Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Pricing Guide for Marketing Sites

It’s fair to say that search engine optimization (SEO) costs vary widely, based on a number of important factors. In this post, we will give you some real answers and real SEO rates that you can trust. Our goal here is to talk about generating leads for marketing-oriented websites. In a later post, we’ll discuss search engine optimization (SEO) pricing for ecommerce.

Factors that contribute to SEO costs

• Competitiveness of your industry
• The size and scope of your target audience
• Ease of designing your website and SEO optimization
• The geography you improve
• The number of pages, products, services, or categories you want to improve

First let’s get rid of the trash…

Unrealistic SEO Pricing

We’ve all seen ads or emails that hit our inbox: “Your Skyrocket SEO for $99.” It amazes me that there are enough people who believe in things like this that companies can still push these messages so aggressively. Any legitimate SEO company will tell you that honest search engine optimization is a process that makes your website easier to use and more relevant to the people you want to serve. In what other area of ​​your business would you expect to make real professional improvements for a hundred dollars? There is no hope. No matter how small, local or specialty your business is, I can tell you with absolute certainty that any SEO service priced at hundreds of dollars is a waste of your time and money.

What should you expect to pay for SEO services?

Unfortunately, for those companies seeking strategic SEO, there is no standard approach or price. Believe me when I tell you, I wish it existed because it would save a lot of frustration, wasted money and pain for thousands of businesses. Here are some of the overhead costs I think are honest and relevant in 2021 in terms of SEO pricing.

SEO costs for small, local, or very niche businesses

The assumption in these numbers is that we estimate a company with revenue between $2 million and $10 million annually. For companies with significantly less than $2 million in annual income, it is often difficult to justify the expense of hiring an SEO agency. As always, there are exceptions to every rule, so if your company is this big, don’t rule it out, just ask tough questions.

Another assumption in these examples is that the SEO company is providing SEO services that will likely include website usability and conversion optimization, on-page SEO and content creation for market education purposes and transforming your website into a thought leadership channel. .

The estimated SEO investment for a small business should be between $14,000 and $30,000 on an annual basis.

The primary drivers of these numbers are time and skill. Let’s say any SEO company you are interviewing already has a team of 4-5 real professionals that are required to implement a real SEO strategy. At the bottom line of $14,000 per year, this investment is likely to buy less than 100 hours of a pro’s time (based on an average price of $150 per hour). So, the next time you’re evaluating SEO costs and coming in for less than $1,000 a month, ask yourself this question: Would you trust an accountant or attorney who works for $20 or $30 an hour? I suspect you believe in your company too much to take such risks.

SEO pricing for mid-market companies

In this scenario, we’re discussing mid-market companies, which will likely have annual revenues between $8 million and $100 million. I realize this is a very broad range, however, and I can tell you that in my 25 years of experience doing this, the needs of companies within this range are surprisingly similar. Of course, there are differences in size and scope, but the investment ranges I’m about to share will cover that, at least in general terms.

Mid-market companies should expect to invest between $35,000 and $100,000 in annual SEO services.

I use the term “investment” for a reason. SEO shouldn’t be just an expense like IT services. If done correctly, it is a revenue generating activity, and the best SEO companies will not be afraid to help you draw a direct line between the dollars you invest in SEO and the revenue you generate. Not unlike the small business SEO pricing we discussed above, it is easy to underestimate the time and energy required to implement a professional SEO strategy that has a real chance of success in increasing revenue.

For example, a typical industrial manufacturer’s website consists of between 500 and 3,000 pages. Many of these pages are white papers, engineering documents, pdfs, etc. Unfortunately, these pages are usually compiled over years, and are added whenever someone has the time. This is true even in large companies. Usually there is a lot of chaos. When you start adding it, it’s not hard to imagine how a good SEO strategy focused on leveraging all of this content to systematically increase sales could take a hundred hours a month. Search engine optimization takes work. But it is feasible.

SEO Pricing for Enterprise Businesses

We study companies worth over $100 million for the purposes of this post. Let’s be honest about this, most commercial companies focus too much on other things to focus on or invest in SEO. The few that work – we only work with a handful on this front – are the best in the breed. SEO for enterprise organizations can seem almost impossible to someone who wants to do it right. In fact, most companies of this size have many websites – ad agencies love to create a new website for every idea. They have thousands of pages of content and many, many more chefs in the kitchen. As a result, they are slow in making decisions.

All said, it can be done. We have worked with and continue to do business with dozens of companies ranging in value from $300 million to $2 billion. In those cases, we have had leadership commitment and a high degree of success. The key is not to try to solve it all at once. Break strategy down into fast, achievable sprints and make the difference.

Because of these factors, companies of this size that want to commit to growth should expect to invest at least $100,000 annually in SEO. Of course, depending on goals, competition, and the availability of internal resources, this can easily be as high as $300,000.

Hourly rates for SEO

I don’t usually recommend an hourly approach to SEO. It is difficult for both the SEO agency and the client to hold themselves accountable for revenue targets tied to hours. It is also very easy for a customer to get frustrated with the “timer starting” every time the phone rings. Having said that, I will share some reasonable hourly rates that reported most of the numbers above. These are all based on my history with SEO companies or individuals who have real experience and expertise in the SEO field. In our case, the hourly rate we allocate to the customer goes down as their investment in SEO goes up. We feel that customers who make a significant commitment to us deserve a higher degree of effort and time for the dollar.

• SEO shop for one person: $100 to $300 per hour
• Boutique SEO Company (3-5 people): $75-$200 per hour
• Medium-sized SEO company (20-50 people): $120-$200 per hour
• Large SEO firm (50-200 people): $180-$350 per hour

Is it worth paying thousands of dollars for SEO anymore?

I recently wrote a post about whether or not SEO is worth it in 2021. If you have a business that has a chance to grow, the answer is probably yes. It is more necessary than it has ever been. Getting on with Google has never been easier, and people never tire of going to Google first to find answers. The simplest way to answer the question of how much should you budget for SEO is to determine the value of a new customer to your business. Once you know that number, you can work backwards with your average margin, average close rate, and website conversion rate. Using these metrics, you can estimate the value of a new lead.

If you talk to an SEO agency and they tell you about SEO pricing, traffic, and rankings but they don’t talk to you about your business and your profitability, you probably need to go back to Google and find a different SEO company.

If you’re ready to discuss how a tailored SEO strategy can help support your company’s growth and success, reach out to The Karcher Group today. We look forward to building an SEO plan that meets your needs and budget.