12 tips for better SEO client meetings

Boost the effectiveness of your SEO client meetings with tips on planning, audience engagement, clear communication and more.

Meeting burnout is real.

With calendars packed fuller than ever, cutting through the noise to deliver a clear, purposeful message is essential to ensure your meeting with SEO clients stands out.

But first, ask yourself: does this even need to be a meeting?

1. Determine if a meeting is necessary

Before scheduling, consider if the content could be effectively covered in an email.

Meetings that recur without clear objectives or evolving agendas often become routine rather than valuable.

2. Define purpose, agenda and attendees

Ensure every meeting has a clear agenda. For recurring sessions, set reminders to update the agenda, ensuring it remains relevant.

If you’re invited to a meeting without an agenda, ask about the purpose and clarify your role. A good agenda should include:

• Purpose: Identify the goal, whether it’s gathering feedback or generating ideas.
• Attendees and roles: Each invitee should have a clear purpose; if not, reconsider their attendance.
• Pre-reading materials: Decide if sharing materials beforehand adds value or if live discussion is better suited.

Consider inviting colleagues who manage other relevant channels to ensure a comprehensive, customer-centric strategy.

3. Set clear ‘think, feel, do’ objectives

At our agency, we start every meeting with a clear purpose by setting “think, feel, do” goals.

As a team, we brainstorm what we want the client to think, feel, and do, then refine these ideas into a single, sharp focus.

This gives everyone a shared vision to guide meeting prep and delivery. For example:

• Think: We want the client to think, “They truly understand our SEO challenge against X competitor and have an impressive approach.”
• Feel: We want the client to feel energized and informed, excited about our new strategy and confident in presenting it to the board.
• Do: We want the client to share key points from the meeting with the board, helping to secure buy-in and emphasize the urgency to act quickly.

Having a shared goal sharpens our focus and guides us in deciding what content makes the cut.

Without this, there’s a risk of overwhelming the client with too much information, making it hard for them to retain anything.

Dig deeper: How to keep your SEO clients engaged: 8 communication touchpoints

4. Use language that resonates

When planning a meeting, consider carefully who will be in the room and adjust your language accordingly. This can be the difference between engaging or alienating your audience.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in our own acronyms and insider phrases, but remember that the client might be unfamiliar with these terms.

Using the client’s language and consistently relating information back to their specific business goals makes it much easier to keep them engaged.

Focus on customer-centric metrics that matter as these are invaluable for creating a human-first strategy.

Finally, create a welcoming environment where attendees feel comfortable asking questions, even ones they might hesitate to ask elsewhere.

This openness fosters better understanding and encourages productive dialogue.

5. Consider your audience

Adjust your content based on who’s in the room. Peers might appreciate the detail, while senior executives will likely value a concise, strategic overview.

Assign clear roles within your team. Designate a lead presenter, and consider someone in a client-representative role to ask clarifying questions and keep the meeting grounded.

6. Assign roles within your team

When attending a meeting as a team, it’s essential to clarify roles in advance. Decide who will lead the meeting and identify any additional roles that might be needed.

I always recommend assigning someone to take on the client’s perspective – often an account manager or director.

This person’s role is to ask the questions the client might hesitate to voice and to translate any jargon that arises.

By having someone actively represent the client in this way, you help create a safe space where everyone feels comfortable asking questions, fostering clearer communication and a more productive meeting.

7. Make it action-oriented

A meeting without clear action items is unlikely to be successful. When assigning roles, make sure someone on your team is responsible for capturing these actions.

Before closing, review and confirm the action items with the group to ensure nothing is missed.

Finally, share a summary of the actions as soon as possible after the meeting to keep everyone aligned and accountable.

8. Use behavioral cues for effective outcomes

As the meeting organizer, you are clear on the meeting’s purpose and the outcomes you want to achieve.

To guide the conversation toward these goals, consider incorporating behavioral nudges.

For instance, if your objective is to secure agreement on a new strategic direction, bring compelling data and relevant social proof, such as case studies or competitor insights, to strengthen your case.

It can also be helpful to prime the audience beforehand. Share key information in advance or hold pre-meeting conversations with influential stakeholders to build support and set the stage for a productive discussion.

Dig deeper: How to build lasting relationships with SEO clients

9. Foster engagement and interactivity

Think about how to engage everyone based on the meeting’s style and purpose.

If it’s an ideation session, could you use physical or virtual sticky notes to capture ideas? For larger groups, would breakout sessions help divide and conquer?

If using sticky notes or whiteboards (virtual or in-person), consider ways to rank ideas and build consensus in real time rather than deferring decisions to a follow-up.

This approach helps ensure that everyone is actively involved and that key takeaways are clear before the meeting ends.

10. Ensure every voice is heard

Begin each meeting by inviting everyone to say something, whether it’s a quick check-in, a short introduction or a lighthearted question like what they had for breakfast. This small step encourages participation and helps everyone feel comfortable contributing.

A skilled moderator will be mindful of speaking dynamics, creating space for quieter attendees to share.

Early in the meeting, ask what each person hopes to achieve. Noting these goals helps keep the meeting focused and you can revisit them at the end to ensure they are addressed.

A powerful closing question is, “What has been most impactful for you today?” This prompts attendees to reflect on their key takeaways and provides valuable feedback on what resonated.

For recurring meetings, consider asking participants to rate the session from 1 to 10. This invites regular feedback on the meeting’s effectiveness, helping prevent the trap of unproductive routines that may go unquestioned.

11. Anticipate outcomes and blockers

If you’re seeking agreement or sign-off during the meeting, think ahead about any potential obstacles and prepare to address them.

While you have the audience’s full attention, be ready to defend your ideas and address concerns immediately.

Resolving issues in real time is far more impactful than trying to recapture their focus in a follow-up.

12. Practice for larger presentations

For larger presentations, preparation is key.

In addition to the “think, feel, do” framework, we use the “Five I” storytelling framework to craft a compelling narrative:

• Insight – the why: What’s the context, and why should the client care?
• Idea – the what: What’s the core idea, what problem does it solve and what’s the solution?
• Implementation – the how: What tactics are involved, and what resources are needed?
• Impact – the what if: What results do we anticipate?
• Ideal – the takeaway: What’s the one essential point the audience should remember? This is the central “thread of steel” throughout the meeting.

For major meetings, rehearsal is essential. Preparing slides is just one part; the real impact lies in how the team delivers the message.

A practice run helps the team align on the verbal narrative, ensuring the presentation flows smoothly and powerfully.

Dig deeper: Mastering SEO account management: The recipe for success

Crafting purposeful and engaging SEO meetings

Creating the perfect meeting experience requires attention to detail, but as these practices become habits, they’ll feel natural and easy to implement.

Always consider the meeting from the attendees’ perspective, aiming to make it a valuable experience. Respect people’s time by inviting only those who truly need to be there, and make every moment count.

With so much time spent in meetings, easing that burden through well-structured, purposeful and engaging sessions makes a real difference.

When meetings are productive, focused and inclusive – where every attendee has a clear role and feels heard – you’ll find people more eager to accept your invitations.