Are SEO Rates Increasing or Decreasing?
October 23, 2008 by Pablo Palatnik
As search engine optimization has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years from individuals, to small business owners, to the largest corporations in the world implementing SEO tactics, the question is if the rate for this service is increasing or decreasing?
SEO without a doubt is a skill. Many have made great careers out of it, many have made millions of dollars out of it, and now many are getting into it. With hundreds of blogs and forums discussing SEO, the information to optimize is out there, but if you’re not deep in the game (up-to-date) you wont reach the level of success you need.
Its hard to put a price on SEO since I’m not even sure there is an industry standard. You have individuals having their rates, in-house companies hiring for optimization of their website, and than you have the large agencies who charge companies for SEO.
How can you put a price on getting good rankings. We all know (for those that have achieved it or paid for it) a number #1-4 position in Google for a high volume keyword will literally make your business explode over night. Until this day, I dont know anyone whose reached the level of success that my partners had doing SEO (I’m sure others have as well) for such competitive keywords but would never accept outside work. Why do it for someone else when you can do it for yourself?
With the growing demand of small business and medium size business wanting SEO, there has been a growing amount of “SEOs”. Now, depending on the companies budget, you can get pay for your good SEO or have Joe Shmo abroad doing your SEO work which most likely will amount to you spending the little money you have and showing nothing for it. Let’s face it, go to eLance and see how many shmocks are promoting SEO services that offer web submission services, etc.
That is not to say that because you are spending $15-30k a year with a big agency you’re going to get the rankings you want. I’ve worked for a large agency and the truth it while you have some knowledgeable people, you also have people working in those agencies that don’t know jack but got the job because the company has so much work, they’ll take someone that comes close to what they think could work for them to understand how to optimize a website and train them.
The real training of SEO is in the experience and knowledge you attain with time. You pay what you get for. The truth doesn’t go beyond or fall short of that statement.
I’ve gotten referrals for companies that want to rank for certain keywords and when it comes down to budget, they say they have $200 to spend, sometimes a bit more, I dont think ever less. You want to spend $200? Here, go build a PPC campaign and you’ll get more return for your money, MAYBE.
There is a reverse effect if you can call it that happening, I THINK. Since there are so many new SEOs or inexperienced or just not good, the GOOD SEOs are charging a good buck because they know their value, and so do the companies that hire them.
So, as more and more SEOs pop up, you’ll get the newbies charging you less to compete amongst the crowd, but the value of the good SEO might even be going up at this point. With a stagnant economy, its hard to say if the companies are putting a big part of their budget towards SEO. Maybe now digging a little deep in the budget towards PPC if they can see a bigger return on investment, but, that really all depends on so many factors and situations.
Look at a company such as WeBuildPages. CEO Jim Boykins is investing big in his firm bringing big names to his firm such as Lisa Barone and Rhea Drysdale because the value to the client, I believe, is in the experience of the person working on particular projects and their understanding many factors and the industry itself. I’m not sure what WeBuildPages charges (I am sure it goes according to project, pretty much like almost everyone else) but I guarantee you it is not “cheap”. As it shouldn’t be. If doctors and lawyers charge an arm and a leg and is pretty much acceptable and people pay, good experienced SEOs should be up there. Sure, lawyers and doctors have years of school, believe me, I think the “real” SEOs out there and I dont want to give names, have spent similar amount of hours reading and researching their skill.
As search engine algorithms change (Google for the most part) SEO becomes more engaging, harder to rank, therefore making it more work and being able to charge more.
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Comments (6)
[...] Galen DeYoung wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAs search engine optimization has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years from individuals, to small business owners, to the largest corporations in the world implementing SEO tactics, the question is if the rate for … [...]
This is excellent. I have blogged umpteen times about people trying to get cheap with SEO. You simply CANNOT get SEO for $200.00! The problem is that the public does not understand SEO and that there exist a huge amount of unknowledgeable people who purport to do SEO out there. The public sees SEO as SEO – so why pay $20,000.00 when you can pay $200.00? I believe education of the public is crucial, and I consider client education as an integral part of the sales cycle. In SEO, as in anything, you get what you pay for. Great post.
@ Matt-
Thanks for your comment. I agree 100%! I think its CRUCIAL, exactly as you said, that the understanding of good SEO comes in the sales cycle of the person selling the service.
Thats where I think the experience will help the “real” SEO get their value by explaining with detail the mechanics of an SEO project, how the engines work, etc.
Many times I’ve explained SEO and what needs to be done to small business owners who are surprised at what they hear from getting other offers from “SEOs” that will submit their sites to 100 search engines and get #1 rankings.
Amazingly, people really think that $200 will get them far. Any time a potential client is unwilling to meet my demands and insist on finding services for $200 or less — I ask them why don’t they do the work themselves, because $200 is not going to cut it in terms of SEO (high organic rankings with long term success). I’ve even seen on these freelance job boards where clients want the world for less than $200 — its crazy. Even though I have the experience, I must compete or at least charge low introduction rates to retain clients (unless the client got a referral and my reputation precedes me). The problem is most clients have been burned before and it is pain-stakingly difficult to get clients to trust you and show them you know your stuff, because there are no standards, certifications, etc in this industry. Additionally, you can’t guarantee them rankings, so its a gamble for them to fork over money to you. Most clients think 15-60 days of SEO is all their site needs and they will be raking in the dough. There is too much hype on the Internet, that everyone expects to get rich overnight. It’s difficult to get new clients and get their trust while charging the rate you think is fair, but I think educating the client is the most important role of an SEO these days.
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