What you are really paying for.
SEO pricing is confusing because two quotes for "SEO" can describe completely different work. One might be a monthly report and a few title tag changes; another might be technical fixes, new content, local profile management and conversion tracking. A price only makes sense once you know which one you're looking at.
What you pay for is time and judgement: someone finding what is holding your site back, fixing it in the right order and measuring whether it worked. With me you deal directly with the person doing the work, and the scope is written down before anything starts.
Three ways to start.
Every engagement is scoped to your website and your market. These are the ranges most London businesses fall into, and your exact price is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Free SEO Audit
Price Free No obligation. A short written summary of the most important fixes for your site.- Indexation and technical health
- On-page review of your key pages
- Local visibility and Business Profile
- Mobile page speed
- Comparison with a top competitor
- Delivered within five working days
Technical SEO Audit & Fix
One-off £1,499–£4,999 A single project, priced in writing according to site size and what the audit finds.- Full crawl of every page
- Indexation, canonicals and redirects
- Core Web Vitals and mobile rendering
- Schema and internal linking
- Fixes made, or briefed to your developer
- Before-and-after check in Search Console
Ongoing SEO
Per month £499–£2,499 A monthly engagement scoped to your competition, site size and goals.- Technical monitoring and fixes
- On-page improvements
- New and refreshed content
- Local SEO where it matters to you
- GA4 and Search Console reporting
- A written report and call each month
Anything outside the agreed scope, such as extra content or developer time, is quoted in writing before it's added.
What moves SEO pricing in London up or down.
Five things decide where you sit in the monthly range. Growing into several locations or new countries adds scope as well.
| Factor | Towards £499 a month | Towards £2,499 a month |
|---|---|---|
| Competition | A niche service in a handful of boroughs | Crowded London-wide searches with well-funded rivals |
| Site size | A small brochure site | Hundreds of product or service pages |
| Starting point | Technically sound, just under-optimised | Indexing problems or a damaging migration to recover from |
| Content needs | You write; I edit and optimise | New pages and articles written every month |
| Local vs national | One location and local searches | National reach, several locations or several markets |
What a monthly fee should buy.
The balance between these depends on your scope. A local firm might need more profile work; an online store more technical and content work.
Technical Health
Crawl errors, broken links, indexing and speed checked every month, with fixes made or briefed before they cost you rankings.
On-Page Improvements
Titles, headings, internal links and copy improved on the pages closest to page one, where small changes pay off fastest.
Content
New pages or articles planned around searches your buyers make, written or edited to the amount agreed in your scope.
Local Visibility
Google Business Profile posts, photos, categories and review replies managed, wherever local search matters to your business.
Reporting You Can Read
Rankings, organic traffic, enquiries and revenue from GA4 and Search Console, explained in plain English rather than jargon.
A Monthly Call
A short call on what moved, what didn't, and what I'm working on next month and why.
How terms work
Terms are agreed in writing before any work starts, so you know exactly what you're committing to. Your written agreement sets out:
- The scope of work and what is delivered each month
- The fee, and how and when it is invoiced
- What is reported, and how often
- The notice period on either side
- That your website, content and Google accounts stay in your name
Red flags in cheap SEO.
A low price isn't a problem on its own. These are the signs that it's buying the wrong kind of work.
Guaranteed Rankings
Nobody controls Google's results. A promise of position one usually means an obscure phrase that nobody actually searches for.
Secret Methods
If a provider can't explain what they're doing in plain English, you have no way of checking whether it's safe.
Bulk Backlinks
Hundreds of cheap links a month are exactly what Google's spam policies target, and cleaning them up costs more than they did.
Reports Without Enquiries
Rankings for terms nobody buys from, with no mention of leads or sales, show activity rather than results.
Accounts You Don't Own
Your analytics, Search Console and Business Profile should be in your name. If a provider holds them, leaving becomes difficult.
Too Little Time
A very low monthly fee only pays for a few hours of work. Ask exactly what will be done for the money, and by whom.
SEO spend works best on solid foundations.
London FS, a London mortgage broker, now runs its website, analytics, search, email marketing and CRM management, and social as one connected system, reviewed every month, with SEO (including a full recovery after a migration dip) delivered alongside the website redesign, GA4, email marketing and CRM. It is a good reminder that SEO budget goes furthest when the website and tracking underneath it are sound.
Read the London FS case studyHow much SEO costs in London, and how to judge a quote.
Ask several London SEO providers for a price and the answers will range from very cheap monthly packages to large agency retainers. The spread isn't random. It reflects how competitive your searches are, how much work your website needs, how much content has to be produced, and the overheads of whoever is quoting.
For most small and medium-sized London businesses, ongoing SEO typically sits between £499 and £2,499 a month. A one-off technical audit and fix, which suits a site with clear problems but a limited budget for ongoing work, is typically £1,499 to £4,999. If you're not sure which you need, start with the free SEO audit: it shows the most important fixes, and some businesses can act on them before spending anything at all.
When comparing quotes, look past the headline number. Ask what will be done each month, who will do it, how results will be measured and who owns the accounts. A technical SEO fix might be the best first spend for one business, while local SEO in London matters far more for another. Some businesses are better served by Google Ads while SEO builds, a conversation worth having before you commit a budget to either.
I work remotely with businesses across London and the UK. Every quote I send sets out the scope, the price and the terms in writing, and the main SEO services page explains my wider approach.
Common questions.
Costs, what a fee covers, contracts and what to avoid.
Ongoing SEO for a small or medium-sized London business typically costs £499 to £2,499 a month. A one-off technical audit and fix is typically £1,499 to £4,999. Where you fall depends on competition, site size, your starting point, content needs and whether you target local or national searches. My initial SEO audit is free.
Because the work behind them varies. A low monthly fee usually buys a few hours and a report; a higher fee should buy technical fixes, content and proper measurement. Overheads matter too, since agencies carry account managers and offices. Compare what gets done each month and who does it, not just the headline price.
Sometimes. If your site has clear technical problems and your market isn't very competitive, a one-off audit and fix can deliver most of the gain, and you can maintain it yourself afterwards. In competitive London searches, rankings usually need ongoing content, on-page work and local signals, which is where a monthly engagement earns its cost.
The mix is set in your written scope, but it typically covers technical monitoring and fixes, on-page improvements, new or refreshed content, Google Business Profile management where local search matters, and a plain-English monthly report with a call to discuss it. You should always be able to see what was done and why.
Terms are agreed in writing before any work starts, including the scope, the monthly fee, what is reported and the notice period. Because SEO takes months to show results, it's worth planning for a realistic run of work, but you should know exactly what you're committing to before you sign anything.
Guaranteed rankings, secret methods, bulk backlinks, reports that never mention enquiries or sales, and accounts held in the provider's name rather than yours. Any one of these is a reason to ask more questions. Cheap SEO that breaks Google's spam policies can cost far more to undo than it ever cost to buy.
