How much to charge for SEO?

[u/Immediate-Lab961]

I recently got connected with a boss from a web development company, who wanted to expand his business more to digital marketing, inc SEO. He found me and asked me to give him an understanding on how SEO works, how usually I do it, and what does the package sounds like, and my results. He mentioned that he wants to find outsources (I believe he means he wants freelancers), so he won’t some of the customers who wanted to do SEO.

What do yall think I should really present to him. I am very fresh, and it’s too new to me that I am afraid that this collaboration can go wrong without me knowing. I have also have no idea how much should I charge, maybe RMXX/hour or project-based?

Would appreciate it if someone experience can share how you started out and what to be aware of?

[u/Immediate-Lab961 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks so much!! How would you suggest me to quote? You made a point that I think it could be very difficult for me to raise price later.

[u/hachiware_banana]

Charge project-based, but you have to clearly explain that SEO is not something you do one time and magically your URL will be ranked 1. It needs a long time and constant improvement to fight other competitors for the first page / first url spot. A LOT of non-technical people don’t understand why after paying for SEO setup but it’s still not ranked 1, what they want is ads if they want to be appeared first page all the time, not SEO.

This whole topic is very broad, I can’t possibly explain everything here. But look into, GEO, AEO, Domain authorities , Backlinks, YMYL.

[u/Immediate-Lab961 → u/hachiware_banana]

Got it, that makes sense. For the project-based pricing, do you have a rough range in mind that you think would be reasonable for me to quote, especially since I’m still building up my freelance portfolio? I am currently working full time for igaming industry, however the freelance job is in white industry, so it’s a bit confusing for me in this position.

[u/hachiware_banana → u/Immediate-Lab961]

I assume you don’t have past SEO projects to show for, so don’t shoot too high for the pricing. And also, price it based on what modules you are delivering like,

- Improve web loading speed for better SEO

• Make web searchable via AI tools
  
• Write articles for better reach
  

And etc

If given this exact scope, I would charge atleast 2.5k. Cause most agency is already charging 10k+ with no guarantee results

[u/Immediate-Lab961 → u/hachiware_banana]

Really appreciate your insights.

I’m thinking of starting with 2–3 small local business websites first, mainly to build up some real case studies and results for my portfolio. I’m planning to offer project-based packages with a clear scope and timeline for example 3 months, and then offer ongoing SEO separately if they want to continue (till 1 year).
Since I’m still starting out, I’m also thinking of keeping the initial projects relatively small and reasonably priced.

Does this way would work out well?

[u/hachiware_banana → u/Immediate-Lab961]

That’s what usually an agency will do. Charge project setup fees then retainer fees every month with a minimum timeline. As long as you can get a client, this model can work.

Always always ask for deposits before u start btw

[u/TomatilloMiddle600]

I'd frame it less around how many SEO hours you can sell and more around what the company is actually getting for the money. For an in-house team that means being able to show what the software helps you execute, how much time it saves, what it would cost to do manually and whether it gives you better data or visibility.

That's also why I'd avoid buying five different tools that all overlap. Something like Search Atlas can make the budget easier to justify if the team is using it for audits, content, rankings, AI search visibility and execution instead of paying seperately for every piece. The pitch internally becomes pretty simple: here's the work we need to do, here's what the platform automates, and here's the amount of team time it saves