What are my options for getting SEO done for my small business?

A small business has five options for getting SEO done: an agency, a freelancer, a person on staff, the owner's own time, or AI agents such as Licheo. Agencies and freelancers mostly charge a fixed monthly fee: Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers and found that 78.2% charge a monthly retainer. A hire costs a salary, doing it yourself costs your hours, and for Licheo you contact us for pricing.

How do I decide who should do my website and search marketing?

Deciding who does your website and search marketing starts with two questions: how many hours of work there are, and whether you can pay a salary. The SBA's Office of Advocacy reports that 82.3% of US small businesses have no employees, so for most owners a hire would be the first employee. If the work fills a few hours a week, compare an agency, a freelancer, AI agents and your own time first.

When is an SEO agency the right choice for a small business?

An SEO agency is the right choice when several kinds of work must happen together, such as a new website, a move to a new domain name or many locations. In Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, the average agency retainer was $3,209 a month, assuming each agency charges the top of its price band. That fee pays for several specialists, and a large project with a matching budget can use all of them.

Should a small business hire its own marketer or pay an outside provider?

A small business should hire its own marketer when marketing work happens every day and the business can pay a full salary for years. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $78,760 in May 2025 for market research analysts and marketing specialists, the group that includes search marketing strategists. That is median pay before taxes, benefits and tools, so compare it with a year of outside fees.

Can I do my own SEO instead of paying someone?

Yes, you can do your own SEO if you run a small local business and have a few hours each week. Google's page "Do you need an SEO?" says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself, starting with the SEO Starter Guide. The main tools are free, including Google Search Console and Google Business Profile. Pay for help where your time or your technical knowledge stops.

Where do AI agents like Licheo fit next to agencies and freelancers?

AI agents like Licheo fit an owner who wants website and search work done every month without learning tools or managing a dashboard. A team of specialist agents does the work, and nothing goes live until the owner approves it. Agents cannot collect reviews, meet suppliers or give interviews, so the owner keeps those human tasks, and an agency or a hire can help there. Contact us for pricing.

What does a business owner have to do each month with each option?

What a business owner does each month depends on the option: with an agency or a freelancer you read reports and approve changes, with a hire you manage a person, doing it yourself means all of the work, and with Licheo you approve each change before it goes live. In every case, keep Google Search Console, a free service from Google, in your own name so you can check results yourself.

Is paying for an SEO tool the same as paying for SEO work?

Paying for an SEO tool buys data, and a person still has to do the work with it. Semrush's SEO plan was listed at $139 a month billed monthly on 27 September 2026, and Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month. Someone must read that data, decide what to change and make the changes on the website: you, an employee, a freelancer, an agency or a team of AI agents.

Can I combine options, such as doing some work myself and paying for the rest?

Yes, you can combine options: keep the tasks you do well and pay for the rest. An owner can manage the Google Business Profile personally, because creating a profile and listing a business on Google is free, and pay an agency, a freelancer or AI agents for the website and search work. Write down who does which task, so the same work is never done or paid for twice.

Five ways to get your website and search work done, compared

An agency, a freelancer, a person on your staff, your own hours, or a team of AI agents. Here is what each one costs, what it asks of you each month, and how to choose.

See if customers can find you

A small business can get its website and search work done in five ways: an agency, a freelancer, a person on staff, the owner's own time, or AI agents such as Licheo. An agency fits large projects, a hire fits daily work inside the business, doing it yourself fits a small local business with time, and agents fit an owner who wants monthly work without learning tools.

What work does a small business need done?

Before comparing who does the work, let us name the work. Search engine optimization, which people shorten to SEO, is the steady work of making a website easy to find when a customer searches on Google or asks an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for a recommendation. For a small business, most of it falls into a few jobs that repeat every month, listed below.

Big companies give each of these jobs to a different person and pay for the software each person uses. The website, search and AI work that big companies pay whole teams for, done for your small business: that is what Licheo offers, and it is one of five answers on this page. The other four are older and well known, and in several situations they are the better choice. We will say where.

Checking the website for problems customers never see: slow pages, broken links, and pages Google cannot read.
Writing a clear page for each service and each place you serve, in the words customers use when they search.
Keeping the Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in search, correct and complete.
Earning mentions and links from other websites, such as local directories, suppliers and newspapers.
Reading the results each month and deciding what to change next.

The five options side by side

The table puts the five options next to each other on the questions an owner asks first. Before you sign with anyone, check that the domain, Search Console and Business Profile are in your name. A survey figure describes what providers told that survey; your own quote will depend on your market and on how much work you ask for.

The five ways to get website and search work done, with cost figures from the sources listed on this page, read on 27 September 2026
Option	Who does the work	What it costs	Who holds the accounts	What the owner does each month	How the owner sees results
Agency	A company with several specialists	Ahrefs' survey (updated August 15, 2024): $3,209 a month on average for agencies, counting each at the top of its price band	The business, if the contract says so	Read the report, answer questions, approve changes	The agency's report, checked in your own Search Console
Freelancer	One self-employed specialist	Ahrefs' survey: $1,348.63 a month on average for freelancers, same method; $75 to $100 an hour was the most common hourly rate	The business, if the agreement says so	Read the report, approve changes, plan around one person's calendar	The freelancer's report, checked the same way
A hire on staff	Your own employee, working on your business all week	Median annual wage of $78,760 for US market research analysts and marketing specialists (BLS, May 2025), plus tools such as Semrush's SEO plan at $139 a month billed monthly	The business, when every account is created in its name	Manage the person: set goals, review the work, pay for tools	Reports from your own accounts
Doing it yourself	You	Your time; Google Search Console, Google Business Profile and Google Analytics are free, and Bing Webmaster Tools is free to start	You	All of the work, every month	You read Search Console yourself
AI agents (Licheo)	A team of specialist AI agents	Contact us for pricing	Confirm in writing that the domain and Google accounts are in your name, as with anyone	Approve each change before it goes live; no tools to learn and no dashboard	Each change before it goes live, plus your own Search Console

An agency: several specialists working together

An SEO agency is a company whose staff do search work for many clients. The usual arrangement is a retainer, a fixed fee paid every month for ongoing work: Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers (page updated August 15, 2024) and found that 78.2% charge this way. In the same survey, if each agency is assumed to charge the top of its price band, the average agency retainer came to $3,209 a month.

Backlinko surveyed over 300 SEO professionals (page updated December 29, 2025) and reports that the average monthly cost for SEO is $1,000 to $2,500, and it puts agency prices 30% above freelancer prices on average, a figure Backlinko itself describes as approximate. SE Ranking and Duda built a dataset from 260 agencies (published December 13, 2024), and 94% of those agencies focus on small or local businesses, so most agencies in that dataset are set up to serve a business of your size.

Where is an agency the better choice? When several kinds of work must happen in the same weeks: a new website, a move to a new domain name, a business with many locations, or search work combined with paid advertising. An agency has a designer, a developer and a writer who can work on your project together, and when one of them is on holiday, a colleague continues. For a business in a competitive market with a budget to match, that capacity is worth paying for.

Your project shares the staff's hours with other clients, so ask how many hours a month your fee buys, and who does the work.

A freelancer: one person you can call directly

A freelancer is one self-employed specialist. In the Ahrefs survey, the average freelancer retainer came to $1,348.63 a month, with the same top-of-band assumption, and $75 to $100 an hour was the most common hourly rate, charged by 24% of respondents. Backlinko reports that hourly SEO services average $50 to $100 an hour.

The strength of a freelancer is closeness: you speak with the person who does the work, and a good freelancer who knows your trade can do excellent work on a clear, limited job, such as rewriting your service pages.

The limit is one person's range and one person's calendar: a strong writer may know little about how websites are built, and when the freelancer is ill or busy with a larger client, your work waits.

A person on your own staff: the choice for daily work

Hiring in-house means employing a person whose job is your marketing. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups market research analysts and marketing specialists together, and it reports a median annual wage of $78,760 for that group in May 2025. O*NET, the US Department of Labor's job database, lists search marketing strategists inside the same group. That figure is median pay; the employer adds taxes, benefits and equipment, and the sources give no figure for those.

That person also needs tools. Semrush's SEO plan was listed at $139 a month billed monthly on 27 September 2026, and Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month.

The US Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy reports that 82.3% of US small businesses, 29,811,495 firms, have no employees (February 2026 edition). For most owners, then, a marketing hire would be the first person on the payroll.

A hire is the better choice when marketing happens every day: photographing new work, running events, answering customer messages, and knowing the product well enough to explain it to a stranger. If your business can keep one person busy with marketing all year, hire.

Doing it yourself: free tools and your own hours

Google is direct about this option. In its page "Do you need an SEO?", it says that if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself, and it recommends starting with its SEO Starter Guide.

The main tools cost nothing. Google Search Console, which shows how your site appears in Google Search and which searches bring visitors, is a free service from Google, and Google encourages every site owner to use it whether or not they also pay for other tools. Bing Webmaster Tools does the same for Microsoft's search engine and is free to start. Creating a Google Business Profile is free, and Google Analytics, which counts visitors and what they do on the site, is free of charge.

Doing it yourself fits an owner with one location, a few services and a few hours each week. It stops when the hours run out, when the site has a technical problem you cannot find, or when competitors already have strong websites and many reviews. At that point, pay for help with the part where you stopped, and keep doing the parts you do well.

AI agents: a team's work, with the owner approving each change

Licheo, founded in 2024, is a done-for-you service: a team of specialist AI agents builds a small business its website, makes it findable on Google and in AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and shapes the pages to turn visitors into customers. Each agent works on one type of task, in the way a big company divides the same work among its staff.

The owner learns no tools and manages no dashboard. The work continues every month, and nothing goes live until the owner approves it, so you see each change before a customer does. Licheo works without long contracts. Contact us for pricing.

Where do agents fall short? They cannot ask your customers for reviews, meet a supplier who might link to your site, or give an interview to the local newspaper. Real knowledge of your trade must come from you and your team. The owner keeps those human tasks, and an agency or a hire can help with them.

How to choose, situation by situation

Here are the common situations, with the option that fits each.

One location, a few services, and a few free hours each week: start by doing it yourself with Google's free tools, and pay for help where you stop.
A new website, a move to a new domain name, or work across many locations in the same months: an agency, because several specialists must work together.
A clear, limited job, such as rewriting service pages, and a good person you already know: a freelancer.
Marketing that happens every day, with photos, events and customer stories, and the money for a full salary: hire someone, and pay for their tools.
Website and search work you want done every month, with each change approved by you and no tools to learn: AI agents such as Licheo.
No clear picture yet: run the free Get Found Check, which reads your homepage, your domain's settings and its security certificate and returns a grade in under 60 seconds.

What stays the same whoever does the work

Some facts apply to all five options. Google says it never accepts money to include or rank sites in its results, and that it costs nothing to appear in its organic results, the unpaid listings below the advertisements. Whoever you pay, you are paying for work on your website. Google also says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google.

Options can be combined: an owner can keep the free Google Business Profile and pay someone for the website and the search work. Keep Google Search Console in your own name, whoever does the work.

Timing is the same for everyone. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others could take several months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether the work helped. Google also advises owners to ask an SEO to share every change it makes to the site, with the reasoning behind each recommendation, and it warns that you are responsible for the actions of any company you hire. In the end, the right choice is the one whose work you can see and check.

Each decision, in more detail

The parts below take one question from this comparison, such as what a retainer pays for or what a hire costs, and answer it with sources.

What an agency retainer includes: A retainer is a fixed fee paid every month for ongoing work. Here are the lines it can pay for, the question to ask about each line, and the list of changes Google says an SEO should give you.
Hiring someone in-house: Median pay for the roles a small business might hire in the US and Canada, the tools that person would need with their list prices, and the work one person can cover alone.
Freelancer or agency: Both can do good search work for a small business. The choice changes the price, the number of people on your account, and what happens when one person is away.
What AI agents do: A plain account of the work Licheo's agents carry out, the decisions that stay with you, and the things that only real customers, real journalists and your own experience can give.
Switching agencies: A handover checklist built on Google's documentation for site moves and redirects, and on ICANN's rules for moving a domain name.
Judging any provider: Google has published its own advice for owners who hire help with search. Here it is in plain words, with a table of common sales claims, and the same test applied to us.

Questions people ask

What are my options for getting SEO done for my small business?: A small business has five options for getting SEO done: an agency, a freelancer, a person on staff, the owner's own time, or AI agents such as Licheo. Agencies and freelancers mostly charge a fixed monthly fee: Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers and found that 78.2% charge a monthly retainer. A hire costs a salary, doing it yourself costs your hours, and for Licheo you contact us for pricing.
How do I decide who should do my website and search marketing?: Deciding who does your website and search marketing starts with two questions: how many hours of work there are, and whether you can pay a salary. The SBA's Office of Advocacy reports that 82.3% of US small businesses have no employees, so for most owners a hire would be the first employee. If the work fills a few hours a week, compare an agency, a freelancer, AI agents and your own time first.
When is an SEO agency the right choice for a small business?: An SEO agency is the right choice when several kinds of work must happen together, such as a new website, a move to a new domain name or many locations. In Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, the average agency retainer was $3,209 a month, assuming each agency charges the top of its price band. That fee pays for several specialists, and a large project with a matching budget can use all of them.
Should a small business hire its own marketer or pay an outside provider?: A small business should hire its own marketer when marketing work happens every day and the business can pay a full salary for years. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $78,760 in May 2025 for market research analysts and marketing specialists, the group that includes search marketing strategists. That is median pay before taxes, benefits and tools, so compare it with a year of outside fees.
Can I do my own SEO instead of paying someone?: Yes, you can do your own SEO if you run a small local business and have a few hours each week. Google's page "Do you need an SEO?" says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself, starting with the SEO Starter Guide. The main tools are free, including Google Search Console and Google Business Profile. Pay for help where your time or your technical knowledge stops.
Where do AI agents like Licheo fit next to agencies and freelancers?: AI agents like Licheo fit an owner who wants website and search work done every month without learning tools or managing a dashboard. A team of specialist agents does the work, and nothing goes live until the owner approves it. Agents cannot collect reviews, meet suppliers or give interviews, so the owner keeps those human tasks, and an agency or a hire can help there. Contact us for pricing.
What does a business owner have to do each month with each option?: What a business owner does each month depends on the option: with an agency or a freelancer you read reports and approve changes, with a hire you manage a person, doing it yourself means all of the work, and with Licheo you approve each change before it goes live. In every case, keep Google Search Console, a free service from Google, in your own name so you can check results yourself.
Is paying for an SEO tool the same as paying for SEO work?: Paying for an SEO tool buys data, and a person still has to do the work with it. Semrush's SEO plan was listed at $139 a month billed monthly on 27 September 2026, and Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month. Someone must read that data, decide what to change and make the changes on the website: you, an employee, a freelancer, an agency or a team of AI agents.
Which option gets results on Google fastest?: Every option works on Google's timing, whoever does the work. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others could take several months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether the work helped. What differs between options is how quickly the work itself is done, so ask each provider on which date the first changes will be live on your site.
Can I combine options, such as doing some work myself and paying for the rest?: Yes, you can combine options: keep the tasks you do well and pay for the rest. An owner can manage the Google Business Profile personally, because creating a profile and listing a business on Google is free, and pay an agency, a freelancer or AI agents for the website and search work. Write down who does which task, so the same work is never done or paid for twice.

Sources

SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? 439 People Polled, Ahrefs. Published 2024-08-15, accessed 27 September 2026.
SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? (New Data + Cheat Sheet), Backlinko (Semrush). Published 2025-12-29, accessed 27 September 2026.
SEO pricing survey insights: How much does SEO cost in 2025?, SE Ranking (with Duda). Published 2024-12-13, accessed 27 September 2026.
Market Research Analysts, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Published 2026-08-27, accessed 27 September 2026.
Search Marketing Strategists 13-1161.01, O*NET OnLine, O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration). Accessed 27 September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, 2026, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy. Published February 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
Semrush Plans and Pricing, Semrush. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Ahrefs Plans & pricing, Ahrefs. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Do you need an SEO?, Google Search Central. Published 2026-06-05, accessed 27 September 2026.
Google Search's guidance on using third-party SEO tools, services, and advice, Google Search Central. Published 2026-06-05, accessed 27 September 2026.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google Search Central. Published 2025-12-10, accessed 27 September 2026.
About Search Console, Search Console Help, Google. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Bing Webmaster Tools (about page), Microsoft Bing. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Google Business Profile, Google. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Google Analytics (Google Marketing Platform), Google. Accessed 27 September 2026.

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