Google's own guidance on choosing an SEO provider is blunt: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." It's correct. Nobody outside Google controls the algorithm, and anyone promising a specific position for any keyword you like is either lying or planning to rank you for your own brand name.
And yet SEOBOOM offers a written guarantee. So does a small number of other agencies. Are we contradicting Google? No. We're guaranteeing something different, and the difference matters.
Two kinds of "guarantee"
The scam version
"Guaranteed #1 rankings in 30 days!" No named keywords, no terms, no consequence for failure beyond vague promises. These work in one of three ways: ranking you for keywords nobody searches for (your own company name, or "best plumber in Little Snoring"), using tactics that produce a short spike before a penalty, or simply not delivering and relying on the contract to keep you paying.
The commercial version
A guarantee that names specific keywords, sets a deadline and defines a financial consequence for the agency if it misses. This isn't a claim to control Google. It's a statement that the agency has assessed the keywords, believes they can be won with the work it will do, and is willing to carry the risk of being wrong. It's how guarantees work in every other industry.
What makes a guarantee credible
- The keywords are named in advance and chosen after an audit. If an agency guarantees results before it has looked at your site and your competitors, it isn't a guarantee, it's a sales line.
- The agency says no to some keywords. This is the strongest signal. A credible guarantee has to exclude terms that can't realistically be won. If every keyword you suggest is accepted, be suspicious.
- "Rank" is defined. Page one? Top 3? On which Google? From where? Measured by whom? Our definition: top 10 organic results on google.co.uk, from a neutral search in the agreed location, measured by an independent tracker you can see.
- There is a deadline. Open-ended guarantees are meaningless.
- Failure costs the agency money. A fee pause, refund or free work period. Not "we'll keep trying".
- It's in the contract. Not on a web page, not in an email. In the agreement, as a schedule.
What a credible guarantee can't do
- It can't promise position one on competitive terms. The top spot in most markets is a fight between established sites and shifts constantly. Page one is a realistic, measurable target that still captures most of the clicks.
- It can't cover things the agency doesn't control: your site going offline, you deleting the work, penalties from before the engagement.
- It can't be instant. If the deadline is less than three months for anything competitive, the method is probably risky.
How the SEOBOOM guarantee works
Every plan starts with a free audit that scores keywords for value and winnability. We propose a list, you agree it, and it becomes Schedule 1 of the contract. From day one we have 180 days. If any keyword is outside the top 10 on day 180, the monthly fee pauses and stays paused until all of them are on page one. The work continues.
We can do this because we only guarantee what the data says is winnable, we control all three levers (technical, content, authority) and we have enough history to know how long each type of keyword takes. Full terms here.
Questions to ask any agency offering a guarantee
- Which keywords exactly, and how did you choose them?
- Which keywords did you reject, and why?
- How is "page one" measured and can I see the data?
- What happens on the day you miss?
- Can I see the wording in the contract before I sign?
- What's your historic hit rate?
If the answers are specific, the guarantee is probably real. If they're vague, Google's warning applies.