What SEO actually costs in 2026: the numbers I use to check a quote

Zeeshan Saeed — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:20:33 +0000

When a founder asks me whether a quote is fair, I check it against a handful of numbers from the largest survey of SEO providers I know of. Here they are, with the source for each.

The market numbers

Ahrefs polled 439 SEO providers about their pricing. The headline figures:

$2,917 a month was the average retainer, and most businesses spent between $500 and $5,000 a month.
78% of providers sell monthly retainers, 49% sell per project and 35% bill hourly (some offer more than one).
Hourly averages by type: about $72 for freelancers, $99 for agencies and $171 for consultants.
Experience matters: about $73 an hour at two years or less, about $118 at ten years or more.

What I check in any quote

What do I get each month, in quantities? "Ongoing SEO" is not a scope. Four named pages a month is.
Who does the work? The person I spoke to, or a junior behind an account manager?
What is left out? Link building, implementation and tools are often billed separately.
What do I own if I leave? Research, content and accounts should stay with the client.

Google's own guidance is blunt about the red flag: no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and an SEO who claims a "special relationship" with Google is a reason to walk away.

If you're a startup

WebFX puts typical monthly SEO spend at $500 to $1,500 for a startup or micro-business and $1,500 to $3,500 for a small business. Spending enterprise money on a small site buys process, not results. Early on, a few pages close to a sale beat a big content calendar.

Where to read more

I wrote up the full breakdown, with a table by service and by company size, in How Much Does SEO Cost? Prices by Service. If you're hiring an individual, SEO consultant rates splits hourly and project prices by experience.

I'm Zeeshan, an SEO and content consultant. If you want a second opinion on a quote, send it to me.

SEO, AEO and GEO in plain words: what changed in 2026

Zeeshan Saeed — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 22:41:52 +0000

People used to find answers one way: type a question into Google and click a blue link. That's no longer the whole story, and the three acronyms below describe the three places your content now has to show up.

SEO: ranking in normal results

SEO (search engine optimization) still matters. It's how a page earns a spot in Google's regular results. Clear headings, content that matches what the searcher wants, and a fast page still win here. If you're new to it, start with what SEO writing actually is.

AEO: being the answer

AEO (answer engine optimization) is about being the answer itself: featured snippets, voice answers and Google's AI Overviews. In practice that means putting a direct, short answer right under the question it answers. I wrote a full guide to answer engine optimization.

GEO: getting quoted by AI chatbots

GEO (generative engine optimization) is about getting cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. These tools favour pages with clear facts, named sources and statistics they can lift. Here are the GEO strategies that work.

One page can do all three

You don't need three separate strategies. A well-structured page can serve all three if it:

Answers the main question in the first paragraph
Uses question-style headings
Backs claims with real, linked sources
Stays updated

AI Overviews do take some clicks away, but the pages they cite still earn the trust. More on that in how AI Overviews affect SEO.

I write about SEO, AEO and GEO at zeeshansaeed.pages.dev/blog.

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