White Label SEO Services Guide for Agency Buyers

Overview

If you’re vetting white label SEO services to scale without hiring, this guide gives you the operational details most sales pages skip. White label SEO is when a fulfillment partner delivers SEO under your agency’s brand—so you sell, own the client relationship, and your provider does the work in the background.

Expect core deliverables (audits, technical fixes, content, links, local SEO, and reporting), a clear SLA, and tooling that plugs into your stack without taking control of your data.

Two points frame the stakes. Google accounts for over 90% of global search share, so organic performance can meaningfully move revenue for your clients (StatCounter).

Page experience is still table stakes—Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in March 2024, which should inform your technical SEO and dev QA roadmap (web.dev). Use a provider who aligns with Google’s Helpful Content guidance and link spam policies to protect your clients and your brand (Google Helpful Content, Google link spam policies).

Key takeaways:

1. Choose a partner that documents SLAs, capacity, and risk controls (especially for links).
2. Keep data in your accounts; your provider should be an authorized user, not the owner.
3. Scope with margin discipline—price by complexity, platform, and link/engineering needs.

What white label SEO services include and how they work

A white label SEO company operates as your behind-the-scenes fulfillment team while you remain the front-facing brand. Scopes typically include research and planning (audits, keyword and competitive analysis), on-page optimization, technical SEO, content strategy and production, link acquisition, local SEO (Google Business Profile and citations), and reporting.

Your team briefs goals and brand guidelines. The provider executes, reports in your templates, and routes approvals via your project manager.

Operationally, your provider joins your agency workflow at two points: strategy and production. Strategy inputs—like ICPs, priority pages, revenue targets—inform monthly roadmaps and sprint backlogs.

Production flows through documented QA gates: SEO reviews, editorial edits, developer validation for site changes, and link risk checks before placement. The outcome is consistent velocity without expanding your payroll bench, and the ability to spin up specialized work (e.g., white label technical SEO or digital PR) as needed.

Standard deliverable set across campaigns

Baseline inclusions should cover the full funnel from diagnostic to outcomes. Most agencies route monthly work into three lanes: technical foundations, content growth, and authority building.

Optional add-ons like conversion rate optimization (CRO), international SEO, and digital PR are useful where business models and markets warrant them.

Typical deliverables:

1. SEO audit (technical, content, and link profile) with prioritized roadmap
2. Keyword research and topical map aligned to buyer journeys
3. On-page optimization (meta, headers, internal links, schema) and UX/page experience tickets
4. Technical SEO fixes (crawl/indexation, site speed, INP improvements, structured data)
5. Content briefs and production (blogs, landing pages, FAQs, hubs)
6. White label link building via editorial outreach and digital PR
7. White label local SEO (GBP optimization, citations, local content)
8. White label reporting: dashboards, commentary, and KPI tracking

White labeling, confidentiality, and ‘no client contact’ in practice

True white label means the provider works only through you, uses your branding on deliverables, and follows your escalation paths. Formalize this with mutual NDAs, role definitions (who speaks to whom and when), and approval workflows for any external communications.

If you allow back-channel coverage (e.g., time-sensitive dev fixes), provision shared inboxes with your domain and establish strict reply SLAs.

Use shared tasking and version control (e.g., your PM tool and your Drive folder) so everything remains in your workspace. For sensitive accounts like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and CMS access, grant least-privilege roles and revoke when projects end.

This preserves your brand equity and ensures continuity if you change vendors.

Who white label SEO is best for (and when to build in-house)

White label SEO is ideal when you have demand outpacing capacity, you need specialized skills on tap, or you’re entering new verticals/platforms (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento) without an internal SME. Agencies use it to stabilize delivery margins, smooth hiring cycles, and cover vacations or parental leave without service gaps.

It’s also a smart bridge while you recruit senior talent, letting you sell confidently now and in-source gradually later.

Build in-house when SEO is a core differentiator, complex dev dependencies require daily proximity, or your average client LTV justifies full-time heads. A hybrid model—retaining a strategic lead in-house while outsourcing production and white label link building—often yields the best of both worlds: control over direction with elastic delivery bandwidth.

Revisit the mix quarterly as your pipeline, team skills, and client mix evolve.

Build vs buy vs hybrid: decision drivers

Choose the fulfillment model that best balances control, speed, and margin.

1. Cost and margin: In-house raises fixed costs; white label turns them variable. Target 40–60% net delivery margin after wholesale costs.
2. Time-to-value: Providers start in weeks, not months, avoiding recruiting lead times and ramp.
3. Control and quality: In-house offers proximity; white label demands tight SLAs and QA gates to match standards.
4. Hiring and turnover risk: White label mitigates vacancy gaps; hybrid keeps institutional knowledge while flexing production.

Pricing models, margins, and how to scope profitably

White label SEO pricing typically falls into three buckets: wholesale retainers (monthly sprints for ongoing SEO), per-project pricing (audits, migrations, site builds), and usage-based add-ons (content per piece, links per placement). Your scoping should reflect complexity drivers: site size, platform constraints, localization, competitive intensity, link acquisition difficulty, and engineering involvement.

For margin health, start with required activities, then ladder scope by phase. Month 1 often front-loads research and technical fixes; months 2–6 bias toward content velocity and authority building.

Aim for at least a 2.0x markup on wholesale rates to cover your PM, client strategy, and tool spend, adjusting higher for high-touch accounts. Avoid “all-in” bundles that bury link costs or dev time—itemize assumptions so you can maintain price integrity as needs change.

Sample rate ranges and margin math (with scenarios)

Rates vary by region, language, and seniority, but realistic planning ranges help you quote with confidence. Prices below illustrate common North American wholesale scenarios; adjust for your market and vertical complexity.

1. Ongoing retainer (SMB–midmarket): $800–$3,500/month wholesale for 15–40 hour sprints; resell at $1,600–$7,000+ targeting ~50% delivery margin.
2. Technical SEO audit: $1,500–$6,000 wholesale depending on site size/CMS; migrations $3,000–$12,000+.
3. Content: $150–$500 per briefed, edited page (750–1,500 words) based on expertise and review density.
4. White label link building: $200–$600 per earned placement (editorial outreach), higher for digital PR features.
5. Add-on engineering: $100–$180/hour wholesale for dev tasks if not handled by client IT.

Scenario: If your provider retainer is $2,000/month and you resell at $4,200, you net ~$2,200 before your PM/tool costs. With $600 internal PM time and $150 tool allocation, delivery margin lands near 35–40%.

Increase value via higher-ROI content and efficient link acquisition rather than compressing provider rates that risk quality.

Deliverables and SLAs your provider should commit to

Commercial clarity reduces rework and protects client outcomes. Your white label SEO agency should present a written SLA that defines response times (acknowledgment and triage), resolution targets by severity, acceptance criteria for deliverables, change-control rules, and escalation contacts.

For example, a P1 incident like robots.txt blocking key sections should trigger same-day remediation or a rollback plan. A content revision might follow a 2–3 business day path.

Map SLAs to your agency’s client promises and embed them in your SOW. Require visibility into capacity—seats, reviewer-to-writer ratios, average monthly throughput—so sprint commitments reflect reality.

Include a cap-and-carry policy for unused hours, and a change-request process for out-of-scope items (e.g., new language markets) that protects both timeline and margin.

On-page, technical, content, and link-building SLAs

Category-specific SLAs keep expectations concrete and measurable.

1. On-page: Title/meta updates and internal links for prioritized pages within 5–7 business days of approval; schema validation with structured data test before release.
2. Technical: P1 fixes (indexation, canonical errors, robots, major INP regressions) within 1–2 business days; P2 tickets (redirects, sitemap hygiene, minor speed issues) within 7–10 business days; pre-release dev QA and post-release monitoring.
3. Content: Briefs delivered 3–5 business days after topic approval; first drafts within 7–10 business days; two editorial rounds included; plagiarism and factual checks per policy aligned with Google’s Helpful Content guidance.
4. Links: Prospect list preview on request; only editorially-earned placements; DA/DR thresholds as agreed; link sheets with URL, date, anchor, and publisher; replacement or credit for removed links within 60–90 days.

Reporting, data ownership, and tool stack integration

Your agency should own all data, accounts, and dashboards—providers get least-privilege access and lose it on termination. GA4, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and ad accounts must be created under your client or agency master logins, not vendor emails.

For reporting, use your Looker Studio or BI workspace. A good partner will deliver white label reporting that snaps into your templates and naming conventions.

Define a KPI taxonomy that maps to business outcomes, not just rankings. Combine leading indicators (crawl health, indexation, INP and LCP improvements) with performance metrics (qualified sessions, conversions, assisted revenue).

Seek API-enabled dashboards—Looker Studio connectors and data blending keep commentary grounded in live data and reduce manual errors. This also ensures continuity if you change vendors, since the data model lives with you.

Sample reporting pack and KPI definitions

A clean reporting pack keeps stakeholders aligned on progress, blockers, and next bets. Include weekly snapshots for execution and monthly narratives for strategy.

Include:

1. Technical health: Indexed vs. excluded pages, top crawl issues resolved, Core Web Vitals (with INP trends) and actions taken.
2. Visibility: Priority keyword movement by segment/topic; share of voice vs. key competitors.
3. Content: Pieces published, updates to existing assets, content decay reversed, and next month’s brief list.
4. Authority: Links acquired (source, page, anchor), digital PR mentions, risk notes, and disavow activity if applicable.
5. Business impact: Organic sessions, engaged sessions, conversion rate, form fills/calls, assisted conversions, and pipeline tie-ins where available.

KPI definitions should reference authoritative sources and be consistent. For example, Core Web Vitals criteria from Google (INP under 200 ms considered “good”), and GBP interaction metrics per Google Business Profile guidelines.

Quality assurance, link risk management, and compliance

Quality standards protect clients from whiplash and penalties. Content should pass SEO review (intent match, internal links, entities covered), editorial review (voice, clarity, originality), and factual checks against reputable sources.

Technical work should include pre/post-release checks and rollbacks. For links, align with Google’s link spam policies—avoid manipulative schemes; earn placements through useful content and authentic outreach.

Document a risk playbook: how prospects are vetted, what constitutes a risky pattern (e.g., sudden anchor exact-match spikes), and your response steps. If a manual action ever lands, you’ll need a root-cause analysis, link audit, removals/disavow, and a reconsideration request.

Alignment with Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (emphasizing experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust) helps structure your content and review discipline (Quality Rater Guidelines PDF).

Link acquisition rubric and red flags

A practical rubric makes link QA consistent and auditable.

1. Acceptable sources: Editorial placements on relevant, real-audience sites; journalist mentions via HARO/Qwoted-style outreach; resource/guide inclusions; niche associations and legitimate directories; high-quality unlinked mention reclamations.
2. Disallowed tactics: Paid links or sponsored posts without rel="sponsored"/"nofollow"; private blog networks (PBNs); large-scale guest posts with manipulative anchors; link exchanges at scale; forum/profile spam; auto-generated placements.
3. Vetting checks: Publisher’s About/Contact pages, staff bylines, consistent publishing cadence, real traffic (estimated), clean outbound link patterns, no casino/CBD/loan clusters unless the client is in that regulated niche.
4. Anchor and velocity controls: Branded/URL/natural anchors dominate; exact-match anchors used sparingly and contextually; link velocity within competitive norms.
5. Escalation steps: Flag and reject borderline prospects; if a risky link is discovered post-placement, request removal or add rel="nofollow"; document and disavow if removal fails; notify the agency within two business days.

Stay aligned with Google’s spam policies to avoid penalties and protect brand trust.

Local and eCommerce specializations to look for

Local SEO requires mastery of Google Business Profile optimization, citation management, local content, and location page architecture. Seek providers who can structure service-area pages, manage NAP consistency, and run review generation coordination without violating platform rules.

For multi-location brands, governance and bulk updates matter more than one-off tactics.

For eCommerce, platform fluency is critical. Shopify needs pattern fixes for faceted navigation, app proxy performance, and rich results (Product schema). BigCommerce and Magento projects often hinge on crawl budget, canonicalization, and scalable content for categories and PDPs.

Look for proven playbooks on indexation control, core web vitals for template types, and collaboration with devs during releases to prevent SEO regressions.

Franchise and multi-location nuances

Franchise SEO succeeds when structure and governance are nailed down. Build scalable location page templates with unique local content and clear service delineation.

Implement internal linking from store locators to child pages. Enforce GBP naming, categories, and UTM conventions across all locations.

Coordinate review response guidelines and publishing calendars so corporate and local franchisees don’t clash.

Expect bulk GBP management, ongoing duplicate suppression, and photo/post cadences tailored by market. Reporting should roll up to brand-level KPIs while surfacing location outliers for targeted support—things like below-benchmark calls, low photo freshness, or review sentiment dips.

Onboarding timeline and communication cadence

A tight onboarding plan builds trust and momentum. Week 1 covers kickoffs, access provisioning (GA4, GSC, CMS, GBP), and data validation.

Weeks 2–3 finalize the audit and keyword map. Week 4 locks the 90-day roadmap with sprint commitments.

Use your PM tool for tasks, status, and approvals. Schedule weekly working sessions plus monthly strategy reviews with decision-makers.

Define a RACI so stakeholders know who approves what. Your account director owns strategy/approvals, the provider’s SEO lead owns execution quality, writers and outreach specialists own production, and a shared QA ensures nothing ships without checks.

Keep a running risk/assumption log to record dependencies (dev time, brand approvals) and avoid scope drift.

30–60–90 day milestones

Near-term milestones make progress tangible and reduce churn risk.

1. 30 days: Access complete; audits delivered; priority technical fixes underway; 3–6 content briefs approved; 2–4 pages optimized; outreach prospecting begun; baseline dashboards live.
2. 60 days: Majority of P1/P2 technical issues resolved; 4–8 new content pieces published; 3–10 quality links secured; local profiles optimized; first wave of ranking and engaged session lifts on priority terms/pages.
3. 90 days: Content hub foundation in place; internal linking expanded; link velocity consistent; early conversion gains visible on target pages; next-quarter roadmap aligned to what’s compounding.

Due-diligence checklist and vendor red flags

A structured vendor review protects margins and clients. Use the checklist below during discovery and contracting, and probe until you see the operational proof—not just promises.

1. SLAs: Documented response/resolution times, acceptance criteria, change control, and escalation contacts.
2. Capacity: Named team, reviewer-to-writer ratios, average monthly throughput, holiday coverage, and bandwidth ceilings.
3. Pricing: Transparent wholesale rates by service, link cost model, dev assumptions, and cap-and-carry rules.
4. Data ownership: Your accounts, least-privilege access, data retention/exit process, and white-labeled reporting in your BI tool (e.g., Looker Studio).
5. Tooling/API: Ability to connect to your stack (GA4, GSC, GBP, CMS), sample dashboards, and field dictionaries.
6. Risk/compliance: Written link policy aligned with Google’s spam policies, disavow/remediation process, and content QA workflow.
7. Security/legal: NDA, optional SOC 2/ISO controls alignment, DPA if processing PII, and contractor controls.
8. Proof: Named case studies with metrics, reporting samples, and representative timelines.

If a provider guarantees rankings, sells dofollow paid links as “editorial,” or asks to own client accounts, walk away.

FAQs

What is white label SEO and how does it work? It’s an arrangement where a fulfillment partner provides SEO under your brand. You sell and manage the client; the partner completes the work, reports in your templates, and never contacts your client unless you authorize it.

How do pricing models impact margins and outcomes? Retainers create stable velocity and simpler margin planning. Per-project pricing fits audits/migrations but can cause feast-famine. Wholesale models with transparent link/content costs help you maintain 40–60% margins while funding senior strategy and PM time that improve outcomes.

Who owns the data, accounts, and dashboards? You do. All key accounts (GA4, GSC, GBP, CMS) should be created under client or agency control, with the provider added as a user. Dashboards live in your Looker Studio or BI platform so you retain continuity if vendors change.

What SLAs should a provider agree to? At minimum: response within one business day, P1 technical fixes within 1–2 business days, content drafts in 7–10 business days after brief approval, and link replacement/credit windows of 60–90 days. Include change-control and acceptance criteria to reduce rework.

How does white label SEO differ from an SEO reseller program or referral model? In white label, delivery is under your brand and control. In reseller models, you may sell another brand’s fulfillment. In referral models, you pass the lead and step back, trading control for low overhead and lower margin.

What KPIs should we track beyond rankings? Track indexed pages, Core Web Vitals (including INP), engaged sessions, conversion rate, assisted conversions/revenue, and Local actions (calls, direction requests) for GBP. Rankings inform visibility; business KPIs prove impact.

How do local SEO and eCommerce nuances change timelines? Local often sees faster directional wins (GBP and citation fixes in 30–60 days). eCommerce timelines are driven by dev release cycles and template-level SEO; plan for 60–90 days to ship foundational changes and 90–180 days for category and PDP compounding gains.

How should we evaluate capacity and bandwidth claims? Ask for named team structures, reviewer ratios, monthly throughput averages, and blackout dates. Validate with sample sprint plans and confirm how they prioritize when urgent P1s collide with content cadence.

Decision guide: shortlist and next steps

Shortlist vendors who can prove three things: operational maturity (documented SLAs, QA, risk policies), capacity fit (team, throughput, timelines), and commercial clarity (transparent wholesale pricing and data ownership). Score each across strategy strength, execution velocity, reporting quality, communication, and compliance alignment; weight by your agency’s priorities and client mix.

Run a 60–90 day pilot with one or two suitable accounts representative of your core verticals. Keep scopes tight but outcome-oriented: fix P1 technical issues, publish a minimum viable content hub, and secure a cadence of defensible links.

Require weekly working sessions, monthly executive summaries tied to KPIs, and a retro in week 10 with a go/no-go decision and scaled roadmap. By anchoring your pilot to Google’s Helpful Content guidance, link spam policies, and Core Web Vitals, you protect clients today and derisk scale tomorrow.