Terms of business

1. Who you are dealing with

Mike the SEO Guy is the trading name of Mike Arnold, a sole trader based in Suffolk, England. "I", "me" and "my" mean Mike Arnold. "You" means the business that asks me to do work. I'm not registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged on my invoices.

2. What these terms cover

These terms apply to every audit, retainer and piece of day-rate work I do, unless we agree something different in writing (email is fine). If a proposal or email from me says something different to these terms, the proposal or email wins for that piece of work.

My services are for businesses, not consumers. By booking work you confirm you are acting for a business.

You accept these terms when you confirm you want to go ahead (by email, by signing a proposal, or by paying an invoice), whichever comes first.

3. The services

• Free basic audit. A short, plain-English read on what is generally holding the site back. It is free, it comes with no obligation, and it is not a full audit.
• Full SEO audit. A fixed price, paid once: £599 ($799) for the report with how to fix each item, or £899 ($1,199) with the fixes done by me. The full audit is included free when you start a retainer.
• Monthly retainers. Part-time at £999 ($1,299) a month or full-time at £1,499 ($1,999) a month. What each covers is set out on the pricing page and in your proposal.
• Day-rate work. £375 ($499) for half a day and £650 ($849) for a day, agreed before it starts.

I do the work myself. Nothing is subcontracted without your agreement.

4. Retainers, notice and cancelling

Retainers run month to month, with no minimum term. Either of us can end a retainer by giving thirty days' notice in writing (email is fine). The thirty days start on the day the notice is sent.

You pay for the notice period and I keep working through it. At the end I hand over anything in progress, the reporting and a note of what I would do next.

I can end work straight away if an invoice is more than thirty days overdue, or if either of us seriously breaks these terms and doesn't put it right within fourteen days of being asked to.

5. Fees and payment

• Retainers are invoiced monthly, in advance, at the start of each month of work.
• Full audits are invoiced before the audit starts.
• Day-rate work is invoiced when agreed, or at the end of the month for smaller pieces.
• Every invoice is due within seven days.
• You can pay by UK bank transfer, by card through Stripe, by PayPal, or through the Xero invoice link.
• Prices are set in pounds sterling. The US dollar prices shown in brackets are fixed prices, not live conversions. I invoice in GBP or USD, whichever we agree at the start.
• If an invoice is not paid on time, work pauses until it is. I will tell you before that happens.
• Card and payment-provider fees on your side are yours to pay.

6. Refunds

Fees are not refundable once paid, including for a month of a retainer that has started or an audit that has been delivered. If you want to stop, give notice and the retainer ends at the end of the notice period.

7. Extra work

Anything outside your plan or proposal is charged at the day rate. I will always tell you the cost and get your yes before starting. Nothing appears on an invoice you haven't already agreed to.

8. What I need from you

• Access to what the work needs: Google Search Console, analytics, the website or CMS, and hosting or code where the work involves technical changes.
• Reasonably quick answers and approvals, and one named person who can give them.
• Accurate information about your business, products and services. You are responsible for checking that published content is accurate and meets the rules for your industry.
• A backup of your site before I make technical changes, or permission for me to take one.
• Confirmation that you have the right to use anything you give me: text, images, logos and data.

9. If things are held up on your side

If work is held up waiting for access, approvals or information from you, the retainer carries on and is still billed. I move on to the other planned work in the meantime and note anything that is blocked in the monthly report, so you can see what is waiting and why. Blocked work does not roll over into extra time in later months.

10. No ranking guarantees

Google decides rankings, and it changes how it does so without notice. I will do the work in your plan to a professional standard and report honestly on what it is doing, but I can't guarantee any ranking, amount of traffic, number of leads or revenue. Anyone who does guarantee rankings is worth being wary of. Google says the same.

11. Third-party tools and costs

Paid tools, plugins, themes, hosting, software licences and similar costs that your site needs are paid for by you, in your name where possible, so you keep them if we stop working together. I'll always ask before recommending anything that costs money. I use my own SEO tools (such as crawlers and keyword research tools) at no extra cost to you.

I'm not responsible for how third-party platforms, plugins, hosts or search engines behave, or for outages and changes they make.

12. Who owns the work

Once you have paid for a piece of work, it belongs to you: the content, the audit, the reports and any changes made to your site. Until it is paid for, it stays mine.

I keep ownership of my own methods, templates, checklists, processes and tools, including anything I had before we started. Where these form part of what I deliver, you can keep using them for your own business.

13. Confidentiality

I keep your business information, logins and data confidential, and only use them to do the work. I don't share them with anyone else unless the law requires it. This carries on after we stop working together. When we finish, I'll stop using any access you gave me, and you should change passwords or remove my accounts.

14. Results and case studies

I may share results from your work in anonymised form (for example "a London surveying practice, clicks up 256%") without asking first. I will never name you, show your logo or use anything that identifies your business without your written OK.

15. Liability

SEO depends on things outside my control, so, as far as the law allows, I'm not liable for:

• lost profits, revenue, sales, business, opportunity or goodwill;
• lost rankings, traffic or visibility, or any search engine action against your site;
• indirect or consequential loss of any kind;
• loss caused by third parties, by changes you or others make to the site, or by delays or information on your side.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

16. Changes to prices and terms

I may change my prices or these terms from time to time. For current retainers, I will give you at least thirty days' notice by email before a price change takes effect, which gives you time to give notice if you'd rather stop. The version on this page, with the date at the top, is the current one.

17. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales deal with any dispute. This applies wherever you’re based. If something goes wrong, tell me first. Most things can be fixed with a call.

18. Contact

Mike Arnold, trading as Mike the SEO Guy, Suffolk, England.
Email: mike@mikearnold.co.uk · or use the contact form.