Three proposals lay on the veranda table, held down by a cup of tea.
Mr Gitau has run a small guesthouse on the shore of Lake Naivasha for eleven years: eight rooms, a garden that runs down to the water and a breakfast that guests still mention in their reviews. For most of those years, guests came through travel agents and word of mouth. Then the agents started taking bigger commissions, and his daughter told him what he already suspected: “Baba, people search on Google now. When I type ‘guesthouse in Naivasha’, we are not there.”
So he asked around, and within a week three SEO companies had sent him proposals.
The first promised “page one of Google in 30 days, guaranteed” for KSh 8,000 a month. The second was twelve pages long, full of words like “domain authority”, “backlink velocity” and “semantic clusters”, and asked for a six-month contract paid upfront. The third was two pages: what they would check first, what they would do each month, how he would see the results, and a price.
The cheapest was tempting. The longest looked the most professional. Mr Gitau had no idea which one was telling the truth. What he wanted to know was simple: “How do I choose an SEO company I can trust?”
The short answer
- Ignore guarantees. Google itself says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. A guarantee is a reason to walk away, not to sign.
- Ask what they will do each month, in plain words, and what they will need from you.
- Ask how you will see results: calls, bookings, enquiries and visits from Google, not just rankings or “backlinks”.
- Make sure you own everything: your website, your Google Business Profile, Google Analytics and Search Console.
- Check their own work. Ask for two or three clients you can call, and look them up on Google yourself.
- For a business that serves one town, start with local SEO (Google Maps and your Google Business Profile).
What a good SEO company actually does
Before you compare proposals, it helps to know what you are buying. SEO (search engine optimisation) is work that helps your business show up when people search on Google. Done properly, it usually includes:
- A check of your website first: speed on phones, broken pages, page titles, and whether Google can read and index the site at all.
- Your Google Business Profile: the listing that appears on Google Maps, with your hours, photos, services and reviews.
- Pages that match what people search for, such as “guesthouse in Naivasha with lake view” or “plumber in Kilimani”, written for people first.
- Consistent listings of your name, address and phone number on trusted directories.
- A monthly report that shows what was done and what it brought in.
Google publishes its own guide to hiring an SEO, and its advice is blunt: a good SEO can save you time and improve your site, but you are responsible for what they do on your behalf. If they cut corners, it is your website that suffers.
12 questions to ask an SEO company in Nairobi
Take this list to every meeting, or send it by email and compare the written answers. A good company will answer every one without hesitation.
- Can I see two or three of your current clients, and may I call them? Then search for those businesses on Google yourself.
- What will you check first, and what will you do in the first month? You want specifics, not “we will optimise your site”.
- What will you do every month after that? Ask for a list you can hold them to.
- How will I see the results? Look for calls, bookings, enquiries and visits from Google, measured in Google Analytics, Search Console and your Google Business Profile.
- Do you guarantee rankings? The right answer is no. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking.
- How do you get links to my site? “We buy them” or “we have a network” is a red flag: Google treats bought links as spam.
- Will you change my website, and will you tell me first? You should approve changes to your pages and your wording.
- Who owns the accounts? Your website, domain, Google Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console should all be in your name, with the company added as a user.
- How long before I see results? An honest answer is months, not weeks. Google’s own estimate is four months to a year.
- What do you need from me? Photos, answers about your services, access to your website. Good SEO is a partnership.
- What is the contract? Ask about the minimum term, the notice period and what happens to the work if you leave.
- Who will actually do the work? Ask whether it is done in-house, and who your contact will be.
Red flags in an SEO proposal
Our article on what SEO services cost in Kenya covers the warning signs Google lists in detail. When you are comparing proposals side by side, these are the ones to look for:
- A guaranteed position or “page one in 30 days”.
- An offer that arrived out of the blue, by email or WhatsApp, from someone who has never looked at your business properly.
- Secrecy. “Our methods are confidential” usually means you would not like them.
- Numbers that sound impressive but mean little to you: thousands of backlinks, “submitted to 500 search engines”, domain authority scores.
- Accounts in their name, or no access for you to your own website and Google profile.
- A long contract paid upfront before they have shown you anything.
How to compare SEO proposals side by side
Put the proposals next to each other and fill in the same five lines for each:
- Month one: what exactly will they check and fix?
- Every month: what will they do, and what will you receive?
- Results: how will you see calls, bookings or enquiries from Google?
- Ownership: are all accounts and content in your name?
- Price and terms: monthly cost, minimum term and notice period.
If a proposal leaves a line blank, ask. If the answer is still vague, that tells you something too. The cheapest proposal is not always the worst, and the longest is not always the best. The one you can understand and check is usually the right one.
Local SEO first, if your customers are nearby
Mr Gitau’s guests come from Nairobi, Nakuru and abroad, but they all search for the same thing: a place to stay in Naivasha. For a business like his, the first wins usually come from Google Maps rather than from ranking a website across Kenya.
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. That means a complete Google Business Profile with the right category, real photos, accurate hours and genuine reviews, plus a website that clearly says what you offer and where. Our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile in Kenya walks through it step by step.
Mr Gitau’s guesthouse, six months later
Mr Gitau sent all three companies the same twelve questions.
The first company replied with one line: “We guarantee results, no need to worry.” The second sent a longer version of its proposal, but could not say who owned the accounts or how the links were built. The third answered every question, gave him two clients in Nakuru he could call, and said results would take months, not weeks.
He chose the third, at roughly KSh 20,000 a month, with no guarantees and no long contract. In the first month they fixed his Google Business Profile (it was listed in the wrong category and had two-year-old photos), set up Search Console and rewrote his room pages. Then they asked happy guests to leave reviews, one by one.
Six months later, his guesthouse appears on Google Maps when people search for guesthouses in Naivasha, and roughly a third of his direct bookings now start with a Google search. The couple in the photo found him that way: “We saw the lake view in your photos,” they said, “and the reviews about the breakfast.”
Mr Gitau is a composite, based on situations we see often. The numbers are typical, not a promise.
Looking for an SEO company you can check?
Our Local SEO plan costs KSh 15,000 a month, month to month: Google Business Profile optimisation, local listings, local keyword research, on-page fixes and a plain-language monthly report showing the calls, direction requests and enquiries Google brought you. Every account stays in your name. For businesses that sell across Kenya, Standard SEO is KSh 35,000 a month. See everything included on our local SEO and SEO services pages, or start with a free SEO health check and ask us all twelve questions.
Choosing an SEO company in Nairobi: FAQs
How do I know if an SEO company is legitimate?
Ask for current clients you can call, look those businesses up on Google yourself, and ask exactly what will be done each month. A legitimate company explains its work in plain words, never guarantees rankings and keeps every account in your name.
Should I choose the cheapest SEO company?
Not on price alone. Compare what each one will do every month and how you will see results. A cheap plan that builds spam links can cost you far more than it saves. See what SEO costs in Kenya for typical prices.
Can an SEO company guarantee page one on Google?
No. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and lists guarantees among the warning signs to watch for.
How long should an SEO contract be?
Month to month is common for local SEO. Longer campaigns sometimes ask for three or six months, because SEO takes time to build. Be wary of long contracts paid upfront before any work is shown.
Do I need a local SEO company in Nairobi?
It helps if your customers are local: a company that knows the areas, directories and searches people use in Kenya will usually get local SEO right faster. But what matters most is that they answer your questions clearly and show results you can check.
What should I get in a monthly SEO report?
The searches your business appeared in, clicks from Google, calls and direction requests from your Google Business Profile, the enquiries or bookings that came from search, and a clear list of the work done that month.
Who should own my Google Business Profile and website?
You should. The SEO company should be added as a user or manager, so you keep everything if you ever change provider.
