Is It Out of Scope? — SEO & marketing
Is upgrading a CMS to a new major version out of scope for an SEO retainer?
Yes. A CMS version upgrade is a technical infrastructure change, not part of ongoing SEO work.
SEO retainers sometimes involve flagging that an outdated CMS is a performance or security risk, which occasionally gets read as an offer to fix the platform itself.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Flagging a platform risk is analysis; actually performing the upgrade and testing compatibility across the site is development work outside an SEO retainer.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — CMS platform upgrades are development work excluded from an SEO retainer, even when the retainer flagged the need for one.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
We flagged the outdated CMS version as a risk worth addressing, but performing the upgrade itself is development work outside this retainer. Your dev team or a dev contractor would be the right fit for that.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags CMS-upgrade execution requests outside_scope on SEO contracts, keeping the distinction between recommending a technical fix and performing it.