Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is adding an extra landing page out of scope for an SEO / marketing project?
Yes for building it — though optimizing an already-built landing page for a target keyword is exactly the kind of task most SEO retainers do include, so the two get conflated often.
The retainer covers on-page optimization for the site's existing pages, keyword targeting, and content production within an agreed quota — not building new pages. A request for "a landing page for [new campaign/keyword]" is genuinely ambiguous on first read: does the client want the SEO team to build the page, or optimize a page that dev/design will build? Those are very different amounts of work, and the request often doesn't specify which.
Is it out of scope?
Building the page is out of scope — that's development/design work most SEO retainers don't cover. Writing SEO-optimized copy for a landing page, or advising on its on-page structure once it exists, is often already inside scope as part of the content quota or on-page optimization line item. The distinction is worth clarifying with the client immediately rather than assuming either direction.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — Names development/build work as outside the retainer even where SEO copywriting for the same page is included.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Happy to write SEO-optimized copy for the new landing page as part of the retainer's content deliverables. Building the page itself — the template and layout — is development work outside our scope; if you need a hand there, let us know and we can either refer someone or scope it separately.
How MarginFlow flags it
Because "landing page" requests are genuinely ambiguous, MarginFlow's classifier keeps confidence moderate on these and grounds the explanation in the specific ask if the email is clear about it ("build" vs. "write copy for"), or flags it for manual review with a note about the ambiguity when it isn't — avoiding a confident wrong call on a request that could reasonably go either way.