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Increase search rankings for higher conversions.
Targeted traffic, improved visibility, measurable results.
Get backlinks from trusted websites to boost your ranking.
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Looking for something else? Get in touch with our team today for expert advice and custom solutions to meet your business needs.
If you have ever asked things like:
you are in the right place.
In this post I will walk you through:
💡 Good to know: You can apply the same pricing logic to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
If you are looking for a quick answer without reading the full guide:
🧾 Rule of thumb:
For a medium sized website with a decent link profile, a CAD$1,500 per month retainer or a CAD$6,000 one time project should get you a solid SEO foundation.
This assumes:
Most SEO agencies and consultants build their pricing from two components:
Most SEO companies do not show you a detailed time vs material breakdown. Instead, they present an SOW (Statement of Work) that summarizes:
💡 Strategic tip: Many SEO components, especially content creation, can be done in house by your own team if they have the time and guidance. A strategic use of an SEO firm for audits, strategy, and specialist tasks can save your business a significant amount of money.
In practice, SEO falls into four main categories. In each category, you can work on a retainer basis or one time project basis.
Let us walk through each.
This is where you make sure your website is:
As of 2025, most popular CMS platforms such as WordPress, Magento, Shopify and others:
✅ Yes, it usually helps to have an SEO technical audit at least once a year, or when something changes, for example:
A good technical SEO audit for a medium sized website (for example, less than 100 pages indexed by Google) typically starts at around:
If you already have a monthly retainer with an SEO company, ongoing technical monitoring should normally be part of their service.
This is the engine behind smart SEO decisions.
At a minimum, you should:
A complete keyword research, competition analysis, and content mapping package that also includes SEO content recommendations for key pages can cost around:
Analytics platforms and search tools limit historical data:
To make better decisions, it helps to:
At Search Engine People, for example, we use our own data warehouse and combine:
A data storage and analysis component like this often starts around:
Content is the backbone of any SEO project.
Your site usually needs:
Thanks to AI, content writers can work faster, but you still need:
Typical content price ranges:
Content refresh is also critical:
Refreshing and improving existing content often costs:
You can order content as:
You can have a technically perfect site with great content, but without authority you should not expect your organic traffic to grow significantly.
Authority often comes from:
Backlinks can arrive naturally if you:
Unfortunately this does not always happen on its own, and you may need structured outreach and digital PR.
Common factors include:
Pricing varies a lot, but in general:
SEO companies sell link building either:
The starting prices above cover typical small and mid sized businesses. Costs move to the higher side of the spectrum when:
What Should A Small Business Budget For SEO?
If your main question is “how much does SEO cost for a small business”, is still unanswered at this point of this post, here is a practical guideline.
For a small business in a single location, with a modest website (for example under 100 pages) and moderate competition:
If budget is tight consider one-time projects to cover your SEO foundations:
At Search Engine People (SEP), we have:
Some of our key differentiators, even clients on retainers as low as $1,500 per month can benefit from these:
For small businesses, usually CA$1000 to CAD$3,000 per month, more for bigger scopes and markets.
Often CAD$1000 to CAD$1,500 per month for single location businesses, depending on competition.
Many agencies charge CAD$1,500 to CAD$3,000 per month for mid sized engagements in competitive niches.
Hourly CAD$175 to CAD$250 is common, or CAD$1,000 to CAD$5,000+ for one time project work.
Typically 3 to 6 months to see meaningful progress, 6 to 12 months for strong, sustainable ROI.
As a starting point, CA$1,000 to CA$3,000 per month if you want real results. Smaller budgets will yield slower or more limited gains.
Quality SEO that includes content, links and technical work will cost more than “SEO lite” packages, but it also delivers more value.
It depends on your niche, keyword universe and competition. A good SEO partner should give you a specific recommendation instead of a generic number.
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