How much does SEO cost for a small business?
There is no single price for SEO. The cost depends on how many services and areas you want to be found for, how competitive they are, how much your website needs fixing first, how much new material has to be written, and whether lead tracking and reporting are included. Agencies usually charge a monthly fee, a one-off project fee, or a mix, and a fair quote explains which of these it covers.
What decides the cost
- Scope: one service in one town is a smaller job than ten services across a state.
- Competition: the more businesses competing for the same customers, the more work it takes to be seen.
- Starting point: a slow, unclear or broken site has to be fixed before new work pays off.
- Content: new material has to be researched, written and fact-checked.
- Measurement: tracking where each lead came from, and reporting it, is work too.
- Who does the writing: you, the agency, or both.
How agencies usually charge
- A monthly fee for ongoing work, often with a minimum term.
- A project fee for a defined piece of work, such as fixing a site or building a set of pages.
- A mix: a project to fix the foundation, then a smaller monthly fee.
- Less commonly, results-based terms, where part of the fee depends on the customers the work brings in. These only work when every lead is tracked to its source, so both sides can see what counts.
Questions that tell you whether a quote is fair
- What exactly is included each month, and what is extra?
- What will you measure, and will it show inquiries and customers, not only traffic?
- How long is the minimum term, and what happens if I stop?
- Who owns the website, the content and the lead data?
- What would you do first, and why?
Warning signs
A very cheap package that promises a top ranking, a long lock-in with nothing defined, an agency that keeps your domain or accounts in its own name, and a report that never mentions inquiries. Ascent Vision does not publish prices: every engagement is scoped on a call, because the cost depends on the business, the market and what already exists.
Related answers
SEO for service businesses
Get found on Google by the people already looking for what you sell, in the places you serve, and see which searches turned into inquiries.