SEO Pricing 101: What Should you Charge?

• Recently we received a question from a new SEO. He wanted to get our opinion on how to most effectively charge for SEO services. Specifically, he was asking for insight on how we here at SEN approach client pricing. This is a great question and one we know will be of interest to most of you reading this post.

SEO pricing is an interesting topic because there are a number of cost pricing approaches out there. Whether you are a private individual SEO consultant or part of a larger firm, how you promote and bundle your pricing services can make or break your success.

So with that in mind, that begs the question: how do current SEO firms & consultants charge for their services?

Here, is a brief examination of the six most popular pricing models currently being used by a majority of the SEO industry in some variation:

• 1. Hourly Consulting: This is the most common and simplest pricing model available. Work is based on how long it takes for you to complete the assigned tasks. Rates can vary widely from a $40-$60 level for entry-level SEOs to a mid-range of $100-$200 for mid-tier consulting assistance, to a high of $300-$500 for the most in-demand firms and consultants.
• 2. Contract or Month-to-Month Services: This may be the most popular form of pricing in the SEO world these days. Clients pay either a fixed contract covering a predetermined amount of months OR sign-up for a recurring monthly campaign that usually involves a required number of months on the front-end. Since most SEO campaigns need 2-3 months to show results, this kind of SEO pricing structure is popular in getting customers to 'stick around' for the endgame.
• 3. Pay for Results (Rankings or Traffic): This is another common pricing structure. Many sites only want to rank competitively at the top of Google for specific keyword phrases, or are interested in reaching certain pre-defined levels of targeted traffic.