SEO support costs between €290 and €900 per month for an SME, and between €900 and €3,000 for an e-commerce site or a competitive market. A one-off engagement, audit or technical optimisation, sits between €400 and €2,500 depending on the size of the website. These ranges cover very different realities: here is what they actually contain.
Prices per type of service
| Service | What it includes | Price | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO audit | Technical, content and competitor analysis, prioritised action plan | €400 to €2,500 | Before any decision |
| Technical optimisation | Speed, tags, structure, structured data, redirects | €600 to €3,000 | Once, after the audit |
| Copywriting | Keyword research and writing, per page | €60 to €120 per page | Ongoing |
| Link building | Link acquisition, partner articles | €200 to €1,500 per month | After the content |
| Monthly support | All of the above, managed, with reporting | €290 to €3,000 per month | Long-term goal |
What makes the price vary
The competitiveness of your market
Ranking for "locksmith Paris" takes ten times the work of "locksmith Guéret". The number of established competitors, their seniority and their budget determine the effort required.
The starting state of your website
A recent, fast, well-structured website starts with an advantage. An old, slow, poorly tagged site needs weeks of repair first. A redesign is sometimes cheaper than the repair.
The volume of content to produce
This is the main line item. Ten pages to write is not the same budget as a hundred city or product pages.
Ambition
Page one on three local queries, or first place nationally on twenty queries, do not carry the same price.
Three signals of a dubious offer
A guarantee of first place. Nobody controls Google's ranking. An agency guaranteeing the top spot is guaranteeing something outside its control, or targeting queries nobody searches.
A €99 per month package. At that rate there is no time left to write or to analyse. These offers usually amount to an automated report sent each month, with no real action behind it.
No explanation of what will be done. A serious proposal details the deliverables month by month. If yours fits on one line, ask for the detail before signing.
How to judge a proposal
- Are the deliverables listed? Number of pages written, links targeted, technical points covered.
- Are the target keywords named? And are they reachable given your market?
- Is reporting planned? Rankings, traffic, and above all enquiries received.
- What happens if you leave? Content and access must remain yours.
- Is the commitment reasonable? Six months is an honest minimum, twenty-four an unnecessary constraint.
SEO or advertising
| Criterion | SEO | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|
| First result | 3 to 6 months | Same day |
| Cost per visitor | Falls over time | Constant, sometimes rising |
| When the budget stops | Traffic holds | Traffic drops to zero |
| Best use | Durable asset | Launch, seasonality, testing |
The two complement each other. Advertising keeps the business running while SEO takes hold.
The calculation that matters
The real indicator is not the monthly cost but the cost per enquiry received. Support at €600 a month producing fifteen enquiries works out at €40 each. If your average order is €2,000, the question answers itself.
Before committing, request an audit: it will tell you what is achievable in your market and on what horizon. See also our SEO offer and our pricing.
What SEO budget for a small business or SME?
A small business does not need the same SEO as a large site. The right budget is the one that first funds what pays off fastest, then what builds up over time.
- A starting audit. It tells you what holds your site back before you spend on content. See our SEO audit.
- The technical basics. Speed, mobile version, tags, indexing: a flaw here cancels out later efforts.
- Two or three strategic pages. Your main services, well written, before writing dozens of articles.
- Local SEO, if your customers are nearby: Google Business Profile listing, reviews, consistent contact details.
- Regular content. One quality article a month beats ten hollow ones at once.
Monthly or per project: which to choose?
A project suits a precise, limited need: an audit, the rework of a few pages. Monthly suits anyone who wants to progress over time, since SEO is continuous work. In both cases, ask what is delivered each month, in what form, and with what report.
What a quote must specify
- the list of actions and their frequency, not just an overall price;
- the pages and keywords targeted;
- the monthly report and the indicators tracked;
- the commitment period and the exit conditions;
- no promise of a guaranteed position, which nobody can keep.
To frame a budget suited to your situation, see our SEO page or our written content, then request a quote.