SEO Cost in 2025

Do you want to invest in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to grow your business but are unsure how much you should spend for real results?

It can be a grey area for many because prices vary from around £50 to £10,000+. This can be overwhelming and intimidating if you don’t understand it.

Our SEO gurus at CreateTheWeb are here to break down SEO prices in the UK, explain what your investment will achieve, and help you decide which SEO service suits your business.

If you’re late to the party, SEO helps Google understand your website’s content and pushes it to relevant customers.

Google scans your website. The better Google understands your content, the easier it can decide if your content is helpful to people searching your keywords.

Simply put, when you search something in Google, the 1st website you see has the best SEO.

A strong SEO game equals a highly visible website. When your website is visible, you gain visitors and increase revenue.

But where can you go to find these magical website visibility boosters?

Today, SEO is the number one organic digital marketing tool. It’s essential. But who should you trust with your SEO?

Well, there are plenty of options. Not all SEO providers work in the same way. Your investment in SEO is all about balancing cost, risk, and expertise.

Feeling overwhelmed? Take a look at how the core SEO providers compare:

An SEO agency specialises in delivering quality SEO for clients. They help you generate traffic to your website through multiple channels.

Each employee will specialise in different areas, such as content creation, website speed, backlink building or technical SEO.

Sometimes, an SEO agency might specialise in one of the following services. Others cover every service in one package. Either way, you gain access to an expert team.

Costs are higher, but experience and data-driven strategies equal top-notch results.

Who does this suit?

• A business searching for strategy.
• A business in need of consistent SEO management.
• A business trying to scale with minimal effort.
• A business looking for high ROI.

Freelancers–or single-person businesses–can deliver considerable SEO results with a significantly smaller budget. However, an SEO freelancer will usually specialise in one area.

For example, you could hire a backlink specialist to boost your website’s authority or an SEO content writer for a content pillar strategy.

You can find quality SEO freelancers on LinkedIn or Upwork, but quality can vary. Plenty of individuals can claim to be SEO specialists without the resources or knowledge of a true expert.

Beware of SEO fakers! Select your SEO freelancer carefully. Base your choice on a strong portfolio, successful case studies, LinkedIn referrals, and experience.

Who does this suit?

• Small businesses on a budget.
• Start-ups with limited budgets.
• Somebody looking for a one-off project.

An in-house SEO team is a significant investment for long-term control. Rather than outsourcing to an external business, this is an excellent investment.

Many people prefer SEO internally. It offers an efficient team with expert brand knowledge and faster communication.

However, upfront costs are greater than those of hiring freelancers or contracting an agency.

You pay for salaries, training, SEO software, and office space, alongside many other employment costs like electricity bills or work bonuses.

But it’s an effective investment if SEO is a core marketing strategy for your business.

Who does this suit?

• If you want full control over SEO.
• Medium to large companies.
• Ready to invest for the long term.
• SEO is essential for your business.

So, how do SEO costs work? What the hell are you actually paying for?

Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.

Once you understand SEO pricing models, you can avoid hidden fees and unrealistic expectations. This way, you maximise your ROI.

We hate to break it to you, but you can’t actually hire someone for a fiver on Fiverr.

Costs per hour are typically £20 to £250. Hiring is ideal for small tasks like website audits, consultations, advice, or brief keyword research.

Don’t hire an hourly freelancer for big projects. You risk burning cash. With unclear objectives, costs can stack quickly, and tasks could be dragged out for more pay.

Quality freelancers charge per project, whereas beginner freelancers tend to charge per hour for their services.

A monthly retainer can range from £500 to £5,000+ if you want to complete a big project.

Usually, this includes a comprehensive strategy, reporting, and ongoing help with on-page and off-page SEO.

If you’re seeking consistent growth in traffic, conversions, backlinks, content, and website health maintenance, then a monthly retainer should be your go-to.

Cheap monthly SEO retainers could mean outdated, corner-cutting tactics and long-term damage to your website.

Measure your budget vs ROI before investing. Don’t go cheap on SEO, as the consequences could limit your online presence significantly.

Lots of research suggests that cheap SEO–or black hat methods–can affect your ranking in Google. According to Content Customers, 93.4% of searchers only view the first page.

The bottom line is that you’re better off not investing in SEO at all rather than cheap, black hat SEO.

SEO costs per project vary from £500 to £10,000+, as no SEO overhaul is the same.

You might be seeking an expert blog strategy, in-depth keyword research, a stellar backlink campaign or a website health audit.

Or you might want a package covering your website’s entire SEO strategy.

Paying per project is ideal for measuring ROI. It means a clear cost for your specific goals, and at the end of each project, you can measure the value of the provider.

It’s ideal for large website audits, content plans, backlinking strategies, SEO for social platforms, and ongoing on-page and technical services, as these are long-term strategies.

But if the scope isn’t clear, you might need to pay for extra services later that weren’t included in the project.

Always take a free audit call for a crystal clear understanding of your SEO needs.

Let’s give you the downlow on SEO prices so you can match realistic expectations to your budget and investment.

With a smaller investment, expect basic keyword strategies, short-form content, and short-term strategies.

If you pay for cheap services, you risk receiving potential black-hat SEO strategies. This includes spammy backlinks, keyword stuffing, and poor-quality content.

Let’s avoid this in 2025: Google hates it. In fact, after Google’s latest algorithm update, it will punish websites using black-hat strategies.

Essentially, this price range is best for very small businesses or short-term fixes.

If this matches your budget, research the SEO provider thoroughly. Ask questions, request testimonials, and don’t be afraid to ask for statistics.

At the end of the day, your ROI matters. Take great care when selecting your SEO provider.

While the investment is larger, so is the ROI. Sagapixel suggests the ROI of SEO is 22:1, and this proves how highly lucrative your investment in SEO could be.

On the higher end of SEO investment, expect a steady traffic increase, higher conversion rates, improved visibility, and high levels of E-E-A-T displayed throughout your website.

By developing organic traffic to your website, you boost your website’s presence and naturally increase revenue with quality traffic.

Flawless SEO strategies, technical audits, high-quality content, and killer backlinks with lots of authority juice are the keys to success.

Businesses striving for serious success and long-term growth should definitely invest in quality SEO services.

Remember, it’s not a short-term fix. You have to be prepared to invest in the long run.

Quality SEO brings in guaranteed results.

A BIG misunderstanding is that SEO works instantly. Ignore the sleazy salespeople who promise you the world within days. Realistically, it doesn’t work like that.

Here are realistic expectations:

• Fix technical issues (broken links, webpage speed).
• Keyword research and content strategy.
• Start of link-building campaigns.

• Traffic starts to increase gradually.
• Ranking for low-competition keywords.
• Achieving internal and backlink success.

• Ranking for competitive keywords.
• Significant increase in traffic.
• Significant increase in revenue.
• Impressive collection of high-authority backlinks.

WebFX’s research suggests noticeable results from SEO will take around three to six months and sometimes up to a year.

Let’s help you find the right SEO providers and make the correct decision with your budget using our checklist of questions:

• What’s your approach to SEO (white-hat, data-driven, proven results, backlinks, long-form content)?
• Can you show me any case studies or hero stories?
• How do you track, measure, and report results?
• What’s included in your SEO package?
• How do you use internal linking?
• How do you plan to get us backlinks?

Is SEO really worth the money? In short, definitely! If you’re looking for quality leads and unrecognisable results, SEO investment is the answer.

Why? Well, organic traffic tends to result in high-quality leads and has higher conversion rates.

Investing in SEO is like investing in a high-interest savings account. The longer you invest, the more you gain. The more you invest, the more you gain.

According to Smash.vc, Zillow, Pinterest, Grammarly, and Canva all exploded through long-term SEO investment. As we know, these companies are industry leaders.

Of course, they aced other marketing tactics. But have no doubt, SEO played a large part in the growth, reputation, and online visibility of these titan brands.

One of our current clients, MCF, was struggling to rank for main keywords in a highly competitive industry.

Before working with us, MCF had hired a different SEO company. The results? The business wasn’t satisfied. Nothing changed.

The company wanted results. So, MCF came to us, and we knew we had a challenge on our hands.

Our expert team began thorough keyword research, quality backlink strategies, and a helpful content plan.

As a result, MCF achieved the SEO dreams the company deserved: 1st page for hard keywords, increased traffic growth across all pages, and tripled enquiries.

Similarly, Versa Studios experienced a 741% increase in traffic through our on-page SEO efforts.

Let’s take the mystery and confusion away from SEO pricing.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. As a results-driven agency that understands the confusion around SEO, there are no hidden fees with us. We’re transparent.

Get a free SEO quote today and discover how our tailored SEO strategy will increase traffic to your website and boost revenue.