How to Tell If Your SEO Company Sucks (2026 Edition)
The original ran in April 2013 and the bad-agency tells haven't changed much. Lying about rankings, hiding the work, locking you out of your accounts. What did change: the new failure modes. AI-generated content slop, keyword domain advice, ignoring GBP, ignoring AEO and AI search. Updated for what bad SEO actually looks like in 2026.
I've cleaned up after a lot of bad SEO agencies. The patterns repeat. It's almost never one big mistake. It's usually 4 or 5 small ones running together for 12 to 18 months until the business owner finally notices that the leads stopped coming and the rankings quietly slid into page two.
If you're worried about your current SEO company, here are the 13 red flags I look for. Hit two or three and it's worth a conversation. Hit six or more and you should probably already be looking.
The 13 red flags
They guarantee #1 rankings
Nobody can guarantee a #1 ranking, in 2013 or in 2026. Anyone who does is either lying or planning to rank you for a phrase nobody actually searches for. Real SEOs talk in terms of probability, timelines, and competitive analysis, not guarantees.
They won't tell you what they're doing
If your SEO won't show you the links they built, the pages they wrote, or the GBP changes they made, run. The 'proprietary process' excuse is almost always cover for either nothing happening or something that would get you penalized.
Their reporting is just rankings and traffic, no revenue
Rank trackers can be gamed. Traffic charts can include bot spam. The only metric that matters is qualified leads or revenue tied to organic. If your SEO can't tie their work to phone calls, form fills, or sales, they're either lazy or hiding bad results.
They're still selling exact-match keyword domains in 2026
New for the 2026 update. Keyword domains worked in 2013. They actively hurt you now, especially with AI Overviews and ChatGPT ranking by brand entity. Any SEO recommending you register dallasplumbingpros.com as your main domain in 2026 is using a playbook that hasn't been updated in a decade.
They use private blog networks (PBNs)
PBNs were already risky in 2013 and they're a death sentence in 2026. Google's SpamBrain catches PBN footprints quickly. The penalties hit the client, not the SEO. If you're getting fast ranking wins on competitive terms with no real outreach, ask exactly where the links are coming from.
They ignore your Google Business Profile
For any local business, GBP is half the SEO program. If your SEO doesn't manage your GBP, doesn't ask about reviews, doesn't audit categories or photos or Q&A, they're doing maybe 30% of the job. The other 70% is sitting unclaimed.
They've never mentioned schema, Core Web Vitals, or AEO
Three table-stakes topics in 2026. Schema makes you eligible for rich results and AI citations. Core Web Vitals is a real ranking factor. AEO is how you show up in AI Overviews. If none of these came up in the first three months of your engagement, your SEO is stuck in 2015.
They write content with AI and call it strategy
Using AI to draft content is fine. Publishing 80 AI-generated blog posts with no editing, no expert input, no original photos, and calling it a content strategy is how brands trip the Helpful Content system and lose visibility across the whole domain. Ask to see real edits and expert review on their content workflow.
They blame Google for everything
Every algorithm update is the excuse for last quarter's flat results. Every traffic drop is 'Google being weird.' Sometimes that's true. Most of the time the real reason is the work wasn't getting done. A good SEO can tell you exactly which update hit and which page lost what queries.
They lock you out of your own accounts
GBP, Search Console, Analytics, Ahrefs, Semrush, the CMS. You should be owner or full admin on every one of these. Any SEO that puts these in their own account and won't transfer ownership is holding your business hostage. This is a deal-breaker every time.
They have no opinion on your brand entity in AI search
New for 2026. If your SEO can't tell you whether your brand is showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews for your money queries, they're missing one of the biggest shifts in search since mobile. Ask them how they're building your brand entity. If you get a blank stare, that's your answer.
Long contracts with no exit clause
12-month contracts with cancellation penalties were a 2013 red flag and they're a 2026 red flag. Good SEOs earn the next month every month. If your contract has no opt-out window, the agency is protecting itself from its own results.
The agency owner is unfindable, the LinkedIn is thin, and they have no body of work
Search the agency owner's name. Look for talks, posts, case studies, podcasts, GitHub, Reddit comments, anything. SEO is a niche where the people doing real work tend to leave a trail. If the owner is invisible online, you're hiring an unknown to manage your single biggest marketing channel.
What to do if you're seeing red flags
- Pull your own data first. Search Console, GA4, GBP insights, Ahrefs or Semrush. Get a baseline you control.
- Ask for a written summary of the last 90 days of work, with URLs, screenshots, and links built. Real agencies have this ready.
- Take ownership of every account they manage on your behalf. GBP, Search Console, GA4, the CMS, the rank tracker.
- Get a second opinion. A 60 to 90 minute call with an outside SEO will usually tell you within minutes whether the work is real.
- If the answer is no, leave. Don't drag it out. Every month with the wrong SEO is a month a competitor is pulling ahead.
Bottom line
Good SEO is transparent, measurable, and grounded in the work that's actually moving search today (GBP, content quality, schema, AEO, brand entity, real links). Bad SEO is opaque, full of jargon, and built on tactics that stopped working five years ago. The red flags are easy to spot once you know what to look for.
I do honest second-opinion reviews. No upsell, no sales pitch, just a straight read on whether the work is real.
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