What SEO costs in the UK

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SEO pricing is confusing because people sell very different things under the same name. One firm’s £300 package is a monthly report and a few tweaks. Another’s £3,000 retainer includes writing, outreach and a team of people. Comparing the headline number tells you very little.

These guides break it down. Each one looks at a different question, from what a retainer is to why online shops usually pay more. Where we quote figures, they come from published research, mainly Whito’s 2026 work on UK agency pricing, and we link to it.

Two numbers worth knowing

Whito’s UK agency retainer research puts single-channel agency SEO retainers at roughly £1,250 to £3,500 a month. Whito’s count of published UK SEO prices found a middle published price of £799 a month across 45 providers in June 2026, with half sitting between about £410 and £1,500.

Those two figures measure different things. The first is agency retainers from rate cards and surveys. The second includes entry-level packages from all kinds of providers. Both are useful. Neither tells you what your business needs.

How to use these guides

If you’re setting a budget for the first time, start with what SEO costs in the UK and the small business budgets guide. If you already have quotes, read how to read SEO pricing and the package checklist. If you run a shop or serve a local area, the ecommerce and local guides cover what’s different about each. None of them is a sales pitch: where a bigger budget makes sense, they say so.

The ranges at a glance

Using Whito’s research: published UK SEO prices had a median of £799 a month in June 2026. Agency SEO retainers run at about £1,250 to £3,500 a month. Freelancers are commonly £300 to £800 a month at the junior end and £800 to £2,500 when experienced. AffordSEO is £99 a month, rolling monthly. The guides below explain what sits behind each number.

What isn’t in these numbers

None of the ranges include your own time, website changes by a developer or paid advertising. If a provider recommends a site rebuild or new pages, that’s usually billed separately. Ask for those costs before you agree a monthly fee, so the full picture is in front of you.

What recent UK figures actually show

Two public sources are useful for budgeting, and neither is a quote. The Office for National Statistics counted 2.79 million UK businesses as of March 2026. On published SEO prices, Whito’s June 2026 reading of 45 UK monthly prices found a median of £799, with the middle half between about £410 and £1,500. Our plan is £99 a month. That gap exists because we automate the daily checks, not because the fee buys a ranking. Google’s guide to how Search works says it does not accept payment for crawling, indexing or ranking. If you want a factual snapshot of one page before you set a budget, run the free SEO check, then compare the work on pricing.

Where AffordSEO fits

We charge £99 a month for one plan. It’s cheaper because software does the routine checking that agencies do by hand. It doesn’t include big PR campaigns or unlimited writing. If you need those, you need a bigger budget, and the guides below will help you judge what’s fair.

All cost guides

Common questions