In short
- Published UK guides put monthly SEO at about £400 to £1,500 with a freelancer and £1,200 to £4,000 with an agency (Startups.co.uk); Expert Market gives £1,000 as an average retainer.
- One-off audits and projects are quoted from a few hundred pounds to several thousand.
- The ranges are wide because the work is: a café in a market town and a law firm competing across a city need very different amounts of it.
- A price means nothing without a scope. Ask what will be done each month, by whom, and how you will know it worked.
What published UK price guides say
We do not think an agency’s own opinion of “typical prices” is worth much, so here are the figures from sources you can check for yourself. All were read in October 2026.
| Source | Monthly | Other figures |
|---|---|---|
| Startups.co.uk (updated April 2025) | Freelancer £400–£1,500 · Agency £1,200–£4,000 | Do-it-yourself tools £0–£80 a month · One-off audit £400–£4,000 |
| Expert Market (updated March 2025) | Average retainer £1,000 | Day rate £400 · Project £1,500 |
| Bark (2025 guide) | £400–£1,500 | Hourly from about £40, around £100 for experienced consultants · Day rate £300–£800 |
Two international surveys, reported in US dollars, give a sense of scale. Ahrefs’ survey of 439 SEO providers found the most common monthly retainer was $501–$1,000, with local SEO averaging $1,557 a month. SE Ranking’s study of 260 agencies, 53 of them in the UK, found the most common retainer was $500–$1,000 a month and the most common hourly rate $50–$100.
A caution about all of these. None of the UK guides explains how its figures were gathered. Treat them as an indication of what is commonly charged, not as a market survey.
Why the ranges are so wide
SEO is priced on time, and the amount of time a business needs varies enormously. Four things account for most of the difference.
- How competitive your market is. Ranking a plumber in a market town is a different job from ranking a solicitor across a city.
- Where you are starting from. A sound website needs less work than one with technical problems or a history of poor SEO.
- How much you want to be found for. Every service and every location is another page to plan, write and maintain.
- Who does the work. A freelancer has lower overheads than an agency; an agency has more people and skills to draw on.
The published figures make the arithmetic visible. At a day rate of £400 (Expert Market’s figure) a £1,000 monthly retainer pays for two and a half days of work a month. Whether that is enough depends entirely on the four points above.
How SEO is usually charged
- Monthly retainer. The most common arrangement: an agreed amount of work each month. Suits competitive markets and ongoing content.
- One-off project. An audit, a set of fixes, a migration or the local foundations done once. Often the right first step for a small business.
- Hourly or daily consultancy. Advice, training or a second opinion, paid for as used.
- Payment by results. Be careful. Nobody controls rankings, so these deals tend to target easy, low-value searches or use tactics that put the site at risk.
What a small local business should budget
Many small businesses do not need a monthly retainer to begin with. The foundations, a complete Google Business Profile, a clear page for each service, consistent listings and a habit of asking for reviews, can be put right once. On the published ranges above, that is a one-off cost in the hundreds or low thousands rather than an open-ended commitment.
Ongoing work makes sense when the basics are in place and there is more to win than they can reach: more services, more towns, tougher competitors. Our own approach is on the pricing page, and you can check your foundations yourself with the local SEO scorecard.
How to judge a quote
Cheap and expensive are both the wrong test. A quote is fair if you can see what you are buying.
- It says what will be done in the first month, specifically.
- It names who will do the work, and you can speak to them.
- It reports on enquiries and sales, not only rankings.
- You keep ownership of your website, your Google profile and your analytics.
- The minimum term and notice period are written down.
- There are no guaranteed rankings and no “secret” methods.
If a quote fails several of those, the price hardly matters. Our guide to choosing an SEO agency goes through the questions to ask.
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