SEO for an Irish small business typically costs between €500 and €2,000 a month when an agency does it. Competitive, multi-location and national campaigns cost more, from about €1,200 a month for competitive local work to €5,000 or more for national and ecommerce SEO. Those are typical market prices from the price guides other Irish agencies publish, rather than our own fees.
Where you land in that range depends on how hard your market is to rank in, how many services and places you need to be found for, and how much your website needs fixing first. This guide explains how SEO is priced, what a monthly retainer should include and the warning signs in cheap SEO packages.
Typical SEO prices in Ireland
We compared the price guides that three Irish agencies publish on their own websites. The ranges below are what they quote, and two of the three describe their figures as indicative estimates, so treat them as a guide to the market rather than a price list.
- Local SEO for one location: roughly €500 to €1,200 a month according to one guide, while another puts single-location trades, clinics and small professional firms at €800 to €2,000.
- Small business SEO in general: €500 to €2,000 a month for many small businesses, according to one of the guides.
- Competitive or multi-location local SEO: about €1,200 to €3,000 or more a month in one guide, or €1,500 to €3,500 for competitive markets such as dentists and solicitors in another.
- National and ecommerce SEO: €2,000 to €5,000 or more a month for larger or more competitive campaigns and online shops, according to one guide. Another quotes €2,500 to €6,000 for national lead generation and B2B, and €3,000 to €10,000 or more for online shops and large catalogues.
- One-off audits: from about €500 in one guide, with another putting audits at €500 to €1,500.
- Hourly consultancy: roughly €50 to €200 an hour, according to one guide.
For a wider view, Ahrefs surveyed 439 SEO providers worldwide. Agencies in that survey charged an average of about $3,209 a month and freelancers about $1,349, while the most common monthly retainer was $501 to $1,000, reported by 20.4% of respondents. The survey is global and priced in dollars, so use it as a sense check on the Irish figures rather than a direct comparison.
How SEO is priced: retainers, projects and hourly rates
Agencies charge for SEO in a few different ways, and many combine them.
- Monthly retainer. A fixed monthly fee for ongoing work such as technical fixes, new content, local SEO and reporting. Retainers suit SEO that is meant to keep building month after month.
- One-off project. A fixed price for a defined piece of work, such as an audit, a website migration or local SEO for a new location.
- Hourly or day rate. Useful for advice, training or a second opinion when your own team handles the day-to-day SEO.
Some agencies also sell SEO packages with a set number of keywords, links or blog posts each month. Packages make quotes easy to compare, but they are only good value if what they include is what your website actually needs.
What drives the cost of SEO
- How competitive your searches are. Ranking a solicitor in Dublin takes far more effort than ranking a specialist supplier with a handful of competitors.
- How many services and places you want to be found for. Each extra service or town usually needs its own page and its own local signals.
- The state of your website. A slow site, broken pages or a muddled structure need fixing before content and links can pay off.
- Who writes the content. Whether the agency writes your pages and guides, or you supply them, changes the monthly effort a lot.
- Who makes the changes. If the agency can edit your website directly, fixes go live faster than when every change waits on a separate developer.
What a monthly SEO retainer should include
Whatever you pay, a retainer should make clear what gets done each month and how you will know it is working. At a minimum, look for the following.
- A technical audit at the start, with the fixes listed in order of importance.
- Keyword research tied to the services you sell and the places you sell them.
- Work on the pages themselves, including titles, headings, internal links and content that answers what people search for.
- Local SEO if you serve local customers, covering your Google Business Profile and a steady flow of reviews.
- Reporting on the enquiries, calls and sales that organic search brings in, alongside rankings and traffic.
- Access to your own analytics and Search Console accounts, so the data stays with you if you ever change agency.
Warning signs in cheap SEO packages
A low monthly fee isn't a problem in itself, and a small local business may not need much. The trouble starts when a cheap SEO package promises things nobody can deliver. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO states that "no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google", and it warns against link schemes and firms that email you out of the blue.
- A guaranteed ranking, or a promise of page one by a set date.
- Hundreds of links for a small fixed fee, which rarely means links from sites your customers read.
- No clear record of what was done each month.
- Reports built on keywords that nobody actually searches for.
- The agency keeps ownership of your analytics, Search Console or content.
- A long minimum contract before you have seen any results.
Google also suggests asking any SEO provider for examples of their previous work, whether they follow Google Search Essentials and whether they will share every change they make to your site. Those are fair questions at any price.
What SEO involved for three of our clients
Price guides show what agencies charge, but it helps just as much to see where the monthly effort goes. Here is what SEO involved for three of our clients.
- Big Apple Mini Storage, a two-facility self-storage business in Harlem, had no website. We built one with every page planned around a search, then kept adding content, improving pages and fixing technical issues month after month. It now gets 150 to 200 calls and form enquiries a month from organic search.
- JTK Remapping needed a page for each car manufacturer, written for the searches those owners make, plus a performance calculator that brings in searches of its own. The website now brings in 200 to 300 leads a month, and those leads helped the business open a second location.
- Stratmore Entertainment got a rebrand, a new website and service pages written around what people planning weddings and events search for. Enquiries went from two or three a week to 20 or 30, roughly tenfold, with no paid advertising.
Why we don't publish our SEO prices
Two businesses asking for "SEO" rarely need the same amount of effort, so we'd rather look at your website and your market before recommending anything. That starts with a free website audit on a 20-minute call, after which we can tell you what we'd do first and what it would cost. Our page on SEO services in Ireland covers what's included, our monthly work has no minimum term, and your analytics accounts stay in your name.
SEO cost questions
Is €300 a month enough for SEO?
One of the guides puts the lowest end of the Irish market at around €200 to €500 a month. At that level the scope will be narrow, so ask exactly what gets done each month and whether it matches what your website needs.
How long before SEO starts to pay off?
It depends on your starting point and your market. A new website in a competitive market takes longer than an established site with a few technical problems. Ask any agency what results they expect and in what timeframe, which is one of the questions Google suggests asking.
Is SEO cheaper than Google Ads?
They're paid for differently. With Google Ads you pay for every click on top of any management fee, and the traffic stops when the budget does. SEO builds pages that keep bringing in visitors as long as they're looked after. Our guide on how Google Ads management is priced covers the other side, and Google Ads vs SEO compares the two.
Can I do some of my SEO myself?
Yes. The basics, such as your Google Business Profile, reviews and clear service pages, are within reach of most business owners. Our guide to SEO for small businesses in Ireland covers where to start.