The Short Answer: What SEO Costs
SEO costs most businesses $500–$5,000 a month in 2026. In Ahrefs' survey of SEO providers, 63% of businesses spend in that band and the average retainer is $2,917 a month; local SEO averages $1,557. Paid by the hour, the most common rate is $75–$100 for agencies and freelancers and $100–$150 for consultants, and a one-off project (an audit, a migration) most often costs $2,501–$5,000.
Those are other companies' published figures, checked November 2, 2026, not ours. Mark Studios sells its SEO service as a flat monthly plan priced in the instant quote, so there is no Mark Studios price on this page.
SEO Prices by Pricing Model
Most SEO is sold three ways: a monthly retainer, an hourly rate or a fixed project. Ahrefs found 78.2% of providers offer a retainer, 48.9% per-project pricing and 34.8% hourly.
| Pricing model | Typical published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | $1,000–$5,000 a month; average $2,917 | WebFX's SEO pricing guide; Ahrefs survey |
| Most common retainer band | $1,001–$2,500 a month | Backlinko's survey of 300 SEO professionals |
| Hourly, agency or consultant | $75–$200 an hour; US agencies average $147.93 | WebFX; Semrush's survey of nearly 400 providers |
| Hourly, marketplace freelancer | $15–$35 an hour (median) | Upwork's SEO expert rates |
| One-off project | $500–$5,000; most common $2,501–$5,000 | WebFX; Ahrefs survey |
| Do it yourself | $129–$139 a month for a tool, plus your hours | Ahrefs Lite $129; Semrush SEO plan $139 billed monthly |
The averages in surveys like these are rough. Ahrefs builds its averages by taking the top of each price band a respondent picked, so they lean high, and its India-based respondents mostly charge $1,000 or less a month. If you hire in the US, expect the retainer bands, not the marketplace medians.
How Much SEO Costs a Small Business per Month
A small local business usually lands between $500 and $3,500 a month. WebFX puts startups at $500–$1,500 and small businesses at $1,500–$3,500. Backlinko's tiers are lower at the bottom: under $500 for a small local business with basic on-page work and reporting, $501–$1,000 once technical fixes and content suggestions are added, and $1,001–$2,500 for a mid-sized business whose plan includes content and link building.
The price climbs with competition, not with the size of your website. A plumber in one town and a personal-injury law firm in a large city can have the same 20-page site and very different SEO bills, because far more firms are publishing and paying to rank for the law firm's searches. If you're in that second group, see how we approach video for law firms, where the same search-led thinking applies.
Freelancer, Consultant or Agency: Who Charges What
Agencies and consultants charge more than twice what freelancers do: an average of $3,209 and $3,250 a month against $1,349 in Ahrefs' data. Backlinko measured a smaller gap, with agencies charging about 30% more than freelancers. Experience moves the price too. In the Ahrefs survey, providers with 5–10 years in business averaged a $3,648 retainer, more than double those with two years or less.
More money buys more hands, not a different kind of SEO. An agency retainer usually bundles a strategist, writers, a technical person and reporting. A freelancer does fewer of those well. Decide which of the jobs below you actually need, and buy that.
What You're Paying For
- Technical fixes. Speed, indexing, broken pages and site structure. Often a one-off project, then light upkeep. A new site built right needs less; see what a small business website costs.
- Content. New pages and posts aimed at what customers search. This is the ongoing work, and usually the largest part of a retainer.
- Links and local listings. Mentions from other sites, plus your Google Business Profile and directories for local searches.
- Reporting. Rankings, traffic and leads each month. Useful, but a report alone doesn't move rankings.
- AI search. Getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews now sits on many proposals. Our guide to getting video cited by AI search covers the video side.
Before You Sign an SEO Retainer: A 6-Point Check
- Walk away from guarantees. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and to beware anyone who claims to.
- Ask what gets done each month. "Ongoing optimization" isn't a deliverable. Four posts, ten fixes, one report is.
- Check the minimum term. WebFX lists 6–12 months or more as the typical retainer length, because results take time. Know your exit before you sign.
- Keep the accounts in your name. Your website, Google Search Console and Google Business Profile should stay yours, with the provider added as a user.
- Read the content before it goes live. Pages that don't sound like your business won't convert the traffic they bring.
- Measure leads, not only rankings. Ask which pages will be tracked to calls, forms or sales, so month six can be judged on money.
Where Mark Studios Fits
Mark Studios sells the content part of SEO as a monthly website SEO service: four new blog posts a month aimed at what your customers type into Google, written in your voice, published on your site and set up with a search title, description and links to your other pages. You read every post before it goes live, and nobody promises you a #1 spot. If you're comparing writers, our list of SEO blog writing services shows the other options side by side.
Mark Studios has delivered 8,000+ orders for 4,500+ clients, holds a 4.9★ rating and Top Rated status on Fiverr and delivers 99% on time. It also builds the pages that SEO sends people to; see what a landing page design costs.
The Bottom Line
SEO costs most businesses $500–$5,000 a month, small local businesses usually $500–$3,500, and a one-off project about $2,500–$5,000. Decide which jobs you need (technical, content, links, reporting) before you compare quotes, and walk away from anyone who guarantees a ranking.
