Many business owners get a bit shocked when they ask around and learn about the cost of SEO services. Of all the digital marketing services that you can get for your business, SEO belongs to the list of solutions that may be a bit pricey. For this reason, some resort to questionable companies that perform black hat SEO and other outdated practices. However, doing so can hurt your business as you’re just wasting money on ineffective methods.
That said, you still want to know more about SEO’s pricing. How much will you have to pay for SEO services? And perhaps more importantly, what are you paying for, exactly? SEO Queen shares some answers:
What You’re Paying For
Search Engine Optimization is not free. It’s a complex process. Unlike what others might think, it requires time, effort, and expertise for SEO strategies to work. Here are some of the components of SEO services that are factored in for the price:
- People – You are paying for the services of trained and experienced professionals. SEO strategies come from people, not computers.
- Technology – The professionals who do SEO use computers, programs, web services, and operational utilities to perform the tasks. All these contribute to the SEO services provided to clients.
- Time – SEO is time-consuming. It’s not something that you finish in one sitting. It requires research, implementation, testing, and communication between the digital marketing team and the client.
What to Expect from an SEO Service
When you hire a team of digital marketers, here are some of the essentials that you’ll get:
- Consultation – the first step you’ll do is speak with an SEO expert. During this consultation, you’ll be able to discuss your goals, what you can expect, talk about the deliverables, and more.
- Keyword Research – once they learn more about the business and your goals, the team will do thorough keyword research to know what keywords to target.
- Competitive Research – apart from keyword research, the team would need to gauge the level of competition for every keyword they’re planning to target.
- Website Research – the specialist would check your website’s history, domain age, backlink profile, and learn other information that will help them determine if there are any search engine penalties that need to be fixed.
- Auditing of Your Content – the team also analyzes existing content to see its strengths and determine any weaknesses that they can improve.
- Metadata Alteration – this is the coding part which includes working on the title, the description, social tag alterations, and others to include the target keywords.
Typical Pricing for SEO Services
Depending on the type and size of business, their needs, and the servicing plan you get, as well as the digital marketing agency you work with, the pricing for SEO services can change. While these are just approximations, these can give you some idea of how much you’d be paying for SEO services:
SEO for Small Businesses ($250 – $750 per month) – This covers the fundamentals and maintenance of small business websites.
SEO for Medium-Sized Businesses ($750 – $2,000 per month) – This is for businesses looking for a little more than the basics. Perhaps they also need to focus on local search, image and video optimization, backlink cleanup, and more.
Enterprise SEO for Big Businesses ($2000 – $10,000 or higher per month) – This is what huge national or international corporations and eCommerce businesses spend as they need a more extensive service and because theirs is an incredibly competitive market. Their SEO strategies often go with other types of marketing strategies.
Conclusion
When it comes to SEO, as with any other custom digital marketing solutions, you get what you pay for. A dependable SEO agency will charge competitive pricing that will typically fall within the ranges that are mentioned above. If you are offered services at a price that’s too good to be true, that’s probably because it is. Any agency or professional worth their salt also knows the value that they’re bringing to the table. So instead of immediately choosing an agency that offers the cheapest rates, go with one with a solid reputation and deliver results.
The SEO Queen offers custom digital marketing solutions to businesses in the United States. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you!
