You’ve been doing SEO for your company in-house for a few years and now it’s becoming harder to see results, or the company is growing and you just don’t have time to focus on search engine Marketing. Whatever the reason may be, you’re looking to outsource some or all of your SEO campaign. How much should you expect to pay for digital marketing services and for that matter consulting?

“There is no one correct answer for how much you should pay for SEO services”

There is no one correct answer for how much you should pay for SEO services. There are several different options and types of services. Which option makes the most sense often depends on where you are with your business. If you’re a small company with just a handful of employees, you may need to outsource most of your marketing to keep up with business. If you’re a larger company that can afford to take on salary, you may want to keep some of your SEO work in-house and hire an SEO Consultant for their expertise. Let’s take a look at each type of service to see how much you could be paying for SEO.

SEO Freelancer

The SEO freelancer is someone who is relatively new to the craft of search engine optimization. This person typically has an expertise in one area of SEO; copy writing, programming, HTML, keyword research, link building, etc. A freelancer may be a great option for a company who has experience in SEO and is confident in their ability to manage a search engine marketing campaign. A freelancer will bring expertise to the table that may not be available in current employees or part of the digital marketing manager’s role. A freelancer should bring muscle to a campaign but should not be responsible for organic improvements or rankings. If your company fails to improve their SEO performance using outside freelance help, it’s not the fault of your SEO copy writer making $30 an hour.

“A freelancer should bring muscle to a campaign but should not be responsible for organic improvements or rankings”

A freelancer with a few years of SEO experience can help write copy, perhaps do some keyword research and support your internal team. A freelancer does not make sense if you have no in-house marketing manager or internal resources to help manage a campaign. Freelancers can support your campaign but will generally lack experience building and running a strategy. Growth with freelancers alone is often a result of chance. Companies that hire freelance-only SEO run the risk of spamming Google which can lead to severe organic penalties. Proceed with caution when hiring freelance talent on the cheap.

Price Range: $20-80 per hour, non-retainer, project based pricing, based on expertise

Total Monthly Spend Range: $300-2,500 based on your campaign needs

SEO Consultant

A level above the freelancer is the SEO consultant. A consultant might manage or hire other freelancers to help run their campaigns, or they may do all of the work needed on each client. Within SEO consultants there is often a wide range of expertise and skills. You may have consultants that do SEO alone and will not touch PPC advertising. You may have some consultants that do PPC, social media, email marketing, and more. Consultants are a great match for a company with an in-house marketing team or a small business with limited resources.

“An SEO consultant is generally only as good as the resources you put behind them.”

What a consultant should bring to the table is experience and strategy. Your consultant should be able to direct an SEO strategy along with your in-house team or freelancers. Your consultant may also manage their own contract resources to fill any gaps in your campaigns based on your budget.

An SEO consultant is generally only as good as the resources you put behind them. Since consultants are not an agency with salary employees (although some do have several employees), they rely on your internal or external resources to execute on campaigns.

A consultant generally asks for a set retainer of hours each month to help manage a campaign. What a consultant charges is generally based on their level of expertise. A new consultant or someone who just left the corporate world might charge as low as $50 per hour. A consultant who has been in the industry for several years or has worked several years at a large agency, might charge upwards of $200-300 per hour. You should be able to find a competent consultant in the $80-150 per hour range.

Beware of consultants or SEO services that charge ultra-low retainer fees like $199-399 per month. It’s very likely your work will be outsourced to cheap international SEO services. There are few good options at a low price range that offer a good return on investment. It’s likely you will be throwing your money away at sub-par work that can damage your brand. Keep in mind at the $750 per month spend level, your consultant will be very limited in how much hands on work they can execute each month. In a competitive market, giving your consultant too few hours per month can prevent growth.

Price Range: $50-200 per hour, retainer based pricing, project based pricing, based on level of need and budget

Total Monthly Spend Range: $750-7,500 per month + internal/external resources, most ask for 12-36 hours per month based on campaign size

Full Service Agency

When your campaign has reached the limit of using freelancers, you may need to hire a full service marketing agency. There are different types of agencies based on their size and level of expertise. A boutique agency may not have anyone with strong SEO skills in-house so they could hire an outside SEO consultant to fill that gap. A larger agency will likely have one or two SEO experts to run your campaigns. Most local digital agencies will provide several other marketing services outside of SEO like website design, PR, banner ads, print marketing materials and more.

If you’re a company with several different marketing needs in a less competitive market or a local company, a local full service digital agency might be for you. If you’re in a more competitive market with a national focus, an experienced SEO consultant or digital firm that specializes in SEO might be a better choice. Most local PR or traditional ad firms are terrible at managing PPC or SEO. Many small full service firms see SEO or pay-per-click advertising (PPC) as a profit channel but lack the expertise to execute on a campaign. Since SEO isn’t how they make most of their money, they can afford to be mediocre. Where a full service firm lacks in SEO, they make up for in creative talent or branding.

“Most local PR agencies or traditional advertising firms are terrible at PPC or SEO.”

A full service agency will need to cover their employee’s salary plus make a profit, which means they need to bill out enough work to make up for the two or three people running your campaigns. Due to the overhead cost and additional project management time, a full service agency tends to charge a premium over consultants and freelancers. As a business owner or marketing director, you need to decide if this premium is worth giving up some of your return on investment. The value most full service firms provide is easy management on the part of the hiring company and turn-key marketing services. They generally offer turn-key marketing solutions, which include SEO, that take little thought other than budgeting on the part of the hiring company. It’s much harder to know exactly what SEO means at each firm. Some firms may consider simply blogging each week an SEO activity.

“[Full service firms] offer turn-key marketing solutions, which include SEO, that take little thought other than budgeting…”

A local full service agency may take on a client at a lower than average SEO spend per month but only if this includes other projects like a website, mobile app, or PR campaign. The total cost of all services usually exceeds 3-5k per month. For a full service agency that takes on several marketing activities, the range of spend can go much higher than a typical SEO engagement. Avoid a full service firm that claims “SEO is dead” or pushes a mobile app as the solution to your marketing problems. Sure, a new website may improve your SEO performance but by how much and at what cost? A new website or app can sometimes set you back several months from a marketing perspective.

Price Range: $125-300 per hour, retainer, project based pricing

Total Monthly Spend Range: $3,500-20,000, based on all marketing needs, will likely include several other services outside of SEO services

Internationally Outsourced SEO

These be treacherous waters! You may have received several spam emails to the tune of “Dear Sir or Madam…” and wondered if these cheap overseas digital marketing services work. Many offer freelance SEO services or full service agency services at a much less than market rate. The result is poor grammar and other mistakes Google hates.

This is what cheap SEO does to a website

Talk to a few business owners who have tried using overseas freelancers and there are some real horror stories. If you have a very low budget, at the very least work with an SEO consultant who uses some of these resources but re-checks their work. Often these services can be more work recreating or rewriting than they are worth. A specific task like filtering a spreadsheet or helping with research may be a good fit. If you’re looking for a sustainable growth strategy or content marketing, try to avoid using these services.

Price Range: $8-25 USD per hour

Total Monthly Spend Range: Many offer $299-999 per month packages

More Resources

SEO Pricing and Cost of Services

How Much Should I Spend On SEO Services

Low Cost SEO Will Cost You

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photo credit: Strelka Institute photo Samsung Mobile and Vector School: How to create a mobile app with adjusted color (license)

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