SEO pricing at a glance
| Pricing model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer: small local business | $200-$1,000/month | One location, a handful of services |
| Monthly retainer: competitive or multi-location | $1,000-$5,000/month | Law firms, multi-location brands, e-commerce |
| Hourly consulting | $75-$200/hour | Advice, training, specific problems |
| One-off project (audit, migration, setup) | $1,000-$10,000 | Site launches, redesigns, audits |
| Enterprise programs | $5,000-$20,000+/month | Large sites, many markets |
Survey figures: Ahrefs, SEO pricing survey of 439 providers. Freelancers averaged about $1,350/month, agencies about $3,200.
What drives the price
- Competition. Ranking a personal injury firm in a big city takes far more work than a landscaper in a small town.
- Scope. One location vs many; ten pages vs thousands.
- Content volume. Pages written per month is one of the biggest cost drivers.
- Link building. Earning quality links is labor-intensive and often priced separately.
- Who does the work. Freelancers, small agencies and large agencies charge very differently.
What you should get at each level
$200-$500/month: Google Business Profile management, a few optimized pages a month, listing clean-up, basic technical fixes and a monthly report. Right for most single-location service businesses.
$500-$1,500/month: All of the above plus more content, on-page optimization of existing pages, review programs and some link building.
$1,500+/month: Strategy plus significant content and link-building programs, conversion work and multi-location management.
Red flags
- Guaranteed #1 rankings. Google itself says no one can guarantee them.
- Long contracts with no performance reporting.
- “1,000 backlinks for $99”: cheap link packages can do real harm.
- They own your website or Google profile. Your accounts should always be in your name.
Our pricing
MySEOManager plans are $1,500, $3,500 and $7,500 a month after a 3-month start, and larger organizations can request enterprise advising. See what’s included, or check whether SEO pays for your business with the SEO ROI calculator.
