How much do you actually vet SEO tools on client sites?

cyberpunk

Was onboarding a new client last week and spotted three SEO plugins on their site. Two hadn't been updated in over a year, and one was phoning home to a domain I couldn't verify. Made me realise how little scrutiny we give tools just because they have decent reviews or a recognisable name.

Do you have any proper vetting process before dropping third-party SEO tools on a production site? I'm talking plugins, crawl tools, schema generators, rank trackers with site-side snippets - anything that touches the codebase or accesses analytics data. Or is it mostly community reputation and star ratings?

For those managing multiple client sites, does your agency have a formal approval process, or is it gut-check territory? I've started doing basic domain lookups and checking data destinations before installing anything, but I'm wondering if there's a more structured way to handle this, especially given how much sensitive traffic data these tools can access.

budgetburner

Honestly, if you're not familiar with a plugin, why slap it on a client's site and hope for the best? ratings and word of mouth are fine for initial gut checks, but that's just the start. Keeping them updated is basic hygiene - no excuses there. and yeah, running multiple SEO plugins unintentionally? Recipe for a conflict train wreck. You'd think that'd be common sense, but I've seen far too many sites crawl to a halt because someone threw on three different SEO packages without a second thought. Do the groundwork. Know your tools. It's not hard

trafficcop

I’m probably more strict with this now than before. Reviews are useful, but I still want to know what the plugin actually changes on the site. Especially SEO plugins, because they can quietly touch canonicals, schema, redirects, sitemaps, robots, and tracking scripts.

I’d rather have fewer tools doing clear jobs than 3 plugins fighting each other in the background. For client sites, “it has good ratings” is no longer enough.

pixelperfect

honestly, I never used to bother checking the backend files of SEO plugins. Then a colleague pointed out you can just drop the PHP files into Claude or GPT and ask for a full security breakdown. Genuinely surprised how many red flags turn up that way. Now I do it for every new plugin before it goes anywhere near a client site.