TL;DR: SEO usually costs $500 to $5,000 a month. That’s where 63% of businesses land in Ahrefs’ poll of 439 SEO providers, which put the average retainer at $2,917 a month and local SEO at $1,557 (Ahrefs). We read the pricing pages of 15 US local SEO providers on November 10, 2026, and their cheapest monthly plan had a median price of $595. Every one of those entry plans included Google Business Profile work, but only 3 of 13 added new pages or posts to your website each month. A good share of what entry plans sell (page titles, schema markup, a sitemap) is work a well-built site should already do. WebZum builds that kind of site for a local business in about five minutes. You see it free first, then it’s $19/mo (Basic) or $34/mo (Professional, your own domain), month to month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan.
See your finished site free before you pay →
Disclosure: WebZum publishes this blog and makes a website builder. We don’t sell SEO services. Survey numbers come from Ahrefs and BrightLocal, Google’s rules come from Google’s own help pages, and the 15-provider count is our own work. We don’t name the small agencies in our count.
Prices checked November 10, 2026. US list prices in USD, before tax. They change often.
How much does SEO cost per month?
For a small local business, usually a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a month. National campaigns and agencies with big teams go much higher.
The most-quoted benchmark is Ahrefs’ poll of 439 SEO providers, first published in December 2023 and last updated in August 2026 (Ahrefs: SEO pricing). Ahrefs sells SEO software, so read it as their survey, not a price list. Here’s what it found:
- Average monthly retainer: $2,917. Agencies averaged $3,209, consultants $3,250, freelancers $1,348.
- Local SEO averaged $1,557 a month, with agencies at $1,819 and freelancers around $1,150.
- The most common retainer was $501 to $1,000 a month, charged by 20.4% of respondents. 68.8% charged $2,000 a month or less.
- US and Canada run higher: 79.1% of providers there charged at least $1,001 a month.
- By the hour, $75 to $100 was the most common rate (24% of respondents). One-off projects like an audit most often cost $2,501 to $5,000.
Ahrefs also says 78.2% of SEO providers charge a monthly retainer. BrightLocal’s survey of local marketers found the same habit: 63% of agencies bill a monthly fee based on deliverables (BrightLocal Local Search Industry Survey). So the real question for most owners isn’t “what does SEO cost” but “what am I getting each month for that fee.”
What do local SEO plans actually charge?
The cheapest monthly plan at 15 US providers we checked had a median price of $595. The middle half ran from $450 to $750 a month.
Surveys tell you what SEO people say they charge. We wanted to see the price tags that a plumber or landscaper actually sees, so on November 10, 2026 we read the public pricing pages of US agencies that print their local SEO prices. Here’s how we did it:
- We started from 25 providers that came up in searches for local SEO packages and pricing.
- We kept the ones that show a US location on their site and publish a fixed monthly price on a page we could load. We dropped 10: seven showed no US location or changed prices by visitor region, one only gives its own price after an audit, and two pages blocked our request.
- For each of the 15 left, we wrote down the cheapest ongoing SEO plan, its setup fee, the minimum term, and what the page says that plan includes.
| What we counted (15 US providers, Nov 10, 2026) | Result |
|---|---|
| Cheapest monthly plan, median | $595/mo |
| Cheapest monthly plan, middle half | $450 to $750/mo |
| Lowest and highest entry price | $297 and $2,495/mo |
| Entry plans under $500 | 6 of 15 |
| Entry plans $1,000 or more | 1 of 15 |
| First 12 months on the entry plan (incl. setup fees), median | $7,188 |
| List a setup fee | 4 of 15 ($297, $595, a $2,164 first month, $5,000) |
| Say outright there’s no setup fee | 3 of 15 |
| Month to month from day one | 7 of 15 |
| Minimum term (3, 6 or 12 months) | 5 of 15 |
Two things stood out. First, published prices sit well below the survey averages. That’s partly because agencies that print prices tend to sell simpler, smaller plans, and the biggest agencies usually quote after a call. Second, the price gap between plans is mostly about content and links, not about the basics. The top published tiers in our set ran from $599 to $3,500 a month.
A bigger, branded option sits in the middle of this range. BrightLocal, which also sells local SEO software, lists managed local SEO at $499 a month per location if your own web team builds the pages, or $1,299 a month per location if BrightLocal writes and builds them for you (BrightLocal Local SEO Services).
What does a cheap SEO plan include?
Mostly Google Business Profile work, listings and a monthly report. New content on your own site and link building usually start one tier up.
Two of the 15 pages didn’t itemize the entry plan, so this part covers 13:
| What the cheapest plan lists | Plans that include it (of 13) |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile work (posts, photos, updates, review replies) | 13 |
| Monthly report | 13 |
| Directory listings or citations | 9 |
| On-page fixes or schema markup on your website | 8 |
| New pages or blog posts on your website each month | 3 |
| Link building | 3 |
That’s not a knock on these plans. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence includes “how many reviews you have” and “how many websites link to your business” (Google Business Profile Help). Profile and review work matters. It just helps to know that an entry plan is usually a profile-management plan, not a “make my website rank” plan.
Can you do SEO yourself instead?
Google says that if you run a small local business, “you can probably do much of the work yourself” (Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?). The core tools are free:
- Google Business Profile is free. Google’s own page says “Get a free Business Profile in 3 simple steps” (Google Business Profile). For setup, see our guide to listing your business on Google.
- Search Console is free. Google calls it “a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results” (Search Console Help).
- Google doesn’t take money for organic rankings. “Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results” (same Google page).
Paid tools are optional. On November 10, 2026, Semrush’s SEO plan was $139 a month ($117.33 a month billed yearly) (Semrush pricing), Ahrefs’ Lite plan was $129 a month and its Starter plan $29 a month (Ahrefs pricing), and BrightLocal’s local tools started at $41 a month for one location, billed monthly (BrightLocal pricing). Most single-location service businesses don’t need any of them to get the basics right. Our local SEO checklist walks through the free steps.
Which parts of SEO should your website already handle?
The on-site basics: a clear title and description on every page, structured data, a sitemap, and pages that load as plain readable text. Eight of the 13 entry plans we coded sell on-page fixes or schema markup. If your website does these on its own, you’re not paying a retainer for them every month.
Google’s own docs say Local Business structured data lets you “tell Google about business hours, different departments within a business, reviews… and more” (Google: Local Business structured data). That’s the kind of thing a builder can write for you.
Here’s what we found on November 10, 2026 when we loaded every page of two WebZum demo sites (fictional businesses we built to show the product): Mossback Plumbing in Spokane and Ridgeline Handyman in Boise.
| Check (WebZum demos, Nov 10, 2026) | Mossback Plumbing (7 pages) | Ridgeline Handyman (8 pages) |
|---|---|---|
| Each page has its own title and meta description | 7 of 7 | 8 of 8 |
| Business-type structured data (Plumber / GeneralContractor) | Home + Contact | Home + Contact |
| FAQ structured data | Home + Contact | Home + Contact |
| Breadcrumb structured data on inner pages | 6 of 6 | 7 of 7 |
| Tap-to-call links on every page | 7 of 7 | 8 of 8 |
| Sitemap, plus robots.txt that names AI crawlers like GPTBot and ClaudeBot | Yes | Yes |
| Plain-English summary for AI tools (llms.txt) | Yes | Yes |
Titles are written around the trade and town, like “Frozen Pipe Repair Spokane WA | Burst Pipe Help Now.” That doesn’t promise a ranking. Nothing does. But it’s the on-page work an entry SEO plan would otherwise bill for. If you want to know more about how this ties into AI answers, see SEO vs AEO.
What are the red flags when buying SEO?
Guaranteed rankings, secret relationships with Google, and paid links. Google is blunt about all three on its hiring page (Google Search Central):
- “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” Walk away from anyone who promises a spot or a “priority submit.”
- For local results, “there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google” (Google Business Profile Help).
- Google’s spam policies list “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” as link spam (Google spam policies). Ask any provider where its links come from.
- Google also says “you should never have to link to an SEO,” and that during an audit you should give read-only Search Console access, not write access.
Good questions to ask before you sign: what exactly gets done each month, who does it, and can you leave without a long contract? In our count, 5 of 15 providers required 3 to 12 months up front.
What does each option cost?
Roughly $0 to $2,500 a month, depending on how much you hand off. Here’s a fair side-by-side for one location:
| Option | Monthly cost | What you get | Good fit if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself with free Google tools | $0 | Business Profile, Search Console, your own time | You have a few hours a month |
| DIY plus a paid SEO tool | $29 to $139 | Rank and keyword tracking, audits | You like data and will act on it |
| Entry local SEO plan (our 15-provider median) | $595 | Profile posts and replies, listings, a report | You’d rather pay someone to run your profile |
| BrightLocal fully managed | $1,299 per location | Pages written and built, links, listings, content | You’re in a busy market and want it all done |
| Survey average, local SEO (Ahrefs) | $1,557 | Varies by provider | A benchmark, not a quote |
| WebZum website (not an SEO service) | $19 or $34 | A finished site with titles, schema, sitemap, chatbot, unlimited edits | You need a site that’s built right from day one |
Pick a paid SEO plan if you’re in a crowded city, your competitors have hundreds of reviews, or you need someone writing new service-area pages every month. Many shops will need that eventually. What you shouldn’t do is pay a retainer for basics your website could have done on day one.
How does WebZum fit in?
WebZum builds the website part right, so any SEO money you spend later goes to the off-site work. WebZum isn’t an SEO agency. Your Google Business Profile, reviews and directory listings are still yours to run, or you can hire one of the plans above for that.
Here’s how it works:
- Describe your business or paste your Google link. WebZum asks about four questions.
- Get a finished multi-page site in about five minutes, with copy, photos, a video header on the home page, and an included chatbot that answers visitors, shows your number as tap-to-call, and offers to take their name and number.
- The SEO and AEO basics are already there: a title and description on every page, LocalBusiness and FAQ structured data, a sitemap, and a plain-English summary for AI tools.
- Change anything by asking in the editor chat, with unlimited edits. That includes adding a page or a blog post by chat, so you can publish the “new content” an SEO plan would charge for.
- When the site is done, a Google ad is already written for you. If you want calls this week instead of in a few months, you click Pay to fund it and WebZum pays Google on your behalf. The ad spend is yours, and it’s optional.
- You also get a free video ad of your new site once it’s published, to post, text or share.
Pricing is simple: a free 30-day preview, then Basic at $19 a month or Professional at $34 a month with your own domain. Month to month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan, and no add-ons to unlock the SEO basics. If you’re a contractor, see what we build for contractors. For the full cost picture, see what a small business website costs and website maintenance services.
FAQ
How much does SEO cost?
Most small businesses spend a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month. Ahrefs’ poll of 439 providers put the average retainer at $2,917 and local SEO at $1,557 a month. The cheapest plans at 15 US local SEO providers we checked on November 10, 2026 had a median price of $595 a month.
How much does SEO cost for a small business?
For one location, the entry plans in our count ran from $297 to $976 a month, with one $2,495 program that includes a website. The tiers that add new pages and link building mostly cost $600 to $2,500. Six of the 15 entry plans cost under $500 a month.
Is $300 a month SEO worth it?
It can be, if you know what it covers. At that price, plans in our count mostly managed your Google Business Profile, built directory listings and sent a report. They rarely added content to your website. Ask for the monthly deliverables in writing.
Do SEO companies require a contract?
Some do. Of the 15 providers we checked, 7 were month to month from day one and 5 required a minimum of 3, 6 or 12 months. Four listed a setup fee, from $297 to $5,000.
Can I do SEO myself?
Yes, for the basics. Google says small local businesses “can probably do much of the work yourself,” and Google Business Profile and Search Console are free. Start with a complete profile, real reviews and a website with clear pages for each service and town.
Does WebZum do SEO?
WebZum builds the on-site part: every page gets its own title and description, structured data, a sitemap and a summary for AI tools, on both plans. It doesn’t manage your Google Business Profile or build links, and no one can promise a ranking. Sites are $19/mo or $34/mo after a free preview.
Want to see what your site would look like with the basics already done? Get your free WebZum preview. It takes about five minutes.