What are you actually
buying with SEO?
A website buys you something visible. SEO buys a period of work — and whether that work happened, and happened well, is hard to tell for months. So understanding the pricing structure matters far more than asking for a number.
No prices here, for the same reason as before
A restaurant starting from zero and a clinic that already ranks and only needs maintaining differ several times over in workload. Food in Flushing and plumbing on Long Island differ by orders of magnitude in competition. A figure in an article would be made up.
More importantly, in this trade price by itself tells you very little. At the same monthly fee, one provider genuinely changes things every month and another sends a report every month. Telling those apart is the job, and it has nothing to do with how much is charged.
So this piece covers structure: how the money is counted, what counts as success, and which arrangements work against you.
Four common pricing models
Fixed monthly retainer — the most common, and the easiest to coast on
Predictable and low-friction for both sides. The risk: once the fee is set, the provider is paid the same whether they do much or little, and you cannot tell the difference in the early months. If you use this model, insist on a monthly list of *actions* — not a traffic report, but what was changed: which pages, what content, which problems fixed.
Fixed project fee — right for "the things that should already be correct"
A one-off technical audit, completing the business profile, migrating old URLs. This work has a clear beginning and end, so a project fee is reasonable and easy to sign off. Watch for long-term work dressed up as a project — "optimised once and for all" is not a real thing.
Performance-based — sounds fairest, breaks most often
"You only pay if it ranks" is attractive until you ask how performance is defined. Define it as ranking and the provider will chase the easiest terms, including ones nobody searches. Define it as enquiries and you face a hard problem: proving this call came from SEO rather than happening anyway. The model can work, but the definition must be nailed down in the contract.
Hourly — transparent, but needs judgement from you
Suits businesses with in-house people who need outside direction. Poor fit for an owner with no background — you cannot tell whether a task should take two hours or ten.
None of the four is inherently better. What decides whether the money was well spent is not the model, it is whether both sides agreed on a definition of "done". Without that definition, every model turns into an argument.
One question that gets an honest answer
Whatever model they use, ask this: "In three months, what will we use to judge whether this money was well spent?"
A good answer is specific and checkable
"These terms from this position to that position, searched from Flushing." "Profile views and call clicks." "Form submissions." Specific enough that you can verify it yourself — that is a promise capable of being kept.
Be wary of answers about traffic alone
Traffic up with no increase in calls is worth nothing to you. And traffic is the easiest metric to make look good — chase terms nobody competes for and nobody buys from, and the number rises quickly.
The worst answer is no answer
If they deflect, or say it is hard to quantify, then in three months there will still be no standard to judge by, and you will have only their account of it.
Three contract terms that work against you
Accounts in the provider’s name
We keep repeating this because it is the most damaging: Business Profile, Search Console and ad accounts in their name means you can be blocked at any time. It has nothing to do with pricing and matters more than pricing. See whose name are the accounts in.
A long contract with no exit clause
A minimum year with no break clause is a heavy risk for something that takes months to show results. A reasonable arrangement is monthly exit for the first three months, then discuss a longer term. If a provider insists on the long term and refuses an exit clause, it is worth asking why.
Content owned by the provider
Some contracts give the provider ownership of articles and pages produced during the engagement, to be removed on termination. Check before signing — content you paid for should be yours.
Questions this article gets
What is the difference between cheap and expensive?
Usually person-hours, and which kind of work is being done. Cheap tends to cover only what can be produced at scale — title tweaks and generic articles. Expensive should include the parts that need real time: studying how people search in your trade, and writing content only someone who understands your business could write.
But a high price does not automatically mean the latter. The test is still the same question: what will we judge by in three months.
Should I start with a one-off audit?
Worth it. An audit tells you your starting point and which category of problem you are stuck on, which directly decides whether long-term fees make sense. Some businesses find every problem was a basic technical setting, fix them, and need no ongoing service at all.
Can I do it myself?
The business profile and reviews you absolutely can, and for a local business those have the most direct effect — the method is in filling in your Business Profile and how to rank on Google Maps. What usually needs outside help is website technical work and sustained content, both of which cost a lot of your own time.
How do you charge?
It depends on the job, but two things are fixed: every account is in your name from day one, and what you get monthly is an action list plus enquiry numbers, not just a traffic chart. Start with a conversation — we will tell you first whether you need ongoing service at all, and say so plainly when you do not.
Free marketing review
Not sure how much growth your website is leaving on the table?
Send us your website and industry. We will review your site, search visibility, Google Maps presence and social footprint, and tell you the three things worth fixing first.