Best SEO Services for Small Businesses
SEO Services Comparison
All providers on our list offer national and local SEO services. When it comes to pricing, many of them require a custom quote. Below is a table summarizing other points of comparison:
What is SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the techniques that websites use to appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). The higher a website appears on the SERPs and the more SERPs it is featured on, the more likely it is to attract visitors and gain more customers. Each search engine uses its own rules and algorithms to determine what appears when a searcher types in. Because Google is by far the most common search engine, most websites focus on optimizing for Google rather than Bing or Yahoo.
SEO is different from search engine marketing (SEM). SEO focuses on helping you appear organically on the SERPs, while SEM uses paid advertising to drive your appearance. For example, Google has websites labeled “sponsored” at the top of the SERPs, and appear about every 10 websites after that. Sponsored placements are SEM, and websites in between are SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Organic Search Traffic
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Paid Search Traffic
Types of SEO
There are several types of SEO, each focusing on a different aspect of your website or online presence. Here's an overview of the main types to help you decide which one you need the most help with.
- On-page SEO: On-page SEO focuses on optimizing the actual content and language of a page. Improving readability and incorporating more target keywords are examples of on-page SEO efforts.
- Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO is primarily about link building – getting other sites to link to yours shows search engines that you're an authority on a particular subject.
- Technical SEO: Accessibility, user experience, page speed, and other technical aspects of your site can affect your rankings, and technical SEO focuses on these factors to help you avoid any major issues that search engines may encounter when crawling your site.
- Local SEO: Local SEO is essential for businesses with a physical location or local services that want to rank highly in a specific area. The goal is to create content that is specific to your area and rank highly for that content so that searchers in that area see your business.
- E-commerce SEO: As an e-commerce business, you will be competing with some of the biggest names in the field, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. For your small website to rank as well as these giants, you will need to be thorough with your SEO optimization.
How much do SEO services cost?
Working with an SEO agency can be costly. But it's not always easy to know, as many agencies don't publish their prices. You'll usually need to provide detailed information about your business and schedule a phone call with a team member from the agency before they can give you a cost quote. If the price isn't clear even after the initial consultation, it could be a red flag.
That being said, there are some agencies on our list that publish starting prices. These providers estimate that monthly fees for SEO services start at $2,000-$3,000. If you add on additional services, the price can go up from there. There may also be upfront implementation fees that can cost several thousand dollars.
Our team recently surveyed small business owners who currently or have previously used an SEO agency, and they cited price as their biggest complaint — they wanted SEO services to be more affordable or to give them more bang for their buck.
How to Choose the Best SEO Service Provider
Choosing the best SEO agency for your business will depend on your needs, but in a recent survey, most current and past users of SEO services cited the following as factors to consider:
SEO Services
You can expect most SEO agencies to offer the following services:
- SEO Audit: Performing a website audit is a common starting point for any SEO agency. The audit tells the agency the current state of your on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.
- Keyword research: An SEO agency can provide you with a list of keywords to target for your website. The agency can either give it to you and have you create the content yourself, or they can do the content creation for you (see last bullet point). These keywords are the phrases that many search engine users type into their search bar. The agency usually fine-tunes the list to select the keywords that are most relevant to your type of business.
- Link Building: Link building is a key component of domain authority, which is whether search engines consider your website to be an expert on your subject. An agency can audit your current backlink portfolio, suggest opportunities for improvement, and then act on those opportunities.
- Competitive Analysis: To rank higher than your competitors, it is also important to understand how they are performing. SEO agencies have tools that allow you to analyze what your competitors are doing and what you can do to compete with them.
- Brand Management: Your online impression influences how potential customers interpret your brand, and many SEO agencies can help you manage the look of your website to create a brand that customers want to associate with.
- Optimized Content Creation: If you don't have any existing articles or blog posts on your site, or you want to write new pages, many agencies offer content writing services designed specifically for SEO. You can also use an agency to optimize your existing content.
In our survey, respondents said the following services were most important to them in an SEO agency:
Achievements
Agencies should be able to show you evidence of success with past clients – most agencies have a portfolio of case studies available on their website or upon request. When evaluating different SEO service providers, look at what services they offer to show past success, especially in industries similar to your business.
Rankings are never guaranteed, and any agency offering guaranteed results may be promising more than they can actually deliver.
Potential conflicts
When choosing an SEO agency with experience in your industry, make sure you won’t run into issues with competitor overlaps. For example, if you’re a local ice cream company, you don’t want to work with an SEO agency that has a competing ice cream company on its client list.
Reporting and Transparency
You should check in regularly with your account manager to see how the strategies they're implementing for you are working. They should be willing to share detailed results with you, such as how each page ranks and how much traffic each page brings in. In terms of frequency, monthly seems to be the industry standard, but some agencies go weekly or quarterly.
In some cases, agencies may also provide you with a real-time reporting dashboard that you can use to track performance between meetings.
White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO
White Hat SEO refers to SEO best practices that follow the rules of Google or any other search engine you choose. Black Hat SEO refers to techniques that are not approved by search engines even if they may improve your rankings. These tactics carry risks and could get your site banned altogether.
It can be hard to know what tactics an agency uses because agencies that use black hat SEO are unlikely to advertise it, but do your best to find a provider that only implements white hat SEO tactics.
Client Testimonials
Because SEO agencies are businesses in their own right, most of them have profiles on the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Trustpilot, and other consumer review websites. Read these reviews to see what their past clients thought. You can also look on Reddit or contact members of your network who use these agencies.
Additionally, you should see how they respond when you contact them about a potential partnership. They should be able to provide you with a ballpark price and a portfolio of client success stories. Many agencies, including the ones on our list, offer some form of free consultation, audit, or review. Use that experience as a test and see what it would be like to work with them in the future.
Conclusion
Finding the best SEO company for your business takes some research and patience. There are many agencies offering similar SEO services, so it's important to first know what you're looking for. For example, if you run a local business, you may need an agency that specializes in local SEO, rather than an agency that does local, national, backlinking, content development, and everything else that falls under the umbrella of SEO strategy.
Additionally, many SEO agencies are tight-lipped about their prices, so it's best to contact them directly to narrow down the list. They should be able to give you a rough estimate of how much it will cost for your needs, so you can eliminate anything that is beyond your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions about SEO Services
Hiring an agency for SEO services is usually more expensive than optimizing your site yourself. But it saves you a lot of work. And your site is more likely to perform better because you're hiring an SEO expert who knows what to do. Many businesses see a return on investment, meaning their business gets more out of it than they paid for the SEO services.
Yes, it is possible to do your own SEO strategy. Results will vary depending on your knowledge of SEO, your willingness to learn, and the complexity of your needs. However, this is a more cost-effective option.
SEO is expensive as it requires in-depth knowledge and a lot of time and effort. Many SEO agencies have employees with years of experience in the field who are dedicated to keeping up to date with the ever-changing world of digital marketing.
SEO is not a one-and-done thing. Even after you optimize your site, search engines keep changing the rules and other players keep appearing in the market, affecting your rankings. However, let's say you update your website based on the current best practices in your industry. According to Google, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months for the changes to appear in search results.
No, SEO is not better than Google Ads. They each have their pros and cons. Google Ads guarantees you a place on the search engine results page, but it requires an advertising budget. There is no direct cost to Google to scan your site and rank it organically, except for paying an SEO agency or software. However, it does not guarantee you will be ranked.
methodology
The MarketWatch Guides team spent over 100 hours testing about 35 marketing software solutions, including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Semrush, Google Analytics, and more. These providers can help with some or all of the following marketing areas:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Text/Short Message Service (SMS)
- Email Marketing
We surveyed 200 professionals in 2024 who currently use marketing software or have used marketing HR software within the past year. We analyzed the survey results to determine the following evaluation criteria:
- User Experience (7%)
- Pricing (8%)
- Functionality (65%)
- Customer support (5%)
- Reputation and reviews (15%)
For more information on our rating system, please see our complete marketing techniques page.