Sample SEO proposal: the structure, section by section

A good SEO proposal is eight sections long and answers four questions in order: what is wrong today, what we will do about it, what it should produce, and what it costs. The sections are an executive summary, findings from a real look at the site, the opportunity with evidence, the plan in phases, the deliverables as quantities, the measurement plan, commercials, and terms. The part that wins work is section two. A proposal that shows three specific problems found on the client's own site, with the evidence attached, beats any amount of methodology. Most proposals lose because they describe the agency rather than the client's situation.

This page gives the structure, what goes in each section, and a copyable outline. For pricing models and how a client should compare quotes, that is worth reading from the buyer's side as well.

Before you write, get three things

A proposal written without these is a brochure.

• Read only access to Search Console and analytics, or at minimum a screenshot of twelve months of non brand queries. Without the client's own data you are guessing.
• The commercial numbers. What a customer is worth, the conversion rate from enquiry to sale, and the target for the year. Every number in your proposal hangs off these.
• Who decides and what they care about. A finance director reads the return case. A marketing manager reads the delivery plan. Write for the person who signs.

The eight sections

1. Executive summary, one page

Four short paragraphs: the situation in one sentence, the three biggest problems found, what you propose to do, and the expected outcome with its timeframe. Many decisions are taken on this page alone, so write it last and make it readable on its own.

2. Findings from the site as it is

This is the section that earns the engagement. Three to six specific, evidenced problems, each with what it is, why it costs the business something, and roughly what it takes to fix. Examples of the kind of finding that lands: product pages excluded from the index by a canonical rule, two pages competing for the same commercial query, service pages with no mention of the city the business sells in, a Google Business Profile with the wrong primary category, a migration that lost links because old URLs return a 404.

Attach the evidence. A screenshot of the Search Console coverage report or the crawl output turns an opinion into a finding.

3. The opportunity, with the arithmetic visible

Size the prize from the client's own numbers rather than an industry figure. Take the query set, the search demand you can evidence, a realistic click share by position, and the client's own conversion rate. Show the assumptions in a small table so the reader can argue with them. A forecast you can argue with is more persuasive than one presented as fact, and Google's own guidance warns buyers against anyone promising a specific position.

4. The plan, in phases

Three phases, each with a purpose, duration and the work in it.

• Phase one, foundations, roughly the first two months. Technical fixes that unblock indexing, analytics and conversion tracking corrected, the keyword to page map, quick wins on pages already ranking just off the top.
• Phase two, build, months three to six. The priority pages written and published, templates improved, internal linking, structured data, local assets.
• Phase three, compound, month seven onward. Digital public relations and link acquisition, content refreshes, expansion into adjacent query sets, and the governance that keeps it from decaying.

Against each item put an owner, because the honest version of this plan always needs something from the client.

5. Deliverables as quantities

Replace adjectives with numbers. This is the section a client compares against your competitors, so make it easy to compare.

Line	Quantity per month
Senior strategy time, named person	Hours
Technical tickets specified	Number, and whether you implement
New pages published	Number and length
Existing pages improved	Number
Link or public relations campaigns	Number, with the method stated
Reporting	Report, cadence, who presents
Meetings	Frequency and attendees

6. Measurement

Name the metrics before the work starts and state where each comes from. Lead with the commercial number, then non brand organic sessions, visibility on the agreed query set, indexed pages against intended pages, and delivery rate against the plan. State the review points at which the plan can change.

7. Commercials

One page. The model, the monthly or project figure, what is excluded, the term, the notice period, and payment terms. If there are options, present at most three and recommend one. Ambiguity here delays signature more than price does.

8. Terms and the practical details

Access required, who owns the content and the accounts, confidentiality, how change requests are handled, and what happens at the end of the term. Clients notice when an agency is clear that the accounts and work remain theirs.

A copyable outline

1. Executive summary
   - Situation in one sentence
   - Three findings
   - What we propose
   - Expected outcome and timeframe

2. Findings
   - Finding 1: what it is / what it costs / effort to fix / evidence
   - Finding 2 ...
   - Finding 3 ...

3. Opportunity
   - Query set and evidenced demand
   - Assumptions table: position, click share, conversion rate, value
   - Range, with assumptions stated

4. Plan
   - Phase 1 foundations (weeks 1 to 8): items, owners
   - Phase 2 build (months 3 to 6): items, owners
   - Phase 3 compound (month 7+): items, owners

5. Deliverables per month
   - Quantities table

6. Measurement
   - Metrics, sources, cadence, review points

7. Commercials
   - Model, fee, exclusions, term, notice, payment terms

8. Terms
   - Access, ownership, change control, end of term

Appendix
   - Crawl and Search Console evidence
   - Relevant experience, two short examples
   - Team, with the named people who will do the work

What makes a proposal lose

• Length. Forty pages of methodology signals that nobody looked at the site. Twelve pages with real findings wins.
• Generic findings. Anything that could be sent to another client unchanged.
• Promised positions. It reads as inexperience to anyone who has bought this before.
• Vague deliverables. Ongoing optimisation is not a quantity.
• No ask. Say what you need from the client, in writing. It builds more confidence than any case study.
• Hidden dependencies. If the plan needs developer time the client does not have, say so now rather than in month three.

Questions buyers ask about Sample SEO proposal

How long should an SEO proposal be?

Between eight and fifteen pages for most engagements, with evidence in an appendix. The executive summary and findings should stand on their own, because they are what gets read first and sometimes all that gets read.

Should a proposal include a forecast?

Include a range with every assumption visible, built from the client's own conversion rate and demand you can evidence. Present it as a model that can be challenged. Avoid single point predictions and never attach a promised position to it.

Do I put the price in the proposal or wait?

Put it in, on its own page, with what is excluded. Proposals without a figure stall, because the reader cannot take them to the person who approves spending.

How much free work should go into a proposal?

Enough to show you looked: a crawl, a Search Console review if access is given, and three real findings. Hold the full audit, the keyword map and the content plan for the paid engagement, and say in the proposal that this is what phase one produces.

What do clients compare between proposals?

Price, the deliverables table, who actually does the work, and whether the findings felt specific to them. Make those four easy to find and your proposal survives the comparison.

One section worth adding this year

Every proposal structure above describes a results page with ten links on it. A growing share of buying questions now goes to an assistant, which returns one answer naming two or three companies. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews each answer differently and cite different sources, and none of it appears in a rank report.

Adding a short section on it makes a proposal stand out, because it is specific and checkable: the buying questions, who gets named in each assistant today, which sources the answers came from, and what the plan does about the gaps. Keep the client's own brand name out of the prompts so the answers are not steered. AI Knows Us runs those checks and reports the sources behind each answer.