How much should SEO cost for a small business?

Typical UK SEO price bands

There is no single price for SEO because "SEO" covers everything from a one-off audit to a full monthly programme. These are typical UK market ranges as a guide, not fixed quotes, so use them to sense-check what you are offered rather than as a promise of a specific number.

Most local service businesses, a salon, a dental practice, an estate agency, sit in the £500 to £900 a month band for an ongoing local programme, stepping up only when they compete across a wider area or many locations.

What makes SEO cost more, or less

The price should track the work and the competition, not a round number a provider likes the sound of. A few things move it:

• Competition. A single-town business is cheaper to make visible than one fighting for a whole city or the country.
• Starting point. A site with clean structure and content needs less remedial work than one starting from nothing.
• Scope. Local search only costs less than local search plus content, plus answer engine optimisation, plus reporting.
• Locations. Multi-location businesses pay a base plus a per-location fee because each location needs its own signals.
• Content volume. More pages and articles mean more production cost, so agree what is included before you sign.

If a quote does not explain which of these it reflects, that is the question to ask before paying.

What you actually pay for

Good SEO is not a mystery service. A fair monthly fee should buy a clear list of work: local search and Google Business Profile support, answer-ready service pages, schema and entity signals a machine can read, competitor and AI visibility monitoring, and a monthly improvement plan with reporting you can understand.

Increasingly it should also buy answer engine optimisation, the work of being cited by AI answers, not just ranked in the blue links. For where that line falls, see SEO vs AEO for local businesses, and for whether search itself is changing, is SEO dead in 2026.

What Hello Foundry charges

To put a real number against the bands above, our own SEO and AEO packages start at £549 a month for local foundations, £899 a month for added content and schema work, and £1,299 a month for stronger content and answer-engine authority building. Multi-location businesses pay a setup and base fee plus £349 per location a month.

Those prices include the answer engine optimisation work, not just traditional SEO, because for a local business the two now travel together.

Is it worth paying for SEO?

For most businesses that sell something people search for, yes. The reason is compounding: unlike paid ads, which stop the moment you stop paying, the visibility you build with SEO keeps working. A page that earns a ranking or an AI citation keeps sending enquiries without a per-click fee.

It is worth paying for when the provider is specific about deliverables and honest about reporting. It is worth avoiding when the promise is a fast ranking with no method behind it, or a price with no list of work attached.

Where to start

Do not start by buying a package. Start by finding the gap. A short audit shows where your business is missing from search and AI answers and what it would take to fix, which tells you whether you need £549 a month of work or £1,299. If you would rather we find the leak for you, book a visibility call, or read the wider set of AI marketing services a local business can draw on.

Frequently asked questions

How much should SEO cost for a small business?

For a UK small business, SEO usually costs £500 to £1,500 a month for an ongoing service, with most local businesses in the £500 to £900 range. Hello Foundry's SEO and AEO packages start at £549 a month. One-off audits cost less, and competitive or multi-location campaigns cost more.

How much should I expect to pay for SEO?

Expect £500 to £1,500 a month for an ongoing UK retainer, or a few hundred to a few thousand pounds for a one-off audit or project. What you pay should track the work and the competition, not a round number. Ask any provider to show the deliverables behind the price.

Is it worth paying for SEO?

Usually yes, if you sell something people search for and can measure enquiries. Good SEO compounds: the visibility you build keeps working without paying per click. It is worth paying for when the provider is clear about deliverables and reporting, and worth avoiding when the promise is a fast ranking with no method behind it.

Is SEO a one-off cost or a monthly cost?

Both exist. A one-off audit or a single project has a fixed fee. Ongoing SEO is a monthly service because search, competitors and your content keep changing. Most small businesses use a one-off audit to find the gaps, then a monthly plan to work through and hold them.

About the author

Jason Sibley is the founder of Foundry, the company behind Hello Foundry and Foundry Works. He leads strategy across both, setting direction and keeping the work tied to real client outcomes rather than activity. His background spans sports marketing, technology and Web3, building engagement and growth systems for clubs, brands and platforms. Alongside Foundry he runs Cleo Group and Zenko Protocol, and he writes much of the company's thinking on AI agents, marketing and the economics of AI. Foundry runs on the same connected, agent-driven model it builds for the local businesses it works with. More on the about page.