Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is creating a custom 404 page beyond the template out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Yes, as design/build work. Advising on 404 handling for crawl health is in scope; designing or building the page isn't.
This comes up after a technical SEO audit flags broken links or poor 404 handling, and the client asks the SEO team to also design and build the improved error page rather than just recommend the fix.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Flagging broken links and recommending better 404 handling for crawl efficiency is within audit work; designing or building the actual page is a separate discipline.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — Designing or building a custom 404 page is design/development work excluded from an SEO retainer's audit and strategy scope.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
We flagged the 404 handling in the audit, but designing and building a custom version is design and dev work — happy to point you toward the right team for that.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags custom-404 design/build requests outside_scope on SEO contracts, while treating the audit-level recommendation as included.