SEO Cost: Top 7 Pricing Models of SEO Services

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An area that is perhaps ambiguous in SEO circles is how search engine algorithms work. But the next in line is pricing SEO right.
SEO costs can vary from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars a month. But the catch is that not all of them are justified. And if you are going to use an agency to do SEO for your site, then pricing is something you should think about first.
We at Haitna try to demystify and breakdown SEO pricing for your company. It can help make your choices easier, at least when it comes to pricing!

SEO Pricing Depends on Various Factors

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Pricing services’ right is problematic when it comes to businesses opting for SEO. Unlike several other types of services, there are no clear tiers when it comes to SEO pricing. A part of the problem lies with the consumer.
There are a variety of things SEO can do for your business. You need to be clear about what you exactly want. Several factors determine the SEO pricing, some of them are:

Pricing Factor #1: Your Target Keyword Competition Level

The choice of keyword can have a huge impact on your prices.
For example, consider this situation. You are opting for the top three keywords in any competitive niche.
Your competitors have possibly sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars before you. It means they already hold all the top positions. It also means that you need to put in the same kind of effort to get gains. So, the choice of keyword plays a major role in deciding the price.

Pricing Factor #2: Your Industry Type

Another key area in which businesses can overlook is the kind of niche they are targeting. And this is important because some niches are hyper-competitive.
An example of this would be eCommerce. Not only have your competitors invested money, but they have audience trust too. And to overcome this, you need to increase your pricing and time spent. That is why most businesses choose low competition keywords initially.

Pricing Factor #3: Age And Authority Of Your Website

When you better your competitors, age and authority are significant factors to overcome. And the catch here is that they are already ahead of you when you’re starting.
The only way to get better rankings is to opt for higher-priced packages. The more established your competitors are, the higher the cost is going to be.

Pricing Factor #4: Current Status and Ranking of Your Site

You have to consider the current setup of your website. There are several concerns here.

• Has your website’s SEO been worked on?
• Are there glaring issues that you need to fix?
• How is your page ranking for important keywords in your niche?

These are some questions that can determine how much work needs to go into your website.
Needless to say, if there is a lot of work to be done, costs are going to be high.

Pricing Factor #5: Based on the Location of Your Business

If your business is in a competitive place, then it is going to get expensive. Singapore, London, and San Francisco are a few examples where competition is going to be tough.
The reason is that there are a lot of high-quality competitors there already. They have put in the time and effort to stay at the top. Lower competition areas will have proportionally lower costs.

Pricing Factor #6: The Type Of SEO Process You Want To Pursue

Contrary to what people think, SEO is not a one size fits all operation. It is specific to niches, and there are specialist SEO agencies out there. You also need to analyze the category of your SEO pipeline.
Some popular SEO categories are local, national, or eCommerce. While local reach is not expensive, national costs much higher. And since eCommerce is hyper-competitive, that costs more as well.

Monthly Retainer Based Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

The monthly retainer is perhaps one of the most pricing schemes available for companies. And not surprisingly, most companies opt to use this as it is simple and effective. This method of working can get you a quick boost in results when you want it. There is no need for a long-term commitment.
The most common price when it comes to retainers is $750 - $1,500 per month. Some services cost $5000 as well, and a few of them for $300 as well.

2. Pros and Cons

There are several advantages to this method of pricing.

• There are no binding contracts between you and the agency.
• You are free to drop them with some notice.
• It is simple - startups can opt for this over complex engagements.
• It can result in longer or better deals.
• You can use it to find out how good a company is.

There might be several conditions that you need to accede to:

• It might include paying for services you don’t require.
• A company might also enforce a minimum time commitment. Which means you could be stuck with them even if you aren’t satisfied.

3. Do You Need It?

These kinds of pricing models are for smaller companies who are looking to get a head start. Or if you are looking to test out the capability of a company.
The monthly retainer can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of an SEO agency. And without the need to spend too much money. Also, another option would be to consider this for offloading. When your business has increased workflow, opting for this pricing strategy makes sense.

One-time (Flat Rate) Fixed Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

A less used option would be a fixed pricing or a flat-rate costing method. One-time fixed pricing is paying upfront for SEO services carried out for a duration of time. Not a lot of clients prefer this for obvious reasons.
Not many buyers would be comfortable paying for services even before it is all done. While this may or may not have a contract, it is in the client’s interest to get one validated. The pricing range may be slightly lesser than a retainer option. It is because you’re paying for the whole process at one go.

2. Pros and Cons

There are a few advantages to this kind of pricing.

• No hidden costs - you pay for what you want, and that’s what you’ll get.
• The company is contractually obliged to offer their services for a time duration.
• You also benefit from better tools over the duration of the engagement.
• You don’t have to worry about hourly rates or monthly retainers here.

There are a few disadvantages to this kind of pricing.

• Well, you are locked into a contract here, even if you didn’t sign one. It means for better or worse, you are going to have to stick with the agency.
• Agencies may not return the initial amount if you are not keen on continuing with them.
• You need prior experience with SEO for negotiation here. Otherwise, you’re likely to be overcharged.
• There is also no scope for change or iteration.
• Flexibility is a limited option here.

3. Do You Need It?

There are several good reasons for choosing this option. If you’ve worked with the company before, it might help you cut down on SEO costs. It could be great for both upcoming and established companies.
They can completely handover all SEO responsibilities to the agency. It will allow them to focus on core functions and improve their ROI.

Hourly Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

Here, you pay your company based on the hours they spend on your project. And it is a widely accepted norm in countries like the US and UK.
You decide on a rate per hour before the negotiation, and that is it. This rate is what you’ll engage your agency with. There will be no price changes until another negotiation. It is perhaps popular when it comes to other types of services.
For SEO, this is not ideal. It is because SEO can often run into longer hours for the agency. And this can hurt predictions and budgeting for the client. The hourly rates usually range from $75 - $150 per hour, depending on the agency.

2. Pros and Cons

When it comes to pros, the most important thing it can offer is no extra costs.

• You can accurately predict the right budget, assuming there are no changes.
• You can also expect a lot more transparency from the agencies. It is because they have to account for every hour of work.
• Your spending is also directly controlled.

But on the flip side:

• Even though there are no extra costs, progress can be slow. And because they are getting paid by the hour, there is a tendency to delay results.
• Also, paying by the hour is expensive. It is not ideal for companies who are looking for a huge contract.
• It will end up being a lot more expensive than other pricing methods.

3. Do You Need It?

There are reasons why you should opt for hourly pay. If you need to take care of smaller, more immediate tasks, hourly works great. It is easier to keep track of, and less chance of missed deadlines.
Hourly pricing suits people who have good knowledge of SEO themselves but who don’t have the time. They have much more control over the engagement.

Ranking-based Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

If you would like to pay for results, then this pricing is for you. Here, agencies get paid only when your website ranks. It can also be any other KPI like traffic, engagement, or conversions.
Rank-based pricing is relatively new, and not many people are using it now. The reason is that SEO in these times is not a guarantee. There are far too many variables to ensure predictability. And this is true of even experienced SEO agencies. There are a few drawbacks to this kind of payment set up, but it is very safe for site owners.

2. Pros and cons

For the client, paying based on performance works well.

• They minimize their losses and increase their productivity. It means much less risk for the buyers.
• It works if the company is new and in an unfamiliar niche.
• It can also help people segregate between genuine agencies and others.

Here is the list of cons in choosing this pricing model.

• Companies that opt for this pricing strategy are less flexible when it comes to other aspects. For example, you will only be allowed to pick from a limited list of keywords.
• They will not allow iterations in the campaign or if you want to make changes.
• Keeping track of rankings can be tiresome in the long run.
• Smaller clients will find this type of option daunting.

3. Do You Need It?

Performance-based payment is not easy to work with. However, bigger and more competitive companies will find this offers value to them. Niches like eCommerce generally opt for this kind of payment. It helps them focus on specific keywords for a campaign. It gives them much more control over the budgeting options.

Profit-based Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

It works pretty much like performance-based pricing, but the focus is now on the client. If the client can draw a profit, then the payment is made. Here again, there might be different aspects the contract focuses on. It might be profit, revenue, or turnover. It puts even more stress on the vendor-client relationship. And there are very few companies that offer this at this time.

2. Pros and Cons

If at all this is offered today, it will be by the top companies in the business.

• Like the earlier pricing model, this is a great reward-based system for agencies.
• And basing payment on profit minimizes even more risk than earlier.
• It can further help brands that are looking at breaking through on new niches.

Unfortunately, this brings with it a lot more problems.

• By creating an ecosystem based on profit, it makes the relationship completely one-sided. It means only one party has control, with little mutual benefit.
• Not a lot of companies will ever opt for this payment model.
• Another negative is that the company has to define its success through you. It might be unacceptable for even the most professional agencies.

3. Do You Need It?

If your company focuses more only on profits, then this might be the way to go. But something to note is that SEO is a lot more unpredictable now than a few years ago, making this kind of business relationship obsolete. And even if you do find a company that accepts this, the campaign will be severely limited. However, if you have worked with the company before, you should try pitching this to them.

Equity-based Pricing

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1. How Does It Work?

One of the newest pricing models to hit the digital marketing scene is equity pricing. Here the agencies take a percentage of all of their fees in equity. Because there are a lot of factors at play here, this isn’t an easy decision to make. And to further compound this problem, SEO is an uncertain niche as well.

2. Pros and Cons

Let’s take a look at the Advantages:

• The advantage of using this system for a company is that they can pay agencies with something other than cash.
• It is useful if you are running into budgeting issues with your brand.
• It all depends on how your company deals with its financials.

Let’s take a look at the Disadvantages:

• Since this is a new pricing model and not that popular, it is not the most reliable.
• It is too specific to be used in general as well.
• As a client, giving up equity can be a problem in the long run.
• It essentially means you’re losing control of your company.
• If at all this is being considered, our advice is that it should be a last resort.

3. Do You Need It?

Ideally, you should consider this only if you need an immediate short-term project done. Also, if you are dealing with financial issues, this is an option. But otherwise, equity-based funding has a lot more cons than pros. The only time this is an easy call to make is if you’re thinking of merging the two companies. But other than that, here the agency holds all the cards.

30-Day Free Trial

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1. How Does It Work?

Some companies today are offering the free trial pricing model (different from freemium) for their services. The way this works is that they run a pilot project. It will only have very few keywords and reasonable targets. After this has been carried out, depending on how successful it was, they proceed. It is a service demo, and it can help attract business.

2. Pros and Cons

This approach has several advantages.

• Both parties can get a feel for working with each other.
• It helps make a better choice and can often lead to long-lasting relationships.
• Clients can evaluate how effective agencies are about specific keywords.
• Since it is free, there is no money wasted either.
• It significantly lowers risk before a big engagement.

Let’s take a look at the Disadvantages:

• There might be inconsistencies in performance between the trial period and the contract phase.
• A company might not use all its resources when it bags the project. It is something that you need to discuss during the negotiation.

3. Do You Need It?

A smaller company looking to invest their time into long term SEO might benefit from this. They can take the time to choose the right SEO vendor. But bigger companies don’t need a trial period. In fact, to them, this is probably a waste of time. They want to get started on the process as soon as possible.
These are all the most popular SEO pricing models in the market. As you can see, there are a variety of options. The key is to take into account all factors before making a choice.
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