If you run an agency (whether it’s web design, PPC, or social media), chances are you’ve had a client ask, “Do you also offer SEO?”
And if you’re like most agencies we talked to, you’ve probably had to say a well-meaning “no.”
Not because you didn’t want the work, but because SEO felt like too big a leap.
Maybe you worry about stretching your team too thin. Maybe you’re nervous about damaging hard-earned client trust with a service you’re not an expert in. Or maybe SEO just seems like a giant, complicated new world you didn’t have time to master.
I'm Rick van Hasteren, founder of SiteGuru, and I’m dead serious when I say most of us started out with the same fears.
That’s why my team and I recently spoke to 10+ agency owners regarding their biggest concerns about offering SEO services.
Now, I’ll walk you through the clear path that will resolve those concerns and help you chart a clear course. If you’re ready to get started right away, grab our eBook on methods, processes, and actual pitch emails right now.
If not, let’s dive in!
Why Agencies Are Hesitant to Offer SEO Services
1. Fear of Losing Client Trust When Offering a New Service You’re Not an Expert At
You’ve spent years building trust with your clients, so it’s completely normal to feel nervous about offering a service you haven’t mastered yet.
For example, you worry that if you can’t deliver immediate results, it’ll damage the relationship you worked so hard to build. As Erin Siemek, CEO of Forge Digital Marketing, put it:
“SEO feels vast and technical, and I worry about entering a space where client expectations for quick results often don't align with the reality of how SEO works. I don't want to damage the trust we've cultivated by promising results we can't guarantee.”
That’s a smart instinct. At the same time, though, there's a misconception floating around that SEO always takes “six months or more” to show anything at all.
In reality, it’s not that black and white.
By and large, SEO is a long game. But there are ways to create both short-term wins and lay the foundation for bigger, longer-term gains. You don't have to wait half a year to prove you're delivering.
So, instead of promising #1 rankings, focus on leading indicators your client can see early:
- Pages getting indexed faster
- Better site health scores
- Early impressions on low-competition keywords
- Faster loading speeds
For example, even something as simple as updating meta titles and descriptions can boost click-through rates within a few weeks, giving you a quick, meaningful win while larger ranking shifts are still building in the background.
If you explain these early milestones clearly (and keep showing clients the small signs of progress), you’ll keep their trust strong, even before conversions or traffic numbers take off.
2. Worries About Scalability and Stretching Too Thin
Another major fear is, "If I start offering SEO, how do I keep up without burning out?"
In the words of Evgeni Asenov, SEO & Content Lead at Resume Mentor:
“I struggle to see how I could dedicate time to learning and implementing SEO... What holds me back the most is the fear of scalability. If I start offering SEO, how do I maintain consistent results and avoid spreading myself too thin?”
Here’s the mindset shift that helps: You don’t have to launch full-service SEO right away.
Start by offering the parts of SEO that naturally fit what you’re already doing best:
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If you’re a web agency: You’re already optimizing sites for user experience and performance, so technical SEO audits and basic on-page improvements are a natural extension.
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If you’re running PPC campaigns: You already think in keywords, landing pages, and ad relevance. That's a huge chunk of what good SEO content alignment entails.
- If you’re creating content: Structuring blog posts around search intent, improving internal linking, and optimizing metadata flows right into your skill set.
You don’t need to take on massive link-building campaigns or 300-page technical audits out of the gate.
Start small. Stack your wins. And grow from there.
3. Confusion About How to Structure Pricing for Your Agency’s New SEO Services
Pricing SEO is another spot where a lot of agencies freeze.
As Georgi Petrov, CMO at AIG MARKETER, put it, “The biggest question I would have is how to structure SEO pricing –should it be packaged with existing services, offered separately, or used as a retainer model?”
Let me get something clear: performance-based pricing sounds good on paper, but it’s a trap.
You can do everything right. You can optimize the site, build great links, create content…and still watch rankings fluctuate because of a Google update, a competitor pouring in ad money, or a random algorithm change you can’t control.
When you tie your paycheck to results you don't fully control, you’re setting both yourself and your client up for frustration.
A better path is charging for the time, expertise, and strategy you're delivering.
Here’s a simple structure that works for most agencies starting out with SEO services:
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Start with a quick SEO scan. Offer a one-off initial analysis: a technical review, content check, backlink overview, and basic keyword visibility snapshot.
- Follow with a retainer model. For example: “We’ll spend one day a week on SEO improvements like technical fixes, new content, link outreach, etc., for €X/month.”
This way, you’re getting paid for your time and expertise while building up your client’s results gradually.
4. Anxiety About Pitching SEO Without Sounding Pushy
Ayush Trivedi, CEO of Cyber Chief, captured it perfectly when he said, “Upselling SEO services can also feel tricky. How do you position it without coming across as pushy? I've found that educating clients works best – showing them how SEO fits into their broader marketing goals.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. SEO keeps your clients visible even as the way people search keeps shifting. You’re helping them build a second engine for growth, so they're not fully dependent on paid ads or one marketing channel to survive.
You can frame it like this: “We’re already managing your ads, social media, or website. SEO would help you build another channel for sustainable growth, so you’re not relying solely on paid traffic.”
That way, it doesn’t feel like a sales pitch at all.
Natalia Lavrenenko from Rathly pointed out another real fear many agency owners have: “Clients already trust you, but how do you convince them SEO is worth the extra spend when they've been fine without it?”
Just like Trivedi advised, lean into what you already do well and build from there. Show early wins that directly support your client’s existing goals, like improving paid ad performance or driving cheaper acquisition through organic traffic.
Unfortunately, it’s an “either you do it or you don’t” type of situation.
At the end of the day, if you don’t offer SEO, someone else will.
And once another agency is through the door with SEO, it’s much easier for them to upsell into everything else your client might need later.
So instead of feeling like you’re pushing, position SEO as a way to double down on existing trust.
5. Feeling Like SEO Is Overwhelming for Your Agency to Start Offering
You’re suddenly staring at technical audits, content audits, keyword maps, internal linking strategies, link building plans, structured data, Core Web Vitals…and now, AI content optimization, too.
When you’re starting from scratch, it’s easy to think you have to master everything before adding SEO to your service stack.
As Joseph Commisso, Owner of WeBuyHousesQuick.ca explains, “SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, and without in-depth knowledge, I worry about delivering real results and keeping up with Google's updates.”
That’s classic imposter syndrome at play, and “feeling knowledgeable” gives you a false sense of safety. The more you learn about SEO, the more you realize there’s even more you don't know. You keep learning and learning…and when you finally come to, two years have gone by, and you still don't feel ready.
You’ll learn faster by doing the work than by studying endless SEO theory.
I know because I’ve been there. When I first got into SEO, I came from a technical background at a web development agency. The natural entry point was technical SEO, with things like checking indexability, fixing load times, cleaning up meta descriptions and page titles.
It wasn’t until I rolled up my sleeves and started working on real projects that I realized SEO goes beyond the technical side. Content. Keyword research. Psychology (figuring out what users actually want when they search).
And yes, I made mistakes along the way. Once, I accidentally set important client pages to noindex, which meant they dropped right out of search results.
I owned the mistake, fixed it quickly, and the relationship survived. It’s part of learning, and you should expect several screw-ups along the way.
The best confidence-building advice I can give you is to start a small hobby project on the side. 
Pick something you care about. Create a simple site. Try to rank it. Experiment without pressure.
6. Are You Afraid that AI and GEO Will Make SEO Obsolete?
A lot of agencies are spooked right now, and it’s easy to see why. AI-powered summaries from Google, Bing, and tools like ChatGPT are muscling into the space organic listings used to rule. Users get full answers handed to them without scrolling an inch below the fold.
This new reality is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and it’s built around the idea that your content needs to serve AI models just as much as it serves humans now.
Casen Brown, Owner of Digitrend, summed up the fear perfectly:
“I also worry about the future of SEO with the rise of AI features in search engines. When Google gives someone its AI overview, even if it grabs information from your website, it doesn't register as a page view, and you don't really get credit for that information.”
As I pointed out in our webinar, Google’s traffic hasn’t fallen off a cliff.
Sure, Google’s market share dropped slightly (from around 99% to 95%), but in absolute numbers, search activity is still growing. People are still Googling away.
And for high-intent searches like finding a lawyer, buying software, or booking a hotel, people still need real websites.
AI might help users research what bike to buy, but when it's time to actually purchase the bike, they’ll turn back to Google (and expect real websites with real offers).
From now on, good SEO work is what feeds AI models in the first place.
The same things that make you rank in traditional search – strong site structure, quality backlinks, optimized, and human-first content – will make your sites visible to AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
The things you did for SEO, the content you wrote, and the technical optimizations you made will also benefit your visibility in AI. It's just a new way to interact with your clients.
So rest assured that starting to offer SEO today doesn’t mean you’re clinging to a dying model.
You’re Closer to Offering SEO Than You Think
Waiting until you “know everything” is the fastest way to waste time and opportunities.
The top SEOs you follow knew next to nothing when they started. Heck, I started with only the basics, and now I own SiteGuru, a tool that simplifies SEO into a to-do list for opportunities and improvements.
(In part, it was because I wanted to make things efficient, and I saw where the other tools weren’t cutting it.)
You, too, are capable of building an agency that won’t hand off opportunities to someone else anymore.
If the thought of offering SEO services to your existing clients keeps nagging at you, check out the in-depth webinar Upselling & Cross-Selling Agency Clients to New SEO Services.
Lana Rafaela from Cherry Red Content and I get real about overcoming the fears, building trust with clients, and making SEO a natural extension of your offers.
Or grab the guide to upselling and cross-selling SEO services to start talking to your clients right now!
Upselling & Cross-Selling Agency Clients to New SEO Services ft. SiteGuru's Rick van Haasteren
