Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is reporting on a new analytics platform out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Usually yes. Reporting is a core part of an SEO retainer, but building out coverage of a platform that wasn't part of the original reporting setup is new integration work.
Reporting is baked into most SEO retainers, so a request to "just add the new platform to the report" sounds like it should already be covered — but the reporting cadence was built around specific data sources, not an open-ended promise to integrate whatever gets added later.
Is it out of scope?
Usually yes. A new platform means new dashboards, new data pulls, and often new definitions of what "good" looks like — genuine setup work layered on top of the existing reporting cadence.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Out-of-scope clause→ — Reporting is in scope for the platforms named in the SOW; a newly added platform is additional integration work against that same discipline.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Our reporting is built around [existing platform(s)] — folding [new platform] in means new dashboards and a fresh baseline, which is more than a tweak to the existing report. I can scope that as a one-time setup.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow checks the platform named in a request against the data sources listed in the contract's reporting scope and flags an unlisted platform as outside_scope, with the explanation noting it as new integration rather than a reporting-cadence change.