If you're agency (or a freelancer, or consultant) then you may be tempted to start providing SEO services to existing and future customers.

Especially when Hike makes delivering SEO so simple! :)

One question we get a lot is "how much should we charge for SEO"?

There are many variables that dictate this, and I am no way going to provide an answer for every possible scenario you may be in. But hopefully the below will help start to figure out answers to this question!

One thing we always suggest to agencies when pricing SEO for their clients is to focus on the time you will be spending on those accounts, and not the cost of the tools you use to help deliver for those accounts (eg the price of Hike).

I would advise that you use your hourly charge, alongside the amount of SEO work you want to complete for the client, to work out how much to charge them.

Many agencies/consultants/freelancers charge SEO on a retainer basis, and there are a few reasons for this, but the two main ones are:

  1. There is often a lot of work you can do for SEO, and it works out that it's easier to budget costs and time (for both the client and the agency) when it's spread over a longer period
  2. SEO is a longterm game, and it can take months to start to see the promised results (here's the article I wrote about timescales for SEO). 

You need to be mindful of the clients budget and expectations (especially in terms of timescales, and the competitiveness of their industry) as this will dictate how much work you need to do for them.

For example, if a business wants to compete in an incredibly competitive niche, but only wants to pay a small retainer then you need to be honest and tell them they may never perform as they want.

If that same client however, understood this and knew it required more resource to compete, then you can increase the workload you complete for them. For example, you can spend more time:

 - Creating great content
 - Conducting outreach and competitor research to gain new backlinks
 - Researching new keywords and creating new onsite copy to house those phrases
 - And doing more SEO stuff!

Hope this helps!

Did this answer your question?