SEO client onboarding: a checklist for the first 30 days

Work through SEO client onboarding in this order: the signed contract, account access, proof of ownership, the audit and the first report. The 30 days are our own frame, so move a step if your contract sets other dates.

What goes on an SEO onboarding checklist, week by week?

Week one holds the contract and the questions. Week two holds account access and proof of ownership, week three the audit, and week four the first report.

Week one: the contract and the questions

• The contract is signed by both sides, and filed where you can find it.
• One contact is named on each side.
• The onboarding form has gone out, with a date to send it back.
• The first call is on the calendar.
• A shared place for files is set up, and the client can get into it.

The form does a lot of the work in this week. For the questions to ask a new SEO client, see SEO onboarding questions.

Week two: account access and proof of ownership

• A user of your own is set up on each account you'll work in.
• You know which Search Console permission you hold, and who granted it.
• The client's site is verified in Search Console, and you know who the verified owner is.
• The client has looked over who else has access to each account.

Access. In Search Console, every user of a property holds a permission. Google's help page names owner, full user and restricted user among them. An owner has full control, a full user can see all data and take some actions, and a restricted user gets simple view rights on most of the data.

The audit comes next, and it shapes the access you ask for. When an SEO offers an audit, Google's advice to a business is to give read access to Search Console only, and no write access at that stage. So ask which permission the client plans to give you for the audit, and plan the audit around it.

Proof of ownership. Google puts it this way: "Ownership verification means proving to Search Console that you own a specific website". A verified owner holds the highest level of permissions in Search Console.

Google says Search Console supports several ways to verify. Its table lists an HTML file upload, an HTML tag, a Google Analytics tracking code, Google Tag Manager, a Google Sites or Blogger account, and a domain name provider.

Google calls the file upload and the HTML tag relatively simple, but each one takes access to the site. The file upload takes someone who can put a file on the site and publish it. The HTML tag takes someone who can edit the HTML of the home page. Google calls the domain name provider method more complex, and says no other method can verify a Domain property.

The site belongs to the client, so start by asking who on their side can prove it. These questions help the client pick a method:

• Who can add a file to the site and publish it?
• Who can edit the home page's HTML?
• Who holds the login at the domain name provider?

Week three: the audit

• The audit is run with the access you were given.
• Each finding is written in plain words.
• Each finding has two estimates beside it: the work it takes, and what it could improve.
• The client has heard the findings on a call.
• The client has agreed, in writing, which findings get worked on first.

Google says "An SEO audit should be about giving you realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved". That's a fair test for your own audit before you send it. Read each estimate and ask whether you'd stand behind it on a call.

Week four: the first report

• The parts of the report are agreed with the client.
• The send date is set, and it's the same day each month from here on.
• The first report is built, checked and sent.
• The first report call is held.
• The work for the month ahead is agreed.

A first report may have few results to show. It can still hold the work done so far, the audit's findings and the plan for the month ahead.

Agree the report's parts before you build it. For the parts of a monthly report, in order, see SEO report template.

Then build it the same way each month. For the steps to build the first report, see How do I create a white label SEO report?.

What comes first when you're onboarding SEO clients?

The signed contract comes first. Hold off on logins, audits and changes to the site until both sides have signed.

After that, work through the first days in this order:

1. Get the contract signed by both sides, and file it.
2. Send a welcome note. Say what happens this week, who the client's contact is, and what you'll ask them for.
3. Send the onboarding form.
4. Hold the first call. Read the client's goals back to them, and say what you'll promise and what you won't.
5. Tell the client what they'll get each month, and on which date.
6. Ask for access, one account at a time.

The first call is where the account's promises get made. For what to promise an SEO client in week one, see SEO client expectations.

A written list helps when you tell the client what's coming each month. For what an SEO client gets each month, see SEO deliverables.

What waits for what

Some steps can't start until another one is done:

• The audit waits for access.
• Changes to the site wait for the client's yes on the audit's findings.
• The first report waits for an agreed list of its parts.

Keep one tracker for the month

Put every item on one page with four columns: the step, who owns it, the date it's due and whether it's done. Share the page with the client, so both sides can see what's waiting on whom.

When a step stalls, take these steps:

1. Name the step, and the person who owns it.
2. Ask what's in the way.
3. Offer to do the step together on a short call.
4. Move the dates that depend on it, and send the client the new dates the same day.