SEO prices

What does Search Engine Optimization cost?

Learn everything there is about SEO pricing – what determines it? What should you expect to pay for hourly, project-based, or monthly retainers? And discover real life examples and much more.

SEO prices that you see here are based on years of practicing SEO and growing websites organically in search engines.

Smaller sites SEO cost is usually anything between €2000-€4000 per month because they take considerably less time to optimise. Advanced campaigns or larger websites can expect pay more like €4000-€8000 per month because it takes lot more time to optimise these.

• Average monthly plan: €1000 – €8000+ per month
• Average hourly rate:  €50 – €120 per hour
• Average project based:  €500 – €5000 per project

Hourly and project-based packages depend on the tasks.

SEO costs by provider

	Average monthly cost	Average hourly rate
Freelancer	€200 – €2,000	€50 – €60
Digital Agency	€1000 – €6,000	€60 – €100+
SEO Agency	€2,000 – €8,000+	€100 – €120+

How businesses cover the cost of SEO?

Here is how do the businesses pay for SEO:

• Monthly retainer: 55%
• Project-based: 25%
• Hourly: 20%

What pricing model plan is best for what SEO task

SEO Task	Monthly retainer	Project-based	Hourly
Complete Site SEO Overhauls	✓
Ongoing Keyword Research	✓
Continuous Competitor Analysis	✓
Regular On-Page Optimization	✓
Consistent Off-Page Optimization	✓
Continuous Link Building	✓
Periodic Technical SEO Audits	✓
Monthly Website Analytics Review	✓
Local SEO Maintenance	✓
Regular Site Speed Optimization	✓
Monthly Reporting and Analysis	✓
Long-Term SEO Strategy	✓
Customized Monthly Action Plans	✓
Initial On-Page Optimization		✓
New Website SEO Launch		✓
Specialized Link Building Campaigns		✓
Specific Content Creation Projects		✓
Competitor Analysis Reports		✓
Local SEO Setup		✓
Technical SEO Overhaul		✓
Penalty Recovery Initiatives		✓
Site Restructuring for SEO		✓
Schema Markup Implementation		✓
Initial Setup of Analytics and Tools		✓
Content Creation		✓
SEO Audits			✓
Consultation			✓
Quick SEO Fixes			✓
Ad Hoc SEO Advice			✓
Training Sessions			✓
Emergency Support			✓
On-Demand Reporting			✓
Small-Scale Content Edits			✓
Quick Analytics Reviews			✓
Short-Term Strategy			✓
Troubleshooting Technical Issues			✓

Which SEO pricing plan is the best?

The best SEO plan for your business depends on what you need, the scope of the project, and your budget size.

Usually, monthly retainer is best as it covers ongoing SEO optimisation for all the tasks to generate long-term success.

However, sometimes you may need a smaller project or once-off tasks, whereas project-based and hourly plans can be suitable.

Find out what are the pros and cons of each plan.

Monthly SEO pricing plan:

Pros	Cons
Predictable monthly costs.	May be more expensive than other models.
Comprehensive ongoing services.	Commitment to ongoing monthly payments.
Long-term strategy development.

Project-based SEO pricing plan:

Pros	Cons
Tailored to specific projects or needs.	Does not cover ongoing optimization.
Clear scope of work and costs involved.	Costs vary based on complexity.

Hourly SEO pricing plan:

Pros	Cons
Flexible, pay-as-you-go structure.	Costs can add up quickly.
Suitable for smaller or one-time tasks.	Less predictable than flat-rate models.

Why choose each?

• Freelancer SEO specialist: Individual expertise and personalized attention.
• Digital agency: Comprehensive services with diverse skill sets
• Website development/SEO Agency: Specialized SEO expertise with a team of experts

What should SEO service include?

• SEO audit: This is an initial analysis where the provider investigates your site’s SEO weaknesses and strengths to find what needs to be optimized.
• SEO strategy: Each business is unuiqe and requires a different approach to creating a strategy that aligns with your business goals, ensuring effective SEO approach for your industry.
• Technical SEO: This means addressing backend technique issues and fixing them, including but not limited to website structure, URLs, 404, categories, performance, and much more.
• On-page SEO: Now its possible to start keyword research and optimizing content with findings. It involves things like meta tags, headings, images, etc.
• Off-page SEO: Aside from on-page optimization, your package needs to include link building to increase the trust and credibility of your site.
• Monitoring & Reporting: Each good provider regularly monitors the results, changing what is not working and further optimizing what is working. And, of course reports back to you so you can track the performance of a campaign.

Why is SEO that expensive?

SEO is often seen as an expensive cost to a business, but in reality, it is not.

If we compare the actual cost of all digital marketing strategies, search engine optimization is one of the most cost-effective. No, seriously, it is!

However, the top 3 reason why it may seem expensive is that:

1. It is long-term: Only very few SEO results show a quick return on investment, as most results usually show after 6 months of work has been completed. Nevertheless, the benefit outweighs the time it takes to implement it.

2. It requires many skills: it really is this one profession that requires many skills from website development, designing, CRO, content production, analytics, technical problem solving, copywriting, researching, optimizing to anything between each field, and even more.

3. It takes time to practice: For an individual to become a proficient SEO specialist takes around 3-4 years of practice – continuing trial and error, learning new algorithmic changes, and following the best practice of search engine guidelines. Overall, there are so many moving parts, strategies, and it is very time-consuming.

Why pay for SEO?

Paying for SEO helps companies increase their visibility but also provides many other benefits, such as:

• Traffic Growth: the main benefit is that by ranking keywords higher in search engine results, the more free organic traffic you will receive.
• Credibility and Trust: Websites that are at the of search results, are perceived as more reputable and trustworthy.
• Cost-effectiveness: it is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies, especially if we compare it with paid advertising.
• Improved user experience: SEO specialists analyze the whole customer journey and optimize it, which improves overall user experience.
• Better Conversion Rates: Quality traffic and better user experience usually mean that you convert more traffic to appointments or sales, contributing to better conversions.

If that’s something you desire but lack the skill or time to learn it, you need to pay for SEO.

Is it worth paying for SEO?

Yes, absolutely, it is worth paying for SEO regardless of the size of your business. But only do so if you find a quality service provider who knows what they are doing. You know, if they are good when they have results to show.

The main thing here is to avoid medicore SEOs that provide cheap service because with cheap prices, you get low quality, and it will hamper your business to do well. 

Even according to Google Ads, it is worth investing in SEO. Even if it takes a long time because it gives gives your business the best chance to be found by visitors or potential customers.

How much should you pay for SEO?

To get quality SEO service, you should pay anything from €100-€120 per hour or €2000 – €8000 per month. Anything lower than that, is the quality that suffers. If your goal is to grow your business and generate high-quality traffic, choose wisely.

How to set an SEO budget

Making an SEO budget can be difficult, but it does not have to be.
This is how you can easily create an effective SEO budget for your business:

1. Review your monthly budget: Analyse your overall marketing budget and allocate some to SEO – simple as that! Or if you have not started marketing, it’s time to start. SEO pays back for itself, so you do not need to worry.
2. Outline your goal: Think about what is your goal? Take some time to consider who do you want exectutes the SEO for you and at what price. (If you do not know what to look for, get an audit, which determines what’s needed).
3. Determine how much budget to allocate: Now it’s time to determine how much work you need and at what budget. Consider that, on average, good SEO monthly retainer is between €4000-€8000 per month.
4. Contact professionals: All that’s left to do is to contact an SEO provider like us and let us do the heavy lifting for you. We have many years of experience growing businesses like yours and have results to back it up.

How to choose an SEO plans?

To make this simple, here are the main two things to look out for:

1. Project Complexity: If you want to improve the whole SEO strategy to generate organic traffic that keeps growing month after month, then comprehensive SEO monthly plans are most suitable. On the other hand, if you need quick fixes, consultation, or a specific one-time task completed, an hourly or project-based model could fit.
2. Goals and Timeline: if you have a short-term issue or a goal that needs to be escalated, an hourly rate or project-based model could be sufficient in that case. However, if you want long-term growth for your website or business, a monthly retainer is your best choice.

How to spot cheap SEO pricing?

Cheap SEO prices are considered anything between €50 and €75 or lower. These are usually prices for individual beginners with no experience or freelancers who lack the in-depth skills and resources that agencies like we have. Just do yourself a favor and void them. You will thank us later.

How to request custom SEO pricing?

Requesting a custom SEO pricing quote is as simple as finding a quality provider or filling in the quote or audit request. Soon after, an SEO strategist will get back to you with a specialized offer based on your business needs. Doing so, you will get the most out of your budget. Don’t over think it.

Get a custom SEO quote now!