SEO work drifts because the word "SEO" covers almost everything. A client hires you for a technical audit, then asks why rankings have not moved. A content plan turns into writing twenty articles. A "quick look at the site" becomes weekly reporting. Link outreach gets assumed because "that is part of SEO." Without a written scope, every one of these becomes unpaid work or an awkward conversation.
This page gives you a working SEO scope of work. It lists what to include so the client knows exactly what they are buying. It lists what to leave out, because those items cause most disputes. It covers pricing structures, shows a worked example, and explains why to quote a range early on. It ends with a fill-in template you can copy into your next proposal.
Scoping a new SEO job right now?Paste the email or chat thread. One-page scope in under a minute. Free preview, then $19 for 10 scopes.
Deliverables with quantities: number of URLs audited, keywords researched, pages optimized, content briefs written, and reports delivered. A count turns "SEO audit" from an open-ended promise into a job you can finish and invoice.
Site boundaries: the exact domain, subdomains, CMS, languages, and regions covered. A second language or a forgotten subdomain can double the crawl and the work.
Access requirements: analytics, search console, CMS, tag manager, and hosting or DNS, with a date by which the client grants each. Most SEO delays trace back to access that arrived late, so tie your start date to it.
Deliverable formats: spreadsheet, written report, slide deck, or tickets in the client's project tool, and whether you deliver recommendations or implemented changes. "Recommendations" and "changes made" are different jobs with different prices.
Implementation responsibility: who applies each type of change, you, the client's developer, or nobody yet. Unassigned implementation is the single most common cause of unpaid SEO work.
Revision rounds and review windows: rounds per deliverable and the number of business days the client has to respond. Without a limit, a keyword list or content brief can be reworked indefinitely.
Timeline with milestones and acceptance criteria: dates for kickoff, audit, recommendations, and presentation, and a statement that acceptance means delivery, not rankings. It makes "done" something you control and the client can verify.
What to put under “out of scope”
These are the things SEO clients most often assume are included. Listing them up front is what keeps the project
from growing after you've quoted.
Implementing recommendations in the CMS, theme, or code, including redirects, schema markup, and template changes.
Writing the articles, landing pages, or product descriptions that your content briefs describe.
Link building, outreach, guest posting, digital PR, or any paid placements.
Paid search or paid social campaign setup and management.
Site redesigns, hosting changes, server-level speed work, or platform migrations that surface during the audit.
Managing local business listings, review responses, or directory profiles.
Ongoing rank tracking, monthly reporting, or monitoring after the final deliverable is accepted.
Example: from a messy client email to a one-page scope
This is the kind of request that usually lands in your inbox:
Our e-commerce store (Shopify, ~600 products, handmade leather goods) used to get most sales from Google and traffic dropped like 40% after a site redesign in the spring. Can you figure out what happened and fix it? Also want to rank for 'leather wallet' lol. We have a blog nobody writes for. Monthly or one-time? Need to know what we're paying for.
And this is the one-page scope ScopeSnap produced from it, unedited:
Shopify SEO Recovery Audit and Fixes
You need a one-time diagnosis and repair of the organic traffic lost in the spring redesign, plus a clear-eyed plan for whether ongoing SEO is worth paying for.
In scope
Technical SEO audit of the Shopify store: crawl, indexation, redirects, canonicals, speed, structured data, theme changes
Before/after traffic analysis in GA4 and Search Console mapping lost pages and queries to what changed in the redesign
301 redirect map for changed collection, product, and blog URLs (up to 600 products), implemented in Shopify
On-page fixes for the top 20 revenue collection and product pages: titles, metas, H1s, alt text, internal links
Technical fix implementation within theme and app settings, up to 12 hours of Shopify dev work
Keyword brief for the leather wallet cluster with realistic ranking assessment and a 12-topic blog plan
Written findings report plus 60-minute walkthrough call with prioritized next steps
30-day post-fix Search Console comparison and one email summary of recovery progress
Out of scope
Ongoing monthly SEO, link building, or content production; quoted separately as a retainer after the audit
Writing blog posts, product descriptions, or collection copy; you get the plan, not the articles
Theme rebuild, redesign reversal, or new design work; fixes stay within the current theme
Paid tool subscriptions or Shopify apps (rank trackers, SEO apps, review apps) and any Google Ads spend
Product photography, video, or new imagery for pages
Guaranteed page-one ranking for the head term leather wallet, which is dominated by national brands
Conversion rate optimization, email marketing, social, or Etsy and Amazon listing SEO
Platform migration, domain changes, or Shopify Markets and international setup
Assumptions
Collaborator access to Shopify admin, Google Search Console, and GA4 is granted within 3 business days of kickoff
Search Console history predating the spring redesign still exists (16-month window) for comparison
Old URL structure is recoverable from the previous theme, an old sitemap, or the Wayback Machine
Theme edits can be made directly; no outside agency or developer lock on the current theme
One decision-maker approves fixes and redirects; no multi-party review cycles
The drop is organic search traffic, not a seasonal dip or a loss of paid or referral traffic
Open questions
Did product, collection, or blog URL handles change in the redesign, and is the old theme still saved in Shopify?
Did the redesign coincide with app removals, a domain change, or a Google core update window?
Which 20 products or collections drove the most organic revenue before the drop, and are they all still live?
Is the real target the head term leather wallet, or buyer terms like handmade leather bifold wallet?
Who would write blog content if we hand you a plan: in-house, a hired writer, or nobody?
If the audit shows ongoing SEO would pay off, what monthly budget could you sustain for 6 months?
Price is driven by audit depth across 600 products and how many URLs need redirects and fixes; the retainer only makes sense after the one-time recovery.
Reply to send the client
I understand the priority is finding out why organic traffic fell roughly 40% after the spring redesign and fixing it, with a realistic read on the leather wallet term and the blog. I would treat this as a one-time recovery project covering the audit, redirect and on-page fixes, and a written plan, with ongoing content and link building quoted separately only if the audit shows they will pay off. Expect roughly $2,800–$7,500 depending on how many URLs changed in the redesign and need redirecting. To get started, please grant collaborator access to Shopify, Search Console, and GA4 and let me know whether the old theme is still saved in your Themes library.
How to price SEO work
SEO is priced five common ways. Fixed fee suits one-off audits and migration checklists where the deliverables are countable. Hourly and day rates suit advisory work and troubleshooting where the effort is unknown. Retainers suit ongoing optimization and reporting. Packages bundle a set audit, a set number of pages, and a set number of calls. The number goes up with URL count, number of languages or regions, CMS complexity, how much implementation you take on, meeting load, and reporting frequency. Quote a range until you have seen the crawl data, confirmed access, and know who implements the changes. Before that, a single number is a guess.
Free SEO scope of work template
Copy this, fill in the brackets, and delete anything that doesn't apply.
PROJECT
Client: [CLIENT NAME] | Website: [DOMAIN] | Prepared by: [YOUR NAME] | Date: [DATE]
SUMMARY
[ONE OR TWO SENTENCES, e.g. technical SEO audit and on-page recommendations for the [NUMBER]-page marketing site on [CMS]]
IN SCOPE
Technical audit of up to [NUMBER] URLs covering crawlability, indexing, speed flags, and structured data
Keyword research for [NUMBER] target pages, delivered as a spreadsheet
On-page recommendations (titles, meta descriptions, headings, internal links) for [NUMBER] pages
[NUMBER] content briefs of up to [WORD COUNT] words each
Kickoff call, [NUMBER] check-in calls, and one findings presentation
OUT OF SCOPE
Implementing changes in the CMS or code
Writing article or landing page copy
Link building, outreach, paid placements, paid search, and social media
ASSUMPTIONS
Site has one language and one domain; additional [SUBDOMAINS/LANGUAGES] quoted separately
Client's developer answers technical questions within [NUMBER] business days
No site redesign or migration during the project
CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Grant analytics, search console, and CMS access by [DATE]
Name one decision-maker for approvals: [NAME]
Return feedback on each deliverable within [NUMBER] business days
TIMELINE
Kickoff: [DATE] | Audit delivered: [DATE] | Recommendations delivered: [DATE] | Final presentation: [DATE]
Dates shift day-for-day if access or feedback is late
REVISIONS
[NUMBER] round of revisions per deliverable; further rounds billed at [RATE]
PRICE AND PAYMENT
Fixed fee of [AMOUNT], [PERCENT] on signing and [PERCENT] on final delivery; payment due within [NUMBER] days
Work outside this scope is quoted separately before it starts
ACCEPTANCE
Deliverables are accepted when delivered in the agreed format, or after [NUMBER] business days without written objection
Rankings and traffic are not acceptance criteria
Signed: [CLIENT NAME, DATE] / [YOUR NAME, DATE]
Rather not fill in the blanks by hand?Paste the email or chat thread. One-page scope in under a minute. Free preview, then $19 for 10 scopes.
How do I scope SEO when the client only says they want to rank higher?
Turn the goal into countable work. Ask which pages matter, which markets, and who will make changes on the site. Then propose a first phase with fixed deliverables: an audit of a set number of URLs, keyword research for a set number of pages, and on-page recommendations. Rankings are the client's goal, not your deliverable. Put that distinction in writing before you quote.
Should an SEO scope of work include a ranking guarantee?
No. You do not control search engines, competitors, or whether the client implements your recommendations. Instead, define acceptance by delivery: the audit is delivered in the agreed format, the recommendations cover the agreed pages, the report is presented. You can still list target outcomes as goals, clearly labeled as goals. Clients who insist on guarantees are telling you what the dispute will be about later.
Who should implement the SEO recommendations, me or the client?
Decide before you quote, and write it down. If the client's developer implements, your scope ends at documented recommendations with priorities, and your timeline depends on their availability. If you implement, you need CMS access, a staging environment or a change approval process, and a longer timeline. Mixed arrangements work, but list which changes belong to each side. Silence here is the most common source of unpaid SEO work.
What does a worked example of an SEO scope look like?
A regional law firm with a 40-page site asks for "better search visibility." The scope: technical audit of all 40 URLs, keyword research for 8 practice-area pages, on-page recommendations for those 8 pages, 4 content briefs, one kickoff and one findings call. Out of scope: implementation, copywriting, link building, and directory listings. One revision round per deliverable. Six weeks from access being granted. Fixed fee, half up front.