1-800-890-8940
24 Hour Service Line
SEO Pricing
What the site audit covers, what the ongoing work includes, and what each level costs.
eGumball SEO Pricing
Site Audit and Report - one time - $1,495
A full technical and on-page audit with a written plan. Credited in full against your first month if you go ahead.
Essentials - $895 per month
Single location. On-page optimization, structured data, AI search optimization, and monthly reporting.
Growth - $1,895 per month
Competitive markets. Everything in Essentials plus content work, citation and authority building, and competitor tracking.
Consulting - $145 per hour
For teams who need direction rather than execution.
Multiple locations - quoted
Priced on location count and how much the markets overlap.
Every plan includes the AI search work described below at no extra charge. No setup fee beyond the audit, and no contract longer than month to month once the audit is done.
A full technical and on-page audit with a written plan. Credited in full against your first month if you go ahead.
Essentials - $895 per month
Single location. On-page optimization, structured data, AI search optimization, and monthly reporting.
Growth - $1,895 per month
Competitive markets. Everything in Essentials plus content work, citation and authority building, and competitor tracking.
Consulting - $145 per hour
For teams who need direction rather than execution.
Multiple locations - quoted
Priced on location count and how much the markets overlap.
How That Compares To the Industry
Most agencies will not show you this, so here it is. Published 2026 benchmarks for local SEO:
⌖ Monthly retainers commonly run $500 to $3,000, with the average around $1,557 and many small businesses near $1,000.
⌖ Narrow, single-location work sits at the lower end, roughly $500 to $1,500.
⌖ Full-service SEO for a US small business typically runs $1,500 to $3,200 per month.
⌖ Hourly consulting is typically $100 to $150.
Essentials at $895 sits below the market average. Growth at $1,895 sits just above it, and below the $3,200 top of the full-service band - while including AI search work that most agencies bill at $1,000 to $5,000 a month on top.
⌖ Narrow, single-location work sits at the lower end, roughly $500 to $1,500.
⌖ Full-service SEO for a US small business typically runs $1,500 to $3,200 per month.
⌖ Hourly consulting is typically $100 to $150.
If a quote you receive sits far outside those ranges in either direction, ask why. Both ends have explanations, and both are worth hearing before you sign.
How SEO Gets Priced
Monthly retainer. By far the most common - around 78 percent of providers price this way. It suits SEO because the work is continuous: search results move, competitors move, and Google changes several times a year.
Project price. Sensible for defined one-off work such as an audit, a site migration, or a technical cleanup. Not sensible as a way to buy rankings, because a single push does not hold.
Hourly. Useful for consulting when you have your own team and need direction rather than execution.
What Actually Drives Your Number
Three things, in order of weight:1. The condition of the site. A site with clean structure, working links and sensible titles needs far less remedial work than one carrying years of accumulated faults. This is why we audit before quoting.
2. The market. Competing for a term three other businesses want is a different job from competing for one that thirty agencies are actively working on. Category and geography both matter.
3. The scope. Advice and a plan you execute yourself costs less than us doing the work. Both are legitimate; they are not the same price.
AI Search Is Included, Not an Upcharge
Answer engines - Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity - now sit between many searchers and the results. Optimizing for them goes by two names, GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization), and the industry has started billing for it separately. Agencies typically add $1,000 to $5,000 per month on top of SEO, and 56 percent raised their rates in 2026 citing exactly this workload.We do not bill it separately, because the work overlaps almost entirely with SEO done properly:
✓ Structured data that tells machines what your business is, what it offers and where it operates.
✓ Content organized as questions with the answer in the first sentence, which is the shape answer engines extract.
✓ Consistent business facts across your site and the wider web, so an AI summarizing you does not find three versions of the truth.
✓ Crawlability for AI agents as well as search crawlers.
A site built this way is easier for Google to rank and easier for an answer engine to cite. Charging twice for one piece of work is a pricing decision, not a technical one.
✓ Content organized as questions with the answer in the first sentence, which is the shape answer engines extract.
✓ Consistent business facts across your site and the wider web, so an AI summarizing you does not find three versions of the truth.
✓ Crawlability for AI agents as well as search crawlers.
What an Engagement Includes
Site Audit and Report
A review of the technical issues that occur as part of a website's running, and the on-page factors that influence ranking. It shows what is currently in place and what can be achieved by improving it.This is not the usual automated report full of numbers nobody acts on. It is a hands-on review: pulling the site apart, examining the output code, checking performance, and testing crawlability. It also identifies missed opportunities for known ranking elements across your site, its structure and its pages.
Market Research
Every bit as important as understanding your site is understanding who your audience is, which sites are your real competitors, and what range and scope you can realistically aim for. Examining the lay of the land makes it possible to spot weaknesses in competitors, find new ways to reach your audience, and work out what will generate visitors who turn into paying customers.Site Optimization Plan
We do not just tell you what is wrong. The Optimization Plan explains what can be changed, how, and why. That lets you decide whether we make the improvements for you, or you handle them yourself knowing we are there to back you up.Site Marketing Plan
Promoting a business is a daunting task when there are so many possible places to advertise and most have little effect. We save you time by identifying the right places, and what to say and do when you get there.Optimization and Marketing Application
If you lack the time, inclination or resources to carry out the work, we do it. You do not need to lift a finger.How This Compares To Our Other Services
SEO works on your website. Google Business Profile optimization works on your map listing and starts at $289 per month - lower because it is a narrower, more defined job. Google Ads buys placement immediately and costs your ad spend plus a management fee.Most local businesses get more from the map than from SEO, and we will say so rather than sell you the larger engagement. See SEO for what the work involves, or Google Maps marketing for the alternative.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does eGumball charge for SEO?
Essentials is $895 a month, Growth is $1,895 a month, and a one-time Site Audit and Report is $1,495, credited against your first month. Consulting is $145 an hour.How much does local SEO cost per month generally?
Industry benchmarks for 2026 put most local retainers between $500 and $3,000, averaging around $1,557. Narrow single-location work sits lower; full-service runs $1,500 to $3,200.Why does pricing vary so much?
The condition of your site, the competitiveness of your market, and how much of the work you want us to do rather than advise on.Do you charge extra for AI search optimization?
No. Most agencies add $1,000 to $5,000 a month for GEO or AEO. The work overlaps with SEO done properly, so we include it.Is cheap SEO worth it?
Below about $500 a month there is not enough time in the budget to do the work, so what arrives is automated submissions and a report. The real risk is a shortcut that earns a penalty costing more to undo than the service ever saved.Can you guarantee a ranking?
No, and Google itself warns against anyone who does.Get a Quote
The prices above cover most situations. Where a site is in unusual condition or a market is unusually competitive, we say so before you commit rather than after.Contact eGumball today or call 1-800-890-8940, and we will tell you what we would do, what it would cost, and whether SEO is the right spend for your business at all.