Why we attach a penalty to our own promise
The reasoning behind a refund plus $1,000 if we miss the search target, the conditions that make it honest, and what it changes about which clients we take.
Our search guarantee is a 50% increase in organic traffic, keyword rankings or direct enquiries within 90 days. A 50% rise in any one of the three meets it. Miss it and you get a full refund of every retainer fee you have paid, plus $1,000 from us. It applies to search engagements on the Growth and Scale plans, and it holds only under four conditions, all published in full on the SEO pricing page.
The $1,000 is there because a refund on its own costs an agency nothing but its time. A penalty on top makes a failed engagement expensive for us, and that changes which accounts we agree to take. This post explains the reasoning, the conditions, and what the guarantee does not cover.
The short version
- The search guarantee is a 50% increase in organic traffic, keyword rankings or direct enquiries within 90 days, measured against a baseline taken in your own Search Console and GA4 in week one.
- Missing it means a full refund of every retainer fee paid, plus $1,000. It applies to the Growth and Scale search plans, not to Foundation.
- The 90 days start when access is granted, recommended changes must be implemented, and tracking must work before the clock starts.
- Paid ads carry a different offer: no retainer, a price per qualified lead, and on the Growth size, 50 qualified leads in a month or the next month is free.
- The guarantee is not a promise of a position on Google, and it is not a promise about revenue.
- The main effect of the penalty is that we turn down accounts we do not think we can move.
What exactly is guaranteed, and on which service?
Each service has its own written offer, and only search carries the refund and the $1,000. The table sets them side by side, taken from the three pricing pages.
| Service | What is promised | If it is missed | Where the terms are |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search, Growth and Scale plans | A 50% increase in organic traffic, keyword rankings or direct enquiries within 90 days | A full refund of every retainer fee paid, plus $1,000 | SEO pricing |
| Paid ads, Growth size | 50 qualified leads in a month, from month two, against criteria agreed in writing before launch | The next month is free | Ads pricing |
| Paid ads, every size | You pay per qualified lead, with no monthly retainer | A lead that misses the agreed criteria is not billed | Ads pricing |
| Open rates above 50% and click-through between 15% and 30% on the flows and campaigns we build and send | Set in the contract, which is written before you pay | Email pricing |
The 50% search guarantee does not apply to email. Email is measured in your own sending platform against its own written figures.
Why is a refund alone not enough?
Because it costs the agency nothing but the time spent. If the only downside of failing is handing back money that should not have been taken, the worst case for the agency is working for free. That is unpleasant, but it is not a deterrent. A doubtful account becomes a free bet: it might work, and if it does not, nothing was lost.
A thousand dollars on top makes a failed engagement cost us money. That changes the decision at the point where it matters to you, which is before you sign, not after. Whatever guarantee you are offered, by us or anyone else, ask what exactly happens when it is missed, and in what currency.
What does the penalty actually change?
It changes whether your account gets taken at all. It does not change how hard anybody works, and it would be odd to claim otherwise.
When failure costs money, an account nobody is confident about stops being worth having. A site that needs rebuilding before search work can land. A category with little search demand. A client who will not implement changes. Each of those becomes a likely loss rather than revenue. So you are more likely to be turned down here than you might expect, and the free review is where that answer comes from.
What are the conditions, and why does each one exist?
There are four, and each one closes a gap that would otherwise end in an argument. A guarantee with no conditions would be either dishonest or impossible to honour.
| Condition | Why it exists | What you can check |
|---|---|---|
| The baseline is measured in your own Google Search Console and GA4 in week one, and you get a copy before any work starts | Without an agreed starting number, both sides argue about the finish | The figures sit in accounts you own |
| The 90 days run from the day access is granted, not the day the contract is signed | We cannot be judged on days spent waiting for a login | The date access was granted |
| Recommended changes are implemented, or we are given access to implement them | We cannot be accountable for work that was not allowed to happen | Recommendations are written down and dated |
| Tracking must be functional, and if it cannot measure the baseline, we fix that first and the clock starts after | With no reliable number, nobody can say whether the target was hit | Reported conversions against the enquiries you actually received |
The second condition protects us, and it is better to say so plainly than to have it surface in a dispute. The third is the one most likely to be tested, which is why every recommendation is dated.
Photo: cottonbro studio on Pexels.
Why can nobody guarantee a number one ranking?
Because nobody outside Google controls its results. Google’s own advice to site owners is that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and it tells them to be wary of anyone who claims to guarantee rankings (Google Search Central).
Our guarantee does not promise a position for any keyword. It commits us, in writing and before you pay, to a measured increase against your own week-one numbers, with money coming back to you if it does not happen. The risk sits with us, and the result is judged on data you own.
What does the guarantee not cover?
It does not cover revenue. What happens after an enquiry arrives depends on your sales process, which we do not run. It does not cover a specific position for a specific keyword, for the reason above. And it does not cover paid ads or email, which carry their own written offers.
On paid ads the structure is different by design. There is no retainer to refund. You pay a price per qualified lead, agreed in writing before anything runs against criteria you set, and a lead that misses those criteria is not billed (ads pricing).
Photo: Artem Podrez on Pexels.
The bottom line
A guarantee is worth what it costs the person making it when it fails. Read the remedy, check where the baseline is recorded, and get the conditions in writing before you sign. If the remedy is only a plan to put things right, and the baseline lives in the agency’s own report, the promise costs them very little.
Questions people ask about this
What stops you just refusing to pay out?
The baseline is measured in your own Search Console and GA4 in week one, and you get a copy before any work starts. It is your data in your account, not a report we produce. That means the question of whether the target was hit is answered by numbers you own and can check yourself, which is the part that makes it enforceable rather than a matter of opinion.
Does the guarantee apply to paid media?
No, paid ads carry their own offer. There is no monthly retainer: you pay per qualified lead, against criteria agreed in writing before launch, and a lead that misses them is not billed. On the Growth size the promise is 50 qualified leads in a month from month two, or the next month is free. The principle matches the search guarantee: a number is committed to before the money is spent.
Why 90 days?
Because it is short enough that you are not left waiting a year to find out, and long enough for changes to a site to show up in its numbers. A guarantee measured at twelve months is one nobody will still be tracking. Ninety days is uncomfortable for us, which is the correct amount of discomfort for the person making the promise.
What target do you actually commit to?
A 50% increase in organic traffic, keyword rankings or direct enquiries within 90 days, measured against the week-one baseline in your own accounts. A 50% rise in any one of the three meets the target. If enquiry tracking does not work yet, it is fixed first and the clock starts after. You see the baseline before any work starts.
What happens if I do not implement the recommendations?
The guarantee cannot hold, because it is a promise about work that was allowed to happen. Recommendations are written and dated, so both sides can see what was proposed and when. If you cannot implement something, say so early, and either give us the access to do it or agree what replaces it. Silence for six weeks and then a dispute is the outcome the conditions are written to avoid.
What if a Google update lands during the 90 days?
The published conditions contain no exception for algorithm updates, so the target still stands. Updates are part of the environment search work lives in, and a guarantee that carved them out would have a way out of nearly every miss. What an update does change is what gets prioritised. If rankings move for reasons outside the plan, the work adapts. The number does not.
Is a brand new site eligible for the guarantee?
Sometimes, and often not. A domain with no history, no links and no data is the hardest account to move inside 90 days, so the free review comes first and decides it. If the honest answer is that the site cannot reach a meaningful number in that window, we say so rather than sign and hope. Being turned down here is the guarantee working, not a rejection of your business.
How is the baseline set if my traffic is seasonal?
Settle the comparison method in writing at week one, alongside the baseline, rather than arguing about it at week twelve. Where the data exists, that can mean comparing against the same period a year earlier, and where it does not, against a trailing average. The point of putting the baseline in your own Search Console and GA4 is that the method and the numbers are visible to both sides from the start.
What does “enquiries” mean for the target?
It should mean a tracked action that shows a real person wants to talk to you: a form submission that arrives, a tracked phone call, a booking. Not page views, not time on site, not a form that fires a conversion when the page loads. That is why tracking has to work before the clock starts. If the count cannot be trusted, neither side can say whether the target was hit.
How do I know if my tracking is good enough?
Compare last month’s reported conversions in GA4 with the enquiries you actually received in your inbox, phone log or CRM. If the two are within touching distance, the tracking is usable. If GA4 shows three times as many, something is firing on the wrong event. If it shows none, the tag is missing or blocked. That check takes ten minutes and is the first thing done in week one.
What should I ask any agency about their guarantee?
Three questions. What exactly happens if you miss, in money, not in extra months. Where is the baseline recorded, and do I get a copy. What are the conditions, in writing, before I sign. If the answer to the first is only a plan to put things right, the guarantee costs them nothing. If the second is their own report, the finish line is theirs to move.
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