SEO Pricing in the UK: What 29 British Agencies Charge in 2026
From the pricing pages of 29 UK agencies, 7 in London and 22 across the regions, read and archived on 8 November 2026. GBP, per month.
Short answer: the cheapest monthly SEO plan at a UK agency costs £449 at the median, or about £539 once 20% VAT is added. Half of the 29 agencies start between £299 and £600, and the median top plan is £1,000. Only 3 agencies start above £1,000.
What does SEO cost per month in the UK?
Most UK agencies start their SEO plans below £500 a month: 18 of 29 do, and 6 start below £250. UK ladders are short as well, with 15 of 29 agencies topping out at £1,000 a month or less.
Entry plan = the cheapest monthly SEO plan each agency publishes, before VAT where stated. Source: PMN SEO Pricing Index, UK sample, captured 8 Nov 2026.
The UK market is cheaper and flatter than the US one. The median UK entry plan of £449 compares with $999 in the US, and the typical UK top plan is only about twice the entry plan, where US agencies stretch to more than three times. Nine UK agencies do publish plans of £2,000 or more, so the premium end exists; it is just a minority.
Do UK SEO prices include VAT?
Usually not, and often the page does not say. Of 29 UK agencies, 14 show prices before VAT, 1 includes it, and 14 do not state either way.
| Published plan (ex VAT) | Monthly with 20% VAT | Over a 12-month year with VAT | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| £299 (lower quarter) | £358.80 | £4,305.60 | Small local plans |
| £449 (median entry) | £538.80 | £6,465.60 | Typical starter plan |
| £1,000 (median top) | £1,200.00 | £14,400.00 | Typical top published plan |
| £2,050 (upper quarter of top plans) | £2,460.00 | £29,520.00 | National and ecommerce programmes |
VAT-registered businesses can usually reclaim the VAT, so the ex-VAT figure is their real cost. Sole traders and smaller firms below the VAT threshold cannot, which makes the gross figure the one to budget with. Check the current rules on GOV.UK; this is not tax advice.
Is SEO more expensive in London than the rest of the UK?
Not in this sample. The 7 London agencies have a median entry plan of £350, against £472 for the 22 regional agencies. London's top plans run slightly higher, with a median of £1,200 against roughly £1,000.
Two cautions. First, 7 agencies is a small group, so treat this as a signal rather than a rule. Second, the London agencies that publish prices skew towards low-cost local packages; the bigger London agencies that quote only on request are not in any published-price survey. What the data does show is that a London address alone does not set the price. The regional sample includes Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff, and three regional agencies start at £1,300 or more.
The bigger UK price driver is scope. Among the 5 UK agencies that sell both local and national plans, the cheapest national plan costs a median 2.3 times the cheapest local one. That gap is narrower than in the US, where it is 3.8 times.
What does an hour of SEO cost inside a UK retainer?
Where UK agencies state the hours behind a plan, the implied rate runs from about £30 to £110 an hour, with several plans between £45 and £60.
| How the plan is described | Monthly price | Hours stated | Implied hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hour blocks, smallest block (Torquay-based agency) | £110 | 1 | £110 |
| Hour blocks, largest block (same agency) | £410 | 5 | £82 |
| Local plans by hours (London agency) | £299 to £649 | 5 to 14 | £45 to £60 |
| "Human hours" plans (London agency) | £195 to £445 | about 4 to 9 | about £49 |
| Project-hour plans (Barnsley agency) | £600 to £2,400 | 20 to 80 | £30 |
| Small local plan (Cardiff agency) | £140 | about 4 | about £35 |
Hours are a blunt measure, because an hour from a senior strategist and an hour of directory submissions are not the same thing. Still, they are the easiest way to compare two UK quotes that list different deliverables. If a quote does not state hours or counted outputs, ask for one of the two. 10 of the 29 UK agencies we checked publish neither.
What contract terms do UK SEO agencies use?
UK agencies are more likely than US ones to set a minimum term: 9 of 29 state one, from 2 to 12 months, while 11 say rolling monthly and 9 do not say.
- Minimum terms: 4 agencies ask for 3 months, 3 for 6 months, 1 for 2 months and 1 for 12 months before the plan rolls monthly. In the US sample, only 4 of 33 set any minimum.
- Setup and deposits: one agency charges £125 plus VAT for new customers, another sells setup as a £299 item, and one sells annual packages with a £1,000 to £2,500 deposit followed by 11 monthly payments.
- Ranking guarantees: 3 UK agencies advertise one, including a promise of page 1 for a single keyword within six months, subject to terms. Google says no one can guarantee a top ranking, so read the terms before treating it as a safety net.
- Notice periods: where stated, 30 days is the norm; one agency asks for 60 days on a rolling plan.
How are UK agencies pricing AI search (GEO)?
11 of the 29 UK agencies mention AI search, LLM optimisation or GEO in their SEO plans. Only one prices it as a separate product, with GEO plans of £390, £740 and £1,495 or more a month.
The common UK pattern is to place AI visibility in the middle or top tier. One agency, for example, includes GEO only in its £1,000 Scale plan. Another lists the number of AI buyer questions it tracks at each tier: 3, 7 and 15. That is the kind of count worth asking every agency for, because "AI optimisation included" means very little without it.
Our read on UK SEO quotes
The UK numbers surprised me in one way: British agencies publish lower prices than I expected, and London is not the premium you might assume. A median entry plan of £449 buys a few hours of work a month. At the implied rates in this survey, that is roughly 7 to 10 hours. Enough to keep a local business visible, not enough to build a content programme.
The detail I would push on in any UK quote is the contract. Nearly a third of UK agencies set a minimum term, and most do not say whether their price includes VAT. Ask both questions in the first call. A £600 plan with a 6-month minimum, quoted before VAT, is a £4,320 commitment.
For UK clinics, removals firms and other local service businesses, I would budget for the middle of the range, around £600 to £1,000 a month, if you want new rankings rather than maintenance.
Jahid Hussain, Founder, Paradigm Media Networks · works with UK clinics and live events businesses
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PMN's UK plans, for comparison
These are Paradigm Media Networks' own prices in GBP, not survey data. Starter, at £549 a month, combines SEO, GEO and basic Meta Ads for small businesses. It sits just above the UK median entry plan of £449, with ads management included. The plans above it add more content, links and ad platforms.
All plans: 3-month minimum, then month to month. Search and above carry a £750 one-time setup; Starter’s is £250, also waived on a 6-month commitment. Prices exclude VAT. Full scope is on PMN's plans page. For removals firms, see removal company SEO, and for how we deliver the work, our SEO services.
UK work we have delivered
UK SEO pricing FAQ
How much does SEO cost per month in the UK?
The median UK agency in our index starts its SEO plans at £449 a month before VAT, and half of the 29 agencies start between £299 and £600. The median top published plan is £1,000, and 9 agencies list plans of £2,000 or more.
Are UK SEO prices quoted with or without VAT?
Mostly without. 14 of the 29 UK agencies show prices before VAT, 1 includes it and 14 do not say. Add 20% to an ex-VAT price if your business cannot reclaim VAT: a £449 plan becomes £538.80 a month.
Is SEO more expensive in London?
Not on published prices. The 7 London agencies in our sample have a median entry plan of £350, below the £472 median of 22 regional agencies, although London top plans run slightly higher. The sample is small, and large London agencies that quote on request are not included.
What is a typical SEO hourly rate in the UK?
Where UK agencies state the hours behind a plan, the implied rate runs from about £30 to £110 an hour. Several plans work out at £45 to £60 an hour.
What is the minimum SEO budget for a UK small business?
Plans for one local business commonly start between £250 and £500 a month in our sample, which buys a few hours of work. To win new rankings rather than hold existing ones, budget nearer £600 to £1,000 a month.
Do UK SEO agencies tie you into long contracts?
Some do. 9 of 29 UK agencies state a minimum term, usually 3 or 6 months and in one case 12, while 11 run rolling monthly plans. Where a notice period is stated, 30 days is typical.
Is GEO or AI search optimisation extra in the UK?
11 of 29 UK agencies mention AI search in their plans, but only one sells it separately, at £390 to £1,495 or more a month. Most include it in higher tiers, so ask how many AI prompts are tracked.
Method and data
- Sample: 29 UK-based agencies that publish monthly SEO prices on their own website: 7 in Greater London and 22 in the regions, across England, Scotland and Wales. A UK address or company registration was checked on each site. Directories, marketplaces, software tools and PMN were excluded.
- Collection: each pricing page was read by hand on 8 November 2026 and archived on the Wayback Machine. Prices are recorded as published; VAT basis is recorded where stated.
- Measures: entry plan = cheapest published monthly plan; top plan = most expensive stated monthly plan. Hourly rates are implied only where an agency states hours. VAT calculations use the 20% standard rate.
- How we used AI: AI research tools helped locate pricing pages and summarise them. Every figure was checked against its source page, and the commentary was reviewed and approved by Jahid Hussain.
- Refresh: every 90 days; next update due February 2027.
Change log: 8 Nov 2026, first edition. Corrections or a missing agency: info@paradigmmedianetworks.com. Compare with US and Indian prices on the full SEO pricing index.
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