Member Avatar for extofer

Business question, What is the going rate for optimizing a small site, small local business, about 8 pgs. Should an SEO consultant charge by page, hour or site, and at what range ($$). Thanks...

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asked about the going rate for optimizing an 8‑page local site. The thread already illustrates the full spectrum — lower‑cost offshore offers (see ), high‑end consultants (see ) and quality/market cautions (see and ). The single most important decision is scope: define what will be measured and delivered, then pick a pricing model that matches that scope.

Common approaches and when they make sense: hourly for open or undefined work; per‑page only when pages are similar and isolated; fixed‑price for a one‑time small site overhaul; retainer for ongoing local promotion and monitoring. For a small local 8‑page site a phased fixed fee (audit + short implementation) with an optional small retainer for monitoring and outreach usually balances risk and value better than a raw per‑page price or an open hourly arrangement.

A simple way to turn scope into a quote is to estimate hours by task, add contingency, and attach milestones. Example (pseudocode) to illustrate the math:

# simple pricing sketch (pseudocode)
audit_hours = 4
implementation_hours = 1.5 * num_pages
outreach_hours = 8
hourly_rate = RATE   # agreed with client
project_fee = (audit_hours + implementation_hours + outreach_hours) * hourly_rate

# split into milestones: 30% audit, 50% implementation, 20% reporting

Include a short, specific statement of deliverables (audit report + prioritized list with estimated hours, implemented fixes or handover instructions, at least one month of performance reporting and link/outreach summary). Troubleshooting checklist: capture baseline metrics, run a crawl, confirm crawlability/server responses, and document all changes to measure impact.

Contract red flags: vague scope, guaranteed rank promises, no reporting, or no detail on link sources. Given SEO volatility (the point raised), set realistic KPIs (traffic, local map visibility, leads) and milestone payments tied to delivery and reporting rather than vague outcome guarantees.

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Member Avatar for Dani

It really depends on what the SEO is going to do for the money. Since I'm not an SEO myself, and always do my own seo work, I'm not sure what the going rate is. However, a good SEO should take into consideration all of the following -

Optimize page titles and meta tags
Reword body content for appropriate keyword density
Reorganize site navigation for optimal spidering
Create sitemap
Get backlinks
Optimize payperclick campaigns such as Google Adwords

Member Avatar for ketan1

In India you can get a small site optimized for 100 - 200 USD

Member Avatar for pctec

I think Im in the wrong bizz... :)

Member Avatar for canadafred

I think Im in the wrong bizz... :)

In Canada, the salary for an SEO expert ranges from $25,000 a year to $100,000.

Business minded SEO experts operating on their own can make about the same money as an average lawyer does.

Are you still in the wrong business or do you want to keep up your specialized training in a field that is in constant growth.

Member Avatar for canadafred

In India you can get a small site optimized for 100 - 200 USD

Often in SEO, you get what you pay for.

Member Avatar for Dani

I'm not so sure that I would be personally comfortable being a fulltime SEO. While I can't disagree that there is an enormous amount of money to be made in it right now, it is a very volatile industry. Additionally, you're always at the whim of Google and the search engines. I think that there would always be this constant looming stress over my head running a business that was 100% at the mercy of just one other company, regardless of my own business skills. I need a bit more independence than that.

Member Avatar for jewboy

The world's top SE Consultant, Danny Sullivan of SEW charges $500 / hr. That's the max your should pay. Otherwise, your question is a very tricky one to answer.

Member Avatar for cmills83

Often in SEO, you get what you pay for.

Yeah I have had experience outsourcing to large companies in India, they have a thorough grasp on the English language but still not good enough for effective SEO for example a link supposed to be titled "auto classifieds" was titled "sedan classifieds" you definetely get what you pay for

Member Avatar for cmills83

In Canada, the salary for an SEO expert ranges from $25,000 a year to $100,000.

Business minded SEO experts operating on their own can make about the same money as an average lawyer does.

Are you still in the wrong business or do you want to keep up your specialized training in a field that is in constant growth.

Yep, ever since I got on board with an SEO company and have added some seo to my resume I get job offers all the time there is a good demand for SEO's and a ton of money to be made. I've seen an SEO job on Craigslist paying 200k/year...that's why Im on here learning.

Member Avatar for ketan1

HI folks. Anybody intersted in SEO , Link building in India, Just let me know.

Member Avatar for Webnauts

Is self promotion allowed here?

Member Avatar for canadafred

Is self promotion allowed here?

... not supposed to be, there is already a place here on Daniweb for posting when one is looking for freelancer work. I've been hanging around there too lately.

HI folks. Anybody intersted in SEO , Link building in India, Just let me know.

... anything with india in it usually gets a by.

Member Avatar for MakeMoneyEmails

Depends on alot of factors and our comapny offers this service with many happy clients

Member Avatar for ketan1

Depends on alot of factors and our comapny offers this service with many happy clients

exactly!

Member Avatar for mddv

yea well im pretty sure that you get what you pay for.

There are many SEO consutants that just use software to analyse a site. So ask questions to the person yo unare hiring.

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