If you’ve started looking for SEO support, you’ve probably come across monthly SEO retainers.
Prices vary enormously, as does what you actually get for your money. And perhaps more importantly, not every business needs one.
An SEO retainer should give someone enough time each month to understand what’s happening with your website, identify where the opportunities are and actually do something about them. It shouldn’t just buy you a monthly report and a list of jobs that get repeated whether you need them or not.
So, what should you expect?
What Is an SEO Retainer?
An SEO retainer is simply an ongoing agreement where you pay an SEO consultant or agency each month to work on your organic search visibility.
The work itself can vary.
One month, the priority might be improving service pages that are sitting just outside the top results. Another might involve fixing technical problems, creating new content or looking at why you’re getting traffic but not enquiries.
That’s how I think a monthly SEO retainer should work. The priorities should respond to what the data is telling you rather than following exactly the same checklist every month.
What Should an SEO Retainer Include?
There’s no single answer because it depends on the business and the website.
Typically, I’d expect a retainer to involve some combination of:
- Keyword and competitor research
- Technical SEO
- Improving existing pages
- Creating new content where there’s a genuine opportunity
- Internal linking
- Local SEO
- Google Business Profile work
- Search Console and analytics analysis
- Reporting and recommendations
But I wouldn’t choose an SEO retainer based on which provider gives you the longest list.
Ten useful hours spent improving the things that are actually holding your website back can be far more valuable than 30 tasks completed because they’re included in a package.
I’d want to know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and what they’re hoping will change as a result.
How Much Does an SEO Retainer Cost?
This is where it gets difficult because there’s a huge range.
You’ll find SEO retainers for a few hundred pounds a month and others costing several thousand.
The amount you need to spend depends on things like the size of your website, how competitive your market is, how much work needs doing and how quickly you’re trying to make progress.
A small Shropshire service business doesn’t necessarily need the same level of SEO investment as a national ecommerce retailer.
That’s why I’d be wary of choosing SEO purely from a package such as Bronze, Silver or Gold.
The better question is: what does my business actually need?
If £500 a month gives you enough time to make meaningful progress, there’s little point paying £1,500 simply because it buys a bigger package.
Equally, a very cheap SEO retainer isn’t good value if there’s too little time available to achieve anything useful.
Do You Actually Need a Monthly SEO Retainer?
Sometimes you don’t.
If your website has a handful of clearly defined problems, it might make more sense to fix those as a one-off project.
You might need an SEO audit, some new service pages or help sorting out your local visibility. Once that’s done, you may be perfectly capable of maintaining things yourself.
An ongoing SEO retainer makes more sense when there’s enough opportunity to justify continuous work.
That might be because you’re competing in a busy market, have lots of products or services, regularly add content, or organic search already generates customers and you want to build on it.
I wouldn’t create six months’ worth of SEO jobs just so I could sell someone a six-month retainer.
If something else is more likely to make a difference to your business, that’s where I’d rather you spent the money.
Fixed SEO Packages vs Flexible SEO Retainers
I prefer flexible SEO retainers because SEO priorities change.
If we discover that three existing pages are sitting at positions 11–15 and could realistically reach page one, I’d probably want to work on those before writing another six blog posts just because “content” is included in the package.
Likewise, if a technical issue appears or your enquiries suddenly drop, that may become the priority.
Bespoke shouldn’t mean vague, though.
You should still know what’s being worked on and why. Flexibility just means the work can respond to what your business actually needs.
What Should You Ask Before Signing an SEO Retainer?
You don’t need to become an SEO expert before hiring someone.
I’d ask a few fairly straightforward questions:
What would you prioritise first?
They should be able to explain why.
How will we know whether it’s working?
Rankings are useful, but enquiries, leads and sales matter more.
What will you actually do each month?
You don’t need a task-by-task guarantee, but you should understand what you’re paying for.
Can the priorities change?
They should. SEO data rarely behaves exactly as predicted.
Who will I actually work with?
Particularly important if you’re speaking to an agency where the person selling the service may not be the person managing your account.
And check the notice period. You shouldn’t discover you’re tied into a lengthy contract after you’ve signed it.
Are SEO Retainers Worth It?
They can be, but a retainer isn’t automatically the right way to buy SEO.
I’d start with the opportunity rather than the package.
How visible are you now? What are your competitors doing? What are your potential customers searching for? Where are you missing out? And if you improved your organic visibility, what could that realistically be worth to the business?
If there’s enough opportunity and enough work to keep making meaningful improvements, an ongoing retainer can make complete sense.
If there isn’t, I’d rather tell you.
Looking for SEO Support in Shropshire?
I work with businesses that want SEO to contribute to something useful, not simply produce another report every month.
My SEO services are flexible, so the work can change as your website, rankings and priorities change.
If you’re considering an SEO retainer but aren’t sure what level of support you actually need, you can also book a free Seed Session.
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