B2B SEO agency brief: a copyable provider template

Give providers the same starting point

A B2B SEO agency brief helps a provider understand your business before suggesting work. You do not need to choose keywords or write a technical plan. Start with what you supply, who can buy it and what sales needs to know when an enquiry arrives.

Use the same brief when comparing proposals so differences in price are easier to question. One provider may include publishing changes while another only supplies recommendations. A shared description of the work makes that distinction visible.

This is a brief for choosing and working with a provider, not a writing brief for a single article. You can use it with an agency, an independent specialist or a managed service. It is optional when talking to Plact; bring your website and business priorities if that is all you have ready.

If you are still choosing between an agency, tools, a marketplace and Plact, start with the comparison page.

Prepare the information you already have

Bring a current catalogue, a few important pages and the questions your sales team keeps answering. Ask the person who knows the products which claims can be supported and which details are out of date. A provider can help organise missing information, but cannot safely invent it.

State your actual supply boundaries. A manufacturer may need to distinguish standard products from work made to a drawing. A distributor may need to explain territory, range and how availability is confirmed. A technical service business may need to name the scope it can assess before arranging a conversation.

Keep customer drawings, private prices and confidential correspondence out of a general request for proposals. Describe that those materials exist and agree a suitable way to share them later if needed. For an initial assessment, ask which read-only access is useful before granting permission to publish or change accounts.

See what a short completed brief looks like

This fictional example shows the level of detail needed to start a useful conversation. It is not a customer result or a recommendation for this scope.

Copy the brief and leave room for questions

Replace the prompts with short answers. Write 'needs discussion' where you do not know. Ask each provider to list assumptions instead of treating an empty field as permission to broaden the work.

B2B SEO provider brief

Business / website / contact:
Prepared by / date:

1. The business priority
Product or service family to start with:
Markets and locations we can serve:
A useful enquiry for our team:
What is outside this first scope:

2. What buyers need
Questions sales repeatedly answers:
Information or evidence a buyer needs before contacting us:
What a buyer should send, if known:

3. What we can support
Current pages and documents approved for use:
Claims still needing review:
Private material that must not be published:
Fact reviewer / website publisher / realistic review availability:

4. Please propose the work
Which existing pages or enquiry steps would you improve first?
What new page, if any, answers a distinct missing buyer question?
What will you deliver, and what must our team or developer do?
Which checks will show that the agreed work is complete?
What is excluded, optional or depends on another person?
If you use AI, who checks its output and where may our information go?

5. Price and ownership
One-time and recurring fees, currency, tax treatment and billing dates:
Limits, separate tool/hosting fees and costs for additional work:
Dependencies that may affect delivery:
Content, account and domain ownership; handover or cancellation terms:
How a change in scope and cost is approved:

Please list your assumptions and unanswered questions with the proposal.
We are not asking for guaranteed rankings, AI recommendations or enquiry volume.

The budget and brief serve different jobs. Use the brief to explain the work and responsibilities. Use the budget worksheet to total the proposed costs across one comparison period, including separate implementation and tools.

Plan the cost of the agreed scope with the industrial SEO budget worksheet.

What a useful proposal answers

A useful proposal connects every deliverable to the brief. It identifies the current page, the missing buyer information, the review needed before publication and what happens when a buyer cannot yet provide a finished drawing. A promised article count without those answers is not a complete response.

Compare responsibilities before comparing headlines

A blank answer is a reason to clarify, not an automatic rejection. The provider may need a closer look at the site. Ask them to separate confirmed work from assumptions and to describe how additional work would be approved.

AI can help a provider prepare or review material. Your brief should still identify who checks product facts and who approves publication. Ask how your information will be handled. A tool name does not answer those questions.

Agree the first review before work begins

Choose review dates that fit the proposed work and the time your team can give it. The first review may simply establish that approved changes are live and the enquiry route works. Later reviews can examine relevant searches, visits and sales feedback when the necessary data exists.

Keep search observations separate from commercial decisions. Sales decides whether an enquiry fits the business. If a source cannot be established, record it as unknown rather than crediting the work with every order that followed publication.

Google's hiring guidance supports asking about industry experience, communication and measurement, and being cautious about guaranteed rankings. Its content guidance asks whether a page gives an intended reader a useful, original answer. Neither source endorses a provider or promises a commercial result.

This template helps you prepare a discussion. It is not a contract or a substitute for reviewing a provider's terms. Once the open questions are answered, keep the agreed scope with the proposal so your team has a clear reference for the work.

Review the current Plact price and included scope separately.

See the search and website work within Search to Enquiry.