How Much Do SEO Experts Cost? [2021 Edition]

Companies spend more than $72 billion a year on SEO services. SEO is a critical component of any marketing plan because it reaches customers when they’re ready to buy.

The first few search results get a majority of the attention, so if your business isn’t there, you’re missing out on traffic and sales. SEO experts perform a range of services with the goal to capitalize on these opportunities.

Are you thinking about hiring a local SEO expert? Read on to discover how much it costs to hire SEO experts and what they do for your business.

The Cost to Hire SEO Experts

SEO experts have different pricing structures, depending on the project. Sometimes clients need a one-time fix, such as setting up SEO on a new website.

SEO consulting and one-time projects get charged at an hourly rate, which is between $100 and $300 an hour.

Most SEO projects are ongoing. That’s because SEO requires a consistent effort over time. SEO companies charge a flat monthly fee for these projects.

Expect to pay anywhere between $600 and $5000 a month for SEO services. Look here for an example of a company that has flat rates.

What Does an SEO Company Do?

Spending marketing money on SEO is necessary, but you also need to know what you’re getting for your money. Search engines use tightly guarded algorithms to determine search results.

SEO companies know that there are hundreds of factors the algorithm takes into account. They work on the most important ones to give you the best results.

They’ll ensure your site is technically sound, take baseline measurements, research keywords, and write content. Some get backlinks to your site and research your competitors.

Be sure to look at the contract to see what services the SEO expert provides.

Make a Smart Marketing Investment

Business owners often balk at the costs to hire SEO experts. They often go with the lowest-priced competitor and think that will get results.

This is part of the reason why so may get burned by SEO companies is that they hire bad actors in the industry. Good SEO takes a lot of time and effort.

If you pay for a cheap SEO expert, they’re going to need a lot of clients to survive. That means they’ll have less time to spend on your account and they won’t meet your expectations.

There are also firms that rely on tactics that go against the terms and conditions of search engines. These are black hat SEO tactics that can get your site penalized.

Hire the Right SEO Experts

If you want to increase the number of customers to your business, then you need to spend money on SEO. SEO experts cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand a month.

Get clarity on your business needs and what you want an SEO expert to do for your business. Watch out for bad service providers and don’t go for the cheapest option.

For more tech tips, check out the other articles on this site.