White-label SEO: how it works

Why agencies white-label

Hiring an SEO team is slow and risky when you have three SEO clients and might have ten next year. A white-label partner gives you capacity that grows and shrinks with your client list, and specialists you couldn’t justify hiring for one account.

What the supplier does, and what you keep

Decide this per client. A common split:

• You keep: the sale, the strategy conversation, the client calls and the final review of every report.
• The supplier does: audits, on-page changes, technical fixes, content, local citations and the monthly report draft.

Some agencies hand over strategy too. Others keep content in-house. There is no right split, only a clear one.

Paperwork that protects you

1. An NDA covering your clients, their data and your methods.
2. A non-solicitation clause: the supplier never approaches your clients, during or after the arrangement.
3. Access rules: client accounts set up by you, with access given to the supplier and removed when work ends.
4. Unbranded deliverables: nothing in a report, file or email that names the supplier.

Pricing and margin

Suppliers usually charge a fixed monthly price per client by scope. Agencies typically resell with a margin that covers their account management, strategy and risk. Fix the supplier price per scope so your margin doesn’t move every month.

Test before you commit

Send one client site for a trial audit under NDA. Judge it on whether you could send it to the client with your logo on it as it is, and on whether the fixes it recommends are specific enough to act on.