Ahrefs estimated an average SEO agency retainer of $3,209 per month, from the pricing bands reported in a survey of 439 providers. Its page dates from August 2024, and a survey of agencies serving small businesses gives much lower figures: 64% below $1,000 per month. For GEO, we found no representative market rate.
Many pages with "2026" in their title repeat these same surveys, so each figure below carries its date. Facts checked on 6 November 2026.
How do SEO providers charge?
In Ahrefs' survey, providers could use more than one model.
| Model | Share of providers | Often used for |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | 78.2% | Ongoing content, links and reporting |
| Per project | 48.9% | An audit, a migration, a defined fix |
| Hourly | 34.8% | Advice, training, help for an in-house team |
What do provider surveys report about SEO prices?
| Measure | Ahrefs, 439 providers | SE Ranking and Duda, 260 agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Page updated August 2024 | December 2024 |
| Monthly | Estimated averages: agencies $3,209, consultants $3,250, freelancers $1,348 | 64% of agencies below $1,000 |
| Hourly | Most common band $75 to $100, chosen by 24% | 60% of agencies below $100 |
| Per project | Agencies most often $2,501 to $5,000 | 66% of agencies below $2,000 |
| Local market | Estimated average of $1,557 per month for providers serving local markets | Not reported separately |
Read the Ahrefs averages with care. They assume every provider charges the top of its band, so they are estimates and not invoices. The page also contradicts itself: its summary gives $100 to $150 as the most common hourly rate, and its detailed section gives $75 to $100, which we use here.
The SE Ranking dataset combines 170 survey answers with the rates of 90 agencies from its catalogue. Among survey respondents, 94% served small or local businesses. The two studies use different samples and methods, which limits direct comparison.
How do prices vary by country?
SE Ranking found the largest gap in hourly rates: 40% of agencies in the US and Canada charge over $125 per hour, against 6% of agencies in Europe. Ahrefs reports that providers in India and in Central and South America charge the least.
For freelancers in France, LeFreelance.fr, in an article updated on 8 October 2026, reports Malt figures of about €497 per day for experienced SEO consultants, excluding tax, with €281 for zero to two years of experience and €592 beyond fifteen years. We read these figures in that article and not in Malt's own report.
What does GEO cost?
The available evidence is thin, and most of it comes from sellers.
- SE Ranking reported in December 2024 an average of about $937 per month among agencies that had set, or planned to set, a price for AI search optimization. That is a small subgroup, and the figure is nearly two years old
- Red-engage, a GEO agency, compared 20 agencies in June 2026 and quotes retainers from $3,000 to over $20,000 per month. Its own tiers are $4,500, $7,000 and $14,000. It marks most competitor figures as estimates to confirm
- The same comparison puts a one-off GEO audit at $1,500 to $5,000
These figures cover different work under one name, so ask what the fee buys. For Google, optimizing for AI features is still SEO, so some services sold as GEO are SEO work or tactics Google says to ignore. Tracking across several assistants, work on third-party coverage and content built on original data are items you can price separately.
What should an SEO or GEO quote include?
The surveys describe prices and say nothing about deliverables, so ask each provider to state:
- What the audit covers, and whether fixes are included
- Who implements the changes on your site
- The number of pages or articles written per month
- How the fee divides between content, technical work and links
- Which assistants and how many questions are tracked, for GEO work
- The reports you receive, and how often
- What costs extra: tools, translations, development
How do you compare the total cost?
Put each quote on the same basis: a twelve-month total in one currency, with or without tax, including setup fees, tools and the cost of your own developers. Add the contract length and the notice period. Ahrefs found that estimated monthly retainers run 138% higher for agencies than for freelancers, and 33% higher for providers in business over two years than for newer ones. A low price and a high price can describe different profiles.
How much should you budget?
Start from what a new client is worth. As an illustration, take a B2B firm where a new client brings €6,000 of margin over a year. Two extra clients a year from search would give €12,000. Under these assumptions, €1,000 per month would use up the whole margin, before any other sales cost. The figures are examples and do not come from market data.
If the scope is unclear, a paid audit gives you a list of actions and a first view of how the provider works, for a one-off cost.
Can you do some of it yourself?
Google says that if you run a small local business, "you can probably do much of the work yourself", and points to its SEO Starter Guide. The free reports in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools cover a first review. A provider earns its fee when the work exceeds your time or your skills: a site migration, several countries, regular content production.
Why are prices so hard to find?
Few firms publish them. In our survey of 34 Belgian and French agency sites, 8 show a "from" price, 14 have a pricing page, 21 mention a package and 6 mention a day rate.
On SeoGeoMap a price appears only when the expert has declared it, and we estimate none. Compare declared prices in the France and Belgium directories, or describe your project and state your budget. Our guide on choosing an agency covers the rest of a proposal.
Sources
- Ahrefs, SEO pricing: how much does SEO cost? 439 people polled, updated August 2024
- SE Ranking, SEO pricing survey insights, December 2024
- LeFreelance.fr, TJM consultant SEO freelance, citing the Malt barometer
- Red-engage, GEO agency pricing in 2026, June 2026, by an agency that sells GEO
- Google Search Central, Optimizing your website for generative AI features, updated 10 July 2026
- Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO?, updated 5 June 2026
- SeoGeoMap survey of 34 Belgian and French agency and consultant sites, 5 November 2026. A script read each home page and up to five service pages. A term in a blog title counts as much as a service page, so these counts are a signal and not a measure
