How A lot Does website positioning Price in 2023? [Industry Research]
In November 2022, we surveyed members of the website positioning business to learn the way a lot they cost for website positioning companies.
Listed here 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 most well-liked month-to-month retainer.
- $75–$100 is the most well-liked hourly charge.
- $2,501–$5,000 is the most well-liked per-project charge.
- 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 optimistic correlation between expertise and charges. (Stunning, proper?)
- Native SEOs cost lower than these with world purchasers.
- SEOs based mostly 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 had 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 website didn’t clearly supply website positioning companies, we eliminated them from our pattern.
34.8% of respondents value some or all of their work by the hour.
We discovered that $75–$100 per hour is the most well-liked hourly charge for SEOs, with 24% of respondents charging this charge.
47% of respondents cost between $75 and $200 per hour.
90% cost $150/hour or much less, and solely 4.1% command an hourly charge 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 charge of $30 or much less. The remaining 14.3% are within the $51–$60 vary.
Sidenote.
We didn’t have a lot information 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 international locations (in addition to the U.Ok.) with a GDP of 1 trillion or more. I believed it might be attention-grabbing to see if the numbers for these international locations had been completely different from the remainder of Europe.
U.S. and Canada information 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 most typical hourly charge 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 common hourly charge 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 charge 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 common hourly charge for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $97.11 for individuals who’ve been in enterprise for two–4 years, $102.03 for five–10 years, and $118.35 for 10+ years.
So evidently expertise and monitor report play a significant position on the subject of 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 most well-liked month-to-month retainer charge for SEOs, with 20.4% of respondents charging this charge.
42.8% of respondents cost between $501 and $2,000 per month.
68.8% cost $2,000/month or much less, that 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 information in isolation, 79.1% cost no less than $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 probably 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 common month-to-month retainer charge 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 nearly double that of website positioning freelancers.
Do extra skilled SEOs cost much more per month?
Sure, they do.
$1,540.52 is the common retainer charge for SEOs who’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,023.13 for individuals 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 large 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 individuals who’ve been in enterprise for 10+ years. Nonetheless, that is in all probability as a result of us not having loads of information 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 major 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 most well-liked per-project payment, with 21.2% of respondents charging this charge.
60.6% of respondents cost $1,001 or extra.
50.6% cost $2,000 or much less, that 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 no less than $1,001. Some even cost as a lot as $50,001–$75,000 per undertaking.
Do website positioning businesses cost extra per undertaking than freelancers?
Sure.
73.3% of website positioning businesses command $1,001+ per undertaking, 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 common per-project charge 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 undertaking?
Sure, they do.
$1,881.73 is the common per-project payment charged by those that’ve been in enterprise for 2 years or much less.
This jumps to $2,242.71 for individuals who’ve been in enterprise for two+ years after which to $9,087.31 for individuals who’ve been in enterprise 5–10 years.
Do these providing companies worldwide cost extra per undertaking than these serving native markets?
Sure—considerably extra!
On common, these providing their companies regionally cost $5,723.53 per undertaking, whereas these serving the worldwide market cost $8,056.56.
That’s a major distinction of 40.80%.
Last ideas
My hope is that this information 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 ability. Don’t be afraid to cost what you’re price.
Bought questions? Ping me on Twitter.
