Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of terms

These Terms of Service govern use of this website and the remote on-page search engine optimization services offered by Rankforge Search. By using the website, submitting an inquiry, accepting a proposal, paying an invoice, or authorizing work, you agree to these terms to the extent applicable to your interaction. If you act for a business or organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity.

Submitting a form does not create a service engagement, guarantee availability, reserve a project start date, or obligate either party to proceed. A service relationship begins only when scope, pricing, timing, and any required payment or written approval have been confirmed.

2. Services

Services may include a basic on-page SEO audit, preparation of title tags and meta descriptions, keyword research and page mapping, heading and content structure optimization, internal linking analysis or recommendations, image SEO guidance, and monthly on-page maintenance. The exact number of pages, images, deliverables, implementation responsibilities, review rounds, and timing are limited to the purchased service or written project scope.

Services are remote and focused on on-page website elements. We do not sell backlinks, operate paid advertising networks, process customer payments for third parties, provide search engine placement, or guarantee a particular ranking, traffic level, lead volume, revenue result, or indexing outcome.

3. Proposals and scope

A proposal, invoice, service selection, or written confirmation may define project scope. Work outside that scope requires a separate approval and may require additional fees or time. A listed website price applies only to the stated service limit and assumes reasonably accessible, standard website pages. Complex templates, multilingual sites, large catalogs, custom development, platform limitations, urgent deadlines, or unusually disorganized materials may require a revised quote.

If there is a conflict between these terms and a signed or expressly accepted project agreement, the specific project agreement controls for that conflict.

4. Client responsibilities

The client must provide accurate contact information, complete instructions, correct URLs, timely decisions, and materials reasonably needed for the work. The client is responsible for confirming ownership or authority over the website, content, brand materials, analytics, and platform access supplied to us. The client must not request deceptive content, infringement, malware, hidden text, doorway pages, link schemes, or other practices that violate law or platform guidelines.

The client remains responsible for final business, editorial, technical, and legal review of all recommendations and changes. Delays in access, materials, approvals, or responses may move the project schedule and do not create a right to rush work or expand scope without agreement.

5. Website access and backups

If implementation access is included, the client should use an authorized collaborator or role-based account with the minimum permissions needed. The client must maintain current backups and a recovery method before changes are made. We may decline to use shared personal credentials or to work without a reasonable backup where implementation presents material risk.

We are not responsible for preexisting errors, unsupported themes, plugin conflicts, hosting outages, platform changes, third-party code, or changes made by the client or another provider before, during, or after our work. Access may be revoked when the agreed implementation is complete.

6. Content and approvals

Recommendations may include draft titles, descriptions, headings, link anchors, image ALT text, or content organization. The client is responsible for verifying facts, offers, claims, trademarks, regulated statements, product information, and legal disclosures before publication. An approval authorizes us to proceed within scope but does not transfer responsibility for the client’s website or representations.

7. Fees, invoices, and taxes

Fees are stated in the applicable service selection, proposal, or invoice. Payment timing may require advance payment, a deposit, milestone payment, or monthly payment. The client is responsible for applicable taxes, bank fees, currency conversion, and payment-provider charges unless the invoice states otherwise. More detailed rules appear in the Payment, Cancellation & Refund Policy.

8. Project timing

Any delivery estimate begins only after required information, access, approvals, and payment have been received. Dates are good-faith estimates unless a written agreement expressly states that a date is guaranteed. We may adjust timing for client delay, scope change, illness, technical outage, force majeure, platform restriction, or another circumstance outside reasonable control.

9. Revisions and acceptance

Revisions are limited to those stated in the project scope. A revision means a reasonable adjustment to an in-scope deliverable; it does not include a new direction, new pages, additional research, new services, or a change in the client’s business strategy. The client should submit consolidated revision notes within the review period stated in the project communication. If no review period is stated, feedback should be provided within seven calendar days of delivery.

A deliverable may be treated as accepted when the client approves it, publishes or uses it, requests work beyond the delivered stage, or does not identify a material in-scope issue within the stated review period.

10. Monthly service

Monthly on-page maintenance covers only the stated number of pages and the activities described for that service. Unused monthly capacity does not automatically roll forward. The client must provide any required access and identify relevant site changes. Monthly service does not include continuous monitoring, emergency support, technical development, backlink work, advertising management, or guaranteed ranking improvement unless a written scope expressly adds an item.

11. Ethical and platform boundaries

We may refuse or stop work involving illegal activity, deceptive practices, manipulated reviews, copied content, cloaking, doorway pages, hidden keywords, automated spam, paid link schemes, or requests that materially conflict with search platform guidelines. Refusal to perform prohibited or undisclosed work does not require us to replace it with a different service outside the agreed scope.

12. Search results and third parties

Search engines, hosting providers, content management systems, ecommerce platforms, plugins, themes, analytics providers, and other third parties are independently controlled. Their systems, algorithms, indexing decisions, interfaces, availability, and policies can change without notice. Rankforge Search does not control those changes and is not responsible for a third party’s decision to crawl, index, display, rank, suspend, or remove a page.

13. Intellectual property

The client retains ownership of materials it provides. After full payment, the client may use final project-specific deliverables prepared for it, subject to third-party rights and any limitations in the proposal. Rankforge Search retains ownership of preexisting methods, templates, checklists, know-how, workflows, generalized structures, and tools. No ownership of a third-party platform, font, theme, application, photograph, or software is transferred.

The client grants a limited license to use supplied materials solely to evaluate, perform, document, and administer the project.

14. Confidentiality

Each party should use reasonable care with nonpublic business information received for the project and use it only for the service relationship, legal compliance, security, or professional advice. Confidentiality does not cover information that is public without breach, already known without restriction, independently developed, lawfully received from another source, or required to be disclosed by law.

15. Disclaimers

The website and services are provided on an “as available” and professional-services basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, noninfringement, uninterrupted access, and a particular commercial or search result. Recommendations are based on the agreed scope and information reasonably available at the time.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Rankforge Search will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages; lost profits, revenue, data, business opportunities, or goodwill; or losses caused by third-party platforms, algorithm changes, client implementation, missing backups, unauthorized access, or out-of-scope conditions. Aggregate liability arising from a specific paid service will not exceed the fees actually paid for that specific service during the six months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so a limitation applies only to the extent permitted.

17. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, the client agrees to defend and indemnify Rankforge Search from third-party claims arising from materials, instructions, access, claims, or website operations supplied or controlled by the client; the client’s violation of law or third-party rights; or use of deliverables in a misleading, unauthorized, or materially modified manner.

18. Suspension and termination

We may pause or terminate work for nonpayment, extended client delay, unsafe access, abusive conduct, unlawful instructions, material scope conflict, or breach of these terms. Either party may end future work subject to payment for completed work, committed time, approved expenses, and applicable cancellation terms. Sections intended by their nature to survive—including payment, intellectual property, confidentiality, disclaimers, limitations, and dispute provisions—remain effective.

19. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing a claim, the parties should make a good-faith effort to resolve the issue through written notice describing the concern and requested resolution. Any court proceeding must be brought in a court with jurisdiction serving Arapahoe County, Colorado, unless applicable law requires another forum.

20. General provisions

If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will continue. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. The client may not assign a service agreement without prior written consent, except as part of a legitimate transfer of substantially all relevant business assets. Electronic approvals and communications may be used to form and administer the service relationship.

21. Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms for future website use and future services. The posted date identifies the current version. Changes do not retroactively alter an already accepted project scope unless the parties agree or law requires the change.