Joshua Hardwick
Head of Content @ Ahrefs (or, in plain English, I'm the guy responsible for ensuring that every blog post we publish is EPIC).
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Most businesses paying a monthly retainer for SEO will pay between $500 to $1,500 per month. For those paying by the hour, $75 to $100 is the most popular hourly rate. For one-off SEO projects, $2,501 to $5,000 per-project is most common. How do we know? We surveyed 400+ members of the SEO industry. Here are few more top takeaways: Let’s take a look at each pricing model in more detail. Sidenote. We had 439 submissions in total. However, after reviewing them, we removed 89, as they were either duplicates or spam. For example, many respondents supplied a website they clearly didn’t own (e.g., google.com) or had nothing to do with SEO. If a respondent’s site didn’t clearly offer SEO services, we removed them from our sample. 34.8% of respondents price some or all of their work by thehour. We found that $75–$100 per hour is the most popular hourly rate for SEOs, with 24% of respondents charging thisrate. 47% of respondents charge between $75 and $200 perhour. 90% charge $150/hour or less, and only 4.1% command an hourly rate of $201+. Here’s a breakdown of hourly rates by region: There is one clear outlier here:India. We found 85.7% of India-based SEOs charge an hourly rate of $30 or less. The remaining 14.3% are in the $51–$60 range. Sidenote. We didn’t have much data for some regions, so take the results with a pinch of salt. Also, the reason for grouping Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain together is that they’re the only European countries (besides the U.K.) with a GDP of 1 trillion or more. I thought it would be interesting to see if the numbers for those countries were different from the rest of Europe. Looking at U.S. and Canada data in isolation, 66.7% charge $75–200/hour—over two-thirds! Yes. 58.7% and 58.8% of SEO agencies and consultants respectively command $75+/hour, compared to only 36.6% of freelancers. However, the most common hourly rate for SEO agencies and freelancers is the same: $75–100/hour. For SEO consultants, it’s $100–150/hour. If we assume all surveyed SEOs charge the upper end of their pricing tier (e.g., $150, from $100–$150), then take the average hourly rate for each subset (Agency, Freelance, Consultancy), here’s what weget: By these stats, the hourly rate charged by SEO consultants is more than double that of SEO freelancers.
Do SEO agencies charge more per hour than freelancers?
Do more experienced SEOs earn a lot more perhour?
Yes, theydo.
$73.05 is the average hourly rate for SEOs who have been in business for two years orless.
This jumps to $97.11 for those who’ve been in business for 2–4 years, $102.03 for 5–10 years, and $118.35 for 10+years.
So it seems that experience and track record play a vital role when it comes to hourly earnings.
Do those offering services worldwide charge more per hour than those serving local markets?
Yes, slightly.
On average, those offering their services locally earn $93.89/hour, whereas those serving the worldwide market earn $106.69/hour.
That’s a difference of 13.6%.
78.2% of respondents charge a monthly retainer for some or all of theirwork.
We found that $501–$1,000 per month is the most popular monthly retainer rate for SEOs, with 20.4% of respondents charging thisrate.
42.8% of respondents charge between $501 and $2,000 permonth.
68.8% charge $2,000/month or less, meaning only 31.2% command retainers of $2,001+.
Here’s a breakdown of monthly retainer rates by region:
Once again, India is a clear outlier here.
76% of India-based SEOs charge $1,000 or less per month. The remaining 24% charge between $2,001 and $10,000.
Looking at U.S. and Canada data in isolation, 79.1% charge at least $1,001 per month—some command as much as $25,001–$50,000 permonth!
Do SEO agencies charge more per month than freelancers?
Yes.
57.4% of SEO agencies command $1,001+/month, compared to only 32.2% of freelancers.
However, consultants earn the most, with 70.6% commanding $1,001+/month.
The most common monthly retainer range for SEO agencies 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 charge the upper end of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–$1,500), and then take the average monthly retainer rate for each subset (Agency, Freelance, Consultancy), here’s what weget:
- Agencies: $3,209/month, on average.
- Consultancies: $3,250/month, on average.
- Freelancers: $1,348.63/month, on average.
By these stats, the monthly retainer range charged by SEO agencies and consultants is almost double that of SEO freelancers.
Do more experienced SEOs charge a lot more permonth?
Yes, theydo.
$1,540.52 is the average retainer rate for SEOs who have been in business for two years orless.
This jumps to $2,023.13 for those who’ve been in business for 2+ years. That’s around 33% more than those who’ve been in business for two years orless.
But the big jump comes after five years in business. The average retainer for those in business for 5–10 years is $3,648.28—more than double the rate of those in business for two years orless.
After this, things level off somewhat. In fact, we saw a decline in earnings for those who’ve been in business for 10+ years. However, this is probably due to us not having a lot of data for this subset.
Do those offering services worldwide charge more per month than those serving local markets?
Yes.
Those offering their services locally charge $1,557.08/month, on average. Whereas those serving the worldwide market earn $3,473.74/month.
That’s a significant difference of 123.1%.
48.9% of respondents charge a per-project fee for some or all of theirwork.
We found that $2,501–$5,000 is the most popular per-project fee, with 21.2% of respondents charging thisrate.
60.6% of respondents charge $1,001 ormore.
50.6% charge $2,000 or less, meaning that fewer than half of respondents command per-project fees of $2,001+.
Here’s a breakdown of per-project rates by region:
Yep, you guessed it—India is the outlier.
93.75% of India-based SEOs charge $1,500 or less. The remaining 6.25% charge between $2,001 and $2,500.
Looking at the U.S. and Canada in isolation, 83.3% charge at least $1,001. Some even charge as much as $50,001–$75,000 per project.
Do SEO agencies charge more per project than freelancers?
Yes.
73.3% of SEO agencies command $1,001+ per project, compared to only 64% of consultants and 40.68% of freelancers.
The most common per-project fee for freelancers is $101–$250. For SEO agencies, it’s $2,501–$5,000. And for consultants, it’s $5,001–$10,000.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs charge the upper end of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–1,500), and then take the average per-project rate for each subset (Agency, Freelance, Consultancy), here’s what weget:
- Agencies: $9,507.84/month, on average.
- Consultancies: $8,685.53/month, on average.
- Freelancers: $2,348.63/month, on average.
By these stats, the per-project fee charged by SEO agencies is more than 4X that of SEO freelancers, on average.
Do more experienced SEOs charge a lot more per project?
Yes, theydo.
$1,881.73 is the average per-project fee charged by those who’ve been in business for two years orless.
This jumps to $2,242.71 for those who’ve been in business for 2+ years and then to $9,087.31 for those who’ve been in business 5–10years.
Do those offering services worldwide charge more per project than those serving local markets?
Yes—significantly more!
On average, those offering their services locally charge $5,723.53 per project, whereas those serving the worldwide market charge $8,056.56.
That’s a significant difference of 40.80%.
Final thoughts
My hope is that this data will help SEOs to stop undercharging for their services. Yes, the economic outlook may look bleak right now, but know that SEO is a valuable skill. Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth.
Got questions? Ping me on Twitter.
