How much does SEO cost for a small business in the UK?

What are the ways to pay for SEO?

SEO is sold in three main ways. Each suits a different situation, so the cheapest option is not always the best value.

What do you actually get for the money?

A proper monthly SEO plan for a small business should cover the work that makes Google and AI tools trust you, not just a report. At a minimum, look for:

• Google Business Profile set up or optimised, and kept up to date with posts and photos.
• Keyword research: the exact searches your customers use, with pages built and tuned to rank for them.
• New pages and guides every month, and existing pages improved.
• Reviews: a simple way to ask happy customers, and replies to every review.
• Technical health: speed, broken links, structured data and mobile.
• AI visibility (AEO and GEO): clear answers on your pages and checks on what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about you. Read what AEO and GEO mean.
• Reporting you can check: access to Google Search Console and Analytics, and a plain-English summary of what changed.

Why do some providers charge £100 and others £2,000+ a month?

Because they are selling different amounts of work. The main things that push the price up are:

• Reach. Being found in one town needs far less work than being found across a city or a region.
• Competition. A plumber in a busy city faces more rivals than a specialist in a small town.
• Number of services. Every service you want to be found for needs its own strong page.
• The state of your website. A slow or outdated site needs fixing or rebuilding before SEO can work well.
• Content volume. More new pages and guides each month means more hours.
• AI visibility. Checking and fixing what AI tools say about you is extra work, and increasingly worth it.

A very low monthly fee often covers reporting and small tweaks only. A higher fee should buy new pages, content, profile work and someone experienced deciding what to do next. Either way, ask to see the work.

What makes SEO good value, and what should you steer clear of?

Good SEO is open about what it does. Value comes from real pages that answer real searches, steady reviews and work you can see in Search Console. Steer clear of offers built on:

• Promised rankings. Google decides the rankings, so any promise of a position is a red flag. A good provider commits to the work instead.
• Mass-produced pages. Hundreds of near-identical pages with the town name swapped can be treated as spam by Google.
• Bought links. Paying for links from unrelated websites breaks Google's rules and can damage your site.
• Locked accounts. Your Google Business Profile, Search Console and Analytics should always be in your name.

What should you ask an SEO provider before you pay?

• Which searches will you target for my business, and why those?
• What exactly will you do each month, and how will I see it?
• Will I have access to Search Console and Analytics?
• Are my Google Business Profile and accounts in my name?
• How do you handle AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity?
• What is the minimum term, and what happens if I leave early?
• Can you show me results for a business like mine, with dates?

How long before SEO pays for itself?

SEO builds over time. Calls and clicks usually start building from around month 3, rankings strengthen over months 4 to 6, and AI tools often start mentioning a business between month 3 and month 6. The work you do this month keeps bringing customers next year, which is why it is usually sold monthly. For the month-by-month detail, read how long SEO takes.

A simple way to judge it: work out what one new customer is worth to you. For many local businesses, one extra customer a month covers a local SEO plan, and everything after that is profit.

Is SEO worth it for a small business?

For most local service businesses, yes, because the people searching are already looking for what you sell, in your area, right now. Unlike ads, the results do not switch off the day you stop paying, and good pages keep working. It is less suited to businesses that need customers this week; for those, ads can cover the first few months while SEO builds.

As an example, Mainteniq, a London HVAC firm on our 12-month Growth plan, had 115,000+ impressions and 484 clicks on Google from December 2025 to September 2026. In September 2026, 7 in 30 visits from AI assistants led to a lead click, against 8 in 114 from Google search. Every business is different, so treat this as an illustration, not a forecast.

What does YektaD charge for SEO?

We show our prices openly. Our SEO plans for small businesses are chosen by how far you want to be found:

• AI visibility: Local includes an AI check every 3 months. Area and Growth include a monthly AI check with fixes, across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
• Start fees are one-off. On 6 or 12 months, a new website costs £495 with Local (normally £1,200, you save £705), £950 with Area (normally £1,800, you save £850) or £5,900 with Growth (normally £6,900, you save £1,000). If your website is good enough to keep, the start fee is £295, £495 or £1,400. See what a small business website costs.
• Fair terms: paid monthly in advance by card, Klarna or bank transfer. Leaving a 6 or 12 month plan early has a 2-month exit fee at the standard monthly price.

Not sure which fits? Our free check looks at your website, Google profile and AI answers and tells you which plan suits you. Plans for specific trades: electricians, solicitors, dentists, accountants and Pilates instructors.