SEO price positioning – Complete guide [Worldwide]

An SEO project to get your site on the first page of Google can cost between 250 USD and 2,500 USD per month.

On average, to start seeing tangible and satisfactory results, it takes between 4 and 6 months of work.

If you multiply that amount by the above costs, a search engine optimization project would run, at a minimum, between 1,000 USD and 10,000 USD.

However, it all depends.

These numbers are just an estimate of what is being charged around the world.

If you prefer, we leave you this same article in video format:

If you want to continue reading, here below you will find the rest of the content.

Web positioning: prices by region

To calculate what the cost of the project you want or how much money you can ask for when doing a job of this style, you need to evaluate several things.

The main aspects to take into account are:

• Geographical location of the agency or freelancer that offers this type of service.
• Reputation and experience of the SEO provider.

A survey conducted by Ahrefs to more than 350 agencies, consultants and freelancers specialized in web positioning determined the following figures:

SEO prices per hour:

• In the United States, the most common cost per hour of SEO work is between 100 USD and 150 USD ; in Europe it ranges from 75 USD to 100 USD ; while in Latin America the average price is 60 USD .

Monthly SEO prices:

• In the United States, the average is between 2,500 USD and 5,000 USD ; prices in Europe range from 250 USD to 1,000 USD; and in Latin America, the most common cost is between 500 USD and 1,000 USD.

How is SEO charged? 

Many people, startups and companies have the same questions:

• How much does it cost to be first in Google?
• What is the expense that I must make to position my products and services on the web?
  
• How much money do I have to invest to lead my industry on the Internet and sell more?
  
• How much can I charge for doing this type of service?
• How to explain to an SEO client the reason for my fees? 

In short, the big question is: 

How much does SEO cost?

The cost of a web positioning project has always been a section that confuses the heads of professionals who are dedicated to this and those who wish to make an investment in this field.

The first thing you should understand is that SEO services ( Search Engine Optimization or optimization for search engines) have two main ways of being quoted:

• By campaign.

Content Marketing (text production) and SEO Maintenance are charged in this way. If you want to know what each one is about, click on them. 

• By specific project.

The services that are quoted in this way are:

Analysis/SEO Audits : if you want to know the current status of your company in Google with respect to the competition, the most important searches in your industry and the words with which you should be positioned, you can request this service. After obtaining the result, you will decide if it is worth investing in another SEO effort. 

SEO On Page : if you want to fix the structure of your website to start attracting qualified traffic, you can hire this service so that an agency can redesign your portal according to the best market practices, along with the key texts that position your website. Mark on the first page of Google. 

So, how can we divide the SEO services that are charged per campaign from those that are priced as specific projects ?

Simple: those services that are canceled with a single payment are considered specific projects and those that require a monthly or continuous payment are campaigns .

Here I leave you a small summary table with what is explained:

In the end, both types of services are tied to a number of working hours and a cost per SEO hour , which will be determined by the geographic location of the agency or freelancer that has been hired.

How much to charge for SEO? How much does it cost to position yourself on Google?

Rand Fishkin , one of the most authoritative voices in the industry, conducted a survey answered by 400 people involved in the SEO world.

The study left the following numbers:

How much does an SEO consultant or freelancer charge?

• To charge their clients, 65.85% of independent consultants use  monthly quotes  calculated according to working hours. 
• The average cost of these  monthly contributions is between 500 USD and 2,500 USD.
• Among that average, the range of 1,000 USD – 2,500 USD per month is the most common ( 29.27% ).

How much do SEO agencies charge, on average?

• 87.23% of the agencies use monthly quotes that respond to a cost per hour of work established by the agency.
• 22.34% earn between 1,000 USD and 2,500 USD per month.
• 26.60% earn monthly between 2,500 USD and 5,000 USD.

These figures are a worldwide standard in everything that has to do with an SEO service:

• Keyword research.
• Realization of SEO strategy.
• Website optimization.
• Content creation.
• Monitoring.

It is possible, of course, that in the world market you will find costs above or below those mentioned above.

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Are you looking for an SEO Agency? You have come to the right place.

If you want to know the quality of our service, request a free SEO analysis of your website .

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How much does SEO positioning cost? Companies charge more than individuals

After surfing through different websites such as NeoAttack , Global SEO , OuterBox and HolaSEO , we came to the conclusion that SEO costs vary depending on the business model of those who provide these services.

Freelancers charge an average of 68 USD per hour , while agencies charge around 134 USD.

This trend is repeated for monthly quotes: agencies charge roughly twice as much as freelancers .

experience counts

Another factor that affects the SEO price has to do with the years of experience of the person providing the service.

Those who have been in the industry for more than 2 years are paid 39.4% more per hour and their monthly quotes are 100% more expensive .

The success stories that the professional or the agency has accumulated also represent an important factor.

Investment and not expense

Now, you must understand SEO and content marketing as an investment, not an expense.

These two tools will allow you to generate more visits, get new ideal clients and close more sales.

You have to be patient, yes. It’s a marathon, not a 100 meter race. 

Neema Kapoor, in an article published for the Relevance site , explains how there is a disappointment gap  between the fourth and fifth month of an SEO campaign.

At that time, you invest a lot of effort, but receive little return.

However, the statistics show that this gap will close and profits will rise, while the efforts will be less and less.

The three stages go by names: honeymoon, pothole, and balance.

In the current ecosystem, the combination of SEO and content marketing is the best pair of tools to achieve a high return on investment. 

For its part, advertising is dead : by 2018 the content advertised on Google only received 4 % of the clicks . 

There is no doubt that, in the long term, it is much more profitable to try to rank in Google than to pay for ads.

SEO budget example (Case study with approximate ROI)

Below you can see a sample of how to form a budget for an SEO project .

It can serve as a reference for:

• SEO service providers
• People interested in hiring SEO services

What is important in this presentation is the exercise of the anticipated return on investment .

Why?

Because, beyond showing your prices, you must create a mental image for the prospect of the amount of money they would generate if they hired you.

Invite him to dream big. Get him out of the “How much will this cost me?” mentality. and place it in the “Look at all the profits we can make!” 

With this exercise you will make your prices seem insignificant next to all the return that can be obtained with a good SEO campaign.

This way you will achieve that paradigm shift ( it is not an expense, it is an investment ) that we have been talking about. 

In the budget you will find the following items broken down*:

• Cost per hour of work.
• Number of hours per SEO product.
• Total inversion.

*Some items related to creating a website are present. If you already have a portal, it only takes as a reference what is associated with the other SEO services.