How to resell white-label SEO

A client asks you for SEO and backlinks, and you do not do that work well yet. Here is how to resell white-label SEO: a vendor does the work, you sell it under your agency's name, and you check every piece before your client sees it. Without those checks, a cheap vendor can build the paid links Google's spam policies ban, the client's site drops, and you lose the client, not the vendor.

Do these three things

About 6 hours this week to set it up, then 30 minutes a day of checking next to your 100 daily messages. Judge each vendor's work every month, and the client's results at month 3 and month 6.

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1. 1Today: write the SEO work you will resell as a list with a number on every line, and send it to 10 white-label SEO vendors for a monthly price. Keep only vendors whose price is at most half of what your client will pay, from the pricing sum.
2. 2Every day: before your client sees anything, open every backlink and page your vendor delivered that day. Send back any paid link, any link from a site that sells posts, and any page that could be about any business.
3. 3Every Sunday: write down for each client what the vendor cost, your hours, what the client paid and how many pieces you sent back. Replace a vendor that fails 1 in 10 pieces two months running.

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1. Write down the SEO work you will resell, with a number on every line

White-label SEO means a vendor does the SEO work and you sell it under your agency's name. Start by writing down exactly which SEO work the vendor will do each month, with a number on every line, and which work you keep.

Keep the parts the client pays you for: the strategy, the client call and the final check. Resell the parts that take hours and skills you do not have yet, such as technical SEO fixes and getting backlinks. If you already write articles that rank, keep writing them. Do not pay a vendor for work you already do well.

Write each line the way you write your package: the work and how many, when it arrives, how many rounds of changes, and who does it. Then add a Not included line. Never write "unlimited links", "100 pages a month" or "SEO management". A vendor that sells links or pages by the hundred is selling what Google's spam policies call scaled content abuse and link spam.

Client type: [your one kind of client, from your niche]
Each month, for one client:
Technical check: 1 check of the whole site, and up to [10] fixes written as tasks the client's developer can do in under an hour each. By the [5th].
Earned links: [4] links a month from real sites about [topic], earned by pitching a useful article, data or a fix. No money, goods or services paid to any site owner. Each link listed with the page, the date and how it was earned. By the [25th].
Page drafts: [2] pages, each answering one question buyers search. Draft only; we edit and publish. By the [15th].
A plain list of everything done this month, with no logo. By the [last day].
Not included: paid links, links from networks of sites, directory submissions in bulk, pages made in bulk, any contact with our client.

If your clients are local businesses: add their Google Business Profile and reviews as their own lines, with a number on each, because Google Maps rankings depend on them.

If you run a web design shop: your website clients are the first people to offer this to. How to sell it to them is in selling SEO to web design clients.

• Tool: Google Docs. Free.
• Time: 45 minutes.
• You will have: a one-page SEO work list you can send to any vendor.
• It worked if: a vendor could price it without a call, and every line has a number and a date.
• Common mistake: buying a vendor's ready-made "SEO package" of links and pages per month. You then sell a list you did not choose, and you cannot check it.

2. Ask 10 white-label SEO vendors to price the same list, and keep the vendor to half the price

Send your work list to 10 white-label SEO vendors and ask each for one monthly price. Then work out your price from it, and keep only vendors whose price is at most half of what your client pays.

Ten feels like a lot. It is how you find out what the work really costs. Vendor guides published in 2026 quote wholesale prices from about $300 to $3,500 a month, but they are written by vendors and they disagree with each other. Ten real quotes for your own list tell you more.

Find vendors by asking agency owners you already work with, and in agency communities where owners ask "how did you find your white-label SEO partner?". Then search for "white label SEO" and add the rest. Let ChatGPT or Claude draft each email from the template; you check the vendor's name and send. That is about 5 minutes a vendor.

Subject: Price for white-label SEO, [client type]Hi [name],I run [agency name], a small agency for [client type]. I'd like a monthly price for the work list attached, for one client, under my agency's name.Please answer these 6 questions with the price:
Who does the work, and in which country?
How do you earn links? Do you pay any site owner, in money, goods or services, for a link or a post?
Can you send 20 links you built in the last 3 months, and 2 page drafts?
Do you follow Google Search Essentials and its spam policies?
Is the report free of your name and logo, and will you never contact my client?
What is the notice period for a price change, and for ending the work?
Thanks,
[Your name]

Then price each quote with the same sum your pricing uses, with the vendor's price added:

Client price = (vendor's monthly price + your hours a month × your lowest price per hour) ÷ 0.65, rounded up to the next $100.Vendor share = vendor's monthly price ÷ client price. Keep it at 50% or less.

Your hours are real work: checking every piece (step 6), adding it to the report and talking about it on the call. Count them. Dividing by 0.65 keeps a 35% margin for slow months, as in the pricing guide. The half rule is the same one you use when you pay a contractor: at most half to the person doing the work, about 15% for your checking, and 35% kept.

Decision rule: if no vendor's quote passes at half, cut a line from the list (fewer links a month) and ask again, or raise your price. Never lower your hours to make the sum fit.

• Tool: your email, Google Sheets, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: 1 hour to send, then 1 hour to compare the replies.
• You will have: a sheet with each vendor's price, its answers to the 6 questions and your price for the line.
• It worked if: at least 3 vendors answered all 6 questions and pass the half rule. If fewer than 3 do, email 10 more.
• Common mistake: picking the cheapest quote. A price far under the others usually means links from networks of sites or bought posts. The other mistake is a markup with no hours in it, which leaves you paying for the client calls yourself.

3. Test the 3 best vendors for link spam and scaled content, then run a paid 30-day trial

Take the 3 vendors with the best answers, check 20 of each one's real links and 2 of its page drafts yourself, and give one month of paid work to the vendor that passes. Google says "you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire". In white-label SEO, that means your client's site pays for the vendor's shortcuts.

Google's spam policies, last updated 28 August 2026, name what bad white-label vendors sell:

Paid links are only allowed when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and then they do not help rankings, so a vendor should never charge you for them as SEO. Google ran four spam updates in 2026 alone, in March, June, August and September. Sites that break the policies "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all".

Check each vendor's 20 links in a sheet, one row per link:

1. Open the page. Is it live, and is the link inside the text of a real article?
2. Look for a price for posts. Search the site for "write for us", "sponsored post" or "guest post price". If the site sells posts, the link was almost certainly bought.
3. Check the topic. Is the site about the client's topic, or read by the client's buyers? A site that covers everything from casinos to cooking is a link seller.
4. Check the traffic. Put the site into Ahrefs' free traffic checker. A site with almost no search traffic is there to sell links, not to be read.
5. Read the link words. Links that all use the exact phrase the client wants to rank for, such as "best bug tracking software", are a pattern Google looks for. Real links use the business name or plain words. This text is called anchor text.

Then read the 2 page drafts. Each must answer one real question, and hold at least one fact that only that business could know. A page that would still make sense with another company's name swapped in is the scaled content Google names.

Stop testing a vendor at the first of these: it will not send links ("it's private"), it guarantees a ranking, or it talks about "link networks" or "DA" scores instead of real sites. Google's own advice says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" and to avoid SEOs who talk about link schemes.

Give the vendor that passes a paid 30-day trial on one client, or on your own agency's site. Do not tell the vendor which client it is until the agreement in step 4 is signed.

• Tool: your browser, Ahrefs' free traffic checker, and Google Sheets.
• Time: about 1 hour per vendor, so 3 hours.
• You will have: one vendor on a paid 30-day trial, and the sheet that shows why.
• It worked if: the vendor you picked had 0 paid links and at most 2 off-topic links in its 20, and its trial work passes step 6.
• Common mistake: trusting the vendor's own dashboard or a "domain authority" number. Those are scores from tool companies, not from Google. Open the pages.

4. Sign an agreement with the vendor and add one line to your client agreement

Before any work starts, sign a short agreement with the vendor that bans paid links and contact with your client, and add one line to your client agreement that says you use specialists. These two papers protect your margin and your client's trust.

[Agency name] and [vendor name] agree:
Work: the attached work list, for clients [agency name] names. Price: $[ ] a month per client, fixed for [6] months. Any price change needs [30] days' written notice.
Links: no money, goods or services paid to any site owner for a link or a post; no networks of sites, bought expired domains or link-making software; no bulk directory links. Every link is listed with the page, the date and how it was earned.
Pages: every page answers one real question and uses facts [agency name] supplies. No pages made in bulk.
Any link or page [agency name] rejects is replaced or removed within [7] days, at no cost.
Reports and files carry no vendor name or logo.
The vendor never contacts [agency name]'s clients, and does not work for them directly for [12] months after this agreement ends.
All work, content and accounts belong to the client. Client information stays private. On the last day, the vendor removes its own access.
Either side can stop with [30] days' written notice.
Signed: [name, agency name, date] · [vendor name, date]

Then add one line to your client agreement, if it does not have it yet. It is the same line as in the agreement for going from freelancer to agency:

Who does the work: [agency name] may use its own specialists and contractors. [Agency name] checks all work before the client sees it, keeps the client's information private, and is responsible for it.

You do not need to name the vendor. If a client asks who does the link work, say the truth: "A specialist team I've tested does it, and I check every link before you see it." Agencies lose clients over the lie, not over the specialist. Put the SEO lines into your scope of work with the same numbers as the vendor's list.

This is a starting point, not legal advice. If a vendor sends you a long contract, have a lawyer read the parts on fees, ownership and ending it.

• Tool: Google Docs and Dropbox Sign.
• Time: 1 hour, once.
• You will have: a signed vendor agreement, and the specialist line in every client agreement.
• It worked if: both are signed before the trial starts, and the vendor agreement has the link rule, the no-contact rule and the notice period.
• Common mistake: starting on the vendor's own terms. Most leave out the link rule and the no-contact rule, which are the two that protect you.

5. Give the vendor its own access, never the client's logins

Ask the client to give the vendor its own user, at the lowest role that lets it do the work. The client stays the owner of every account, you keep the role you got at onboarding, and you can remove the vendor in one click.

In Search Console, the client opens Settings > Users and permissions > Add user, enters the vendor's email and picks Restricted. In Google Analytics, it is Admin > Access Management > + > Add users. For the technical fixes, the vendor writes tasks and the client's developer makes them, unless you agree otherwise in writing. Add a row for each vendor role to the access sheet you made at onboarding. When the vendor stops, that sheet is your list of what to remove.

• Tool: each platform's own user settings. Free.
• Time: 15 minutes per client.
• You will have: the vendor added to each account with its own email and the lowest role, logged in your access sheet.
• It worked if: every row says the client is the owner, and you could remove the vendor from all of them in under 5 minutes.
• Common mistake: sharing your own login with the vendor, or making it an owner "to save time". Then you cannot prove who changed what, and you cannot cleanly end the work.

6. Check every link and page before your client sees it

Every day, open each link and page the vendor delivered and check it the same way you tested the vendor in step 3. Send back anything that fails. Only work that passes goes into your client's report, under your name.

For each link, run the five checks from step 3. For each page, check three things: it answers one real question a buyer searches for, it holds at least one fact only this client could know, and every fact in it is right. Then edit it into the client's voice. If you run several clients, keep each one's brand voice separate. The client then approves it before it is published. For each technical fix, open the page and use URL Inspection in Search Console to see that the change is live and the page is on Google.

Send failures back the same day, with the reason and the rule from your agreement:

Hi [name],[Number] of today's [links/pages] don't pass, under point [2 or 3] of our agreement:
[Link or page]: [the reason, e.g. the site sells sponsored posts at $[ ] / off-topic / the page could be about any company].
Please replace or remove them by [date, 7 days from today]. Everything else is approved.[Your name]

Once a month, take the passed work into your own monthly client report: what was done, in plain words, and the client's own numbers from Search Console. Never forward the vendor's report as it is. Also open the client's Links report in Search Console (Links > Top linking sites) and look for backlinks from sites you did not approve. It is a sample, not every link, so check it every month.

• Tool: your browser, Ahrefs' free traffic checker, Google Search Console, and your client sheet.
• Time: about 5 minutes a link and 15 minutes a page. For one client's 4 links and 2 pages a month, that is under 2 hours a month, or a few minutes a day.
• You will have: a log of every piece the vendor delivered, marked passed or sent back, with the reason.
• It worked if: every link and page in the client report has passed, and fewer than 1 in 10 pieces is sent back in a month.
• Common mistake: letting the vendor's work go straight to the client because you are busy. One bad link in a client report costs more trust than a late report.

7. Offer the SEO add-on to every client and in your 100 messages a day

Offer the SEO work to every current client this week, as a line added to their package. Then name it in the 100 personal messages you send every day to new businesses. Every client who buys it pays for the vendor and your checking time.

Start with your current clients. They already trust you, and some have asked for SEO before. Send each one a short message with the work as a line in their package, the price and the first date, and offer it at their renewal if they are mid-contract.

Never promise a ranking, a position or "page one". Google's advice to anyone hiring an SEO is "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google". Say what will be done, by when, and when to judge it. Most clients do not know how long SEO takes, so set the dates before they ask, as in explaining SEO timelines to clients. Clients ask about ChatGPT too; that is a separate service, in selling AI visibility.

Then add one line about the SEO work to your 100 daily cold emails and LinkedIn messages to new businesses. AI drafts each message; you add one true line about the business, about a minute each. LinkedIn limits connection invitations, so message people already connected to you there, and send the rest by email. If you email more than about 50 strangers a day, set up a second domain first. Each call you book follows your normal discovery call and proposal, with the SEO line in the options. Follow up twice with everyone who does not answer. Once a client's numbers rise, turn them into a case study.

• Tool: your email, LinkedIn, ChatGPT or Claude to draft, and your sales sheet.
• Time: 30 minutes for current clients, once. Then about 2 to 3 hours a day for the 100 messages, which you already send.
• You will have: an offer sent to every current client, and the SEO line in every new proposal.
• It worked if: at least 1 current client says yes or names a date, and your new messages still get at least 3 calls per 100. Judge the messages after 2,800, not after a week.
• Common mistake: selling it as "SEO" with no list. Clients buy what they can count: "10 fixes and 4 earned links a month".

8. Count each client's SEO margin every Sunday and replace a vendor that fails

Every Sunday, write one row per client: what the vendor cost, your hours, what the client paid, and how many pieces you sent back. Replace a vendor that fails more than 1 in 10 pieces two months running, and stop at once if you find a paid link.

Margin is what is left after the vendor and your own hours, as a share of the client's price. Keep it at 35% or more on every client. If your hours keep growing, change the price at the next renewal, or cut a line from the vendor's list.

The rules:

1. More than 1 in 10 pieces sent back, two months running: give the vendor 30 days' notice, and start a paid trial with the next vendor that passed step 3.
2. One paid link, one link network, or pages made in bulk: stop new work that day. Ask the vendor to remove every link it built for that client, and check the client's Manual actions report in Search Console for "Unnatural links to your site". Use Google's disavow tool only if there is a manual action, or many bad links you cannot get removed. Google calls it an advanced feature that can harm a site when used wrongly.
3. Results: judge the client's results on their own numbers from Search Console at month 3 and month 6, as in measuring SEO success. Do not judge the vendor on one month of rankings.

Once a month, look at all your clients together in your monthly marketing review. When more than half your SEO margin goes on your own checking time, it is time to hire a contractor to do the checks, or to grow the agency another way.

• Tool: Google Sheets and Google Search Console.
• Time: 30 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row per client per week, and a keep or replace decision on the vendor every month.
• It worked if: every client's SEO line keeps a margin of 35% or more, and you can say for each one how many pieces were sent back and why.
• Common mistake: keeping a vendor because "rankings went up this month" while you send back a third of its links. Rankings take months. The links stay on your client's site.

Where Scout7 helps

Scout7 does not build or check backlinks. It helps with three of the steps around them, in one workspace per client brand, so each client's facts, connections and calendar stay apart.

Step 1. If you keep the writing in-house, Scout7's Content Co-Pilot drafts full articles with sources, FAQs and structured data in each client's voice. You answer its shaping questions and approve the draft. That leaves the vendor only the technical fixes and the links.

Step 6. Scout7's Search & AI Audit crawls the client's site and gives a page-level fix list, with checks on robots.txt, llms.txt and structured data. Run it before the vendor starts and again each month, to see whether the vendor's fixes landed. Its keyword research shows monthly searches, difficulty and who leads on Google and in AI answers for each term, so you can check the vendor's page topics are ones people search. Scout7 reports the issues; the fixes are still made on the client's own site.

Step 8. Connect the client's Google Search Console in the Scout7 app, and it shows real clicks, impressions and positions next to the audit, for the month 3 and month 6 checks.

Your white-label SEO checklist for the first month

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Step 1 · Write down the SEO work you will resell

• Write the SEO work list: what you keep, what the vendor does, with a number on every line.

Step 2 · Ask 10 vendors and keep the vendor to half

• Send your work list and the 6 questions to 10 white-label SEO vendors.
• Work out your client price for each quote and mark the vendors at half or less.

Step 3 · Test 3 vendors, then run a paid trial

• Check 20 links and 2 page drafts from each of your 3 best vendors.
• Start a paid 30-day trial with the vendor that passed.

Step 4 · Sign both agreements

• Sign the vendor agreement, and add the specialist line to your client agreements.

Step 5 · Give the vendor its own access

• Ask each client to add the vendor at the lowest role, and log it in the access sheet.

Step 6 · Check every link and page

• Every dayOpen every link and page the vendor delivered today, and send back what fails.
• Once a monthPut the passed work in your own monthly report, and check the client's Links report.

Step 7 · Offer the SEO add-on

• Offer the SEO add-on to every current client, with no ranking promised.
• Every daySend 100 personal messages that name the SEO work.

Step 8 · Count every Sunday and replace a vendor that fails

• Every SundayWrite one row per client in the Sunday sheet.
• Once a monthDecide keep or replace for each vendor by the sent-back rule.
• Every 3 monthsCompare each client's Search Console numbers with the starting number.

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