Build an SEO Client Questionnaire Your Strategist Can Act On
<p>Build an SEO client questionnaire that asks each client type its own questions and saves the answers to a database you own.</p>
Build an SEO client questionnaire for my agency that asks local businesses and online stores different questions.
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Where the Answers Go After a Client Submits
A question list gets the facts down. Emergent builds the questionnaire and the client record your strategist works from.
Questions that follow the client type
Ask first whether the client is a local business, an online store, or a software firm. A local business gets questions about offices and service areas, and a store about its catalog.
An access checklist instead of passwords
List each tool the strategist needs, such as Search Console and Analytics. The client ticks each one after adding the strategist as a user, and nobody types a password into a form.
Competitors and keywords as sortable rows
Ask for up to 5 competitors, each with a website address, plus the search terms the client thinks buyers type. Each entry is its own row, so the strategist can sort and compare them.
Risky answers go to a senior strategist
Ask whether the site has ever had a manual action or worked with another agency. A Yes sends the senior strategist a Slack message with the answer before the kickoff call is booked.
Answers that become the kickoff agenda
Once the questionnaire comes in, the app turns the answers into an agenda for the first call: the client's goals, its competitors, any missing access, and any past penalty.
Client records and code you keep
Every questionnaire is a row in a database you own, with no response cap. On paid plans, export the full code to your GitHub repository and keep building on it wherever you host it.
What Kestrelgate Learns Before Kickoff
Four services at each of 3 offices, 12 pages
Aldwick Family Dental runs 3 offices, and its office manager picks Local business on Kestrelgate Search's questionnaire. The form asks for each office's address and the services patients search for. She lists 4, including implants and emergency visits. The record shows 12 office-and-service pairs to plan pages around.
window.awbMockup = { localBusinesses: "My agency, Kestrelgate Search, onboards dental practices. Build an SEO client questionnaire that asks first whether the client is a local business. For local clients, ask how many offices they run, each office's address, and the services patients search for. Save each client as a record that lists every office-and-service pair.", onlineStores: "Build an SEO client questionnaire that works on a phone. When the client says they run an online store, ask how many product pages the site has, their 3 best-earning categories in order, and the month sales peak. Save the answers to a client record my strategist can read before kickoff.", accessHandoff: "Add an access checklist to my SEO client questionnaire: Search Console, Analytics, and the Business Profile. The client ticks each one after adding Kestrelgate as a user, and never types a password. If any item is still missing 2 days after the questionnaire is submitted, email the client contact a link back to it.", pastPenalties: "In my SEO client questionnaire, ask whether the site has ever had a manual action, the year, and what caused it. If the answer is Yes, message our senior strategist, Zarek Bexleigh, in Slack, and put the penalty first on the kickoff agenda, above goals and competitors." };
Vantwell's catalog comes in ranked by revenue
Vantwell Tea sells loose-leaf tea online, and its founder answers on her phone between orders. As an online store, she is asked for the number of product pages, the 3 categories that earn the most, and the month sales peak. She reports 1,240 product pages, oolong ahead of green and black, and a November peak.
One missing access item, chased after 2 days
Selwick Roofing finished every question on Monday. Its access checklist shows Kestrelgate added as a user in Search Console and Analytics, but not yet as a manager of the Business Profile. Two days later, on Wednesday, the app emails Rhea Wickerly, Selwick's marketing lead, a link to the 1 item still missing.
Before kickoff, Zarek knows of the 2024 penalty
Brindlecombe Bikes ticked Yes to "Has your site ever had a manual action?" and added that it came in 2024, after a previous agency bought links. The app messages Zarek Bexleigh, Kestrelgate's senior strategist, in Slack with that answer. The penalty also goes first on the kickoff agenda.
How to Create an SEO Client Questionnaire
Seven steps to an SEO client questionnaire that puts missing access and past penalties in front of the strategist before kickoff.
List what the strategist needs before the first call: goals, competitors, target searches, and the tools to be added to. Leave anything off that list out of the questionnaire, because each extra question is one more reason a client stops halfway.
Pick the client types you sign most often, such as local businesses and online stores. Put the business type question first. A local client then sees office and service questions, and a store sees catalog questions in their place.
Name each tool the strategist works in, Search Console and Analytics among them, and ask the client to add the agency as a user. Only a Search Console property owner can add users, so the client may need to forward that request.
Save the rest for the kickoff call. Use short choices where they fit, such as a list of months for the sales peak, and keep open text for goals and for the story behind any past penalty.
Write one prompt with the client types, the questions each one sees, the access checklist, and who hears about which answers. Emergent builds the form, a record for each client, and a dashboard listing every client and its missing access.
Decide which answers need a person right away. A reported manual action might message the senior strategist in Slack, while missing access waits 2 days and then emails the client. Everything else stays in the client record until kickoff.
Submit the questionnaire twice under test names, once as a local business and once as a store, and tick Yes to the manual action question on one. Check that each saw its own questions and that the strategist got the Slack message.
Why Build SEO Questionnaires With Emergent?
A template hands over a list of questions. Emergent builds the questionnaire, the client record behind it, and the alerts a strategist acts on.
|
Jotform | Google Forms | Typeform | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you build | Describe it in plain English | Templates, editor, AI generator | Editor, with Gemini drafting on some Workspace plans | Templates, editor, AI assist |
| Where responses live | A database table you own, plus any integration | Jotform account | Google Sheets | Typeform account |
| Response limits | No response caps | Monthly submission caps by plan; the form stops at the cap | No limit | Monthly response caps by plan; the form closes at the cap |
| Code ownership | Full code export to GitHub on paid plans | None | None | None |
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