The short answer
Clients rarely need to know who does each task, but they should never be misled about it. Agree what the client is told before work starts, keep the partner invisible by default, and answer honestly if a client asks directly. What clients care about is accountability and results.
What clients actually care about
Most clients buying a website or search work from an agency are buying an outcome and a relationship. They want the work done well, on time, by people who answer the phone. Whether a specific page was written by an employee, a freelancer or a specialist partner is rarely the question on their mind.
What they do care about is that someone is accountable. If something goes wrong, they want one place to go and one person who owns the fix. A white-label arrangement works well when the agency is that place, fully, and the partner supports the agency rather than standing between the agency and the client.
The case for keeping the partner invisible
There are good reasons to present the work under the agency's name alone:
- the client gets one point of contact and one consistent voice
- the agency keeps control of the relationship, the pricing and the scope
- the client is not drawn into conversations about who did what
Many agencies already work this way with designers, developers and writers. A delivery partner for search and websites is an extension of the same practice. Our for agencies page explains how we work under an agency's name on that basis.
Where honesty has to win
Keeping a partner in the background is fine. Telling a client something untrue is not. If your contract or your sales material says all work is done by your in-house team, and it is not, that is a problem regardless of the quality of the work.
The simplest rule is to avoid making claims you would not repeat if the client asked directly. Say "our team" if the partner works as part of your team on the client's account. Do not say "our employees" if they are not.
If a client asks whether you use partners, answer plainly. Most clients accept the answer easily when the agency explains that it uses specialists for certain work and remains responsible for all of it.
When it makes sense to tell them
Some situations call for openness from the start:
- The client's contract or industry requires them to know who handles their data or accounts.
- The partner needs direct access to systems the client controls, such as their hosting or their Business Profile.
- The client is large enough to expect a list of subcontractors as part of procurement.
In those cases, introduce the partner as part of your delivery team, keep your agency as the lead, and agree in writing who the client contacts.
Settle it before the work starts
Decide the approach with the partner at the start, not when a client asks. Agree what the partner's name appears on, if anything, how account access is set up, and who replies if a client writes to the partner by mistake. Our guide to choosing an SEO provider lists the questions worth asking any partner before you sign.