I saw this question on Reddit and added a comment. It’s a pretty common question from clients. The most common answer is “It depends.” Hopefully I went a little beyond that and gave some value.

So if you’re wondering How much should I be paying an agency for SEO? Reddit may have your answer.

This was my reply to the question of how much this Reddit user should be paying for SEO.

I’d be happy to hear your opinions as well.

Question: How much should I be paying an agency for SEO

The user added a little more detail and says “I own a 5 million dollar annual revenue medical services company. Unique users are ~2k per month. There are no conversions directly to sales.”

It’s in that context I answered.

My Answer from Reddit:

It’s hard to give a great response with the data provided.

Some of the comments are on the right track.

The lack of online conversions isn’t a concern if you have good enough data to track offline conversions. This is very common in service businesses, and those with a long sales cycle.

My consultation would start with:

• What’s the value of a conversion (regardless of where it happens)?
• What are you doing to track conversions, e.g. call-tracking, online forms, CRM, etc.?

If a conversion is worth $50.00 on 2,000 visits, it would be hard to develop an ROI with SEO.

If a conversion is worth $5,000.00 on 2,000 visits it would be easy.

So, step back from the website and SEO and look at your business first.

How much is a new sale worth? What’s your close rate? And what tools do you have to track their acquisition and nurture?

Then ask the question, how much would I be willing to pay for a new customer?

Multiply by the opportunity of SEO (or PPC, or Display ads, or any channel) and that’s what you should be paying.