How Much Does SEO Cost UK? Average Prices in 2023

As a digital marketing agency, we have come across several businesses that haven’t worked on their SEO strategies one bit. They are new to the industry and, hence, don’t have any knowledge about digital marketing and its perks.

SEO is one of the vital tools of digital marketing that leads to exceptional growth for online business. Every brand needs to have a strong SEO strategy to ensure that they are always ahead in their game and conquer the world of the Internet. Businesses often wonder how much does SEO cost UK, and to answer that, we are here for you.

What is SEO?

Before we start talking about the cost of SEO, it is important to briefly describe what SEO is so we can all be on the same page as we go forward.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is a marketing tool that allows businesses to grow online. By optimising your website for SEO, you are allowing the search engine to crawl your content and rank it depending on its credibility. Google is the most used search engine in the world, so most businesses aim to get a higher rank on Google. It has specific criteria for ranking that enable the bots to identify which website is worth the top position. Ranking on the first page of Google is a big deal and a dream for many because the higher you rank, the better reach you will get.

Visitors usually find the answers to their queries on the first page of Google, and hardly anyone goes to the second page. This means that as a business owner or a marketer, your goal should always be to rank on the first page. You can optimise your content and website for SEO by infusing the right keywords at the right places, making your website user-friendly, and posting valuable content so the readers can find it helpful.

Is SEO Expensive?

Since marketing used to be an expensive part of running a business, some people have this misconception that SEO is also expensive. To tell you the truth, SEO doesn’t cost you anything. It is the most cost-effective way to promote your business. You don’t even need to hire marketers to handle your website’s SEO if you are able to do it yourself. All you have to do is create effective SEO strategies and implement them on your website. However, this can only happen if you have extensive knowledge and experience of working with SEO.

If you don’t have the experience and knowledge, you will need to hire an expert digital marketing agency UK for professional SEO services. Several agencies in the UK offer different packages depending on the type and quality of their services. You can easily find an agency that offers good quality SEO services in your marketing budget. Even if you hire a professional digital marketing agency UK, SEO is still not half as expensive as traditional marketing techniques. And if you choose to handle your SEO yourself, then you won’t have to spend even a penny for it. However, it is important to understand that SEO is no magic. It takes time, and you will have to stay patient with the process, whether you hire a professional SEO company or handle it yourself.

Is it the Best Use of a Marketing Budget?

Yes, it is.

SEO is the most efficient way you can use your marketing budget. You don’t have to go overboard with the spending, as you can easily find agencies that offer great help within your budget. SEO is the best marketing tool for small businesses because it allows them to fight fairly with big brands. You cannot compete with them when it comes to their huge marketing budget, but SEO doesn’t need that. They have to follow the same algorithm as you to rank higher on the search engine and gain organic traffic. This means that, even if you don’t have a big marketing budget, you can still use it to compete with the big names in the industry and even beat them when it comes to organic growth.

Cost of SEO

Now that we have covered the basics, we can start discussing the thing you came here for. The cost of SEO varies from agency to agency. There’s no simple and exact answer to how much does SEO cost UK because every SEO agency has a different pricing strategy. Some companies might charge a lot from you for each package while also providing great results, and some might be cheaper but won’t have good results. When you are searching for an organic SEO agency, you should look for the quality of services and results instead of the pricing because cheaper services won’t help you go anywhere if they can’t give you results. Following are the three pricing strategies that agencies work with.

Monthly Charges

Agencies usually work with this pricing strategy. What they do is offer you different packages with a wide range of services in each package. You can select the package that’s most suitable for you. They charge you monthly according to that package fee, and you get their services every month. This strategy is beneficial for businesses because this way, the marketers continuously work with them and understand their industry. They do their research and create long-term strategies that help businesses prosper. Once you decide to part ways with the agency, you can stop taking their services, and you won’t be charged after that.

Hourly Charges

Some agencies and consultants also work on hourly charges. In this pricing strategy, you are supposed to pay the marketers depending on the hours of work they have put in to create and implement strategies for your business. The charges in this strategy are not fixed as monthly charges. Because the more marketers will work, the more they will charge. This pricing strategy is not as beneficial for small businesses because they might not have enough resources to pay the marketers per hour.

Per-Project Charges

Some consultants and agencies also take per-project charges. Let’s say that you can handle your SEO yourself, but there’s one project that you need help with. For that, you can hire an SEO professional to do the job. In return, they can charge you per project for their services. This type of pricing strategy is perfect for all types of marketing budgets. Even if you don’t have a huge budget, you can still hire experts for one project. However, there’s a lack of time spent on understanding your business and industry in this pricing strategy. If you only hire an SEO expert for a few projects, they won’t be able to spend much time learning about your business and opportunities in the industry.

Average Prices for Each Strategy

If you are thinking about which pricing strategy will be the best and most cost-effective solution for you, we have made this list of average costs for each strategy. This will help you put a finger on the price that’s most suitable for your marketing budget.

A professional SEO agency can charge you from £1200 to £9000 per month, depending on the type of services you need and the quality and experience of their marketers. You need to look for agencies that offer you good services within your budget. They have different packages; hence, it is difficult to tell you the exact amount they will be charging. You can visit the website of SEO agencies like Trajital and check out their packages. This will help you get an idea of how much monthly charges you will have to pay.

The consultant and agency can charge you from £100 to £1000 per hour for hourly pay. This also depends on the type and quality of their services. If you hire a very experienced marketer, they will charge you more. For per-project SEO services, the agencies may charge you differently, depending on the length of your project; if you don’t want to spend that much money on SEO, look for even more cost-effective ways. You can hire cheap SEO services that start from £100 to £400. For these services, the agencies use less effective methods of SEO for your website, and it will have slower growth.

How to Choose the Best SEO?

Once you know about the different pricing strategies and have all the right information, the decision becomes easier for you. You first need to interview agencies and consultants to see whether they have the potential to handle your SEO or not. Ask them questions about SEO and how they aim to provide you with the best results. Don’t fall for vague answers, and look for the specifics. Let’s say that the marketers are telling you, “We have experience of XYZ years in the industry, and we have provided our clients with great results.” This answer is not good enough to highlight their potential. You should ask them exactly “how” they are going to help you achieve success.

If you are hiring a consultant, your questions will be the same, but they might provide you with limited services. SEO agencies have a huge team of marketers, and this enables them to provide more services to each client. However, consultants, on the other hand, are usually a one-man army; they can only offer services they are good at. So, if you don’t want more than one service for your website, choosing a consultant might be more cost-effective for you.

Doing it Yourself

It is no surprise that you think doing SEO yourself is a doable option. It seems tempting to most business owners because who wouldn’t want to save more money?

If you want to handle your SEO yourself, there’s nothing that can stop you. However, it is essential to know that it’s not as easy as it may seem. You need to learn SEO from scratch and keep updating your knowledge as Google changes its algorithms every year. You need to have proper knowledge of SEO and digital marketing to be able to successfully handle SEO strategies and implementation. Otherwise, you might end up wasting your time and efforts.

Hiring an SEO agency or consultant is a better option because the results are guaranteed. You are hiring professionals for the job, so they do their best to bring results. On the other hand, if you do it yourself, first, you will have to invest so much time into learning SEO. Once you have learned, you will experiment with strategies to find the right one. SEO itself is a time-consuming process, and if you do it yourself, then it becomes even lengthier. The only advantage of handling your SEO yourself is that you won’t have to pay anyone for the job. Your marketing budget will be saved, and you can implement SEO without spending £££ for it.

What You Should Be Getting From SEO Services?

You should be getting the following services when you hire a digital marketing agency UK for SEO services.

Keyword research
Website optimisation
Audit of your website
Content handling
Removing spammy links
Link building
Editing and optimising existing content
Monthly reports

Do SEO the Right Way

SEO is one of the most used marketing tools worldwide, and it is also the cheapest. However, when SEO is being done, it should be done right. If you hire an inexperienced agency just because of low cost, you will be risking your money and time. They won’t have the proper knowledge and experience to drive you to success. It is better to invest in experienced and professional marketers so you can ensure that your online triumph becomes easier. Digital success nowadays is essential if you want to make a name for your business. Brands shouldn’t take it lightly because if you don’t do SEO right first, your competitors will, and it might be too late for you to catch up to them. Hence, setting a realistic marketing budget and looking for professional and experienced marketers to handle your SEO is important.