Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is adding a payment gateway integration out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Yes. Payment processing implementation has no overlap with organic search work.
This one rarely lands on an SEO retainer directly, but comes up when a client's broader e-commerce plans get folded into the same conversation as their search strategy.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Payment processing integration is backend development with compliance implications — a different discipline entirely from search strategy and optimization.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — Payment gateway integration is backend development work excluded from an SEO retainer.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Payment gateway integration is backend development work with its own compliance considerations — outside what this retainer covers. Your dev team or a developer would be the right fit for that piece.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags payment-integration requests outside_scope on SEO contracts, since they fall outside every category an SEO SOW typically covers.