Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is creating a new brand color palette out of scope for a SEO / marketing project?
Yes. Visual brand identity work is a different discipline from organic search strategy, and an SEO retainer doesn't cover it even when the request arrives through the same point of contact managing the client's broader marketing.
Sometimes the SEO contact is the most frequent point of contact a client has with an agency, which can make them the default person asked about anything marketing-adjacent — including brand identity questions that have nothing to do with search. A request to help pick a new color palette is a common example: it's a real decision the client needs made, it's just not one that has anything to do with organic rankings or traffic.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Brand color palette work is visual identity/design work, a different discipline from SEO with different expertise behind it (color theory, accessibility, brand psychology). It's outside the retainer regardless of who the client happens to be asking.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — The retainer scopes organic search work specifically — brand and visual identity decisions are excluded even when the request comes through the SEO point of contact.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Happy to help however I can, but color palette decisions are really a design/brand question rather than an SEO one — I'd want you to get that from your designer or a branding specialist rather than me, since it's outside what our retainer covers and outside my area of expertise. Let me know if you'd like a referral.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags brand and visual-identity requests outside_scope on SEO contracts without much ambiguity, since there's no framing under which color palette work maps to organic search deliverables — the explanation is typically short and confident, freeing the account manager to redirect quickly rather than deliberate over the classification.