Almost nobody publishes their SEO prices, which makes this a genuinely hard thing to research. You end up comparing three quotes that range from €300 to €3,000 a month with no way of knowing which one is reasonable.
So here are real numbers, what should be included at each level, and the questions that tell you whether a quote is honest.
The short answer
Most SEO retainers for small and mid-sized Irish businesses land between €500 and €2,500 per month. Local businesses targeting one town or county usually sit at the lower end. Businesses competing nationally, or in genuinely competitive sectors like legal, insurance or ecommerce, sit at the upper end.
One-off work is priced differently. A standalone technical audit typically runs €750 to €2,000 depending on site size, and a one-time on-page overhaul might be €1,500 to €4,000.
The rule of thumb that actually matters: SEO should cost meaningfully less than the value of the work it brings in. If one extra client a month covers the retainer, the maths works. If you'd need five, it probably doesn't — and any honest consultant will tell you that before taking the money.
What you get at each level
€500–€900 a month
Local SEO for a single-location business. Realistically this buys a few hours of focused work each month: Google Business Profile management, on-page improvements, one solid piece of content, and monthly reporting. Right for a trades business, a clinic, or a single-town service business that mainly needs to win "near me" searches.
€900–€1,500 a month
The most common bracket for established small businesses. Adds proper keyword and competitor research, a real content plan with two or three pieces a month, technical fixes as they come up, and work on multiple service or location pages rather than just the homepage.
€1,500–€2,500+ a month
National campaigns, competitive sectors, or ecommerce with large product catalogues. Content production at volume, ongoing technical work, digital PR or link acquisition, and conversion-rate work alongside the rankings.
Why the cheap end is usually a false economy
Below about €400 a month, the arithmetic stops working. At Irish rates that's a couple of hours of actual work — not enough to research, produce anything meaningful, and report on it. What tends to fill the gap is automated reporting, spun content, and directory links that do nothing or actively cause problems.
The damage isn't just wasted money. Cleaning up a site that's been through a year of bad SEO regularly costs more than doing it properly would have in the first place. I've written more on that in why the cheapest agency is the most expensive decision.
What should always be included
- A clear scope — which pages, which search terms, how much content per month, in writing
- Access to your own accounts — you own Search Console, Analytics and your Google Business Profile, not the agency
- Monthly reporting in plain English — what was done, what moved, what's next
- Traffic and enquiry data, not just rankings — position 3 for a term nobody searches is worthless
- A named person doing the work — you should know who that is
Five questions worth asking any SEO quote
- What exactly will you do in month one, and month six? Vagueness here is the reddest flag there is.
- Who owns the content and accounts if we stop working together? The answer should be "you do", without hesitation.
- How many hours a month is this? It tells you instantly whether the price is plausible.
- What results have you got for a business like mine? Specifics, ideally with numbers and a timeframe.
- What would make you tell me not to bother? Anyone who can't name a scenario where SEO isn't the right spend is selling, not advising.
The guarantee question
If someone guarantees a number-one ranking, walk away. Nobody controls Google's algorithm, and the only way to "guarantee" a top position is to target a term so obscure that ranking first for it means nothing.
What can reasonably be promised is the work: a defined scope, done to a clear standard, reported honestly, with a realistic view of what results look like and when. That's a fair thing to hold someone to. A ranking promise isn't.
How long before it pays for itself
Technical and on-page fixes can show movement in the first four to eight weeks. Local pack and Google Business Profile improvements often move within two to three months. Meaningful organic growth usually takes three to six months and compounds from there.
Which means SEO needs a minimum twelve-month view to be judged fairly. If you need enquiries next week, that's a Google Ads problem, not an SEO one — and it's worth being honest with yourself about which you actually need before signing anything.
If you want a straight answer on what your site would need and what it would cost, get in touch. I'll look at where you stand before we talk, and I'll tell you if I don't think SEO is the right spend right now. More on how I work on the SEO services page.
I've spent the last four years working with owner-led businesses in Cork and across Ireland — first in-house at a fast-growing Irish ecommerce brand, then agency-side running teams, and now independently. I write about what I actually see in client accounts, not what's fashionable this quarter.
More about how I work