Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is building a custom analytics dashboard out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Yes, as a build. Reporting and interpreting data is standard retainer work; building custom dashboard software isn't.
This comes up when a client, tired of waiting for the regular reporting cadence, asks for a custom-built dashboard they can check on their own whenever they want.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Reporting on rankings and traffic on the agreed cadence is standard retainer work; building a standalone piece of dashboard software is a technical build outside that.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — Building custom dashboard software is development work excluded from an SEO retainer's reporting deliverables.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
I can adjust our reporting cadence if once a month isn't enough, but building a custom dashboard is a separate dev project outside this retainer.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags custom-dashboard build requests outside_scope on SEO contracts, while treating the retainer's standard reporting cadence as included.