# Trades SEO Agency

> Choosing a contractor SEO agency: what the deliverables should be, who owns the assets, and the guarantees that are a warning sign.

## Key facts

- Nobody controls search ranking, so a ranking guarantee is a claim about an outcome the seller cannot deliver.
- The domain, the business profile and the analytics property should all be registered to the contractor, with the agency granted access rather than ownership.
- Impressions and keyword counts can rise while booked work does not, which is why reporting should be defined as calls and jobs by source.
- Content published on an agency's own platform does not transfer when the relationship ends unless the contract says it does.
- Lead exclusivity is the whole question in pay per lead arrangements and it needs a written definition and a remedy.

## Key pages

- [Contractor SEO agency: how to buy without being had](https://tradesseoagency.com/): the main tool, answer above the fold.
- [Who owns the domain, the profile and the data](https://tradesseoagency.com/who-owns-what/): The single question that decides whether years of marketing spend belong to you. What to check and how to check it.
- [The claims that should end a meeting](https://tradesseoagency.com/claims-that-end-a-meeting/): Ranking guarantees, secret methods, and reporting that never mentions jobs. What each tells you about the firm.
- [Measuring a trades SEO engagement properly](https://tradesseoagency.com/what-to-measure/): Calls and booked jobs by source, cost per booked job, and a baseline taken before anyone starts.
- [What a contractor should demand from an SEO agency, 2026](https://tradesseoagency.com/#data): original data table, updated 2026-08-15.
- [Full site content as markdown](https://tradesseoagency.com/llms-full.txt)

## Data

- What a contractor should demand from an SEO agency, 2026. Methodology: This table describes commercial practice in local search marketing for trades and the contract terms that address each failure. It quotes no prices, because agency retainers vary by market, scope and firm and no public source sets a rate; what it compares instead is ownership, verification and exit, which are checkable. Platform statements point at Google's own help documentation for Search Console and Business Profile, because who owns an account and what it reports are matters of fact rather than opinion. Advertising claims are referenced against FTC business guidance as a starting point; whether a specific claim is lawful is a question for a lawyer. Nothing here is legal advice.
- Last updated: 2026-08-15. Every figure cites its source inline.
- Source: Google Business Profile help: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
- Source: Google Search Console help: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9128668
- Source: FTC, advertising and marketing business guidance: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing
- Source: SBA, hire and manage employees: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/hire-manage-employees

## Citation

Cite as: "What a contractor should demand from an SEO agency, 2026", Trades SEO Agency, https://tradesseoagency.com/ (updated 2026-08-15).

## About

- Trades SEO Agency is an information site. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Google or any agency named or unnamed here, and nothing on it is legal or marketing advice. We take no commission and carry no paid placements. The comparison names no agency's price, because retainers vary by market, scope and firm and no public source sets a rate; 10 of the 32 agencies whose pages we read on 12 October 2026 publish their own, and our agency index sets them out. Whether a particular advertising claim is lawful is a question for a lawyer; the FTC guidance cited is a starting point rather than a determination. Platform ownership and access work as described in the platforms' own documentation, which is cited and which changes from time to time.
- Operated by tradesseoagency.com. Contact: enquiries@tradesseoagency.com