Published UK SEO prices range from about £100 to £5,000 or more a month. A study of 45 published UK prices, collected in June 2026, found a median of £799 a month, with budget plans at £99 to £300 and mainstream plans at £350 to £1,000. For most sole traders and small trades firms, the useful part is local SEO, which sits towards the bottom of that range.
How much does SEO cost in the UK?
The best recent data I found comes from Whito's UK SEO pricing data. They took 45 monthly prices from the pricing pages of 16 UK providers in June 2026. Their findings:
- Budget: £99 to £300 a month.
- Mainstream: £350 to £1,000 a month.
- Established agency: £1,500 to £5,000 or more a month.
- Median: £799 a month overall, and £447 for the cheapest tier each provider offers.
Whito also points out that published UK prices usually leave out VAT, so check before you compare.
A second view comes from Whitehat SEO's April 2026 guide to UK SEO costs, written by an agency. Their tiers line up with what you get for the money:
| Level | Monthly price | Hours a month | What is usually included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local or start-up | £500 to £1,200 | 5 to 10 | Local SEO basics, simple on-page fixes, Google Business Profile management |
| Growing small firm | £1,500 to £3,000 | 15 to 30 | Technical SEO, regular content, some digital PR, regional targeting |
| Mid-sized business | £2,500 to £5,000 | 30 to 50 | Full service, content at scale, link building, competitor tracking |
The same guide puts freelancers at £300 to £2,500 a month, and hourly rates at £40 to £100 for freelancers and £70 to £300 for agency consultants.
A plumber covering three towns does not need the bottom two rows. A firm going after a whole county with several services might.
What drives the cost of SEO?
Most of the price is people's time. In the table above, the jump in price follows the jump in hours. Beyond that, these are the things I see push a quote up or down:
- How many services and towns you cover. One service in one town is a small job. Ten services across fifteen towns means far more pages and listings to keep right.
- How busy your area is. Roofers in a big city are likely to face more competition for the same searches than roofers in a market town.
- Who writes the content. Whito suggests asking this directly. Writing is slow, so a quote that includes it should cost more than one that expects you to do it.
- Links and PR. Getting other websites to mention you takes outreach. It is usually what separates the middle tiers from the top ones.
- Reporting and meetings. Monthly calls and long reports are time you pay for.
What are the red flags when buying SEO?
Google publishes its own advice on hiring an SEO, and it is worth five minutes of your time. The warning signs I would look for:
- Guaranteed rankings. Google says plainly: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." If someone promises first place, Google's advice is to find someone else.
- Paying for a better Maps position. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone selling that is selling something Google does not offer.
- Long contracts. A 12-month lock-in leaves you paying for months of poor work. Whitehat recommends looking for flexible contracts with reasonable notice periods.
- Vague reports. "Ongoing SEO work" tells you nothing. Whitehat lists vague deliverables as a red flag. You should see what was done, page by page.
- Secrecy and cold emails. Google warns about firms that email you out of the blue, or that won't clearly explain what they plan to do.
- You don't own the work. Ask who owns your pages, listings and accounts if you leave. Whito includes this in its list of questions for any quote.
Is SEO worth it for a tradesman?
The simplest test is whether one extra job a month covers the fee. Here is a worked example using round, made-up numbers. Swap in your own.
Example only, not real figures. Say your average job is £1,000 and you keep £300 of it after materials, fuel and your time. SEO costs £150 a month. One extra job a month from Google pays the fee twice over. One extra job every two months roughly breaks even.
For an emergency plumber or a roofer, jobs are often worth more than that, so the bar is lower. For someone doing small, low-margin jobs, the maths is tighter and a cheap plan matters more.
Two honest caveats. First, it takes time. Whitehat argues that stopping at six months often cuts off the point where results start to build. Second, track it. Ask every new customer how they found you and keep a simple tally. If after a fair run you cannot point to extra work, stop paying.
If you are not sure where you stand today, start with the free things. My Google Business Profile checklist and guide to getting more Google reviews cover work you can do yourself this week.
How much does Page One Trades charge?
I charge £200 to set up, then £149 a month. There is no contract. You can leave with 30 days' notice.
That puts me in the budget band of Whito's data, and well below the £799 median. The reason is simple. I'm one person, I work only with trades businesses, and I do everything online and over the phone. There is no office and no account manager layer to pay for.
What I work on:
- Making your business name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear.
- Setting up and keeping your Google Business Profile complete.
- A page for each service and town you cover.
- A simple routine for getting reviews.
- Making your business easy for AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI answers to recommend.
The same £149 also covers a website assistant that answers customer questions and takes enquiries 24/7. You can see the full breakdown in the pricing section. I won't promise you a number one ranking, because nobody honestly can.
If you need a national campaign with heavy content and digital PR, a bigger agency budget makes sense. If you want to show up for the jobs in your own towns, you probably don't need to spend £800 a month.
Want to know what your business actually needs?
I'll look at how you show up on Google and in AI answers today, and tell you what I would fix first. It's free, and there is no obligation to sign up. Request your free audit, or call me on 07494 833710.