Hourly rates range on average from £60 – £120 per hour.
Monthly Retainers
Monthly retainers range on average from £1150 – £2300 per month.
Pay for Performance (Pay for results – No rank – No pay)
Performance based pricing is dynamic and cost effective.
Project-Based SEO
Project based SEO range on average from £765 – £5,725.
Ever more so, SEO is crucial
As stated by recent studies, over 84% of people looking for a service or a product, begin their search on the internet.
When those potential buyers enter their valuable search terms and your website doesn’t appear in the search results, you have got to understand that those customers will end up purchasing from your business rivals.
Every once in a while, an article is released that has a significant impact on SEO. Check out “Articles that impacted SEO” for some of that did just that.
What is the Average Cost of SEO Services?
In reality, costs can differ so much that it’s really quite hard to comprehend what represents an equitable price.
To begin with, if you are checking out SEO for your business, you have no doubt quickly fathomed out that there are far too many options. There are numerous pricing models and price points and countless agencies. A small business owner with little SEO knowledge will probably find this overwhelming.
As it happens, Moz.com has undertaken some extensive research on the subject and the variance in prices is so great that you could pay between as low as £20 per hour and up to £15,000 per month.
What is the Average Hourly Cost of SEO?
Paying for SEO by the hour might appear to be a sensible investment, if you take it literally.
I mean, you know precisely what you are going to get for your money.
Prior to any commencement of work, you will have discussed and agreed an hourly rate with the agency, and subject to the hours that are to be worked, you will have an accurate valuation of the size of your invoice.
This type of payment plan has some value because you won’t be worrying about going over budget and you can feel at ease with it. However, it isn’t always as simple as it seems and at times things don’t always end up as you anticipate.
The drawback is that frequently, SEO will be more time consuming than envisaged and if you are employing a reputable SEO agency, the costs can escalate pretty rapidly.
Anticipate paying somewhere from £60 to £120 per hour if you want to keep clear of amateur and second-rate agencies (Guernsey Donkey SEO excluded).
Expert tip- Stay clear of anyone that is really low-cost and go with the theory that they are using black-hat techniques (unscrupulous methods) that could lead to your site being penalised by Google.
Advantages :
Accuracy and clarity. The hours that are works will be the hours that are recorded and paid. This means that you will be able to see which area the SEO agency is allocating most of their time to.
Easier to budget for. Knowing the hourly rate being paid will allow you to control the amount that you are going to pay out, hence you can budget for the expense.
Disadvantages :
Rankings will take longer. Because you are spending a limited budget, it is going to take a lot longer to notice any perceivable increase in rankings. This way is easier to control spending but in the long run, it is false economy because it will take longer and you will be missing out on business while waiting to move up the rankings.
Not results based. If you are paying an agency an hourly rate, it is like paying an employee. They do the hours they are set and paid for, and that’s it. If you think about it, would you prefer to have your SEO agency striving for results for you or simply being paid a wage?
Ideal for :
If you are a business / website owner that is attempting to manage your own SEO campaign. I would advise contracting an SEO expert to endorse your campaign and help on an “as and when needed” basis. They will help you to make certain that you are going about things the correct way from the start. The expertise the agency brings along with the peace of mind will far outweigh the cost of paying them for several hours of their time.
What is the Cost of Monthly Retainers?
The majority of businesses opt for this choice when they want an agency to undertake all of the SEO work. It has been a highly popular one for a lot of companies. However, more and more businesses seem to be tending towards performance based SEO because of the necessity to measure their ROI.
Advantages :
Hands-off. Paying an agency a monthly retainer typically means they will manage the undertaking from the start to the finish. This means that you don’t have to worry about achieving the desired rankings for yourself leaving you to concentrate on what you know best, your business.
Improved working relationship. With the client and agency working together on a continuing basis, good relationships will develop which leads to greater trust and a robust relationship with improved communication.
Disadvantages :
You could be throwing away time and money. SEO is not a quick fix. Results can frequently take a lot of time to transpire, possibly up to six months or more. If the agency that you have retained does not generate the results that you want, it is possible that the money and time that you have invested into it has been a wasted and you have no end product.
Long-standing obligation. The majority of SEO agencies want clients to sign up for a minimum of six months and some up to a year’s commitment. Even if you are disappointed with the results, you could be trapped in a long term contract that you don’t want anymore.
Ideal for :
If you have trust and confidence in the SEO service and are able to confirm their past performance is sound, this could be the ideal choice for you. This kind of SEO is perfect for your company if you want someone else to take complete control of it so you don’t have to.
What is the Cost of Performance Based SEO?
This kind of SEO pricing structure is probably the newest of all. The onus is on the SEO company to achieve the desired results at the same time as eliminating the risk for the client.
Advantages :
Only pay if results are achieved. The simple answer is, you don’t have to pay a thing if your website does not rank for the given keywords. There is practically no risk to the client with investing in SEO.
Know precisely how much you will pay. Trustworthy SEO agencies that offer performance based pricing models will give you advanced costs so that you know exactly what you will pay when results are achieved.
Disadvantages :
Your keywords might be too difficult. Most performance based agencies are not keen on trying to rank search terms that are overly competitive. This is because they would have to devote way too many hours of time and it just wouldn’t be a cost effective campaign.
Bad keyword choice. You need a “buying” keyword with ample search volume. If you want to rank a keyword that doesn’t have much search volume or does not translate into buying customers, you could be left paying out for a keyword that doesn’t add any worth to your business.
Ideal for :
This pricing model is becoming ever more popular and many small business owners are looking at this pricing model in the first instance. Many business owners don’t have the time or the resources to pay out on promotion of their business. Teaming up with an agency that has performance based pricing can provide you with rankings in advance of you forking out, will make it so much more attractive to begin investing in SEO.
What is the Cost of Project-Based SEO Services?
The project-based SEO pricing model is the preferred option between SEO agencies. The most common range of prices among the agencies are as follows :
£ 765 – £1,150
£1,150 – £1,910
£1,911 – £3,815
£3,816 – £5,725
Advantages :
Just a one-off payment. Paying by the hour can amount to a hefty sum at the end of the month and you could end up spending more than you budgeted for. A lump-sum payment is an astute choice if you have to abide by a precise budget or if there is one particular area that you want to concentrate on.
You know what you will receive. You will get a contract that explains precisely what you will be getting and the length of time that it will take to achieve those results.
Disadvantages :
You could over pay. If your understanding of SEO is not great, you won’t have much idea about the amount of time that it takes to manage a campaign. Obviously, this could lead to you paying too much for the work
No flexiblity. Your contract will come with a description outlining the work that is to be carried out along with the completion dates. Should you need any extra work done or you need to change your requirements, you will end up having to pay an additional fee.
Ideal for :
Project-based SEO is perfect for businesses that require a helping hand with improving their SEO campaign or just want to offload particular jobs such as on-page optimisation, a website audit or creating backlinks to the website.
