As SEO Consultants, each time we get asked a question about how much SEO costs, our answer is always the same – “It depends.” As evasive as the answer might seem, the truth is that the SEO process does depend on several different parameters. For one, SEO simply cannot be a standard service. It always has to be tailor-made according to the product or service in question. In fact, the service needs to be so personalized that even within the same business verticals, keywords often differ. For instance, a small business law firm in New York will have keywords that are vastly different from that of a criminal law firm somewhere in Massachusetts.
So, Why Does SEO Pricing Differ?
Getting rankings organically requires time, patience and consistent efforts. The search engine set-up is a dynamic one with algorithms constantly changing and getting tweaked. For instance, Google is known to alter its algorithm as much as 600 times over a period of a year. So is the case with all other Search Engines that really matter to your business. Knowing this, anyone who quotes an absolute fee for an SEO ‘package’ is obviously playing a trick to bamboozle you. Of course, there could be certain ‘fixed price’ components within the
SEO process. But the overall process is much deeper than what meets the eye. It calls for a lot of research and implementation. That’s precisely why a price can only be quoted depending on your keywords, internet marketing strategies, coding, SEO friendly website architecture and other things.
As clients, it is but natural for you to be concerned about the costs. But it helps to focus more on the end results as far as your site’s ranking is concerned. So, how do you know that the SEO services you enlisted are actually working? For one, the traffic to your website/landing page is likely to go up. Another indicator is a healthy conversion rate and cost per acquisition.
Our extensive experience in the
Internet Marketing and Brand Consulting domain has taught us that SEO is one of the most effective and gainful forms of marketing. That’s one of the reasons why we recommend our clients to divert a major share of their internet marketing budget towards SEO.
At the end of the day, how much your SEO strategy costs depends on several factors. But one thing is for sure—the heavier you invest in SEO, the better are the results. There are no short-cuts or cheap solutions in this domain (unless of course, you wish to spam your way to the top and risk being penalized by search engines). Effective SEO is an organic process that does take time if done ethically. When all's said and done, just dwell on whether the investment you have made in SEO has given you significantly higher returns.