SEO in the UK typically costs £500 to £2,500 a month for a small or medium business on an ongoing retainer, or £250 to £2,000 for a one-off audit. Larger and more competitive campaigns can run well past £5,000 a month.
The right budget depends on how competitive your market is, how much work your website needs, and whether you want someone to do the work or just tell you what to do. This guide explains the main pricing models, what each should include, and how to spot SEO that isn’t worth the money.
SEO Costs at a Glance
| Type of SEO | Typical UK price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| One-off SEO audit | £250 to £2,000 | Finding out what is holding your site back |
| Freelance SEO retainer | £300 to £1,000 a month | Small sites, limited competition |
| Small agency retainer | £750 to £2,500 a month | Local and regional businesses that want leads |
| Larger agency retainer | £2,500 to £10,000+ a month | National brands, e-commerce, very competitive markets |
| Hourly consultancy | £50 to £150 an hour | Advice, training, one-off fixes |
These are typical ranges. You will find cheaper and more expensive quotes, and the cheapest is rarely the best value.
The Three Ways SEO Is Priced
1. One-off audits
An audit is a full review of your website: technical problems, on-page issues, content gaps and what your competitors are doing better. A good one ends with a prioritised fix list, so you know what to do first.
An audit is the best starting point if you are not sure what is wrong, or if you want to fix things yourself or with your own web designer.
2. Monthly retainers
This is how most ongoing SEO is sold. You pay a set amount each month and the agency works on your site: technical fixes, content, local SEO, links and reporting.
SEO compounds over time, so retainers usually have a minimum term of three to six months. Be wary of 12-month lock-ins with no way out if the work isn’t happening.
3. Project or hourly pricing
Some SEO work is a fixed project, such as a site migration, a set of new service pages or a local SEO setup. Hourly rates suit advice and training.
What Affects the Price
- Competition. Ranking for “solicitor London” takes far more work than “solicitor in Stevenage”.
- Your starting point. A site with technical problems, thin pages and no links needs more work before it can compete.
- How many locations or services. Each one usually needs its own page and its own effort.
- Content. Writing new service pages and articles is a big part of the cost, and a big part of the result.
- Links. Earning links from relevant, trusted websites takes time and outreach.
What Your Money Should Buy
Whatever you pay, good SEO should include:
- Technical fixes: crawling, indexing, site speed, broken links and structured data.
- Keyword research based on what your buyers actually search for.
- On-page work: titles, headings and service pages that match those searches.
- Local SEO if you serve an area: your Google Business Profile, location pages and reviews.
- Content that answers real customer questions.
- Clear reporting in plain English: rankings, traffic and, most importantly, enquiries.
Red Flags When Buying SEO
- Guaranteed first-page rankings. Nobody controls Google. Anyone who guarantees rankings is guessing or cutting corners.
- Very cheap monthly packages. £99 a month rarely buys more than automated reports and low-quality links that can get your site penalised.
- Secret methods. Good SEO is not a secret. You should be told what is being done and why.
- Reports with no enquiries in them. Rankings and traffic matter only if they turn into customers.
- Long contracts with no exit. A reasonable minimum term is fine. A year with no way out is not.
How Long Before SEO Pays Off?
Most businesses see early movement in the first few weeks from technical fixes and quick wins. Meaningful growth in rankings and traffic typically builds over three to six months, and longer in very competitive markets.
That is why SEO is best treated as an investment rather than a quick win. The upside is that, unlike ads, the traffic doesn’t stop the moment you stop paying.
What We Charge
We publish our SEO prices:
| Service | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| SEO Audit | £295 one-off | Full technical and on-page review, prioritised fix list, 30-minute walkthrough call |
| Monthly SEO | from £750 a month | Technical SEO, content and on-page work every month, plain-English reporting |
Monthly SEO has a 3-month minimum, then rolls on monthly with 30 days notice. We are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add.
Not sure where you stand? Run your site through our free SEO audit tool first. It takes a minute and shows the biggest problems straight away. The full details of what we do are on our SEO services page.
What to Do Next
Work out what a new customer is worth to you, then what a few extra enquiries a month would be worth. That tells you what SEO is worth paying for.
If you would like an honest view of what your site needs, book a free 15-minute call or order the £295 audit and get a prioritised fix list you can act on, with us or on your own.