One of the main questions we get asked about at Trident is “How much does SEO cost?”
There are a lot of things that can mean the cost can vary and we’ll explain more in this blog.
Over the years SEO has left people confused because they don’t understand what’s included in the service and how it works, we’ll explain more here, including what you should be looking for when commissioning SEO services for yourself.
What is SEO?
Firstly, we’ll just cover here what SEO (or Search Engine Optimisation) is. SEO in simple terms is how you optimise your site and your content so that it appears higher up the search engine rankings on sites like Google and Bing for your target keyword. This is the ranking on search engines outside of the adverts that appear on the search results page – it’s only for organic traffic.
On-site SEO
A typical SEO campaign should include technical and on-site SEO. This would include on-site changes to the technical aspect of your website to make the search engine find the information more easily. In addition, there would be further on-page changes, such as making the content more relevant for your user’s queries, which in turn would help your site rank higher for those search terms. This might include making new landing pages or writing blogs to enable users to find the information they are looking for about your business and how you can help them, or how your product makes their life better.
Off-site SEO
The other important part of SEO is off-site SEO. This is where you are doing work outside of your website to improve your ranking. This is usually done by getting more credible websites to link to your website and give you a backlink to your own site. Having more backlinks gives the search engines more trust that your site is a credible site and then in turn will make your site rank higher. The best ways to get backlinks are – building directory listings, guest blogging, and getting great content on your own site that loads of other websites want to link to and share. Having more backlinks can increase your domain authority which is a measure of the level of credibility for your domain.
How much does SEO cost?
The cost of SEO can vary and this really depends on a number of factors. The main driver for the cost of SEO is the amount of time being spent on your campaign and what drives the amount of time required is usually one of 3 things:
- Number of keywords or search terms you want to optimise for
- The competitiveness of your keywords
- If you are trying to rank locally or nationally (linked to competitiveness, but local searches can still be fiercely competitive!).
The more competitive your keywords are the more time that is needed to produce great content and gain higher quality backlinks in order for your site to rank highly.
Some agencies will charge upwards of £5000/month for blue-chip businesses. Some businesses will offer SEO for as low as £50/month – but given what we have outlined above, you have to question if they can commit the level of resource required to make your site competitive and rank for your search terms. As a guide, at Trident the cost of SEO starts at £375 per month for smaller local businesses and can range to over £1000/month for larger businesses with competitive keywords. If you’re interested in finding out how we can help you, contact us today.
To conclude, the price of SEO does vary, but often as SEO is a long-term strategy for most businesses, and the results can drive great returns it’s one worth considering for a lot of businesses. If you’ve not considered SEO and would like to have your site audited to see how you rank against your competitors, get in touch and we’ll talk you through that and any improvements you might like to make.
