How much does local SEO cost in the UK and what do you get for your money?
Local SEO in the UK usually ranges from £500 to over £5,000 a month depending on the competitiveness of your market, how many locations you target, and how much work your website needs. A local tradesperson might spend around £500 to £1,000 each month for a solid start. Businesses that operate in more than one area or offer specialised services often spend £1,500 to £4,000 a month. Larger companies aiming for strong regional reach generally require upwards of £5,000 each month. What matters most is not just the price, but how that spend translates into work done, pages optimised, and keywords tracked.
Here's What We Have Covered In This Article
Introduction to Local SEO Pricing
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the process of improving your business’s visibility in search results when people nearby search for products or services you offer. It includes optimising your Google Business Profile, creating location specific landing pages, building citations, writing location focused content, and using structured data like LocalBusiness schema. Search terms like “emergency electrician in Leeds” or “family dentist Sheffield” are classic examples of local queries.
Why do local businesses use it?
Most people rely on search engines to find nearby services. If your business is not showing in the top results, your competitors will get the call instead. Local SEO ensures you show up when someone needs your service in your area. That means more traffic, more enquiries, and more bookings from the right people.
Pro Tip : Keep your Google Business Profile updated weekly to improve local visibility and increase trust signals.
Get Found Locally
Struggling to show up in local search? Our SEO plans help you get more calls and bookings from nearby customers.
What Influences Local SEO Costs?
Business size and service areas
A business with one site needs far less optimisation than one targeting ten different towns. Each location means more keywords, landing pages, and profile work. If you serve a wide area, you’ll need to support that with more content and targeting.
Industry competition and search volume
Some industries are highly competitive in local search. If you’re a solicitor, a plumber, or a dentist in a busy city, you’ll be up against hundreds of similar businesses. Ranking well will take more hours each month across keyword research, content planning, and local authority building.
Website performance and page count
Sites with poor structure, slow loading speeds, or duplicate content need upfront technical fixes. Older websites might also lack schema markup or mobile usability. These jobs take time but they’re essential if you want to be found in map packs or organic local results.
What services are included
You might only need help managing your Google profile or writing blogs. Or you might need monthly content writing, review management, internal linking improvements, and location page creation. The more support you need, the more time it takes each month.
Local SEO Pricing Tiers and What You Get With First Place SEO
What is included in each plan?
SEO costs are closely tied to how many hours are spent working on your account and the quality of the work. Here’s how our packages break down:
£500/month – Start-Up SEO
This is ideal for small local businesses or freelancers just getting started. It includes up to 10 hours of SEO activity, one blog article, local directory submissions, keyword tracking for up to 4 terms, and a monthly report with clear explanations.
£1,000/month – Local Business SEO
With 20 hours available, this plan includes two content pieces per month, on page SEO updates, Google Business Profile management, review monitoring, and keyword cluster tracking for up to 6 local terms. It works well for businesses trying to reach more people in their area.
£1,500/month – Unfair Advantage SEO
This includes up to 30 hours of strategic SEO work. You get four blog articles per month focused on service and location combinations, internal linking optimisation, competitor position tracking, and support across your website’s speed and content performance. Up to 10 keyword clusters are tracked, each made up of semantically related phrases.
Why are backlinks separate?
Link building costs vary depending on authority, placement, and niche relevance. That’s why we treat it as a separate service. We only recommend links where they make sense for your strategy, and we will never include inflated or low quality placements in your plan.
Pro Tip: Track keyword clusters, not just individual terms, to understand topic-level visibility and better target high-intent searches.
SEO Pricing Models and Provider Comparisons
Monthly retainers give consistency
Most SEO agencies and experienced consultants work on a monthly retainer basis. This gives them the time to update your content, build authority, fix technical issues, and monitor results without needing to rush or cut corners.
Hourly or project pricing suits short term needs
Businesses that just want one page reviewed or a basic audit might prefer hourly billing. But for long term ranking and visibility improvements, ongoing SEO is more effective.
Freelancers versus agencies
Freelancers can be cost effective and personal, but may not have the bandwidth or tools to scale with your needs. Agencies typically offer content writers, technical SEOs, designers, and strategists under one roof. Prices vary from £500 per month for basic support to £5,000 and above for full service SEO across multiple locations.
Transparency, Reporting, and Keyword Clusters
What reporting should I expect from a provider?
You should always receive a monthly report that shows what work has been completed, how your rankings are moving, and where future effort will go. We include keyword ranking summaries, traffic data, pages updated, time logs, and upcoming tasks.
What are keyword clusters and why do they matter?
Keyword clusters are groups of search terms with similar meaning or intent. For example, the cluster around “emergency plumbing” may include terms like “24 hour plumber”, “urgent plumbing service”, and “same day plumber”. We track each cluster so we can monitor visibility, not just for one word, but for a whole topic.
How do I know what is working?
We track how many people see your pages, how many click, and how long they stay. You’ll see which blog posts or landing pages are bringing traffic and which clusters are gaining search exposure. This helps guide our work every month.
Target More Locations with SEO
Expand into new service areas with local landing pages, location targeting and structured SEO support.
Measuring ROI and Final Considerations
Will local SEO bring more leads?
Yes, when done properly, local SEO increases phone calls, email enquiries, and store visits. Ranking higher in your service area means more potential customers find your business when they need help. Unlike ads, organic traffic can keep growing month to month without increasing spend.
Do I need SEO every month?
If you want long term growth and consistent visibility, yes. One off fixes help with quick wins but ongoing work is needed to maintain rankings, publish content, and improve user experience as competitors catch up.
What makes a good SEO provider?
A reliable SEO partner should be clear about what they’re doing, show you their work, and explain results in plain English. You should be able to see exactly how your money is being used and what the return looks like.
Request a Custom Local SEO Quote
Your business goals, website condition, and competition level all influence the cost of SEO. Speak with First Place SEO today to get a personalised quote with a full plan of action and no hidden fees. We’ll show you what matters most for your business and how we can help you grow.
