Masoud Azizi
Co-Founder & CMO, Indigo Mars
Most businesses that end up with the wrong agency didn't pick a bad one out of nowhere — they just didn't ask the right questions before signing. Ask about asset ownership, contract flexibility, reporting transparency, specific past results in your actual category, and — increasingly critical in 2026 — whether the agency genuinely understands AI search visibility or is still running an outdated playbook. The businesses that skip these questions are the ones who end up locked into a contract, watching budget disappear, with nothing concrete to show for it.
Who Actually Owns Your Website, Content, and Ad Accounts?
This is the single most consequential question on this list, and the easiest to overlook in an initial pitch. Some agencies retain ownership of the websites they build, the ad accounts they manage, or the content they write — meaning if you ever leave, you leave with nothing. Before signing anything, confirm explicitly, in writing, that you own your domain, your website, your content, your ad accounts, and your analytics data, full stop. An agency that hesitates on this question, or gives a vague answer, is telling you something important about what happens if the relationship ever ends.
How Flexible Is the Contract?
Long-term, hard-to-exit contracts protect the agency, not you. A month-to-month or clearly defined short-term arrangement keeps an agency's incentive aligned with actually producing results, since they know you can leave if they stop delivering. If an agency is pushing hard for a long lock-in period before you've seen any real results together, that's worth asking about directly rather than assuming it's standard.
What Does Reporting Actually Look Like?
Ask specifically: how often will you hear from them, who is your actual point of contact, and will you have real access to live performance data or only a monthly summary. Agencies that go quiet between reports are frequently agencies that aren't doing much work in between them. Live dashboard access, or at minimum a clear, consistent reporting cadence, is a reasonable baseline to expect, not a premium add-on.
Can They Show Specific Results in Your Actual Category?
A client logo wall isn't proof of anything. Ask for actual numbers — traffic growth, conversion rate change, revenue lift — from businesses genuinely comparable to yours, not just impressive-sounding but unrelated case studies. A vague answer here is a strong predictor of a vague result later.
Do They Actually Understand AI Search, or Just Say They Do?
This has become one of the most important questions to ask heading into 2026, and one many agencies still fumble. AI answer engines now handle a substantial share of informational searches, meaning traditional keyword-ranking SEO alone no longer covers how a growing number of customers actually find businesses. Ask directly how they approach AI visibility specifically — structured data, third-party citation building, direct-answer content — not just traditional SEO with an "AI" label added to the pitch deck. An agency still running a 2022 playbook, however well it might have worked then, isn't fully equipped to compete for how people search today.
How Do They Actually Build Authority and Links?
Some agencies still rely on cheap, low-quality backlink schemes that risk a genuine search penalty rather than helping. Ask specifically how they build authority — legitimate methods like guest content, digital PR, and real local citations are a good sign; a vague or evasive answer about "how the links get built" is worth treating as a real red flag. Already working with someone and not sure it's actually working? See Signs Your Marketing Agency Isn't Actually Working.
Where to Go From Here
Once you know what to ask, it's worth knowing what a realistic budget actually looks like too — see How Much Should a Los Angeles Business Actually Spend on Marketing?
One more honest question worth asking any agency: How Long Does It Actually Take to See Results From Marketing?
Want to see how we'd actually answer these questions ourselves? Get in touch — ask us anything on this list directly, no scripted pitch required.
