SEO Pricing: How Much to Budget for SEO Services

Even with a great website, you can’t connect with all of your desired customers without SEO. As digital searches become one of the most important precursors to making a purchase, you’ll need people to visit your website so you can get your foot in the door. But what SEO pricing is best for your business to see the results it wants without swallowing up your entire marketing budget? Keep reading to find out!

What SEO Services Are Available?

An SEO agency will offer dozens of services, from ones that alter the design of your website to others that only change elements outside of your website. Here are some of the most popular services:

• mobile-friendliness
• user experience
• content creation
• link-building
• internal linking structure
• image optimization
• URL optimization
• social media account management
• Google My Business Profile

You can choose the services you want based on your needs and goals. However, if you have a limited budget, Google has stated that the most important factors in your ranking are high-quality content and strong backlinks.

So, when talking to an SEO company, ask about their content creation and link-building services. Can they create and upkeep a blog for your site that will be a source of valuable information for Google searches? How will they get your site to appear on other well-reputed ones?

How are SEO Services Determined?

Most of the time, SEO specialists will figure out the services you need based on your campaign goals, the time frame you have available, and your current standing on search engine results pages.

If you’re looking to generate awareness for a new product within just a couple of months, an SEO company will offer more services to spread the word quickly. But if you are just trying to maintain your already positive reputation, you’ll likely only need a few SEO services that focus on consistency in the long term.

Some SEO companies will also offer services depending on your monthly payment structure. Many will charge for project-based work, while others will instead charge a monthly retainer fee that covers all requests. Stills others may ask for both a retainer fee and additional rates depending on projects.

What Do Most Businesses Pay?

So how much does SEO cost for businesses?

Most companies will pay anywhere between $500 to $500 a month for SEO services. The prices vary so much because some companies only require general maintenance, while others are actively trying to rank higher on the search engine results page.

Some companies will foot a much higher cost, even reaching the tens of thousands of dollars. However, we recommend that you don’t spend anything less than $500 on SEO services per month.

Here’s why: there are two outcomes when you spend less than $500 a month. The first is that you are only paying for minimal services, in which case you will see no results.

The second is that you are paying someone who is offering to provide services for a price that is way below market value, meaning that they don’t know what they’re doing or they won’t deliver what they promise. In that case, you also won’t see any results.

Other Factors in SEO Pricing

Keep in mind that SEO is a highly variable field, so your prices will be dependent on a range of factors. Here are some of the other characteristics of your SEO campaign that will affect the price.

Local Vs. Global

If you’re a local business, you’re in luck. Local SEO typically costs far less than a global SEO campaign. This is because local SEO usually targets a much smaller and more concentrated audience.

Even if you are focusing on local SEO, you can still choose from a variety of options, ranging from automated local SEO to a comprehensive plan that may reach a similar cost to certain global SEO campaigns.

Industry

Some industries are far more competitive than others, which comes into play when you want to target certain keywords. For example, lawyers, financial services, medical offices, and marketing companies are some of the most competitive keywords to search. Mobile searches for financial planning have grown 70% in the past two years.

However, if you make your keywords more specific, your SEO may not be as expensive. Even if you are in a popular industry, you can use a niche service that you offer to stand out to Google’s algorithm.

Geographic Location

Although local SEO is cheaper than global SEO, it still ranges depending on the products you sell and where you’re selling them.

Depending on your business, your SEO may be more competitive. This is especially true for local businesses that sell specialty products. For instance, if you’re selling surfing gearing in Los Angeles, you’ll have a lot more competition than if you had set up shop in Chicago.

Current Standing

Businesses that need to establish their presence online from scratch will require much more work than a well-known company that is just looking to maintain their SEO status.

If you’re a newer company or one that has never dedicated any of its marketing budget to getting help from an SEO pricing service, be prepared to spend a bit more in the first few months so that your later efforts have a larger impact.

Learn More About SEO Pricing for Your Business

When it comes to understanding the services that your business needs to succeed, you can never be too knowledgeable. Check out our blog for more information on the best way to approach SEO pricing, as well as other digital marketing strategies!