As a business owner, of course you want to know what rate an SEO consultant is going to charge. You want your SEO spend to fit within your budget, naturally.
The problem with SEO is that it’s not a commoditised product. Hire 5 different SEO consultants and they’ll all produce very different plans and recommend very different ways to solve your problem. The real difference is in the forensic depth of the analysis, the investigative rigour and the final list of recommendations.
Hire the wrong person, and all you’re likely to get is a superficial report, typically based on a free SEO analysis tool. It might look fancy, but ultimately it will be ‘all mouth and no trousers’.
Table of Contents
Every website & SEO project is different
With SEO, there is no one size fits all solution. Each website is unique, and every industry, niche or geographical area a website is competing within requires a completely different strategy.
When you hire me, I’ll use all of my skills & experience to get your site ranking strongly in Google for the keywords your prospects are using to find your services. I’ll also show you what content you need to have on your website to engage and convert your visitors. Which means more sales, and more revenue for you!
OK, I get it. But how do you price your SEO services?
What problems are you trying to fix? This is the first question I will ask you before we get round to talking about money. This is crucial, as it gives me an idea of the project’s scope and also how realistic your expectations are.
If you run a hotel and you come to me with a 5 page website, looking to rank top of Google for keywords such as “best hotel in Ireland” and “hotels Ireland” for a budget of €100 a month, don’t be surprised if I politely turn down the chance to work with you.
I treat every project differently and prices vary according to your current SEO performance, competition within your industry, keywords being targeted, and whether a complete site revamp is required.
How much SEO help will I need?
Every SEO project starts with a full SEO audit. Depending on the complexity of your site, and the industry and keywords you’re targeting, the audit could take anything from 2 – 100 hours.
I offer two types of ‘off-the-shelf’ SEO audit packages:
- Essential SEO audit – suitable for smaller websites operating in low competition industries.
- Advanced SEO audit – the perfect solution for much larger sites, or e-commerce stores. Involves a detailed investigation and analysis of a wide range of technical SEO factors.
No worries if your website doesn’t fit either of these categories. I’ll do up a bespoke proposal for you.
I’ve done hundreds of audits on websites of all sizes, from one-pagers through to massive Shopify and Magento e-commerce sites.
To get a quote for performing an SEO audit on your site, please answer a few questions on this page.
Can you help implement your recommendations from the SEO audit?
After getting your SEO audit report, it’s up to you to decide how and who you want to implement the recommendations.
If you hire me to carry out the work, we’ll agree a monthly retainer fee. How many hours of my time you will need per month, and for how long, will depend on a number of factors:
- The nature and scope of the objectives.
- The competitive environment.
- The number of hours per month I can commit to the project.
- The staff resources you can commit to the project.
- Expected results timeframe.
- Your available budget.
What do I charge for ad hoc SEO services or monthly packages?
I have a sliding scale of SEO rates, depending on the number of hours you hire me for.
| Hours Per Month | Hourly Rate* |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | €95.00 |
| 6-10 | €90.00 |
| 11-20 | €85.00 |
| 21+ | €80.00 |
| Long-term projects | Negotiable |
For example, fixing an issue with your Yoast SEO plugin XML Sitemap might take 2 hours, so my fee would be €190.00 plus VAT.
If you want to hire me for a 3 month project where I’d need to commit 10 hours per month, the fee would be €850.00 per month, plus VAT.