The Best Client Onboarding Checklist for Agencies To Help Streamline Your Process & Impress Your Clients

So, you’ve landed a new SEO client. Congrats! Pop the champagne (or sparkling water, if that’s your thing). But hold on a sec before you break out the confetti – the real work is just beginning.

While it’s tempting to jump right into keyword research and site audits, taking a step back for a solid onboarding process is crucial. Think of it as building a strong foundation for a house – if the groundwork is shaky, everything else is at risk.

But let’s be real, onboarding can be a bit of a maze. What steps are truly essential? How do you balance gathering information with setting realistic expectations? And how do you make a killer first impression that sets the tone for a long-lasting partnership?

A smooth onboarding experience can set the stage for a long and fruitful relationship, while a rocky start can lead to misaligned expectations and potential headaches down the road.

This guide is your toolkit for success, offering:

• Actionable advice, not theory: We’re ditching the buzzwords for practical steps.
• Streamlined guidance: Get the essentials you need, minus the fluff.
• Relationship-focused strategies: Onboarding is about more than paperwork; it’s about building a collaborative partnership.

What is Client Onboarding?

Client onboarding for SEO is more than just a welcome email and a quick handshake. It’s a crucial process that sets the tone for your entire relationship with the client, leading to happy clients, successful campaigns, and glowing testimonials. On the other hand, a bumpy start can lead to misaligned expectations, frustration, and even client churn.

This guide will equip you with the essential steps to create a seamless onboarding experience that delights your clients and sets your SEO campaigns up for success. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, you’ll gain the tools and insights you need to build lasting and profitable client relationships.

Step	Description	Goal
Kickoff Call	Initial call to set expectations, introduce team, and outline the process	Establish rapport and set the stage
Client Questionnaire	Detailed questions about the client’s business, goals, and audience	Gather comprehensive data for strategy
Setting Expectations	Discussion about timelines, goals, and client involvement	Ensure alignment and manage expectations
Discovery Phase	In-depth research into client’s business, audience, and competitors	Gain deep insights for strategy development
Building the SEO Roadmap	Crafting a detailed plan with goals, timelines, and KPIs	Provide a clear plan of action
Reporting Cadence	Regular updates on progress, challenges, and recommendations	Maintain transparency and demonstrate results

Why Client Onboarding Matters for SEO Agencies

In the fast-paced world of SEO, it can be tempting to dive straight into the technical work. However, a well-structured onboarding process is the secret weapon that sets successful agencies apart. Here’s why it matters:

• Sets the Stage for Success: Onboarding lays the groundwork for a smooth and productive partnership. It ensures everyone is on the same page regarding expectations, goals, and communication. This minimizes misunderstandings and sets the stage for a successful SEO campaign.
• Builds Trust and Credibility: A professional and organized onboarding process demonstrates your agency’s expertise and commitment to client success. It helps build trust and credibility, which are essential for long-term relationships.
• Gathers Critical Information: Onboarding is your chance to gather all the necessary information about your client’s business, goals, target audience, and competitors. This data is essential for crafting a tailored SEO strategy that delivers results.
• Aligns Expectations: By setting clear expectations upfront, you can avoid potential conflicts or disappointments down the road. This includes discussing realistic timelines, deliverables, and potential challenges.
• Fosters Collaboration: Onboarding is an opportunity to establish a collaborative working relationship with your client. By involving them in the process and encouraging open communication, you’re fostering a sense of shared ownership and commitment to the SEO campaign.
• Boosts Client Satisfaction: A positive onboarding experience leads to happier clients who are more likely to stick around, refer you to others, and leave glowing testimonials.

In short, investing time and effort in client onboarding is an investment in your agency’s long-term success. It’s a proven way to streamline your processes, build strong relationships, and deliver exceptional results for your clients.

Interactive Client Onboarding Checklist

Use our interactive client onboarding checklist to make sure you’ve completed each steps with your new client:

1. Kickoff Call: Setting the Stage for Success

The kickoff call is your first official interaction with your new client since they signed on the dotted line. Think of it as a virtual handshake and a warm welcome into your agency’s world. This call isn’t just a formality; it’s a crucial opportunity to set clear expectations, establish a rapport, and build a foundation for a successful partnership.

The Agenda: What to Cover

Your kickoff call should be structured and focused, covering the following key points:

1. Welcome and Introductions: Start by expressing your excitement about working with the client. Introduce the key team members who will be handling their account, highlighting their expertise and roles.
2. Review of the Agreement: Briefly go over the contract terms, ensuring the client understands the scope of work, deliverables, timelines, and payment terms. Address any questions or concerns they may have.
3. Onboarding Process Overview: Walk the client through your onboarding process, explaining the steps involved and what they can expect at each stage. Provide a timeline for the initial phases of the SEO campaign.
4. Communication Plan: Discuss how you’ll communicate with the client throughout the project. Establish preferred channels (email, phone, project management tools), meeting frequency, and response time expectations.
5. Data and Access: Discuss what data and access you’ll need from the client to get started. This could include website logins, Google Analytics access, and any relevant marketing materials.
6. Questions and Answers: Leave ample time for the client to ask questions. Address their concerns openly and honestly, ensuring they feel heard and understood.

Tips for a Successful Kickoff Call

• Be Prepared: Review the client’s proposal and any notes from previous conversations. Have a list of questions ready to ask the client to gather any missing information.
• Be Enthusiastic: Show your excitement about working with the client. Your positive energy will set a good tone for the partnership.
• Be Clear and Concise: Avoid jargon and technical terms. Explain complex concepts in simple language that the client can easily understand.
• Be Organized: Have a clear agenda for the call and stick to it. Keep the conversation focused and on track.
• Be Personable: Build rapport with the client by being friendly, approachable, and professional.

A well-executed kickoff call sets the stage for a positive and productive client relationship. By setting clear expectations, establishing open communication channels, and fostering a sense of collaboration, you’re well on your way to SEO success.

2. Getting to Know You: The Client Questionnaire

The kickoff call is just the beginning. Now it’s time to get deeper into your client’s world with a comprehensive questionnaire. This isn’t your average “get to know you” survey – it’s a strategic tool designed to gather the essential information you need to craft a killer SEO strategy.

Why a Questionnaire?

You might be wondering, “Why bother with a questionnaire when we had a kickoff call?” Well, here’s the thing:

• Comprehensive Data: The questionnaire allows you to gather detailed information in a structured format, ensuring you don’t miss any crucial details.
• Client Reflection: It prompts the client to think critically about their business, goals, target audience, and competitors, which can lead to valuable insights.
• Alignment: It ensures both you and the client are on the same page regarding expectations, timelines, and desired outcomes.

What to Ask: Key Questions

Your questionnaire should cover a wide range of topics, including:

• Business Overview: What does the client do? What are their core values and unique selling points?
• Target Audience: Who are they trying to reach? What are their demographics, interests, and pain points?
• Business Goals: What do they want to achieve with SEO? More traffic? Higher rankings? Increased sales?
• Current Marketing Efforts: What marketing channels are they currently using? How effective are they?
• Competition: Who are their main competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Website Information: What’s the website’s URL? Who’s the hosting provider? What CMS do they use?
• SEO History: Have they worked with an SEO agency before? What were the results?
• Expectations and Budget: What are their expectations for the SEO campaign? What’s their budget?

Tips for Creating an Effective Questionnaire

• Keep it Concise: Don’t overwhelm the client with an endless list of questions. Focus on the most important information you need to gather.
• Use Clear and Concise Language: Avoid jargon and technical terms. Make your questions easy to understand and answer.
• Mix Up Question Types: Use a combination of open-ended and multiple-choice questions to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Make it Easy to Complete: Use a user-friendly format, such as an online form or a Google Doc.
• Follow Up: If the client misses any questions or provides incomplete answers, follow up to clarify and gather all the necessary information.

Read our complete client onboarding questionnaire

The client questionnaire is a valuable tool that helps you chart a course for SEO success. By gathering detailed information about your client’s business, goals, and target audience, you can craft a tailored strategy that delivers real results. So, don’t skip this crucial step in the onboarding process.

3. Set Expectations: The Road Map to a Smooth Journey

Now that you’ve gotten to know your client a bit better, it’s time for a crucial conversation: setting expectations. This isn’t about crushing their dreams or setting impossibly low bars. It’s about ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding what SEO can and can’t do, how long it takes, and what level of involvement is expected from both sides.

Why Set Expectations?

Setting clear expectations upfront can save you a lot of headaches down the road. It helps you:

• Build trust: When you’re transparent about what’s achievable and what’s not, you build trust and credibility with your client.
• Manage disappointment: SEO isn’t a magic bullet. It takes time and effort to see results. Setting realistic expectations helps manage potential disappointment if results don’t happen overnight.
• Encourage collaboration: When both sides understand their roles and responsibilities, it fosters a more collaborative and productive working relationship.

Key Expectations to Discuss

• SEO Timeline: Explain that SEO is a long-term game. It can take months to see significant results, depending on the website’s current state, competition, and the scope of work.
• Measurable Goals: Define specific, measurable goals for the SEO campaign. This could include increasing organic traffic, improving keyword rankings, or boosting conversions.
• Reporting and Communication: Outline how often you’ll provide reports, what metrics you’ll track, and how you’ll communicate progress and any challenges that arise.
• Client Involvement: Discuss the level of involvement you expect from the client. Will they need to provide feedback on content? Approve changes to the website? Share access to certain tools or data?
• Budget and Resources: Reiterate the agreed-upon budget and discuss how resources will be allocated to achieve the desired outcomes.
• Potential Challenges: Be upfront about potential roadblocks or challenges that may arise during the campaign. This could include algorithm updates, technical issues, or changes in the competitive landscape.

Setting the Tone: The Expectations Document

To formalize the conversation and ensure everyone is on the same page, it’s a good idea to create an expectations document. This document should summarize the key points discussed during your conversation, including:

• A clear timeline for the SEO campaign
• Specific, measurable goals
• Reporting frequency and format
• Client involvement expectations
• Budget and resource allocation
• Potential challenges and how they’ll be addressed

By setting clear expectations from the outset, you’re not only setting your SEO campaign up for success, but you’re also building a strong foundation for a lasting and productive client relationship.

4. Laying the Groundwork: The Discovery Phase

Alright, now that the initial introductions are complete, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. The discovery phase is where we gather the crucial information that will fuel your client’s SEO strategy. Think of it as a deep dive into their business, their audience, and the competitive landscape.

More Than Just Data Collection

This isn’t just about ticking boxes on a checklist. The discovery phase is about understanding the heart and soul of your client’s business. It’s about uncovering their unique value proposition, identifying their target audience’s pain points and desires, and getting a clear picture of who they’re up against in the digital arena.

Key Areas to Explore

• Business Objectives: What are your client’s overarching business goals? Are they looking to increase sales, generate leads, or boost brand awareness? Understanding their objectives will help you tailor your SEO strategy to deliver tangible results.
• Target Audience Insights: Who are your client’s ideal customers? What are their demographics, interests, online behaviors, and search habits? Uncovering these insights will help you create content and optimize the website to attract and engage the right audience.
• Competitive Landscape Analysis: Who are your client’s main competitors? What keywords are they targeting? What kind of content are they producing? What’s their backlink profile like? Understanding the competitive landscape will help you identify opportunities for your client to stand out and outrank their rivals.
• Website Evaluation: While not a full-blown audit, take a closer look at your client’s website. Are there any obvious technical issues or content gaps that need immediate attention? This preliminary evaluation will help you prioritize your SEO efforts.

Tools and Techniques for Gathering Information

• Client Interviews: Schedule in-depth interviews with key stakeholders at your client’s company. Ask thoughtful questions to gain a deeper understanding of their business, goals, and target audience.
• Surveys and Questionnaires: Gather feedback directly from your client’s customers or target audience through surveys or questionnaires. This can provide valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points.
• Analytics Review: Analyze your client’s Google Analytics and Google Search Console data. Look for trends, patterns, and insights into their website traffic, search engine rankings, and user behavior.
• Competitor Research: Utilize SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to conduct competitor analysis. Identify their strengths and weaknesses, and look for opportunities where your client can gain a competitive advantage.

The discovery phase is a critical step in the client onboarding process. By gathering comprehensive information and insights, you’re laying the groundwork for a tailored SEO strategy that will drive meaningful results for your client.

Think of it as the compass that guides your SEO ship in the right direction. With a clear understanding of your client’s business, target audience, and competitive landscape, you’re well on your way to charting a course towards higher rankings, increased organic traffic, and ultimately, greater success for your client.

5. Strategize and Align: Building the SEO Roadmap

With a treasure trove of information from the discovery phase, it’s time to put on your strategist hat and start mapping out the SEO journey. This is where you transform data into action, crafting a comprehensive roadmap that aligns with your client’s goals and sets the stage for measurable results.

More Than Just a To-Do List

The SEO roadmap isn’t just a laundry list of tasks to check off. It’s a strategic plan that outlines the key initiatives, timelines, and resources needed to achieve your client’s desired outcomes. Think of it as a GPS for their SEO journey, guiding them towards their destination while navigating potential roadblocks and detours.

This roadmap should be a collaborative effort, involving both you and your client. It’s important to ensure that everyone understands and agrees on the proposed strategy, timelines, and key performance indicators (KPIs). This alignment fosters a sense of shared ownership and commitment, which is essential for a successful SEO campaign.

Key Components of the SEO Roadmap

• Goals and Objectives: Clearly define the client’s SEO goals, both short-term and long-term. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
• Target Keywords: Identify the primary and secondary keywords that the client wants to rank for. Conduct keyword research to ensure these keywords align with search volume, competition, and relevance to the client’s business.
• Technical SEO Priorities: Outline the technical SEO tasks that need to be addressed, such as improving site speed, fixing crawl errors, and optimizing for mobile devices.
• On-Page Optimization Strategy: Detail the on-page optimization tactics you’ll employ, including optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, content quality, and internal linking structure.
• Content Strategy: Develop a comprehensive content strategy that outlines the types of content you’ll create (blog posts, articles, videos, infographics), the topics you’ll cover, and the frequency of publication.
• Link Building Strategy: Create a plan for acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to boost your client’s domain authority and search engine rankings.
• Timeline and Milestones: Establish a realistic timeline for the SEO campaign, breaking down the project into phases with specific milestones and deliverables for each phase.
• Measurement and Reporting: Define the SEO key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll track to measure the success of the campaign. Outline the frequency and format of your reports to the client.

The SEO roadmap is a living document that will evolve and adapt as your campaign progresses. It’s a collaborative tool that keeps everyone on track and focused on achieving the desired outcomes. By building a comprehensive roadmap together, you and your client are setting yourselves up for a successful SEO journey.

6. Show and Tell: The Reporting Cadence

Alright, now that you’ve got your SEO strategy in place and the work is underway, it’s time to keep your client in the loop. This is where reporting comes in – your chance to showcase your progress, highlight wins, and address any concerns that may arise.

Reports That Don’t Put Clients to Sleep

Let’s be honest, SEO reports can be a bit dry. But they don’t have to be a snooze-fest. Think of them as your opportunity to tell a compelling story about your client’s SEO journey. Use clear, concise language, visuals, and real-world examples to bring the data to life and demonstrate the impact of your efforts.

Your reports should be more than just a data dump. They should provide actionable insights, answer key questions, and set the stage for future optimizations.

What to Include: Key Reporting Elements

• Executive Summary: A brief overview of the report’s key findings and takeaways. This is your chance to highlight the most important information and grab your client’s attention.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Track and report on the SEO metrics that matter most to your client, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and bounce rate.
• Progress Update: Summarize the work completed during the reporting period, highlighting any major milestones or achievements.
• Challenges and Opportunities: Address any challenges or roadblocks you encountered, and outline your plan for overcoming them. Identify new opportunities for optimization and growth.
• Recommendations: Provide actionable recommendations based on your findings and analysis. This could include suggestions for new content, technical improvements, or link building strategies.

How Often? The Reporting Cadence

The frequency of your reports will depend on the scope of the project, your client’s preferences, and the stage of the SEO campaign. In general, it’s a good idea to provide monthly reports to keep the client informed of your progress and address any concerns in a timely manner.

However, you may also want to provide more frequent updates for specific initiatives, such as a new content campaign or a technical audit. This helps to keep the client engaged and demonstrates your commitment to their success.

Reporting Frequency	Metrics Tracked	Format	Client Involvement
Monthly	Organic Traffic, Keyword Rankings, etc.	PDF/Online Dashboard	Review report, provide feedback
Quarterly	Comprehensive Analysis, Adjustments	PDF/Online Dashboard	Discuss progress, adjust strategies
Ad-Hoc	Specific Initiatives	Email/Call	Immediate insights on specific actions

Reports: Your Communication Lifeline

Regular reporting is a critical component of client onboarding and ongoing SEO success. It helps to build trust, transparency, and a sense of shared responsibility. By providing clear, concise, and actionable reports, you’re not only keeping your client informed, but you’re also reinforcing the value of your services and demonstrating your expertise.

Ad-Hoc Reports (Optional): Offer additional reports on specific initiatives or requests as needed to keep your client informed and engaged.

7. Client Collaboration: More Than Just a Handshake

Let’s be real, SEO isn’t a one-person show. It’s a tag-team effort, and your client is a key player. Their involvement is essential for crafting a strategy that truly resonates with their target audience and drives meaningful results.

So, how do you make sure your client isn’t just a passive observer, but an active participant in their SEO success story?

• Get the Inside Scoop: Tap into their expertise. Your client knows their business, their customers, and their industry better than anyone. Schedule regular check-ins to gather their insights, feedback, and ideas. This will help you tailor your SEO strategy to their unique needs and goals.
• Open the Toolbox: Don’t keep your client in the dark. Give them access to relevant SEO tools and platforms (like Google Analytics and Google Search Console). This will allow them to track progress, see the impact of your efforts, and get a better understanding of how SEO works.
• Be a Translator, Not a Dictionary: Avoid overwhelming your client with technical jargon. Explain complex SEO concepts in simple terms, using real-world examples and analogies. This will empower them to make informed decisions and actively participate in the process.
• Feedback is a Gift (Seriously): Encourage your client to share their thoughts and feedback on your proposed strategies, content ideas, and overall progress. Their input is invaluable in refining your approach and ensuring your efforts are on track.
• Set Realistic Expectations (Again): SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. While you should aim high, it’s important to manage your client’s expectations from the start. Be transparent about the timeline for results and the challenges you may encounter along the way.

Create a collaborative and transparent relationship with your client, you’re not just setting the stage for a successful SEO campaign – you’re building a partnership that’s built to last.

Conclusion

So, you’ve snagged a new SEO client. Awesome! Time to celebrate a little. But before you get too carried away with the victory dance, remember: the real work is just getting started. Client onboarding isn’t just about paperwork and pleasantries. It’s the crucial foundation upon which your entire SEO partnership will be built.

A smooth onboarding process can set the stage for a long and fruitful relationship, while a rocky start can lead to misaligned expectations and potential headaches down the road. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to create an onboarding experience that not only impresses your new client but also sets your SEO campaign up for success.