A straight answer, including when the answer is “do not”
How much does SEO cost
Written to actually answer the question rather than to route you to a sales call. What drives the number, which pricing models exist and what each is good for, the signs you are being overcharged, and when SEO is the wrong thing to buy at all.
The figures
What agencies commonly charge
General industry benchmarks, not TechDevs pricing — cited so you know roughly what range a quote should fall in before you get one.
- $750–$2,000/mo
- Typical small-business monthly retainer
- $2,500–$10,000/mo
- Typical mid-market monthly retainer
- $100–$300/hr
- Typical hourly consultant rate
- $5,000–$30,000
- Typical one-off project fee
Commonly cited range across agency pricing surveys, small-business segment
Commonly cited range for established sites in competitive categories
Commonly cited range for independent SEO consultants
Commonly cited range for audits, migrations and technical rebuilds
The pricing models you will be quoted
Four exist. Each is right for something different.
- 01
Monthly retainer
The most common, and the right shape for ongoing content and authority work, because that work only pays off cumulatively. The risk is paying for months where nothing ships, so ask what the monthly deliverable actually is before you sign.
- 02
Project fee
Correct for bounded work with a clear end: a technical audit, a migration, a one-time content build. It is the wrong shape for growth, because the compounding stops the day the project does.
- 03
Hourly or day rate
Useful for advisory or for filling a specific gap in an in-house team. It aligns badly with outcomes over a long engagement, since the incentive is hours rather than rankings.
- 04
Performance-based
Superficially attractive and usually a warning sign. It pushes an agency toward easy, low-value keywords that hit the bonus rather than the terms that produce revenue, and the attribution arguments are brutal.
How it runs
What actually drives the number
- 1
Competition for your specific queries
Not your industry in general — the exact terms you want. A category where the top ten have thousands of referring domains each is a different budget from one where the leaders have a few dozen. This is checkable before you spend anything.
- 2
The state you are starting from
A site that cannot be crawled properly, or has no topical depth at all, spends its first quarter on foundations. That work is necessary and invisible, and it is why two identical-looking businesses get different quotes.
- 3
How many surfaces you need
Classic search, AI answers, the map pack and community platforms are four jobs. Most businesses only need one to begin with, and being sold all four at once is a common way a budget gets spread too thin to move anything.
- 4
How much content has to be produced
Content is usually the largest line in a retainer. Whether you need four pieces a month or forty changes the cost more than almost any other decision, and volume alone stopped working years ago.
- 5
Who is doing the work
A senior strategist and a junior executing a template cost different amounts and produce different results. Ask who specifically will be on your account, and how much of their week you are actually buying.
How to tell whether a quote is fair
Four questions that will tell you more than the number itself.
Ask what ships each month. A retainer with no stated deliverable is the easiest kind to under-service, and the answer should be specific — pieces of content, technical fixes, placements earned — rather than "ongoing optimisation".
Ask who does the work, by name and seniority. Ask what happens if the target keywords turn out to be unwinnable at that budget, and whether they will tell you. And ask to see the reporting format before you sign, because a report full of impressions and "keyword movements" with no revenue line is designed to survive a bad quarter.
Finally, be suspicious of both extremes. A quote far below market usually means a template applied at volume with no senior time in it. A quote far above usually means you are paying for an agency’s overhead rather than for work on your account.
When not to buy SEO
If you need revenue this month, organic will not deliver it, and any agency that says otherwise is selling. Paid media is the honest answer for a short runway.
If nobody is searching for what you sell — a genuinely new category — then demand creation is the job, not demand capture. And if your site converts badly today, more traffic multiplies the leak rather than the revenue; fixing the page first makes every later visitor worth more.
Get a real range for your market
A 30-minute scoping call gives you an honest number, the reasoning behind it, and a plan you keep either way. If we do not think your queries are winnable at a sensible budget, we will say so.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us first.
How much does SEO cost per month?
Monthly retainers vary enormously by market, competition and scope, which is why a single figure quoted without seeing your site is not meaningful. What matters more than the headline number is what ships each month and who does it. Ask for the deliverable and the seniority before you compare two quotes.
Is cheap SEO worth it?
Cheap SEO usually means a template applied at volume with no senior time on your account, and its most common outcome is twelve months of reports with no revenue change. If the budget is genuinely small, spending it on one surface done properly beats spreading it across everything. That is a real strategy, not a discount version of one.
How long before SEO pays for itself?
Meaningful organic gains typically take three to six months to appear, and payback depends on your margin and deal size as much as on rankings. High lifetime value businesses can be ahead within two quarters; low-margin ones often take a year or more. Anyone promising payback in weeks is describing paid media, not organic.
Should I hire an agency, a freelancer, or hire in-house?
A freelancer is usually the best value for a single surface and a small scope. An agency makes sense when you need several disciplines at once — technical, content, digital PR — without hiring four people. In-house wins once search is core to the business and the volume justifies a permanent team, and many companies end up with in-house plus specialist support.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
Long minimum terms exist because organic compounds and a one-month trial cannot show a fair result. That reasoning is legitimate, but it should come with a clear monthly deliverable so you can tell whether the work is happening. Be wary of a long term with a vague scope; that combination protects the agency rather than the outcome.
What does SEO actually include?
Broadly three things: technical work so search engines and AI crawlers can read your site, content that answers what buyers actually ask, and the third-party mentions and links that earn trust. Modern engagements increasingly add AI-answer visibility and conversion work, because a ranking that nobody clicks or acts on is not worth paying for.
What happens next
- Answer a few quick questions about your business. About two minutes.
- Pick a time that suits you for a free 30-minute call with a founder.
- We study your site before the call, so you leave with a plan, not a pitch.
Free, no obligation. Your answers save as you go, so you can stop and pick up where you left off.