The short answer: prices for search help vary widely, from a few hundred dollars a month for listing upkeep to several thousand for a busy multi-location company. What you pay should follow the work: how many services and areas need pages, how much content is written, how competitive your market is,. We do not sell fixed packages: every business is quoted after a free audit, so the price follows the work your business needs.
Rather than guess at a "normal" price, use this guide to understand what you are buying and to compare quotes fairly.
What you are paying for
Most monthly fees cover some mix of:
- Listing upkeep: keeping the Business Profile accurate, adding photos and updates, handling edits and problems.
- Website work: new service and area pages, fixes to speed and technical issues, structured data.
- Content: pages or articles written for the questions your customers ask.
- Reviews: setting up the request routine and drafting replies.
- Directory cleanup: making your details consistent across the web.
- Reporting and planning: a monthly report and a call to decide what's next.
- Tools and tracking: rank tracking, call tracking, and, increasingly, tracking of AI assistant answers.
When two quotes differ a lot, the difference is usually in how much of this is included and who does it.
What drives the price up or down
- Number of services and areas. A plumber in one town needs less than a company covering three counties with six services.
- Competition. Busy urban markets with many established competitors take more work than small towns.
- Starting point. A site with no service pages, or a suspended listing, needs more effort at the start.
- Amount of writing. Content is labor; more pages per month means a higher fee.
- Who does the work. Doing routine tasks yourself with guidance costs less than handing everything over.
- Extras. Website rebuilds, photography, paid ads management and call tracking are often priced separately.
Common pricing models
- Monthly retainer: a fixed fee for an agreed set of work each month. The most common model for ongoing local work.
- Project fee: a one-off price for a defined job, such as a website rebuild, a listing cleanup or a set of service pages.
- Hourly: common for consultants and for small, unpredictable tasks.
- Performance-based: fees tied to rankings or leads. Be careful: rankings can't be promised, and lead definitions need to be exact.
Ask about setup fees, minimum terms, notice periods and what happens to your content and accounts if you leave. Every quote should list them in writing before you sign.
How we quote
We do not publish a price list, because two businesses rarely need the same work. Instead:
- A free audit first. Our free opportunity report checks your website and map listing and ranks the fixes by how many calls they are likely to bring.
- Then a quote that fits your business. It covers the services and areas you want, how much writing is needed and what is already in good shape, with every monthly deliverable listed.
- Done for you. Our team does the work, and you approve each public change. See what our services include.
Nothing goes live without your approval, and we don't promise rankings.
How to tell whether a price is fair
A fair quote is one where you can see what you get. Ask for:
- A list of monthly deliverables (for example: "two service pages, listing updates weekly, review replies within two working days").
- Who does each task, and how much of your time is needed.
- How results are reported: calls, form requests and bookings by source, not just traffic charts.
- What is not included.
Then weigh it against what a new customer is worth to you. Our free revenue leak calculator helps estimate the value of extra calls with your own numbers.
Costs people forget to budget for
The monthly fee is rarely the only cost. Before you compare quotes, ask about:
- Your own time. Even with full service, someone in your company approves drafts, answers questions and sends photos of jobs. Plan an hour or two a month.
- Photography. Real photos of your work and team make every page and listing stronger. Phone photos are fine if they are sharp and well lit.
- Website changes. If your current site can't take new pages easily, a rebuild may come first.
- Call handling. More calls only help if someone answers them. Missed-call text-back or an answering service may be part of the budget.
- Ads, if you run them. Ad spend goes to the platform and is separate from any management fee. Our PPC RFP template keeps the two apart when you ask for quotes.
Knowing these upfront avoids surprises and makes quotes easier to compare.
When paying less costs more
Very cheap packages often rely on shortcuts: copied pages, bought links, stuffed business names or fake reviews. These can lead to a suspended listing or pages that never show, and cleaning up afterwards costs more than doing it right. If a price seems too good, ask exactly what work is done each month.
Common questions
Is it worth it for a small business?
It is worth it when the extra calls it brings are worth more than it costs. Track enquiries by source for a few months and judge with real numbers.
Can I do it myself?
Many owners handle the routine parts themselves: asking for reviews, adding photos, keeping hours current. Technical fixes and writing pages take more time and skill. A mix is common.
Is a contract normal?
Many agencies ask for a minimum term. Read the notice period and make sure you keep ownership of your website, listing and accounts.
How long before I see a return?
Listing and website fixes can help within weeks; reviews, new pages and links build over months. Plan to judge results over at least a few months, not days.
Next steps
Compare quotes with our guide on how to choose a local SEO company, or send every candidate the same questions with our free request-for-proposal template. For a no-obligation look at your own opportunities, request the free opportunity report, or check your site now with the website grader. To see what the monthly work involves, read how the service works.