Honest SEO Pricing
How much does SEO cost? The honest pricing guide.
Honest market rates, what drives the price and why EUR 300 per month cannot work. No sales pitch, just the actual math.
- Market range: freelancers EUR 75-125 per hour
- Agency retainers EUR 1,500 to 10,000+ per month
- Custom proposal after a free SEO audit
Trusted by ambitious brands worldwide
SEMrush agency
Rated #1 SEO agency in The Netherlands by SEMrush
100% Dedicated to SEO
SEO is all we do, and we're good at it
Most agencies hide their pricing behind a quote form.We just tell you what SEO costs in the current market.Even if you end up not hiring us.
Most agencies hide their pricing behind a quote form. We just tell you what SEO costs in the current market. Even if you end up not hiring us.
LASEO is the #1 SEMrush agency in the Netherlands and works for brands like Philips, Bang & Olufsen, Bugaboo and Autodoc. That is exactly why we can be open about money. On this page: the real market rates for outsourcing SEO, the four factors that drive the price, the retainer model explained honestly, the math behind why EUR 300 per month cannot work, and how our custom proposal after a free audit comes together.
See our SEO case resultsHow a LASEO proposal comes together
From free audit to custom proposal in 5 phases
Five phases from first contact to a running engagement. At every point you know what it costs, who does the work and what you get back for it.
- 01
Free SEO audit (week 1)
We analyse your site with SEMrush, Google Search Console and a technical crawl. You receive the findings prioritised on impact, including an estimate of the search demand you are leaving on the table. The audit is yours, even if you do not continue with us.
- 02
Scoping call (week 1-2)
30 minutes with a senior consultant about your goals, your market and your internal capacity. If you already have a developer or content team, we scope around them instead of selling you duplicate work.
- 03
Custom proposal (week 2)
A proposal with hours per workstream (technical, content, authority), concrete deliverables per month and the price that follows from the work. Comparable line by line with any other quote. No packages, no fine print.
- 04
Kickoff and first sprint (month 1)
We start with the fixes that pay back fastest: technical blockers, quick wins on existing rankings, content that almost scores. You see movement before the larger work starts compounding.
- 05
Monthly reporting and quarterly re-scoping (ongoing)
Every month a report with hours spent per workstream, deliverables shipped and movement in rankings and organic traffic. Every quarter we adjust the scope together: the budget can go up, go down, or stop when the work is done.
Free audit first,custom proposal second.
Two companies with the same budget rarely need the same work. One has a technically clean site and zero authority, the other a strong link profile and content that ranks for nothing. A fixed package ignores that difference. So we audit first, for free, and then propose a scope with hours per workstream. Our 98% client retention exists because nobody pays for work their situation does not require.
What SEO pricing actually means in 2026
SEO costs, explained without the sales pitch
Underneath every SEO price, retainer or package sits the same formula: hours times hourly rate. Once you understand that, you can take apart any quote. The question is never 'what does SEO cost' but 'how many senior hours do I get, what are they spent on, and is that enough to move my market'.
Freelancer or agency
A freelance SEO specialist in the Dutch market typically charges EUR 75 to 125 per hour and is strong in one discipline. An agency retainer runs from EUR 1,500 to EUR 10,000+ per month and covers several disciplines at once: technical, content and authority. More expensive per hour is not always more expensive per result: it depends on how many disciplines your situation requires.
The SEO retainer, explained honestly
An SEO retainer is a fixed number of hours per month, divided over the workstreams your site needs. A good retainer includes a roadmap, hour accountability and direct access to the specialist doing the work. It usually does not include development implementation or advertising budget. Why monthly: SEO is cumulative, and stop-start throws away the momentum you paid to build.
Why EUR 300 per month cannot work
Do the math with us: at a senior rate of EUR 75 to 125 per hour, EUR 300 buys roughly 2.5 to 4 hours per month. Subtract meetings and reporting and at most 2 hours of real work remain. Providers at that price point solve this with templates, automation or outsourced work, and it shows in the output. It is not a scam, it is arithmetic.
What determines the price of SEO
Four factors: the competition in your market (who do you need to beat and what are they investing), the technical state of your site (how much must be repaired before growth is possible), your ambition (top 3 nationally or wins on long-tail) and the content volume (how many pages need to be created or rewritten). Any serious quote should be explainable along these four.
The ROI math, worked through
A hypothetical example, not a client case. Suppose a webshop converts 2% of its visitors at EUR 40 margin per order. Every 5,000 extra organic sessions per month then equal 100 orders, or EUR 4,000 in extra margin, recurring every month. Set any retainer against that sum. If the math does not work for your margins, that is an honest reason to do SEO smaller or not at all.
Red flags with cheap providers
Guaranteed number 1 positions (nobody can guarantee that, including us), no access to your own Search Console data, no hour accountability, 24-month contracts with silent renewal, and 'high DA links' below EUR 200 each: those are network placements that damage your profile instead of strengthening it.
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Cheap SEO subscription vs LASEO
SEO subscriptions compared honestly
There are situations where a small subscription is enough. Here is where the models actually differ, so you can choose with open eyes.
Fixed low price, fixed low output
- One fixed low amount per month, identical for every client, regardless of market, competition or technical state.
- A junior with a task list, a tool that generates reports, or outsourced work without a name attached.
- An automated report, a short blog post and some meta tags. Active on paper, standing still in practice.
- A dashboard with vanity metrics: positions on keywords nobody searches, 'optimised pages' without effect.
- 12 to 24 months fixed, silent renewal, cancelling is a fight.
- Little movement: 2 hours of work per month does not change a competitive market, however good the hours are.
Custom scope, senior hours, measurable results
- Custom proposal after a free audit, with hours per workstream and a price that follows from the work required.
- A senior specialist with one point of contact. You know who does the work and can ask them anything.
- Hours per workstream: technical, content and authority. Visible every month in deliverables and hour accountability.
- Monthly report with hours spent, deliverables shipped and the correlation between work and organic traffic.
- Quarterly scopes we adjust together. The budget can go up, go down, or stop when the work is done.
- Measurable growth or an honest recommendation to stop. Our 98% client retention exists because the first happens more often.
SEO that pays for itself
Engagements where the investment demonstrably paid back
What clients say about the investment
The price of SEO in their own words
LASEO is our outsourced SEO brain. Weekly strategy sparring, no reports for show. Best investment of the year.
LASEO reports are the first our sales team actually reads. No vanity metrics, just revenue impact and what drove it.
LASEO does ongoing SEO management without it ever feeling routine. There is real new progress happening all the time.
LASEO is our outsourced SEO brain. Weekly strategy sparring, no reports for show. Best investment of the year.
LASEO reports are the first our sales team actually reads. No vanity metrics, just revenue impact and what drove it.
LASEO does ongoing SEO management without it ever feeling routine. There is real new progress happening all the time.
Honest answers about SEO pricing 
What buyers actually ask before outsourcing SEO to an agency.
In the Dutch market, outsourcing SEO typically costs EUR 75 to 125 per hour with a freelance specialist and EUR 1,500 to EUR 10,000+ per month for an agency retainer, depending on scope. The price is driven by four factors: the competition in your market, the technical state of your site, your level of ambition and the content volume required. Serious editorial link building is a separate line item at EUR 5,000 to EUR 25,000 per month market-wide. LASEO does not work with fixed packages but with a custom proposal after a free SEO audit, so you pay for the work your situation actually requires.
Free SEO audit
Bring your SEO budget questionto a senior consultant.
30 minutes with a LASEO consultant. We will not pitch. We will show you what the audit says about your site, what work it actually needs, and what that should cost in the current market, even if you do not end up hiring us.
