For a business asking “how much does SEO cost”, WebDrift offers a €690 one-off Visibility Audit including SEO/AI setup and monthly support from €599 up to €1,190. Compare the work involved and the input needed from your team alongside the price. A low monthly fee offers little value if nobody then implements the necessary changes.
As of: 15 October 2026
How much does SEO cost and which model suits your business?
Search engine optimisation, or SEO, has no useful single price for every business. First choose between doing the work yourself, buying a one-off assessment and arranging ongoing support; then compare prices.
The figures below are WebDrift's own prices for SEO and AI visibility. They are not market averages and do not establish what other providers should charge.
| Your situation | Suitable starting point | Cost | What your team handles |
|---|---|---|---|
| You can edit content and make straightforward website changes | Do it yourself | Your time, plus any tool costs | Diagnosis, implementation and review |
| You need an assessment and foundational implementation | Visibility Audit including SEO/AI setup | €690 once | Business knowledge, access and approvals |
| The work is clear and someone can liaise with the provider | Monthly SEO | From €599 up to €1,190 per month, depending on scope | Business knowledge, access and approvals |
Read the table starting with your capacity to implement changes. The audit including setup suits a business that needs its starting position assessed and the agreed foundations implemented. For further or ongoing changes, establish which tasks your team handles and which we carry out.
A freelancer is another option. Ask for the same description of work you would request from an agency, including who handles technical tasks and who is available during absences. This does not imply that either freelancers or agencies are generally cheaper or better.
Why do SEO proposals differ so much?
A useful comparison needs the same starting position, target pages and division of responsibilities. A line labelled “SEO support” does not tell you whether you are buying advice, finished content or changes to your website.
Before requesting proposals, prepare a short worksheet: which service do you want to sell, in which area, to which customers and through which page? Add the person who will check content for accuracy and the person allowed to publish technical changes. This gives a provider something concrete to scope rather than just a package name.
Compare these points in each proposal:
- Starting position: Are unclear content, technical obstacles or both the concern? Our technical SEO checklist helps with an initial assessment you can make yourself.
- Scope: Which services, locations and languages will receive attention? A proposal for one region does not answer the requirements of several countries.
- Implementation: Who researches, writes, corrects and publishes? If the provider only hands over recommendations, implementation remains your responsibility.
- Dependencies: Does the provider need your existing website supplier? Record which tasks fall within the agreed scope and which need a separate agreement.
Ask for a complete description of a planned task: the page concerned, the intended change, the person responsible and evidence of completion. “Revise the maintenance service page and submit it for approval” is more useful than “optimise content”. This is a suggestion for evaluating proposals, rather than an additional package commitment.
How do you calculate the total over six months?
This budget example assumes six full months of support with unchanged scope. At €599 monthly, that totals €3,594; at €1,190 monthly, it totals €7,140. A separately commissioned audit including setup adds €690 to either total. Six months is a calculation assumption.
| Illustrative calculation | Lower price boundary | Upper price boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price according to agreed scope | €599 | €1,190 |
| Six assumed months of support | 6 × €599 = €3,594 | 6 × €1,190 = €7,140 |
| Including an additionally commissioned audit and setup | €3,594 + €690 = €4,284 | €7,140 + €690 = €7,830 |
Under these assumptions, the difference is €3,546. It compares the boundaries of the monthly price range; the proposal defines the scope that fits your business.
The table covers only the stated WebDrift services. It excludes your team's time and any other separately agreed work. It compares budgets and does not forecast enquiries or revenue.
What scope should you agree for an audit and ongoing support?
Ask for the tasks to be recorded separately from the price. For Monthly SEO, we agree suitable scope within the range from €599 up to €1,190 per month. Establish which specific tasks suit your website before commissioning the work.
Getting started with us works like this:
- Send us your website, your goal and any proposals you already have through the project request.
- In the proposal, we clarify whether you start with the Visibility Audit including SEO/AI setup at €690 once.
- For ongoing support, we agree tasks, responsibilities and a monthly price within the range from €599 up to €1,190.
- If your project covers several locations, languages or a larger shop, we clarify suitable scope and any additional requirements in the proposal.
What should you ask before an audit?
First name the problem the assessment should answer: are important service pages unclear, do you need priorities or do you want technical obstacles investigated? Ask which pages will be examined, which documents you receive afterwards and which foundational changes the SEO/AI setup includes.
Request recommendations that connect the problem, the affected page and the next practical step. For your internal planning, add a responsible person and an order of work. You can then decide whether your team will carry out the tasks or needs help with implementation.
One possible question for your own assessment is: “Our service page explains maintenance, but the options we offer remain unclear. Which information is missing, and who can supply it?” This question narrows down your need. It does not describe a standard included WebDrift deliverable.
What should the ongoing proposal specify?
For ongoing support, ask for specific target pages, planned changes and the approvals needed. If you also want to observe answers from AI assistants alongside conventional search, agree the questions, checking process and form of documentation. Our comparison of SEO, AEO and GEO helps explain the terminology.
Do not infer a fixed number of new pages, checks or calls from a package name. Instead, ask which tasks will be addressed within the agreed budget, which need separate agreement and who publishes the work. Also establish how you can see completed tasks and outstanding approvals.
Whenever priorities change, ask for a short explanation: why does this page now matter more than the one originally planned? This keeps your decision focused on the business question you need answered. Agree how additional requests will be handled so that a new idea does not silently displace a task already agreed.
How do you separate work from its effects?
A published page and a completed technical fix are verifiable outputs. Separately assess whether the observations that matter to your business are changing. A report listing completed tasks does not replace an assessment of whether the arrangement makes financial sense for you.
Agree when you will review the work together and which questions that review should answer. An assumed six-month budget does not establish future success. Our article on how long SEO takes provides further context for assessing timeframes.
How should you check proposals and when is ongoing support unsuitable?
Buy ongoing support when there are useful tasks and a responsible person within your business. Without answers from your specialists and timely approvals, even a clearly scoped package can stall in your own processes.
Google's guidance on hiring an SEO recommends asking how success will be measured, initially granting only read access to Search Console for an audit, and rejecting guaranteed top rankings. Search Console helps you monitor your website in Google Search.
Use those checks alongside our additional procurement questions:
- Which outcomes will be observed, and how will they be measured?
- Can the initial assessment use read access rather than editing permissions?
- Does the proposal avoid guaranteed Google positions?
- Which specific pages and tasks are included?
- Who implements recommendations and who approves content?
- Which documents will we receive at handover?
If you do not yet have clear service pages, first define the offer and the content it needs. If nobody can provide answers or approve changes for the foreseeable future, an ongoing contract is a poor starting point. A defined audit may suit you if someone responsible will then use its findings.
If you need new enquiries within the next few weeks, first assess whether advertising through digital marketing fits your situation. Advertising does not guarantee enquiries either. For large shops operating across several countries, agree scope individually or approach a specialised provider.
Conclusion: which SEO model should you choose?
Choose according to the work you need and your capacity to implement it. The audit including SEO/AI setup establishes the agreed foundations; with Monthly SEO, agree the ongoing tasks and a monthly price between €599 and €1,190. Compare the full assumed six-month budget and ask for concrete tasks. To discuss a suitable starting point with us, start your project with your website, your goal and the proposals you already have.
Sources and price reference
The independent selection guidance comes from Google Search Central and is linked in the text. WebDrift prices and scope reflect our SEO and AI visibility offer as of the stated date. The questions about tasks and handover help you assess proposals; ask for specific package deliverables to be confirmed in writing. The six-month totals are our own calculations with explicit assumptions.
