Search engine optimisation

How much does SEO cost?

It is the hardest question in the business to answer honestly, because the price depends entirely on who you are competing with. Here is how we work it out, with three real examples.

Get a price for your site How we do SEO
  • Fixed fee agreed up front
  • No tie-in
  • Cancel if we miss

Why nobody gives you a number

The price is set by your competitors, not by us

SEO is an easy service to offer and a hard one to do, so there is no shortage of suppliers and the prices are all over the place. As a rule, what you pay reflects what you get. You can buy it far cheaper overseas, and sometimes that works out — but you give up accountability, and you rarely get anyone to answer the phone when it does not.

What you are really paying for is the judgement about where to spend the effort, and the return that comes from getting that right. Which is why we cannot put a figure on this page and call it a quote. Ranking for “lawn mower repairs Preston” is a different job from ranking for “business plan”, and the fee has to reflect that.

  • You pick the keywords you want to win — we tell you which are worth having
  • We agree a fixed monthly fee before anything starts
  • Half the terms on page one within a few months is the usual shape of it
  • All of them inside a year
  • If we miss what we agreed, you end it — there is no tie-in

Three worked examples

What the same job costs in three different markets

Same amount of care, three very different price tags — because the competition is three very different sizes. These are the bands we actually quote in.

Example one

Lawn mower sales and repairs

Lancashire, near a major town such as Preston

£100 a month, typically

Lower competition, but you are still up against the big sheds

A social media presence, a Google Business Profile that shows up, and first page on natural search for:

  • lawn mower repairs preston
  • lawn mower servicing preston
  • lawn mower sales preston
  • buy a lawn mower in preston

Achieved by changes to the structure and content of the site, plus social media management. Usually done without touching how the site looks.

Example two

Holiday cottage

Lincolnshire, near a major town such as Grimsby

£200 a month, typically

A crowded market — every other cottage wants the same words

A strong social presence, listings in the directories that matter, and first page on natural search for:

  • holiday cottage grimsby
  • self catering grimsby
  • self catering accommodation grimsby
  • short break grimsby
  • holiday cottage lincolnshire
  • self catering accommodation lincolnshire
  • short break lincolnshire

Achieved by changes to the structure and content of the site, directory work and social media management. Usually done without changing the design.

Example three

Business plan supplier

Selling nationally, no local advantage to lean on

£1,000 a month, typically

National terms with well-funded competitors defending them

First page on natural search for a broad set of commercial terms:

  • business plan
  • business plan assistance
  • business plan seminar
  • business plan support
  • business plan template
  • business planning
  • business plans
  • business start up
  • sample business plan
  • starting a business

Achieved by expanding the content of the site substantially, changing its structure and managing social media. Again, usually without a redesign.

You get told what is happening, every month. Keyword positions, social media status and the state of the site, in a report short enough that you will actually read it. No sixty-page PDF that nobody opens.

Get a price for your site How we do SEO

Read on

Still worth doing, even at £1,000 a month

Someone typing what you sell into Google is the warmest lead you will ever get — they have already decided they want it. And unlike advertising, the traffic does not stop the day you stop paying for it.

How we do SEO

Or pay for the traffic instead

Which keywords do you want to own?

Send us the searches you want to win and the address of your site. We will come back with what it takes and what it costs — a real number, not a range.

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