A study on digital marketing pricing shows how much SEO consultants and agencies are charging for their services in 2019.
Credo published the findings of a pricing survey that was completed by 271 marketing agencies and consultants.
The goal of the survey was to discover what the industry average is for digital marketing services, specifically within the US and UK.
The survey contains questions like:
- What’s the minimum you charge for a project?
- What is your average hourly rate?
- How much do you charge for a monthly retainer?
Results of the survey are broken down into chapters dedicated to different areas of digital marketing.
In this article, I’ll summarize some of the key takeaways specifically related to SEO agencies and consultants.
SEO agency and consultant rates
Hourly Rates
In the US, a full 71% of SEO agencies charge between $101-$200 per hour, which is drastically higher than the worldwide average.
When looking at worldwide numbers, only 22.75% of agencies are charging between $101-$200 per hour.
Most SEO agencies (83%) worldwide charge under $200 per hour, with 30.98% charging $101-$150 per hour.
The average SEO consultant hourly rate worldwide as of January 2019 is $148 per hour.
In the US, 75.42% of SEO consultants charge between $101-$200 per hour.
Minimums for single projects
Almost half (49.59%) of respondents worldwide say they’d do a single project for less than $2,000.
That’s close to 43% of US respondents who said the same.
On the higher end, 20% of SEO agencies worldwide do not take projects for less than $5,000.
Worldwide, most SEO consultants (29.89%) say they charge a minimum of $1,000-$1,999 or a single project, which is virtually the same as what most US respondents (31.91%) said.
Minimum monthly retainer
Worldwide, most SEO agencies (25.81%) are charging a minimum monthly retainer of less than $1,000.
SEO consultants are charging a bit more for monthly retainers, with 32.18% of worldwide respondents saying their minimum is between $1000-1,999.
In the US, most SEO consultants (36.17%) say they charge a minimum of $1000-1,999 for a monthly retainer.
Only 6% of respondents require no minimum at all.
More Info
For even more data, see the complete survey results from Credo.