Are you struggling with your SEO budget? You aren’t alone.
Many businesses either overspend or underspend – and the results are subpar.
Because SEO is a long-term investment, it can be difficult to determine the budget you’ll need and how to allocate resources over time to achieve the best results.
This article will show you how to approach your SEO budget by covering everything from assessing your business needs to managing your SEO budget:
1. Know what goes into an SEO program
While you can pick and choose what you divert your SEO budget to based on priority, a good program will ensure it contains the right mix of SEO strategies.
So, the first step to creating an SEO budget is understanding what’s in a good SEO program.
Here are the primary activities in a holistic SEO program:
Technical SEO
A good SEO program will start with a technical SEO audit to uncover the issues hindering a website’s ability to rank or provide a good user experience.
A technical audit takes time and, therefore, can be a bigger investment.
After an audit, one of the first steps you will take in an SEO program is to improve the performance of your website.
Depending on the website’s state, technical SEO may require the bulk of your efforts and budget.
Once your site runs well, you will likely need to invest less to keep it humming, barring any big changes to search engine algorithms or general fixes.
Content creation
Excellent content is the foundation of any SEO program. Unfortunately, it’s one of the areas that tends to slow down SEO programs because businesses fall behind.
Expect to invest effort into this step. You will need to pay for the cost of writers and/or editors, as well as other professionals who know multimedia.
Yes, you can use AI tools to streamline efforts, but the bar needs to be high on quality standards. Expect to invest in content as an ongoing expense.
Link management
Earning high-quality, relevant links takes resources, too. Content creation is the first step in earning links.
Building a network, sharing your content resources through creative partnerships, managing the backlink profile and more are all part of it, too.
Depending on how much time and effort you put into this area of your SEO, the cost to maintain the strategy varies, but it is ongoing.
SEO tools
Making sure your SEO program is on target takes data analysis.
Investments in SEO tools can vary from affordable to a bit more robust. An enterprise company can spend several thousands on SEO tools per month.
Companies spent about 19% of their marketing budget on marketing technology in 2024, the CMO Survey found.
But only about 56% of all martech tools purchased are actually used, according to the research. This is an area to watch for wasted spend.
Also factor in the time to review, analyze and course-correct as needed.
Other SEO activities
Worth mentioning, so I’m not leaving anything out, are the niche SEO activities required in local SEO, ecommerce SEO and international SEO – all of which require a budget.
Tip: Use the 80/20 rule – spend 80% on proven strategies and reserve 20% for testing innovative approaches. Prioritize foundational tasks like technical SEO audits and performance fixes early on.
2. Figure out the costs of SEO in-house vs. agency vs. consultancy
The second thing you need to ask is if your budget will support an in-house team, an agency, some hybrid of the two or a consultant.
According to recent research:
Agencies charge an average of $3,209 per month (Ahrefs).
Freelancers charge $1,348 per month (Ahrefs).
Retainer pricing can go all the way up to $50,000, but not the norm (Ahrefs).
In-house SEO team roles can range from $45,000 for analyst positions to about $82,000 for head of SEO (Ahrefs).
These stats can offer a frame of reference but know that they will change based on the vendor’s or professional’s experience and location.
Tip: Start with a clear understanding of your goals and internal capacity before deciding on external help. Hybrid models can be cost-effective and produce great results for many businesses.
If you think an agency might be the right fit for your business, you can check out my Search Engine Land article, How to hire an SEO agency: The definitive guide.
3. Understand the factors that impact an SEO budget
Here are some considerations when crafting an SEO budget.
Your business
The size of your business and your specific SEO goals will have a big impact on pricing.
Larger enterprises with ambitious goals may ultimately pay more for an SEO program. At this level, SEO becomes a significant line item in the marketing budget and requires buy-in from senior leadership.
On the other hand, for small businesses, SEO costs can be on the lower end of the spectrum. However, that doesn’t mean you should skimp on quality.
Your revenue
Your SEO budget should align with your overall business goals and objectives.
Most businesses have SEO budgets that range from $500/month to $20,000/month, depending on their size and goals.
Businesses should allocate as much as they can afford to SEO as a cost of advertising.
Every industry is different; some may require more or less of an investment to compete.
Remember, just because $3,000 is comfortable does not mean it is sufficient to compete and win.
Here are some guidelines:
Consider allocating 5% to 10% of your business revenue toward SEO. This is what businesses that are serious about competing do.
Consider your paid advertising budget, and spend about 25% of that budget additionally on SEO.
Your competition
Who is your competition? And how fast do you want to beat them? These are the questions that should drive budget decisions.
First, determine who your competition is in the SERPs. There are many SEO tools out there to help you figure out competitors by the keywords you want to target.