How much does SEO cost per month for a small business?

SEO for a small business most often costs $501 to $1,000 a month, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers (updated August 15, 2024), where 20.4% of respondents charged that retainer, a fixed monthly fee. Backlinko's survey places small-business monthly fees in the same band of $501 to $1,000 a month. Neither survey says when it was run, so use the band as a guide for comparing quotes and ask each provider which tasks the fee covers.

How much does local SEO cost?

Local SEO costs $1,557 a month on average, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, against an average of $2,917 a month for SEO in general. Local SEO is the work for a business that serves customers in one area, such as a town or a region. Ahrefs does not say when its survey was run, and its page was updated August 15, 2024, so treat the figure as a guide.

Do SEO agencies charge more than freelancers?

SEO agencies charge more than freelancers in both major surveys. Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers put the average monthly fee at $3,209 for agencies and $1,348.63 for freelancers, counting each respondent at the top of their price band. Backlinko, with a different method, estimates that agencies charge 30% more on average than freelancers. An agency is a company with a team, so compare the tasks each quote includes.

What hourly rate do SEO providers charge?

SEO providers most often charge $75 to $100 an hour, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, where 24% of respondents charged that rate and 47% charged between $75 and $200. Backlinko's survey reports an average hourly rate of $50 to $100. An hourly price suits a single piece of work, such as a review of the site before a redesign, better than steady monthly work.

What does a $501 to $1,000 a month SEO plan include?

A $501 to $1,000 a month SEO plan commonly includes technical fixes and content suggestions on top of basic changes to your pages and simple reporting, according to Backlinko's pricing survey. Backlinko links this band to an established small business. Technical fixes are repairs to how the site is built so that search engines can read it. Ask the provider for the list of tasks in each month before you sign.

Why do SEO prices differ so much between countries?

SEO prices differ between countries, and Backlinko's pricing survey measured the gap. It found that monthly fees under $500 come mostly from providers in India and Latin America, where 42% of providers charge at that level, while 7% of providers in the US, the UK and Australia charge that little. Whatever the country, judge each quote by its list of work and by how the provider will report to you.

What do SEO agencies that serve small businesses charge?

SEO agencies that serve small businesses charge under $1,000 a month in most cases, according to SE Ranking's pricing survey with Duda: 64% of its 260 agencies charged below that figure, and 94% of those agencies serve small or local businesses. SE Ranking notes that its sample may not be large enough to reach statistical significance, so use the figure as a guide when you compare quotes from agencies.

Is a cheap SEO offer a warning sign?

A cheap SEO offer is common in the market, and it becomes a warning sign when the provider cannot list the work behind the price. SE Ranking found that 30% of the agencies in its data charge less than $500 a month. Backlinko names unusually cheap pricing, compared with other quotes, as a warning sign. Ask each provider what it will do in the first month, then compare the prices.

Can I pay Google to rank higher in search results?

You cannot pay Google to rank higher in its organic search results. Google states that it never accepts money to include or rank sites in its search results, and that it costs nothing to appear in the organic results, which are the unpaid listings. Advertising with Google has no effect on those listings. Any SEO fee that claims to include a payment to Google for placement deserves a direct question.

Should I pay more for SEO with guaranteed rankings?

Paying more for SEO with guaranteed rankings buys a promise that Google says nobody can make. Google's page "Do you need an SEO?" states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and it tells owners to beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings or a special relationship with Google. A fair SEO fee pays for a clear list of work and honest reports on the results.

How much does SEO cost a small business?

Survey figures for agencies, consultancies and freelancers set side by side, with the work that each monthly price band pays for.

See if customers can find you

SEO for a small business most often costs $501 to $1,000 a month: Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers found that band the most common, and Backlinko places small-business monthly fees in the same band. Ahrefs puts local SEO at $1,557 a month on average. The price rises with the type of provider, the provider's country, the amount of work and the competition in your trade.

What do the surveys say a month of SEO costs?

SEO, short for search engine optimization, is the work of helping Google and other search tools find and understand your website, so that people who search for what you sell can reach you. Most providers sell this work as a retainer, which is a fixed fee paid every month for an agreed amount of ongoing work. Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO service providers found that 78.2% of them charge this way, so the monthly figure is the first one an owner needs to understand.

Three public surveys give figures an owner can check. Ahrefs polled 439 providers, and its page was updated August 15, 2024. Backlinko, which is owned by Semrush, surveyed over 300 SEO professionals with experience from 1 to 10+ years, and its page was updated December 29, 2025. SE Ranking, working with Duda, built a set of data from 260 agencies, 94% of which serve small or local businesses, and published it on December 13, 2024. None of the three says when its survey was run, so read every figure as a picture of the market before those dates.

The table sets the main figures side by side. Each line names the survey that reported it, because the three surveys asked different people and counted in different ways.

SEO retainers and hourly rates reported by three provider surveys, in dollars as each survey reports them. Ahrefs page updated August 15, 2024; Backlinko page updated December 29, 2025; SE Ranking published December 13, 2024.
Survey	What it measured	Figure reported
Ahrefs (439 providers)	Average monthly retainer, agencies	$3,209 a month
Ahrefs	Average monthly retainer, consultancies	$3,250 a month
Ahrefs	Average monthly retainer, freelancers	$1,348.63 a month
Ahrefs	Average cost of SEO, all types	$2,917 a month
Ahrefs	Average cost of local SEO	$1,557 a month
Ahrefs	Most common retainer band	$501 to $1,000 a month, charged by 20.4% of respondents
Ahrefs	Share charging $2,000 a month or less	68.8% of respondents
Ahrefs	Most common hourly rate	$75 to $100 an hour, charged by 24% of respondents
Backlinko (over 300 professionals)	Average monthly cost of SEO	$1,000 to $2,500 a month
Backlinko	Most common retainer band	$1,001 to $2,500 a month
Backlinko	Small-business retainer band	$501 to $1,000 a month
Backlinko	Average hourly rate	$50 to $100 an hour
Backlinko	Agencies compared with freelancers	Agencies charge 30% more on average, by Backlinko's estimate
SE Ranking (260 agencies)	Agencies charging under $1,000 a month	64% of agencies
SE Ranking	Agencies charging less than $500 a month	30% of agencies
SE Ranking	Agencies charging more than $5,000 a month	2% of agencies

Why do the three surveys disagree?

They disagree because each one measured something different. Ahrefs calculated its averages for agencies, consultancies and freelancers by assuming that every respondent charges the top of their price band. Its average of $3,209 a month for agencies therefore sits at the upper edge of what those agencies reported.

Backlinko reports ranges in place of single averages. Its average monthly cost for SEO is $1,000 to $2,500, and it calls $1,001 to $2,500 a month the most common retainer range. SE Ranking counted agencies alone, and most of them serve small or local businesses: 64% of its agencies charge under $1,000 a month, 30% charge less than $500, and 2% charge more than $5,000. SE Ranking itself warns that its sample may not be large enough to reach statistical significance, which in plain words means a larger group could give different figures.

So which number should an owner trust? The truth is that the most common band tells you more than any average. Ahrefs found that $501 to $1,000 a month was the most common retainer, charged by 20.4% of respondents, and Backlinko places small-business retainers in exactly the same band of $501 to $1,000. When two surveys with different methods arrive at the same band, that band is a fair place to start a comparison of quotes.

What do agencies, consultancies and freelancers each charge?

The type of provider changes the price. An agency is a company with a team, and a freelancer is one person working alone. Ahrefs also counted consultancies as a separate group. Its averages, calculated at the top of each price band, were $3,209 a month for agencies, $3,250 for consultancies and $1,348.63 for freelancers.

Backlinko, with its own method, estimates that agencies charge 30% more on average than freelancers. That gap is smaller than the gap between the Ahrefs averages, which is one more reason to compare quotes by the work they list and to read each survey as one view of the market.

Some providers charge by the hour, which suits a single piece of work, let us say a review of your site before a redesign. In the Ahrefs survey, $75 to $100 an hour was the most common rate, charged by 24% of respondents, and 47% charged between $75 and $200 an hour. Backlinko reports an average of $50 to $100 an hour. A one-time review of a whole site is its own market, and our article on what an SEO audit costs covers it in detail.

What pushes the price up or down?

Five things move a quote, and the surveys give figures for most of them.

Where your customers are. Ahrefs puts the average cost of local SEO, for a business that serves one area, at $1,557 a month, against $2,917 a month for SEO in general.
Where the provider works. Backlinko found that retainers under $500 a month come mostly from providers in India and Latin America, where 42% of providers charge at that level, against 7% of providers in the US, the UK and Australia.
Who does the work. Agencies charge more than freelancers in both the Ahrefs data and the Backlinko data.
How much work each month holds. Backlinko's price bands add work as the fee rises, from basic page changes and simple reporting at the bottom to a custom strategy and dedicated specialists at the top.
How hard your market is. Backlinko links competitive industries to its band above $2,500 and up to $5,000 a month, and places retainers above $5,000 at the enterprise level.

What does a month's fee buy at each level?

A price means little until you know the work behind it. Backlinko published a table that links each price band to a type of business and to the services commonly included. We reproduce its bands and its service list below, in plain words. Backlinko marks each higher band as adding to the work of the band below it.

What a monthly SEO fee commonly includes at each price band, as described by Backlinko (page updated December 29, 2025; survey date not stated).
Monthly fee band (Backlinko)	Business type Backlinko links to it	Work Backlinko lists as commonly included
Under $500	Small local business	Basic on-page SEO, meaning changes to the words, titles and headings of your own pages, and simple reporting
$501 to $1,000	Established small business	Adds technical fixes, which are repairs to how the site is built so search engines can read it, and suggestions for new content
$1,001 to $2,500	Mid-sized business	Adds writing new content and basic link building, which means earning links to your site from other websites
Above $2,500, up to $5,000	Business in a competitive industry	Adds advanced technical work and active link building
Above $5,000	Enterprise or large business	Adds a custom strategy and specialists dedicated to the account

What does Google say a provider should deliver for the fee?

Google gives its own list of useful services that SEO providers offer, with no prices attached. It names a review of your site's content or structure; technical advice on hosting (the service that keeps your site online), redirects (sending visitors from an old web address to a new one), error pages and JavaScript (code that runs in the visitor's browser); content development; keyword research, which means finding the words customers type; SEO training; expertise in specific markets and places; and preparing a site for answers written by AI tools. Read any proposal against this list. Each line of a monthly fee should point to one of these jobs.

Google also suggests what to ask for in return for the money. A provider should share all the changes it makes to your site, with detailed information about each recommendation and the reasoning behind it. If the work starts with an audit, meaning a full review of the site, Google says the audit should give realistic estimates of improvement and an estimate of the work involved. At that stage you should grant read access to Search Console, which lets the provider look at your data without changing anything.

One cost sits outside every invoice: your own time. Backlinko notes that most SEO projects need the owner to approve content and major changes, to give access to the website and its data, and to share knowledge about customers.

Where do paid tools fit into the bill?

Part of what an agency charges pays for its tools, the subscriptions to programs that track rankings, study competitors and scan websites for faults. At their list prices on 2026-09-27, the entry plans were $139 a month for Semrush's SEO plan billed monthly, $129 a month for Ahrefs Lite and $99 a month for Moz Pro Standard paid monthly. Screaming Frog's SEO Spider, a program that scans a site page by page, costs £199 per user per year, and its free version scans up to 500 page addresses.

A small business doing its own work can start with free tools. Google Search Console is a free service from Google, Bing Webmaster Tools is free to start, creating a Google Business Profile is free, and Google Analytics is free of charge. Google also says that third-party tools have no access to its internal ranking data and cannot guarantee performance, and it encourages every site owner to use Search Console for data that comes directly from Google Search. The full list of paid tools a large company buys, with their prices, is on our page about what big companies pay for.

Which prices should make you careful?

SE Ranking found that 30% of the agencies in its data charge less than $500 a month, so a low fee is common in this market. The warning signs are prices attached to things Google says nobody can sell.

A higher fee for a guaranteed ranking. Google states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and it tells owners to beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings.
A charge to submit your site to Google. Google says the vast majority of sites in its results are found and added automatically, and it warns about anyone who advertises a "priority submit" to Google.
A package that includes paying Google. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in its search results, and appearing in the organic results, the unpaid listings, costs nothing.
A premium for a service "approved by Google". Google does not evaluate third-party SEO services, and it tells owners to be wary of that claim and of those who make it.
A quote far below the others with no list of work. Backlinko names unusually cheap pricing, compared with other quotes, as a warning sign. Ask what is done each month, and compare prices after that.

How should a small business set its SEO budget?

Start from the work, and let the price follow. Google says a small local business can probably do much of its SEO work itself, beginning with Google's SEO Starter Guide, so the first decision is which tasks you will keep and which you want done for you. Our guide to doing SEO yourself lists the tasks an owner can handle alone.

Licheo offers another route. 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 keeps the work going every month. Nothing goes live until the owner approves it, and Licheo works without long contracts. It is the website, search and AI work that big companies pay whole teams for, done for your small business. For Licheo's own fee, contact us for pricing.

Whichever route you choose, these steps keep the comparison fair.

Write down the work you want each month: repairs to the site, new pages, care of your Business Profile, and a report.
Ask several providers to price that same list, and ask each one what it will do in the first month.
Compare each quote with the survey bands above, and ask why a price sits outside them.
Ask how much notice you must give to stop, and who owns the accounts and the content. Our page on SEO without a long contract explains those terms.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Small business SEO. The other parts:

Questions people ask

How much does SEO cost per month for a small business?: SEO for a small business most often costs $501 to $1,000 a month, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers (updated August 15, 2024), where 20.4% of respondents charged that retainer, a fixed monthly fee. Backlinko's survey places small-business monthly fees in the same band of $501 to $1,000 a month. Neither survey says when it was run, so use the band as a guide for comparing quotes and ask each provider which tasks the fee covers.
How much does local SEO cost?: Local SEO costs $1,557 a month on average, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, against an average of $2,917 a month for SEO in general. Local SEO is the work for a business that serves customers in one area, such as a town or a region. Ahrefs does not say when its survey was run, and its page was updated August 15, 2024, so treat the figure as a guide.
Do SEO agencies charge more than freelancers?: SEO agencies charge more than freelancers in both major surveys. Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers put the average monthly fee at $3,209 for agencies and $1,348.63 for freelancers, counting each respondent at the top of their price band. Backlinko, with a different method, estimates that agencies charge 30% more on average than freelancers. An agency is a company with a team, so compare the tasks each quote includes.
What hourly rate do SEO providers charge?: SEO providers most often charge $75 to $100 an hour, according to Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, where 24% of respondents charged that rate and 47% charged between $75 and $200. Backlinko's survey reports an average hourly rate of $50 to $100. An hourly price suits a single piece of work, such as a review of the site before a redesign, better than steady monthly work.
What does a $501 to $1,000 a month SEO plan include?: A $501 to $1,000 a month SEO plan commonly includes technical fixes and content suggestions on top of basic changes to your pages and simple reporting, according to Backlinko's pricing survey. Backlinko links this band to an established small business. Technical fixes are repairs to how the site is built so that search engines can read it. Ask the provider for the list of tasks in each month before you sign.
Why do SEO prices differ so much between countries?: SEO prices differ between countries, and Backlinko's pricing survey measured the gap. It found that monthly fees under $500 come mostly from providers in India and Latin America, where 42% of providers charge at that level, while 7% of providers in the US, the UK and Australia charge that little. Whatever the country, judge each quote by its list of work and by how the provider will report to you.
What do SEO agencies that serve small businesses charge?: SEO agencies that serve small businesses charge under $1,000 a month in most cases, according to SE Ranking's pricing survey with Duda: 64% of its 260 agencies charged below that figure, and 94% of those agencies serve small or local businesses. SE Ranking notes that its sample may not be large enough to reach statistical significance, so use the figure as a guide when you compare quotes from agencies.
Is a cheap SEO offer a warning sign?: A cheap SEO offer is common in the market, and it becomes a warning sign when the provider cannot list the work behind the price. SE Ranking found that 30% of the agencies in its data charge less than $500 a month. Backlinko names unusually cheap pricing, compared with other quotes, as a warning sign. Ask each provider what it will do in the first month, then compare the prices.
Can I pay Google to rank higher in search results?: You cannot pay Google to rank higher in its organic search results. Google states that it never accepts money to include or rank sites in its search results, and that it costs nothing to appear in the organic results, which are the unpaid listings. Advertising with Google has no effect on those listings. Any SEO fee that claims to include a payment to Google for placement deserves a direct question.
Should I pay more for SEO with guaranteed rankings?: Paying more for SEO with guaranteed rankings buys a promise that Google says nobody can make. Google's page "Do you need an SEO?" states that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and it tells owners to beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings or a special relationship with Google. A fair SEO fee pays for a clear list of work and honest reports on the results.

Sources

SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? 439 People Polled, Ahrefs. Updated August 15, 2024, accessed 27 September 2026.
SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? (New Data + Cheat Sheet), Backlinko (Semrush). Page updated December 29, 2025, accessed 27 September 2026.
SEO pricing survey insights: How much does SEO cost in 2025?, SE Ranking (with Duda). Published December 13, 2024, accessed 27 September 2026.
Do you need an SEO?, Google Search Central. Updated June 5, 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
Google Search's guidance on using third-party SEO tools, services, and advice, Google Search Central. Updated June 5, 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google Search Central. Updated December 10, 2025, accessed 27 September 2026.
Semrush Plans and Pricing, Semrush. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Ahrefs Plans & pricing, Ahrefs. Accessed 27 September 2026.
Moz Pro pricing, Moz. Accessed 27 September 2026.
SEO Spider Pricing, Screaming Frog. 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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