The SEO Contract You Never Read

You've got a signed SEO contract you've never read, and somewhere in it is the reason you can't leave. Let's go and find it.

Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm going through the document, not the sales pitch. I've already done an episode on the red flags to spot before you hire an SEO agency. This one's for everyone who already has, and signed a contract they skimmed at best, on the strength of a conversation and a proposal deck that were both a lot friendlier than the paperwork.

Contracts aren't inherently a stitch-up, and a decent one protects both of you. What I've got a problem with is a very specific set of clauses that exist to make it hard for you to leave when the work isn't working.

Here's what I'm covering:

— How a notice period and an auto-renewal turn a 12-month term into 15 months, or another full year of something you'd already decided to stop

— My honest position on minimum terms: when three to six months is fair, and when 12 months is about churn

— Why a schedule of work full of adjectives can't be enforced

— Who owns your content, your links and your accounts when you leave, and why you want to see the word "assign", not "licence"

— Exclusivity, non-disparagement, and the clause that blames you for not implementing their recommendations

— The handover clause most contracts don't have at all

— The two-document test: put the proposal next to the contract and see how much of what you were sold you can actually hold anyone to

I also give you five bits of homework, including the one date that needs to go in your calendar today and a one-line email to send this week.