How Much Is SEO Per Month? Real Cost Ranges

SEO stands for search engine optimization, the work of helping search engines understand your pages. A retainer is a fixed monthly fee for ongoing work. Google itself says it costs nothing to appear in its organic results and that it does not accept payment to include or rank sites. So what you pay for is the work, never a place in the results.

Because the work varies, the price varies. Below I give you the survey numbers with their sources, then my own prices, then a method to compare quotes fairly.

Ahrefs Survey of SEO Providers

Ahrefs published its pricing poll in December 2023 and lists an update in August 2024. The page says it polled 439 SEO service providers, although its meta description says 350, so treat the sample size with care. The most common monthly band was $501 to $1,000, chosen by 20.4% of respondents. Average retainers were $3,209 for agencies, $3,250 for consultancies and $1,348.63 for freelancers.

SE Ranking Agency Survey

SE Ranking published its survey on December 13, 2024, with prices framed for 2025. It covered 260 agencies, and the article says the sample may not be statistically significant. The most popular retainer was $500 to $1,000 a month. Of the agencies, 64% charged below $1,000 and 30% below $500, while 20% charged $1,000 to $2,000, 13% charged $2,000 to $5,000 and 2% charged over $5,000.

Fiverr Guide

Fiverr’s marketplace guide, published November 20, 2024, gives $500 to $10,000 a month overall. It also cites another survey where experts charge $1,000 to $4,000 monthly. A marketplace has its own interest in these numbers, so read it as a vendor view.

Ahrefs found that the most common hourly rate was $75 to $100, chosen by 24% of respondents, and that 66.7% of US and Canada respondents charged $75 to $200 an hour. SE Ranking found $50 to $100 was most popular, at 45% of agencies, and that 40% of US and Canada agencies charged over $125 an hour versus 6% in Europe. Fiverr gives $50 to $200 as a typical range.

For one-off projects, Ahrefs found $2,501 to $5,000 was the most common fee, at 21.2%, while SE Ranking found $500 to $2,000 was the most common, at about 66% of agencies. The two disagree because they surveyed different groups. That is why I show both.

My own rate is €25 an hour. That is a fact about my business, not a market figure, and it is lower because I am one freelancer without an office or a sales team.

The bigger the plan, the more work I do each month. Guest post links from blogs with real traffic run 1 to 2 for Starter, 2 to 3 for Growth and 5 or more for Full Campaign. You can also set your own monthly budget.

See the full plan cards on my pricing page, or read how I work on the affordable SEO services page.

1. State the goal. For example: more calls for “emergency plumber” searches in Austin.
2. List the work. A site check, fixes, a page for each service, a Business Profile and some links.
3. Estimate the hours. At €25 an hour, the Starter budget is about 19 hours a month.
4. Check the gap. If the list is longer than 19 hours, either extend the time or shorten the list.
5. Decide. Choose the plan, or set your own budget.

// example for a made-up business. The arithmetic is mine, and nothing here predicts a result.

What Pushes a Monthly Price Up or Down

Four things move the number. First, the size of the site: more pages mean more to check and fix. Second, how competitive your searches are, because harder searches need more content and more links. Third, who does the work: the SE Ranking survey reports that agencies with more than 25 staff mostly charge above $1,000 a month, while 20 to 31% of agencies with fewer than five people charge above-average fees. Fourth, the scope: whether the price includes technical fixes, content, local work and links, or only a report.

Location matters too. In the same SE Ranking survey, 22% of US and Canada agencies charged over $2,000 a month, against 9% in Europe. That gap is one reason a freelancer outside the US can quote lower without cutting corners. I would add, from my own experience, that overhead explains much of it: no office, no sales team and no account managers.

What a Month of SEO Usually Contains

Ask any provider for a monthly list. In my plans it looks like this: a check of what changed in Search Console, fixes to technical problems, work on titles and content for the pages that matter, local profile work, guest post links in the amount your plan allows, and a short report. The list is the same for every plan, and only the volume changes.

Notice what is not on the list: a promised ranking. Google says it does not guarantee that it will crawl, index or serve any page, so no honest price can include a position. If a quote lists outcomes instead of tasks, ask which tasks produce them.

When to Pay for Work and When to Pause

Not every month needs the same effort. In the first months there is usually a lot to repair, so a bigger plan can make sense. After that, a smaller plan may be enough to keep content and links moving. I am happy to move a client down a plan when the work shrinks. That is my own practice, not an industry rule, and I mention it because a fair provider should be willing to adjust the price when the scope changes.

If you are choosing between companies, my guide on SEO companies for small business gives a checklist. If your budget is tight, search engine ranking on a small budget explains what to do first. And if you want my cheap SEO service for small business quote, message me your URL.

• Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO? (organic results cost nothing; no guarantees)
• Ahrefs: SEO Pricing, 439 people polled (published Dec 2023, updated Aug 2024; vendor survey)
• SE Ranking: SEO pricing survey insights, Dec 2024 (260 agencies; vendor survey)
• Fiverr: What does SEO cost, Nov 2024 (marketplace guide)

// last checked 11 Nov 2026. Vendor and survey figures are in US dollars and are the publishers’ own. My plan prices and hourly rate are my own.