How much does SEO cost?
The costs for SEO vary greatly from country to country and are very dependent on the expertise of the person. SEO freelancers are cheaper than agencies. The advantage is that experienced SEO freelancers can offer the same SEO services as an agency but at a lower price. The disadvantage is that you have to find and trust an SEO freelancer first. So you have a higher risk/reward ratio. The threshold of trust towards agencies is irrationally lower in comparison.
The cost of SEO also depends on whether you are running a single SEO project or if you pay for ongoing monthly SEO optimization. All-inclusive SEO packages are usually not calculated per hour, in contrast to individual SEO projects.
Price for freelance SEO
My price for freelance SEO services is currently 120 € per hour (net). Based on the estimated project hours, the total SEO costs can be calculated with my hourly rate.
As a freelancer, I also offer ongoing monthly search engine optimization as a package. The monthly costs for SEO for one website amount to 2000 € per month (net) for a minimum term of 6 months. Billing takes place based on predefined milestones, regardless of the respective hours.
Costs for SEO tools and monthly reporting are included. The pricing includes all SEO services. E.g. the optimization of on-page, off-page and technical SEO factors, as well as the optimization of the user experience (UX). Besides, the writing of SEO content is included in the price as well. I offer a full service and try to make it as easy as possible for my clients.
Agency prices for SEO services
Prices for SEO range on average from 700 € to 5000 € per month with a digital agency. The price depends on the size of the client's website, as well as on the competitiveness of the niche. Success is easier to achieve in small niches than in highly competitive markets (loans,gambling, insurance, etc.), which is reflected in the price.
The contract period is usually 6-12 months and most SEO services are included in the price. It depends on the agency whether the scope of services is calculated with hours or milestones.
Prices below € 700 per month are viewed skeptically in the industry. SEO staff is expensive due to the lack of experienced workers and the required skills with websites,content and programming. The optimization of all factors is very labor-intensive too.
With Prices below 700 € per month, it is thus probably not possible to do enough SEO work or to hire experienced staff to offer a good service.
How much does SEO content cost?
SEO content costs the most compared to other SEO tasks. Primarily long (700 words and more) and good SEO content pieces will have to be written, which requires an appropriate amount of time.
Depending on the niche and the competition you can sometimes make compromises, but you generally want to keep the content quality as high as possible.
High-quality SEO content costs from 0.25 € per word to 0.85 € per word.
A 1000 word SEO content piece costs at least 250 € including keyword research and analysis of the competitors.
SEO advice requires many different skills, which are not easily found in combination. The lack of qualified staff pushes the price up. Good search engine optimization is therefore often only economical for eCommerce shops, enterprises or industries with a lot of online sales. Classic industry examples are e.g. real estate, insurances, gambling or car rental.