The real answer depends on engagement shape. Here’s what realistic pricing looks like across the industry — and what mine specifically costs.
Industry ranges (not just mine)
Local SEO pricing varies substantially by practitioner experience, scope, and whether you’re buying from an agency or solo consultant. Realistic ranges across the market in 2026:
- DIY tools + audits: $300-500 one-time. For motivated small businesses willing to implement themselves.
- Low-tier retainers: $500-1,000/month. Usually auto-managed via platforms, limited customization, works for very simple single-location businesses.
- Mid-tier retainers: $1,000-2,500/month. Practitioner-delivered work, monthly reporting, customized to your situation. Where most local businesses land for good ROI.
- High-tier retainers: $3,000-6,000/month. Agencies with larger teams, full-stack content + technical + GBP + reviews work. Appropriate for multi-location or competitive-vertical businesses.
- Enterprise: $10,000+/month. 20+ locations, complex data integrations, enterprise support.
Below $500/month you’re usually getting software + automation with minimal human involvement. Above $6,000/month you’re usually paying for agency overhead — account managers, strategists, project coordinators — not more work.
What I charge specifically
Four tiers:
- $197 audit: 40+ page deliverable, 14-day turnaround, 30-minute walkthrough call. Credits toward any retainer if you engage within 90 days. Money-back if the deliverable isn’t worth $197.
- $1,297/month Local SEO Management: GBP optimization, citations, reviews, rankings tracking, content cadence. Three-month minimum, month-to-month after. Standard retainer for single-location businesses.
- $1,897/month Full Stack: Everything above plus technical fixes, on-page optimization, content production, review velocity campaigns. Saves $250/month vs buying piecemeal.
- $2,497 Strategy Engagement: 2-3 week deep dive. 90-day roadmap, stakeholder alignment, implementation handoff to your team. One-time engagement, no retainer.
Plus hourly consulting at $125/hr (2-hour minimum) for narrow projects, AI consulting in the $125/hr to $25K/project range, and white-label partnerships at $1,497/month for agencies.
Why I don’t do flat-rate “SEO packages”
Every local SEO engagement has meaningfully different starting conditions: different technical debt, different competitor pressure, different GBP baseline, different local market dynamics. Flat-rate packaging forces everyone into the same shape regardless of what actually needs to happen.
The $197 audit exists partly to solve this. It tells us (specifically) what your business needs. Then we pick the engagement that matches — which might be a retainer, a strategy engagement, or (in some cases) just implementing the audit yourself.
If you want flat-rate simplicity for predictability reasons, Local SEO Management at $1,297/month is effectively that — it covers the baseline work that 80% of single-location businesses need. But it’s not a “package”; it’s the most common retainer shape across a hundred-plus engagements.