A client we'd worked with for ten years told me they wanted to try a different SEO agency. We spoke every month, and the campaign was bringing them business. I thought the relationship was in a good place.
The email caught me off guard. We completed the handover and left the door open.
When the numbers started changing
A few months later, I checked their search visibility. It was falling sharply, so I sent them the graph.
Over roughly three to six months, keywords in the top three fell from 68 to 22. First-page keywords dropped from 362 to 47, and search clicks were down 70%. Monthly leads had fallen from about 150 to 30.
SEO had been responsible for around 80% of their leads. I knew how much that change could affect the business, so I followed up again.
Eventually, they called. They were unhappy with the new provider and said my emails had prompted them to watch the numbers more closely. They asked us to take over again, and their rankings began climbing.
What should you track when changing SEO agencies?
Keep a clear record of the results your business relies on: organic search clicks, keyword positions, phone calls, form inquiries and booked work. Save that baseline before the handover, then follow the same measures afterward.
I'd also ask an agency to explain what they're maintaining, what they're changing and how they'll report progress. A business owner should be able to connect the SEO work to the inquiries coming in.
I wrote more about that connection in When your marketing report can speak for itself.
The lesson I took from it
When I asked why they'd left, they said they had no complaints. They simply wanted to try something else.
That stayed with me. We had been talking regularly, but I could have done a better job explaining where we were taking the work next, including new opportunities in AI search.
I came away with two things to improve: make the ongoing work clearer, and handle every departure graciously. Keeping that relationship open gave us a chance to work together again.
Adapted from Aaron's original post.