How Much Does SEO Cost?
That depends on what type of search engine optimization you are looking for coupled with the pricing strategy.
Types of SEO Pricing
There are many ways that SEO Agencies price their services. The different ways in which SEO companies choose to price out their services can make it very challenging to compare apples to apples.
In addition to what we call Managed SEO (fully inclusive digital marketing), and our modular, or ala carte pricing for specific SEO services above, there are other ways search engine optimization can be budgeted.
We will cover some of the most basic pricing models for SEO as well as provide some of the more common amounts you can expect to pay for each respective SEO service.
One Time Payments for an SEO Audit – FREE to $1,000
The very first step in any search engine optimization campaign is completing a full SEO audit. SEO audits can vary dramatically depending on exactly what the examination will define. Most of the FREE SEO website audits do provide some valuable information but don’t really stand up to a full audit provided by a human being. Depending on which free SEO audit you use, some will provide insight on the web page and some will provide domain level information.
Page Level SEO Audit — FREE
One of the most common FREE SEO audits will look at the On-Page SEO of the URL you submit. The best Free SEO audits will provide some additional information such as:
Domain Level SEO Audit — FREE
Many of the domain level SEO audits are also free. They generally do not dig as deep but provide a different subset of data. The data that you would receive for a free domain-based SEO audit would be:
Full SEO Audit – $200 – $5,000
A full blown paid SEO audit, completed by a human will cost a pretty penny. Costs range between a low end around $250, and up to or more than $5,000 for a professional to review all of the pertinent aspects of your search engine optimization. the huge difference depends on the size and complexity of your website. These types of audits will generally contain not only the automated domain level and page level information, but a deeper look into how everything fits together.
SEO is about synergy – having all aspects of your digital presence working toward a consistent goal. These types of audits generally included recommendations and are created with a proposal aspect detailing what additional it would cost to implement the respective digital marketing strategy.
SEO Consulting – $500 – $5,000 per month
SEO consulting is generally a pricing model for a large, enterprise website. The term “consulting” generally indicates that the SEO agency is doing weekly and monthly deep audits and strategy sessions and turning their findings over to the web developer and the business owner to implement. The massive price range is directly correlated to the size and complexity of the website.
One Time SEO $750 – $50,000
One time SEO generally has some limitations in scope. Meaning, there is a contract in place that defines the work to be completed (scope of work) and a deadline for completion. This type of SEO pricing is conducive to websites that need specific aspects of SEO completed such as:
Hourly Rate SEO – $80 to $300 per hour
Many SEO companies break down their pricing by the hour. They attempt to give an estimate of how many hours they will spend on your digital marketing project and count them as they go. Most of the pricing contracts for digital marketing that are structured this way, and will have a cap and additional billing if the project exceeds the allotted time.