Much Does It Cost to Hire an SEO?

At the risk of jumping straight to the conclusion, the answer depends on a multitude of factors.

The market for professional SEO services in the UK is enormous and brands and businesses of all sizes are turning to freelancers, contractors and established SEO agencies to help them climb the rankings.

Consequently, competition is at an all-time high among providers. There are products and packages available to suit all requirements, anything from around £50 per job to more than £10,000 per month.

To a degree, you usually get what you pay for with SEO. If you only need the basics covered, you will not need to pay a great deal. However if you are serious about outperforming rival businesses in a highly competitive space, world-class SEO does not come cheap.

Cheap SEO Services – £50 per Month

At one extreme of the spectrum, you will find some SEOs willing to help you out for no more than around £50 per month. The problem being that these kinds of super-low-end services are unlikely to benefit from anything you could not handle yourself.

Paying next to nothing for SEO inevitably means getting next to nothing in return. It can be tempting for smaller businesses to focus predominantly on rock-bottom prices, it is far more important to consider cost-effectiveness and overall value for money.

If you are genuinely expecting to generate a ton of organic traffic for £50 a month, you are in for a major disappointment.

Mid-Range SEO – Around £1,000 per Month

This is a fairly vague estimate, as mid-range SEO covers most services from £500 to £3,000 per month. At this level, you can expect the involvement of a skilled team of digital marketers with a decent track record.

Mid-range SEO is the preferred option for most businesses, as it is exceptionally versatile in nature. You discuss your objectives with the agency, you map out an SEO strategy together and the agency handles everything you cannot handle yourself.

You can also expect certain assurances at this level, such as a free trial, a rolling contract or even a money-back guarantee. SEO agencies within this bracket should be able to provide proof of their prowess; this would involve customer reviews and recommendations, etc.

High-End SEO – £3,000+ Per Month

The best SEOs in the business take things to extremes for their top-paying clients. At this level, you can more or less hand 100% of your SEO activities over to the agency and watch as your success story unfolds.

You need to present a rundown of your objectives, ensuring you are on the same page in terms of priorities and let them get on with it.

They will audit your website, conduct ongoing competitor analysis, research the best keywords for your business, improve your content, boost the performance of your website, take control of your link building strategy aswell as a lot of behind the scenes work; a high price for SEO perhaps, but unbeatable value for money when you consider what you take home in return.