer 10 quick questions about an SEO or AI search agency you are considering and get an instant risk rating, plus the exact questions to ask before signing. Norms are benchmarked to the 12 verified UK agencies in the SEOCompare database: median starting retainer £2,500 per month, median minimum contract 4.5 months, and only 8% requiring a 12-month lock-in.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent. No signup. Reviewed by Oliver Mackman. Last updated: 11 June 2026.

1. They guarantee rankings or citations ("page 1", "#1 in ChatGPT", "guaranteed AI visibility")critical
2. No named team: no real people, photos or LinkedIn profiles anywhere on their site
3. They demand a 12-month or longer minimum contract up front
4. The contract auto-renews into another fixed term, or notice and exit fees are unclear
5. They will not say who actually does the work (offshore or white-label delivery is dodged)
6. No case studies, no named clients, no references you can actually check
7. Your content, schema or tracking history would live inside their proprietary platform
8. The price is far outside the verified UK market range and they cannot explain why
9. They cannot explain their AI search method beyond buzzwords (GEO, LLMO, "proprietary AI")
10. They cold-contacted you claiming your site has urgent "errors" or a penalty

Your risk read

Risk rating
Low risk
Flag score
0 / 18
Flags raised
0

No red flags raised. On these answers the agency looks legitimate; verify the green answers with evidence before signing.

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Database norms behind the checker's scoring
NormVerified figure
UK agencies in the verified panel12
Median starting retainer£2,500 per month
Verified starting-price range£1,500 to £8,000 per month
Median minimum contract4.5 months
Agencies requiring a 12-month minimum1 of 12 (8%)
Agencies running a proprietary tool3 of 12 (25%)
Agencies guaranteeing rankings or citations0 of 12

Source: SEOCompare verified UK agency database

First-party figures computed from the database, last updated 2026-06-11. Full datasets: the pricing index and contract lock-in index pages.

View as plain-text Markdown 
### Database norms behind the checker's scoring

| Norm | Verified figure |
| --- | --- |
| UK agencies in the verified panel | 12 |
| Median starting retainer | £2,500 per month |
| Verified starting-price range | £1,500 to £8,000 per month |
| Median minimum contract | 4.5 months |
| Agencies requiring a 12-month minimum | 1 of 12 (8%) |
| Agencies running a proprietary tool | 3 of 12 (25%) |
| Agencies guaranteeing rankings or citations | 0 of 12 |

Source: SEOCompare verified UK agency database

First-party figures computed from the database, last updated 2026-06-11. Full datasets: the pricing index and contract lock-in index pages.
What a checklist cannot tell you
“A clean score means the agency avoids the known failure patterns, not that the work will be good. Two agencies can both pass this checklist and differ enormously in output quality. Use the score to filter out the obvious risks, then judge the survivors on the only evidence that matters: named client results you can verify, and whether their method survives ten minutes of plain-English questioning.”
OM

Oliver Mackman

AI Search Analyst, SEOCompare

Reviewed 11 June 2026

How the scoring works

Each red flag carries a weight from 1 to 4 based on how reliably it predicts a bad engagement. "Yes" scores the full weight, "Not sure" scores half (an agency that leaves you unsure on a contract or delivery question is itself informative), and "No" scores zero. Guaranteed rankings is the one critical flag: any agency guaranteeing rankings or AI citations is rated high risk regardless of the rest, because none of the 12 verified UK agencies in our database makes that claim and no honest agency can.

  • 0 to 2 points: low risk, proceed and verify the answers with evidence.
  • 3 to 5 points: moderate risk, get the flagged items resolved in writing first.
  • 6 to 9 points (or the critical flag): high risk, do not sign until every flag is cleared.
  • 10 or more: walk away, the pattern matches the engagements that end in disputes.

Common questions

What is the single biggest red flag with an SEO or AI search agency?

Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed AI citations. No agency controls Google's results or what ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity cite, so a guarantee is either an empty promise or a sign the agency relies on pressure selling. None of the 12 verified UK agencies in the SEOCompare database makes this claim.

Is a 12-month contract a red flag on its own?

It is a flag to question, not an automatic disqualifier. Only 1 of the 12 verified UK agencies (8%) requires 12 months, and the median minimum is 4.5 months, so a demanded 12-month lock-in is unusual in this market. The full numbers are in the contract lock-in index.

Does this checker store what I enter?

No. The checker runs entirely in your browser, nothing is transmitted or stored, and there is no email gate. It is built and reviewed by the SEOCompare editorial team, using the same verified database that powers our agency comparisons.

Related

OM

Oliver Mackman

AI Search Analyst, SEOCompare

Oliver leads SEOCompare's editorial and comparison research. With over a decade in digital marketing, he oversees agency evaluation, tool testing, and AI search data analysis.

Last reviewed: 11 June 2026