How Much Does SEO Cost for Small Businesses in 2022?

As a small business owner, you do not have a lot of resources and funds, but you are an expert in setting a large budget for your business to meet all your business needs. This will bring you a high return on investment. If you already know the best strategy to get a high return on investment, then you should consider implementing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your small business, and if you have not considered implementing SEO for your small business before. 

So, you missed a good opportunity, because the best SEO service has brought you a great website, more customers and more potential customers. Higher conversion rate, higher brand awareness, but the question is, “What should be the cost of SEO services for small businesses” or “Are your SEO services correct?” This article will tell you how much you should pay for SEO services and what affects SEO services.

Cost of SEO Services in 2022

No two search engine optimization agencies or consultants rate their services the same. The size of your company, business model, and SEO needs determine the scope of your SEO plan and how much you pay for it.

However, there are some basic SEO pricing models that many organizations and consultants use to determine how much their SEO services will cost. The most common are hourly, monthly and per project.

Read the average SEO cost for each of these models:

Hourly ($80 to $200)

Non-institutional SEO consultants usually charge by the hour, ranging from $25 to $500 per hour. However, most clients spend between $80 and $200 per hour, depending on whether they hire one person or a small team, and whether the consultant is relatively new or has many years of SEO experience.

Per Project (US $5,000 US $30,000)

Although this is not very common, sometimes companies can hire agents or consultants to implement SEO strategies for specific projects or activities. Since project needs vary from company to company and from activity to activity, it is difficult to evaluate. Prices range from 5,000 USD to over 30,000 USD. The cost ultimately depends on the scale, schedule and experience level of the project.

Monthly ($750 to $2000)

This is the most popular model for businesses that want to implement their current SEO strategy and use services as needed. In the lower range, about $500 per month, the agency undertakes basic SEO tasks such as page optimization and copywriting. Agencies produce high-quality content at a maximum price of $5,000 or more per month and stream it to other websites to establish links.

Most companies fall between these two extremes and invest between US $750 and US $2,000 per month in customized strategies depending on the services they need. The advantage of this pricing model is that establishing a relationship with an agency allows you to improve the SEO of your website over time.

Are SEO Costs Different for Small Businesses?

It is correct to assume that SEO activities are relatively cheaper for small business owners than for large or multinational companies. SEO agencies are working hard to make this strategy scalable to provide hourly wages and flat rates for various customers. In fact, according to the survey, more than 40% of SEO agencies provide multiple pricing models.

Multiple pricing models allow business owners to choose a solution that suits their needs. For example, you can pay by the hour and calculate between $125 and $150. Or, the fixed price service ranges from $500 to $7,500 per month.

Or you choose a project-based package and expect to receive various services for approximately $1,000. Again, these prices are determined by the SEO price factors mentioned above, which may be different for each company and each type of project.

Similarly, when asked “what is the cost of small business SEO,” small business owners have no fixed costs to rely on. Instead, we recommend that you spend at least $500 a month on SEO to see the results and improvements you can bring to the bank.

Factors Affecting SEO Cost

Every business is different. Therefore, your SEO strategy and its final cost may vary. To this end, professional SEO agencies conduct in-depth discussions with potential customers about their business to understand their market, needs, and search engine optimization goals. Only in this way can you truly evaluate the schedule and workload, and then evaluate the price.

The following are the factors we consider when trying to answer the SEO cost question:

1# The Industry

If you are in a highly competitive industry in terms of search engine traffic, you may need to be more competitive, and many companies ignore SEO benefits for their small business. In this case, by becoming an early follower, you can gain lower prices and a competitive advantage.

2# Business Goals

SEO can help you achieve a variety of goals, from increasing website visits to increasing conversion rates, to becoming an industry leader. Your goals and how quickly you achieve them will affect your SEO budget. The longer the destination, the higher the price.

3# Target Market

Companies with a broader or huge target group need a larger budget to attract potential customers and obtain a good return on investment. This does not mean that vertical or niche companies spend less on SEO, but they can use the same resources to do more.

Based on the problems and solutions they are looking for and how many other sites are currently competing for position in these searches, your audience will also affect the difficulty of ranking your site and increasing traffic.

4# Business Location

When it comes to local search engine optimization, it may be difficult to find and obtain quotes and links from relevant and reputable directories and websites. This is an intensive task that requires a lot of time and money.

In addition, if you have multiple partners and need to treat each partner as a separate company and have their own links, quotes, content and pages on your website, things will become more complicated.

5# Keywords

Keywords are no longer as important as they used to be, but they are still important for your website’s ranking in search results. After all, Google is a robot that needs to crawl your website and quickly understand the content of each page. Your keywords will help the robot understand these pages.

Hope this article helped you understand the estimated cost of SEO services for small businesses and the factors affecting the price range. With several packages available, you can choose the most appropriate one according to your budget and SEO strategy. Choose wisely!