Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is adding conversion rate optimization out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Usually yes, beyond the retainer's included hours. CRO recommendations may already be part of the retainer; running a full ongoing testing program is more specialized time than a search-focused retainer covers.
SEO and CRO overlap enough — both care about what happens once a visitor lands on the page — that it's an easy ask: "since you're already looking at this traffic, can you also run our testing program?"
Is it out of scope?
Usually yes as a full program. General CRO recommendations tied to organic landing pages can already be part of the retainer's strategy work; running a structured, ongoing testing program with its own hypothesis and analysis cycle is more time than that's built for.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Out-of-scope clause→ — A full CRO testing program is additional scope beyond the retainer's included search-strategy hours.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
I already flag conversion issues on the organic pages we're optimizing as part of our regular work — running a full ongoing testing program with its own cycle is more time than the current retainer covers, so I'd scope that as an add-on.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags full CRO-program requests outside_scope on SEO contracts once they exceed the retainer's allocated strategy hours, while treating incidental conversion recommendations as included.