![How A lot Does website positioning Price in 2023? [Industry Research]](https://younicheblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/seo-monthly-retainer-pricing-2.png)
In November 2022, we surveyed members of the website positioning business to learn the way a lot they cost for website positioning companies.
Listed below are the highest 10 takeaways:
- 78.2% of SEOs cost month-to-month retainers for some or all of their companies.
- 54.5% of SEOs solely supply one pricing mannequin (i.e., hourly, retainer, or per-project).
- $501–$1,000 is the preferred month-to-month retainer.
- $75–$100 is the preferred hourly fee.
- $2,501–$5,000 is the preferred per-project fee.
- Fewer than 1 in 10 SEOs (9.9%) cost greater than $150/hour.
- Businesses and consultants cost considerably greater than freelancers.
- There’s a transparent constructive correlation between expertise and charges. (Shocking, proper?)
- Native SEOs cost lower than these with world shoppers.
- SEOs primarily based in India, Central America, and South America cost the least.
Let’s check out every pricing mannequin in additional element.
Sidenote.
We had 439 submissions in whole. Nonetheless, after reviewing them, we eliminated 89, as they have been both duplicates or spam. For instance, many respondents equipped a web site they clearly didn’t personal (e.g., google.com) or had nothing to do with website positioning. If a respondent’s web site didn’t clearly supply website positioning companies, we eliminated them from our pattern.
34.8% of respondents worth some or all of their work by the hour.
We discovered that $75–$100 per hour is the preferred hourly fee for SEOs, with 24% of respondents charging this fee.
47% of respondents cost between $75 and $200 per hour.
90% cost $150/hour or much less, and solely 4.1% command an hourly fee of $201+.
Right here’s a breakdown of hourly charges by area:
There’s one clear outlier right here: India.
We discovered 85.7% of India-based SEOs cost an hourly fee of $30 or much less. The remaining 14.3% are within the $51–$60 vary.
Sidenote.
We didn’t have a lot knowledge for some areas, so take the outcomes with a pinch of salt. Additionally, the rationale for grouping Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain collectively is that they’re the one European nations (in addition to the U.Okay.) with a GDP of 1 trillion or extra. I believed it could be fascinating to see if the numbers for these nations have been totally different from the remainder of Europe.
U.S. and Canada knowledge in isolation, 66.7% cost $75–200/hour—over two-thirds!
Do website positioning businesses cost extra per hour than freelancers?
Sure.
58.7% and 58.8% of website positioning businesses and consultants respectively command $75+/hour, in comparison with solely 36.6% of freelancers.
Nonetheless, the commonest hourly fee for website positioning businesses and freelancers is similar: $75–100/hour.
For website positioning consultants, it’s $100–150/hour.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $150, from $100–$150), then take the typical hourly fee for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Consultancies: $171.18/hour, on common.
- Businesses: $98.90/hour, on common.
- Freelancers: $71.59/hour, on common.
By these stats, the hourly fee charged by website positioning consultants is greater than double that of website positioning freelancers.
Do extra skilled SEOs earn much more per hour?
Sure, they do.
$73.05 is the typical hourly fee for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $97.11 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two–4 years, $102.03 for five–10 years, and $118.35 for 10+ years.
So plainly expertise and observe report play a significant function with regards to hourly earnings.
Do these providing companies worldwide cost extra per hour than these serving native markets?
Sure, barely.
On common, these providing their companies regionally earn $93.89/hour, whereas these serving the worldwide market earn $106.69/hour.
That’s a distinction of 13.6%.
78.2% of respondents cost a month-to-month retainer for some or all of their work.
We discovered that $501–$1,000 per 30 days is the preferred month-to-month retainer fee for SEOs, with 20.4% of respondents charging this fee.
42.8% of respondents cost between $501 and $2,000 per month.
68.8% cost $2,000/month or much less, which means solely 31.2% command retainers of $2,001+.
Right here’s a breakdown of month-to-month retainer charges by area:
As soon as once more, India is a transparent outlier right here.
76% of India-based SEOs cost $1,000 or much less per 30 days. The remaining 24% cost between $2,001 and $10,000.
U.S. and Canada knowledge in isolation, 79.1% cost at the least $1,001 per 30 days—some command as a lot as $25,001–$50,000 per month!
Do website positioning businesses cost extra per 30 days than freelancers?
Sure.
57.4% of website positioning businesses command $1,001+/month, in comparison with solely 32.2% of freelancers.
Nonetheless, consultants earn essentially the most, with 70.6% commanding $1,001+/month.
The commonest month-to-month retainer vary for website positioning businesses is $500–$1,000/month. For consultants, it’s $2,501–$5,000.
For freelancers, it’s $251–$500/month and $101–$500/month.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–$1,500), after which take the typical month-to-month retainer fee for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Businesses: $3,209/month, on common.
- Consultancies: $3,250/month, on common.
- Freelancers: $1,348.63/month, on common.
By these stats, the month-to-month retainer vary charged by website positioning businesses and consultants is sort of double that of website positioning freelancers.
Do extra skilled SEOs cost much more per month?
Sure, they do.
$1,540.52 is the typical retainer fee for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,023.13 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two+ years. That’s round 33% greater than those that’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
However the massive soar comes after 5 years in enterprise. The common retainer for these in enterprise for five–10 years is $3,648.28—greater than double the speed of these in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
After this, issues stage off considerably. The truth is, we noticed a decline in earnings for many who’ve been in enterprise for 10+ years. Nonetheless, that is most likely resulting from us not having quite a lot of knowledge for this subset.
Do these providing companies worldwide cost extra per 30 days than these serving native markets?
Sure.
These providing their companies regionally cost $1,557.08/month, on common. Whereas these serving the worldwide market earn $3,473.74/month.
That’s a big distinction of 123.1%.
48.9% of respondents cost a per-project payment for some or all of their work.
We discovered that $2,501–$5,000 is the preferred per-project payment, with 21.2% of respondents charging this fee.
60.6% of respondents cost $1,001 or extra.
50.6% cost $2,000 or much less, which means that fewer than half of respondents command per-project charges of $2,001+.
Right here’s a breakdown of per-project charges by area:
Yep, you guessed it—India is the outlier.
93.75% of India-based SEOs cost $1,500 or much less. The remaining 6.25% cost between $2,001 and $2,500.
Trying on the U.S. and Canada in isolation, 83.3% cost at the least $1,001. Some even cost as a lot as $50,001–$75,000 per mission.
Do website positioning businesses cost extra per mission than freelancers?
Sure.
73.3% of website positioning businesses command $1,001+ per mission, in comparison with solely 64% of consultants and 40.68% of freelancers.
The commonest per-project payment for freelancers is $101–$250. For website positioning businesses, it’s $2,501–$5,000. And for consultants, it’s $5,001–$10,000.
If we assume all surveyed SEOs cost the higher finish of their pricing tier (e.g., $1,500, from $1,001–1,500), after which take the typical per-project fee for every subset (Company, Freelance, Consultancy), right here’s what we get:
- Businesses: $9,507.84/month, on common.
- Consultancies: $8,685.53/month, on common.
- Freelancers: $2,348.63/month, on common.
By these stats, the per-project payment charged by website positioning businesses is greater than 4X that of website positioning freelancers, on common.
Do extra skilled SEOs cost much more per mission?
Sure, they do.
$1,881.73 is the typical per-project payment charged by those that’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,242.71 for many who’ve been in enterprise for two+ years after which to $9,087.31 for many who’ve been in enterprise 5–10 years.
Do these providing companies worldwide cost extra per mission than these serving native markets?
Sure—considerably extra!
On common, these providing their companies regionally cost $5,723.53 per mission, whereas these serving the worldwide market cost $8,056.56.
That’s a big distinction of 40.80%.
Closing ideas
My hope is that this knowledge will assist SEOs to cease undercharging for his or her companies. Sure, the financial outlook could look bleak proper now, however know that website positioning is a useful talent. Don’t be afraid to cost what you’re value.
Acquired questions? Ping me on Twitter.
