Fivenson Studios · Straight Answers

How much should SEO cost per month?

Updated August 18, 2026
The short answer

Quality SEO for a small business runs $500 to $5,000+ per month, depending on your market, how competitive it is, and how many cities or locations you’re targeting. Local/service businesses usually sit in the $750 to $1,500 range; competitive or multi-location work runs higher. Below about $300/month, you’re almost always buying automated link spam that can get you penalized.

You’re paying for ongoing work: content, technical fixes, citations, and links, not a one-time setup. If a price sounds too good, it’s because a bot is doing it.

Get a free quoteCall (734) 822-7649

What each budget buys

  • $500 to $800/mo: local SEO, Google Business Profile, citations, a little content. Good for a single-location service business.
  • $1,000 to $1,500/mo: the above plus real content and light link building. Where most small businesses should be.
  • $2,000+/mo: competitive terms, multiple locations, aggressive content and links.

Pricing red flags

"$99/month, rank #1 guaranteed" is a scam, nobody can guarantee rankings, and that price only covers a bot spamming links. Also watch for no reporting, no named contact, and contracts that lock you in for a year with no exit.

Common questions

Why is SEO monthly instead of one-time?

Rankings are competitive and always shifting, competitors publish, Google updates, and content ages. SEO is maintained, not installed once.

Is a cheaper SEO company a bad sign?

Under ~$300/month, yes, real SEO takes human hours. Cheap providers automate low-quality links that can trigger penalties and set you back months.

What does Fivenson charge for SEO?

We scope a monthly plan to your market and goals after a free consult, no locked-in year, and you see exactly what we do each month.

Keep reading

More from Fivenson Studios.

Get an honest SEO quote

We’ll scope a plan to your actual market, no $99 gimmicks, no year-long lock-in, just work you can see.