Most local SEO retainers cost between $500 and $3,000 a month in the US, £300 to £1,200 in the UK for one location, and C$400 to C$2,500 in Canada, based on published price guides. A one-off audit usually costs a few hundred to a few thousand. Doing it yourself costs nothing but time. The table below compares DIY, a freelancer, an agency and a one-off audit, then shows what each price level actually buys.
Prices checked 16 Oct 2026. All figures except our own are third-party published ranges, not Search Lift quotes, and exclude VAT, GST and HST.
Local SEO cost per month at a glance
| Option | US (USD) | UK (GBP) | Canada (CAD) | What it usually buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY | $0 in fees | £0 in fees | C$0 in fees | Your time on your Google Business Profile, reviews and service pages |
| Freelancer or basic plan | About $1,150/mo average (Ahrefs) | £300–£2,000/mo, junior to experienced freelancer (IWILLDIGITAL) | C$400–C$1,000/mo basic tier (Shaheer Ali Khan) | Profile updates, citations, on-page fixes and a monthly report |
| Agency retainer | About $1,819/mo average (Ahrefs); $500–$3,000/mo (WebFX) | £300–£1,200/mo for one location; £1,000–£3,000+ for several (IWILLDIGITAL) | C$1,000–C$2,500/mo mid tier; C$2,500+ premium (Shaheer Ali Khan) | Ongoing profile management, local content, reviews, links and call tracking |
| One-off audit | $500–$5,000 for one-time projects (WebFX) | £300–£3,500 (IWILLDIGITAL) | C$500–C$1,900, one provider’s fixed prices (JPL Digital) | A prioritised fix list that you or someone you hire then carries out |
Where the numbers come from: Ahrefs polled 439 SEO providers (last updated August 2024) and found local SEO averaged $1,557 a month, with $501–$1,000 the most common retainer. WebFX’s local SEO pricing guide gives the US retainer and project ranges, IWILLDIGITAL’s 2026 UK guide the UK figures, and Shaheer Ali Khan’s Canadian guide the Canadian tiers. Canadian audit prices are from JPL Digital’s published audit page.
What each price level buys
- $0 (DIY). Google’s own guide to hiring an SEO says that if you run a small local business, “you can probably do much of the work yourself”, starting with its SEO starter guide. It also says “it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results.”
- Under about $400, £300 or C$400 a month. Expect mostly automated work. Shaheer Ali Khan warns that below $400 a month you get “automated work with limited human oversight”, and IWILLDIGITAL says packages under about £300 “rarely include enough skilled hours” in a competitive market.
- The middle band. Around £400–£1,000 a month buys roughly 5–10 hours of work in the UK, according to IWILLDIGITAL: your profile, local pages, on-page fixes and reviews. This suits one location in a normal market.
- The top band. More money pays for several locations, more content, local link earning and more frequent strategy calls. It makes sense in crowded city markets or for multi-location businesses.
Local SEO packages in the UK and Canada
UK packages are often priced before VAT, which is 20% at the standard rate, so check the total. IWILLDIGITAL puts London prices 20–50% above the UK average. In Canada, TorontoSEO’s pricing guide quotes prices before GST or HST of 5–15% depending on the province, and expects a 20–40% premium in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
What pushes a quote up or down
- Competition. A dentist in a big city needs more work than a dog groomer in a small town.
- Number of locations. Each one needs its own profile, page, citations and reviews.
- Number of services. Each main service needs its own page. See how to write a service page that ranks.
- Starting point. A suspended profile, duplicate listings or a slow site cost more to fix first.
Red flags in a local SEO quote
- Guaranteed #1 rankings. Google says “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google” and warns against SEOs claiming a “special relationship” with Google or a “priority submit”.
- Bulk link packages. Google’s spam policies treat buying links “for ranking purposes” as link spam. Paid placements are fine only when the link carries
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow". Ask where every link will come from. - Long lock-in contracts. TorontoSEO calls 3–6 month minimums with fair exit terms reasonable, and 24-month lock-ins with exit fees “extractive”.
- They own your accounts. Your Google Business Profile, Search Console and analytics should stay in your name, with the provider added as a user. For an audit, Google suggests granting read-only Search Console access.
- Vague deliverables. “Ongoing optimisation” with no monthly list of work gives you nothing to check.
What Search Lift charges
These are the plans on our pricing page on 16 Oct 2026, in US dollars:
- Search Gap Audit: $297 one-time. A Google, Maps and AI presence scan, competitor comparison, priority gap map, written readout and one strategy call.
- Fix Sprint: $797 one-time. Everything in the audit, plus a focused 2–3 week push on priority technical and on-page fixes, local and Google Business Profile quick wins, and up to 3 revenue pages improved.
- Visibility Lift: $1,497 a month. Ongoing technical and on-page work, local and Google Business Profile optimization, content for revenue queries and a monthly gap report.
- Compound: $2,997 a month. Everything in Lift, plus AI search visibility work, guest posting placements, link building, CRO on key landing pages and a bi-weekly strategy sync.
Multi-location and enterprise scopes are quoted separately. We don’t guarantee rankings, for the reason Google gives above. Compare every plan side by side on the Search Lift pricing page, or read how our local SEO service works.
How to work out what you can afford
Divide the monthly fee by the profit you make on an average job. That’s how many extra jobs a month the plan has to bring in to pay for itself. For example, a made-up plumber who keeps $300 profit per job needs three extra jobs a month to cover a $900 plan. Ask any provider how they will count those calls and enquiries.
If your business doesn’t appear on Maps at all, fix that before paying anyone: start with why your business isn’t showing on Google Maps. To see where you stand on Google, Maps and AI answers before you choose a plan, run the free Search Gap check.