--- title: "How much does SEO cost? US prices per month in 2026 — Dardo" description: "What SEO costs in the US: published agency retainers, audits and hourly rates, what a small business pays per month, link-package risks and in-house costs." url: "https://dardo.studio/en/blog/seo-cost/" language: "en" updated: "2026-10-18T00:01:14.094Z" --- [Blog](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/) # How much does SEO cost? US agency prices, audits, hourly rates and what a small business pays per month US agencies that publish SEO prices start at $299 to $5,000 a month; Clutch puts US firms at $100 to $149 an hour. What each price buys, and what to avoid. By [Nicolás Cerón](https://dardo.studio/en/nicolas-ceron/) ·October 17, 2026 ![A hedge maze in a walled garden at dusk, lit by lanterns, with a single crimson gravel path leading to a fountain at its centre.](https://dardo.studio/_astro/01M564ZJ0H5W4MAQ5S5QTRX3A9_kqn8M.webp) ## Key takeaways - Of 31 US SEO agencies whose sites we checked on 17 October 2026, six published a monthly starting price: $299 to $5,000 a month, with a median of $1,950. - Clutch lists US SEO firms at $100 to $149 an hour, so a $1,000 monthly retainer buys roughly 7 to 10 hours of work. - Published SEO audit prices range from $500 for a traffic-drop diagnostic to $8,600 and up for an agency audit. - Google's spam policies name buying links, or posts that contain links, as link spam, and say violating sites may rank lower or not appear at all. - One in-house SEO specialist at the BLS median wage costs about $112,500 a year once average benefits are added, before tools. ## The short answer SEO in the US costs anything from about $300 a month for a self-guided local package to $20,000 a month for a full-service agency program. On 17 October 2026, the six US agencies we found that publish a monthly starting price began at $299 to $5,000 a month, with a median of $1,950. Clutch puts US SEO firms at $100 to $149 an hour, and the average monthly cost of SEO projects reviewed on its platform at $3,199. - **Small business, per month:** entry plans of $299 to $1,000 (Boostability, Thrive, The HOTH). In Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, local SEO averaged $1,557 a month. - **Full-service agencies:** WebFX charges $8,600 for the first two months, then from $2,900 a month; Victorious quotes $5,000 to $20,000 a month. - **One-off audits:** from $500 for a traffic-drop diagnostic to $8,600 and up for an agency audit. - **In-house:** about $112,500 a year for one specialist at the median wage once benefits are added, before tools. No price buys a guaranteed ranking. Google says so itself, and we quote it below. ## Published prices from US SEO agencies Most agencies quote after a call. We looked for a pricing page on the websites of 31 US SEO agencies and found a monthly starting price we could read on six of them; five more sites blocked automated reading. These are the six, as published on 17 October 2026: | Agency | Starting price | What the entry tier includes | Top of the published range | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | [Boostability](https://www.boostability.com/pricing/) | $299 a month (Local Search Starter) | Website audit, on-page titles and headings, Analytics, Search Console and Business Profile setup, rank tracking and monthly reports | $3,600 a month for national and ecommerce campaigns | | [Thrive](https://thriveagency.com/seo-pricing/) | $500 a month for small businesses, labelled an estimate | Local SEO, content, on-page optimization, link building, technical fixes | "6X+" for enterprise and ecommerce | | [The HOTH](https://www.thehoth.com/managed-seo/) | $1,000 a month (HOTH X Starter) | A dedicated SEO manager working to your monthly budget | $10,000 a month | | [WebFX](https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/) | $8,600 for the first two months, then $2,900 a month | Custom strategy, on-page SEO with copywriting and implementation; 6-month commitment | $21,400, then $9,200 a month | | [Searchbloom](https://www.searchbloom.com/) | $3,000 a month | Custom scope; price rises with competition and locations | Not published | | [Victorious](https://victorious.com/blog/how-much-does-seo-cost/) | $5,000 a month | Long-term SEO with set goals; price varies with backlinks, content and pages targeted | $20,000 a month | Counting each agency once at its lowest monthly price ($299, $500, $1,000, $2,900, $3,000 and $5,000), the median is $1,950. Six prices are a small sample, and agencies that publish prices tend to sell smaller packages, so treat it as a floor, not a market average. The terms matter as much as the monthly figure. WebFX's entry tier costs $20,200 for its first six months ($8,600 + 4 × $2,900). Boostability's $299 plan is self-guided setup with automated keyword research; its done-for-you plan, with a specialist, content and links, starts at $600. A useful way to compare retainers is to turn them into hours. At Clutch's US band of $100 to $149 an hour, $1,000 a month buys about 7 to 10 hours of work, and $2,900 about 19 to 29. Ask each provider how many hours a month your retainer covers and who does them. ## What the market data says Two sources publish their own pricing data at scale. Both have limits, so we show their method next to the number: | Source | What it found | Method and caveats | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Clutch: SEO pricing guide](https://clutch.co/seo-firms/pricing) | Agencies "typically charge a monthly fee between $2,000 - $20,000"; average monthly cost of reviewed SEO projects $3,199.19; US firms $100 to $149 an hour; most reviewed projects under $10,000 | From client reviews on Clutch; updated 21 September 2026 (read from the Internet Archive's 6 October capture, since Clutch blocks automated reading) | | [Ahrefs: SEO pricing survey](https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/) | Agencies average $3,209 a month, freelancers $1,348.63, local SEO $1,557.08; in the US and Canada, 79.1% charge at least $1,001 a month and 66.7% charge $75 to $200 an hour | 439 providers worldwide; post updated 15 August 2024; averages assume each respondent charges the top of their price band | Clutch's average project cost of $37,158.66 sits next to its statement that most projects cost under $10,000, which means a few large projects pull the mean up. Ahrefs' averages lean high for a different reason: each respondent is counted at the top of their band. Neither source publishes a median. ## How much does SEO cost for a small business per month? For a single-location business, the published entry plans run $299 to $1,000 a month. In Ahrefs' survey, about 42% of SEO providers charge $250 to $1,000 a month, and local SEO averaged $1,557. What changes with the price is who does the work: - **Around $300 a month** buys setup and tracking: an audit, title and heading fixes, Google Business Profile and Search Console setup, rank reports. You or your web team make most changes. - **$500 to $1,500 a month** adds a specialist's time, some content and some link work. At Clutch's hourly band, that's roughly 3 to 15 hours a month. - **$3,000 a month and up** buys a team: strategy, regular content, technical work and reporting, usually with a minimum term. You may not need a retainer at all. Google points out that tools such as [Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console) are free and that "it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results". A small business with a sound site can often get further with a one-off audit, the fixes it lists and a Business Profile kept up to date than with a monthly package that repeats the same report. ## One-off audits and projects Audits are where published prices vary most, because "audit" can mean a 30-minute crawl report or a month of analysis: | Provider | What it is | Published price | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- | | [Marie Haynes Consulting](https://www.mariehaynes.com/services/) | Traffic Drop Diagnostic: a 3-to-4-page assessment | $500 | | Marie Haynes Consulting | Site Quality Review and Tactical Roadmap | From $5,000 | | [WebFX](https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/how-much-does-seo-audit-cost/) | SEO audit services | From $8,600 per audit | | Dardo | AI visibility audit | From USD 690, one-time | On Shopify's [Partner Directory](https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/locations/united-states), partners also state a price for SEO work on online stores. Of the 79 US-based partners we checked, 13 list an SEO service and 11 publish a price; their starting prices run from $100 to $3,500, with a median of $400, mostly for one-time setup. One of those listings promises "guaranteed ranking", which is the warning sign covered below. Ahrefs' respondents report the same spread for projects: the most common project fee was $2,501 to $5,000 (21.2% of respondents), and in the US and Canada 83.3% charge at least $1,001 per project. ## Hourly SEO consultants Hourly billing suits a team that has its own developers and writers and needs direction. The published benchmarks: - Clutch lists US SEO firms at $100 to $149 an hour. - In Ahrefs' survey, the most common hourly rate for consultants was $100 to $150, and their average, at the top of each band, $171.18. At $150 an hour, a 20-hour technical audit costs $3,000, and a monthly 8-hour advisory call and review costs $1,200. Ask for an estimate of hours before you start, and a written list of what the hours produced. ## Link-building packages, and why they're a risk Some vendors sell links by the piece. FatJoe, a UK link vendor, for example, lists "blogger outreach" placements from [$72 for a DR10+ site to $456 for DR60+](https://fatjoe.com/blogger-outreach/), and describes them as "ghost posts, not guest posts". Google's [spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) define link spam as links made "primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings", and the first example they list is: > Buying or selling links for ranking purposes. This includes: Exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links. The same page says that sites that violate the policies "may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all". Paid placements are allowed when the link is marked with `rel="sponsored"` or `rel="nofollow"`, which stops it passing ranking credit, and which also removes the reason most link packages are sold. If a retainer includes "backlinks", ask where they come from and whether money changes hands for them. ## Red flags in an SEO proposal Google's own page for people hiring help, [Do you need an SEO?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo), is blunt: > No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. The same guide, last updated 5 June 2026, adds a few checks that apply directly to price: - An audit should give you "realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved". If the provider guarantees first place, Google's advice is to find someone else. - At the audit stage, give read access to Search Console only, not write access. - If the proposal sells "AEO" or "GEO" for AI answers, ask whether the advice matches Google's own guidance on AI features. Our guide to [showing up in AI answers](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/appear-in-ai-answers/) covers what each AI platform documents. - Treat unsolicited SEO emails with the skepticism Google reserves for "burn fat at night" diet pills. Our guide on [choosing an SEO agency in Colombia](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/choose-seo-agency-colombia/) has a fuller list of questions to ask; they work in any market. ## What in-house SEO costs The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups search marketing strategists with market research analysts and marketing specialists, whose [median pay was $78,760](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm) in May 2025. In June 2026, benefits made up 30.0% of employer compensation costs in private industry ([BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm)). If a hire followed that average, $78,760 in wages implies about $112,500 a year in total cost ($78,760 ÷ 0.70), or about $9,400 a month. That's our arithmetic on two averages, not a published figure. Tools come on top. [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) costs $129 a month (Lite) to $449 (Advanced) for one user; [Moz Pro](https://moz.com/products/pro/pricing) Standard is $79 a month billed yearly. One specialist with one tool comes to roughly $9,500 a month, close to the top of WebFX's published tiers, so a hire pays off when there's a full week of SEO work every week and someone to ship the changes. ## What Dardo charges Dardo publishes its prices on the [pricing page](https://dardo.studio/en/pricing/): monthly SEO with reporting from USD 299 a month, an AI visibility audit from USD 690 one-time, and AI visibility tracking from USD 299 a month. Our [SEO](https://dardo.studio/en/services/seo/) work is strongest on technical foundations: crawlability, structured data, speed and site migrations; [AI search optimization](https://dardo.studio/en/services/ai-search-optimization/) covers how AI assistants find and cite you. If you need a large content or digital PR program every month, a bigger agency will fit better. ## What to do next 1. Run our free [AI visibility checker](https://dardo.studio/en/tools/ai-visibility-checker/) on your site to see what search and AI crawlers can read before you pay anyone. 2. Ask every provider for the same three things: hours a month, deliverables, and minimum term. Then convert each retainer into hours. 3. If you're changing platforms or domains, fix SEO risk before you buy SEO growth: our [website migration SEO checklist](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/website-migration-seo-checklist/) lists every step. Running a store? Our guide to [what an ecommerce website costs](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/ecommerce-website-cost/) prices the rest of the stack. All prices here are dated snapshots from each provider's own page and change often. If you want Dardo to look at your site, [get in touch](https://dardo.studio/en/contact/). ## Common questions **How much does SEO cost per month?** US agencies that publish prices start at $299 to $5,000 a month; the median of the six we found was $1,950. Clutch says agencies typically charge $2,000 to $20,000 a month, and the average monthly cost of SEO projects reviewed on its platform was $3,199. What you get depends on the hours behind the retainer, so ask for them. **How much does SEO cost for a small business per month?** Entry plans for a single-location business run about $299 to $1,000 a month: Boostability starts at $299, Thrive at $500 and The HOTH at $1,000. In Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers, local SEO averaged $1,557 a month. A small business with a sound site may get more from a one-off audit and the fixes it lists than from a monthly package. **How much does an SEO audit cost?** Published prices run from $500 for a short traffic-drop diagnostic to $5,000 and up for a full site review, and WebFX lists audits from $8,600. Dardo's AI visibility audit starts at USD 690. Google advises that an audit should give realistic estimates of improvement and of the work involved. **How much do SEO consultants charge per hour?** Clutch lists US SEO firms at $100 to $149 an hour. In Ahrefs' survey, the most common rate for consultants was $100 to $150 an hour, and two thirds of US and Canadian respondents charged $75 to $200. At $150 an hour, a 20-hour technical audit costs $3,000. **Is it safe to buy backlinks?** Not if the links are meant to pass ranking credit. Google's spam policies list exchanging money for links, or for posts that contain links, as link spam, and say violating sites may rank lower or disappear from results. Paid links are allowed only when marked rel=sponsored or rel=nofollow, which stops them passing ranking credit. **Can an SEO agency guarantee first place on Google?** No. Google's guide for people hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and warns against providers who claim a special relationship with Google or a priority submit. If a proposal guarantees first place, Google's advice is to find someone else. ## Sources & further reading Sources behind this page, with further detail from the original publishers. - [Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo) · developers.google.com - [Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) · developers.google.com - [Clutch: SEO pricing guide (updated 21 September 2026)](https://clutch.co/seo-firms/pricing) · clutch.co - [Ahrefs: SEO pricing survey of 439 providers (updated 15 August 2024)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/) · ahrefs.com - [Boostability: Pricing](https://www.boostability.com/pricing/) · boostability.com - [Thrive Internet Marketing Agency: SEO pricing](https://thriveagency.com/seo-pricing/) · thriveagency.com - [The HOTH: Managed SEO (HOTH X) pricing](https://www.thehoth.com/managed-seo/) · thehoth.com - [WebFX: SEO pricing](https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/) · webfx.com - [WebFX: SEO audit pricing](https://www.webfx.com/seo/pricing/how-much-does-seo-audit-cost/) · webfx.com - [Searchbloom: SEO and PPC services](https://www.searchbloom.com/) · searchbloom.com - [Victorious: How much does SEO cost?](https://victorious.com/blog/how-much-does-seo-cost/) · victorious.com - [Marie Haynes Consulting: Services](https://www.mariehaynes.com/services/) · mariehaynes.com - [Shopify: Partner Directory, United States](https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/locations/united-states) · shopify.com - [FatJoe: Blogger outreach pricing](https://fatjoe.com/blogger-outreach/) · fatjoe.com - [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Market research analysts, Occupational Outlook Handbook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm) · bls.gov - [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) · bls.gov - [Ahrefs: Pricing](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) · ahrefs.com - [Moz: Moz Pro pricing](https://moz.com/products/pro/pricing) · moz.com - [Google: Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console) · search.google.com [Nicolás Cerón](https://dardo.studio/en/nicolas-ceron/) Nicolás Cerón is the founder of Dardo, a brand, web design and development studio in Bogotá, Colombia. ## Related articles - [**How to show up in AI answers in 2026: what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google and Copilot actually document**There is no switch for appearing in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews or Copilot. Here is what each platform documents about being cited, and how to measure it without guessing.](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/appear-in-ai-answers/) - [**Website migration SEO checklist: change platforms or domains without losing rankings**Rankings rarely drop because of the new platform; they drop because URLs that earned traffic stopped answering. A checklist from URL inventory to day 90.](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/website-migration-seo-checklist/) - [**How much does an ecommerce website cost in the US? Platform plans, card fees, build prices and 3-year totals**Shopify plans run $29 to $359 a month, but card fees are most of the bill. Published US prices for platforms, payments, apps and builds, with 3-year totals.](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/ecommerce-website-cost/) - [**How to block AI crawlers in robots.txt: every user agent, what blocking costs and three files to copy**Block AI training crawlers like GPTBot without leaving ChatGPT or Google search: 28 user agents from vendor docs, RFC 9309 rules and three robots.txt files.](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/block-ai-crawlers-robots-txt/) ## Keep exploring. - [Service · **Technical SEO for new and custom-built websites**](https://dardo.studio/en/services/seo/) - [Your project · **Start a conversation**](https://dardo.studio/en/contact/)