We performed an website positioning pricing survey with 400+ trade professionals to learn how a lot website positioning prices as we speak. Listed below are the important thing takeaways:
- Month-to-month retainers vary from $500 to $1,500.
- Hourly charges for website positioning providers are sometimes priced at $75 to $100 per hour.
- Venture-based charges are often between $2,501 to $5,000.
- Companies and consultants often cost greater than freelancers
- 78.2% of SEOs cost month-to-month retainers for some or all of their providers.
- 54.5% of SEOs solely supply one pricing mannequin (i.e., hourly, retainer, or per-project).
- $501–$1,000 is the most well-liked month-to-month retainer.
- $75–$100 is the most well-liked hourly price.
- $2,501–$5,000 is the most well-liked per-project price.
- Fewer than 1 in 10 SEOs (9.9%) cost greater than $150/hour.
- Companies and consultants cost considerably greater than freelancers.
- There’s a transparent constructive correlation between expertise and charges. (Shocking, proper?)
- Native SEOs cost lower than these with international purchasers.
- SEOs based mostly in India, Central America, and South America cost the least.
Let’s check out every pricing mannequin in additional element.
Sidenote.
We had 439 submissions in complete. Nevertheless, after reviewing them, we eliminated 89, as they had been both duplicates or spam. For instance, many respondents provided an internet site they clearly didn’t personal (e.g., google.com) or had nothing to do with website positioning. If a respondent’s web site didn’t clearly supply website positioning providers, we eliminated them from our pattern.
34.8% of respondents value some or all of their work by the hour.
We discovered that $75–$100 per hour is the most well-liked hourly price for SEOs, with 24% of respondents charging this price.
47% of respondents cost between $75 and $200 per hour.
90% cost $150/hour or much less, and solely 4.1% command an hourly price of $201+.
Right here’s a breakdown of hourly charges by area:
There’s one clear outlier right here: India.
We discovered 85.7% of India-based SEOs cost an hourly price of $30 or much less. The remaining 14.3% are within the $51–$60 vary.
Sidenote.
We didn’t have a lot knowledge for some areas, so take the outcomes with a pinch of salt. Additionally, the rationale for grouping Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain collectively is that they’re the one European nations (moreover the U.Ok.) with a GDP of 1 trillion or extra. I believed it could be attention-grabbing to see if the numbers for these nations had been totally different from the remainder of Europe.
Taking a look at U.S. and Canada knowledge in isolation, 66.7% cost $75–200/hour—over two-thirds!
Do website positioning companies cost extra per hour than freelancers?
Sure.
58.7% and 58.8% of website positioning companies and consultants respectively command $75+/hour, in comparison with solely 36.6% of freelancers.
Nevertheless, the commonest hourly price for website positioning companies and freelancers is identical: $75–100/hour.
For website positioning consultants, it’s $100–150/hour.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $150, from $100–$150), then take the typical hourly price for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Consultancies: $171.18/hour, on common.
- Companies: $98.90/hour, on common.
- Freelancers: $71.59/hour, on common.
By these stats, the hourly price charged by website positioning consultants is greater than double that of website positioning freelancers.
Do extra skilled SEOs earn much more per hour?
Sure, they do.
$73.05 is the typical hourly price for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $97.11 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two–4 years, $102.03 for five–10 years, and $118.35 for 10+ years.
So evidently expertise and monitor file play a significant function in relation to hourly earnings.
Do these providing providers worldwide cost extra per hour than these serving native markets?
Sure, barely.
On common, these providing their providers domestically earn $93.89/hour, whereas these serving the worldwide market earn $106.69/hour.
That’s a distinction of 13.6%.
78.2% of respondents cost a month-to-month retainer for some or all of their work.
We discovered that $501–$1,000 per thirty days is the most well-liked month-to-month retainer price for SEOs, with 20.4% of respondents charging this price.
42.8% of respondents cost between $501 and $2,000 per month.
68.8% cost $2,000/month or much less, that means solely 31.2% command retainers of $2,001+.
Right here’s a breakdown of month-to-month retainer charges by area:
As soon as once more, India is a transparent outlier right here.
76% of India-based SEOs cost $1,000 or much less per thirty days. The remaining 24% cost between $2,001 and $10,000.
Taking a look at U.S. and Canada knowledge in isolation, 79.1% cost at the least $1,001 per thirty days—some command as a lot as $25,001–$50,000 per month!
Do website positioning companies cost extra per thirty days than freelancers?
Sure.
57.4% of website positioning companies command $1,001+/month, in comparison with solely 32.2% of freelancers.
Nevertheless, consultants earn essentially the most, with 70.6% commanding $1,001+/month.
The most typical month-to-month retainer vary for website positioning companies is $500–$1,000/month. For consultants, it’s $2,501–$5,000.
For freelancers, it’s $251–$500/month and $101–$500/month.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–$1,500), after which take the typical month-to-month retainer price for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Companies: $3,209/month, on common.
- Consultancies: $3,250/month, on common.
- Freelancers: $1,348.63/month, on common.
By these stats, the month-to-month retainer vary charged by website positioning companies and consultants is nearly double that of website positioning freelancers.
Do extra skilled SEOs cost much more per month?
Sure, they do.
$1,540.52 is the typical retainer price for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,023.13 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two+ years. That’s round 33% greater than those that’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
However the huge leap comes after 5 years in enterprise. The common retainer for these in enterprise for five–10 years is $3,648.28—greater than double the speed of these in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
After this, issues stage off considerably. In actual fact, we noticed a decline in earnings for many who’ve been in enterprise for 10+ years. Nevertheless, that is most likely because of us not having loads of knowledge for this subset.
Do these providing providers worldwide cost extra per thirty days than these serving native markets?
Sure.
These providing their providers domestically cost $1,557.08/month, on common. Whereas these serving the worldwide market earn $3,473.74/month.
That’s a big distinction of 123.1%.
48.9% of respondents cost a per-project payment for some or all of their work.
We discovered that $2,501–$5,000 is the most well-liked per-project payment, with 21.2% of respondents charging this price.
60.6% of respondents cost $1,001 or extra.
50.6% cost $2,000 or much less, that means that fewer than half of respondents command per-project charges of $2,001+.
Right here’s a breakdown of per-project charges by area:
Yep, you guessed it—India is the outlier.
93.75% of India-based SEOs cost $1,500 or much less. The remaining 6.25% cost between $2,001 and $2,500.
Wanting on the U.S. and Canada in isolation, 83.3% cost at the least $1,001. Some even cost as a lot as $50,001–$75,000 per mission.
Do website positioning companies cost extra per mission than freelancers?
Sure.
73.3% of website positioning companies command $1,001+ per mission, in comparison with solely 64% of consultants and 40.68% of freelancers.
The most typical per-project payment for freelancers is $101–$250. For website positioning companies, it’s $2,501–$5,000. And for consultants, it’s $5,001–$10,000.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–1,500), after which take the typical per-project price for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Companies: $9,507.84/month, on common.
- Consultancies: $8,685.53/month, on common.
- Freelancers: $2,348.63/month, on common.
By these stats, the per-project payment charged by website positioning companies is greater than 4X that of website positioning freelancers, on common.
Do extra skilled SEOs cost much more per mission?
Sure, they do.
$1,881.73 is the typical per-project payment charged by those that’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,242.71 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two+ years after which to $9,087.31 for many who’ve been in enterprise 5–10 years.
Do these providing providers worldwide cost extra per mission than these serving native markets?
Sure—considerably extra!
On common, these providing their providers domestically cost $5,723.53 per mission, whereas these serving the worldwide market cost $8,056.56.
That’s a big distinction of 40.80%.
Remaining ideas
My hope is that this knowledge will assist SEOs to cease undercharging for his or her providers. Sure, the financial outlook might look bleak proper now, however know that website positioning is a priceless ability. Don’t be afraid to cost what you’re price.
Acquired questions? Ping me on Twitter.