Category: SEO

SEO prices, audits and checklists for small business websites.

How to get your business on Google Maps, and why it is missing

What you will get from this guide

The steps to get a business on Google Maps, including the rules for service-area businesses that work from home
A diagnosis table for the most common reasons a business is not showing on Google Maps, with the fix for each
What Google says decides Google Maps ranking, and a 30-day plan that works on the parts you can change

To get your business on Google Maps, create or claim a Google Business Profile, enter your real business name, category and either your address or the area you serve, then verify it. Once verified and approved, the profile can appear in Google Maps and in the local results on Google Search. If you serve customers at their homes and work from a residential address, Google’s guidelines say to hide that address and set a service area instead.

If your business is not showing on Google Maps, the usual causes are an unverified or suspended profile, a profile that breaks Google’s guidelines, a search made from too far away, or a market where competitors look more relevant and better known. Google says local ranking depends on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. This guide covers each step and each fix. For help with the whole job, see our SEO and growth service.

AJ Creationz offers local SEO. Everything here is based on Google’s published Business Profile help and guidelines, linked in the sources. Nobody can guarantee a position on Google Maps.

How to get your business on Google Maps: step by step

Search for your business on Google Maps first. If a listing already exists, claim it rather than creating a duplicate. Google’s guidelines allow only one profile per business.
Create or claim the profile at Google Business Profile with a Google account the business controls, not a personal account of a staff member who might leave.
Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your signage, vans and invoices. Do not add locations, services or taglines to the name.
Choose your primary category carefully: the one that best describes what you are, such as Plumber or Accountant. Add secondary categories only if they are true.
Add your address or service area. If customers visit you, show the address. If you visit customers and work from home, hide the address and list the towns or postcodes you cover.
Verify the profile by the method Google offers you. The profile will not show reliably until verification is complete.
Complete everything else: hours, phone number, website link, services, a description in plain words and real photos of your premises, team and work.

Who can have a Google Business Profile

Google’s guidelines set clear eligibility rules, and breaking them is a common reason for suspensions:

Your business must have a location customers can visit or must travel to customers where they are, and be contactable in person during stated hours.
Service-area businesses should have one profile for the central location with a designated service area. If you run the business from home, hide your home address.
P.O. boxes, remote mailboxes and rented addresses where you do not actually operate are not eligible.
There should be only one profile per business, with limited exceptions for distinct departments and individual practitioners.
Your name must match the real-world name you use. Marketing taglines, service or location words, phone numbers and URLs are not allowed in it.

Why is my business not showing on Google Maps?

Common reasons a business is not showing on Google Maps, and the fix
What you see	Likely cause	What to do
Profile exists but says it is not verified	Verification never completed	Finish verification from your Business Profile dashboard
Profile disappeared or shows as suspended	A guideline breach, such as a virtual office, keywords in the name or a duplicate	Fix the breach, then request reinstatement through Google’s support route
Shows when you search the business name, not for your service	Competitors are more relevant or better known for that search	Work on relevance and prominence (see below)
Shows near your base but not in towns you serve	Distance: Google favours businesses closer to the searcher	Build location and service pages on your site; you cannot move the pin
Two listings for one business	Duplicate profiles	Keep the verified one and ask Google to remove or merge the duplicate
No pin on the map	Service-area business with a hidden address	Normal: you appear by service area, not a pin
Brand new profile not visible yet	Review and verification still in progress	Complete all fields and check again after a few days

Based on Google Business Profile help and guidelines. Exact menu names change; search Google’s help for the current wording.

How Google Maps ranking works

Google’s help page on local ranking names three factors. Relevance is how well your profile matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far you are from the searcher, or from the location in their search. Prominence is how well known your business is, which Google says draws on information from across the web such as links, articles and directories, and on reviews.

You cannot change distance, and you cannot pay Google for a better local position. That leaves relevance and prominence, which is where all legitimate Google Maps ranking work happens:

What you can do about each ranking factor
Factor	What helps	What does not
Relevance	Accurate primary category, complete services list, a description in plain words, matching service pages on your website	Stuffing keywords into the business name, which breaks the guidelines
Prominence	A steady flow of genuine reviews with replies, mentions and links from local sites, consistent name, address and phone across directories	Fake or bought reviews, which break Google’s policies and consumer law
Distance	Nothing you can change	Virtual offices or fake addresses in other towns, which are not eligible

A 30-day Google Maps plan

First 30 days: in order
Week	Tasks
Week 1	Claim or create the profile, verify it, fix the name and primary category, remove duplicates
Week 2	Complete hours, services, description and service area; add 10 or more real photos of team, vans, premises and finished work
Week 3	Send a review request with a direct link to every customer from the last three months; reply to every existing review
Week 4	Check your business name, address and phone are identical on your website and main directories; add a page on your site for each main service

After day 30: keep asking every happy customer for a review, post photos of new work monthly, and check your profile performance figures for calls, direction requests and website clicks.

Add a tracking tag to the website link on your profile so Google Analytics shows visits from Google Maps separately. That lets you see whether the work is producing enquiries, not just views.

Local SEO in the UK and the US: same rules

Google Business Profile rules are the same in both countries. What differs is the directories that matter and how people search: UK customers often search by town or postcode, US customers by city, neighbourhood or ZIP code. Use the place names your customers use on your service area and on your website pages. Our local SEO cost guide covers what it costs to have this done, in pounds and dollars.

Search for your own service from a customer’s location

Search for your main service plus a town you serve, on a phone, as a customer would. If you are not in the map results, work through the diagnosis table. If you want a hand, send us your Business Profile name and the towns you serve and we will check it against Google’s guidelines and send you a written list of fixes, at no cost.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I get my business on Google Maps?

Create or claim a Google Business Profile, enter your real name, category and address or service area, and verify it. Once verified and approved, it can appear on Google Maps.

Why is my business not showing on Google Maps?

Common reasons are an unverified or suspended profile, a guideline breach such as a virtual office or keywords in the name, searching from too far away, or competitors that look more relevant and better known.

Can I be on Google Maps without a shop or office?

Yes. Service-area businesses that visit customers can have a profile. If you work from home, Google’s guidelines say to hide your address and set the areas you serve.

Can I pay to rank higher on Google Maps?

No. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. You can pay for local ads, which are labelled as sponsored and are separate from the organic map results.

How long does it take to show on Google Maps?

A new profile usually needs verification and review before it shows reliably. Ranking higher for competitive searches takes longer, often months of steady reviews and improvements.

October 25, 2026

Is SEO worth it? An SEO ROI calculator for small businesses

What you will get from this guide

An SEO ROI calculator you can fill in with five numbers, with worked UK and US examples and the arithmetic shown
How to estimate the five inputs for free from Google’s own tools and your own records
Clear signs that SEO will pay for your business, and signs you should spend the money elsewhere first

SEO is worth it when people already search for what you sell, each new customer is worth a meaningful profit, and you can afford to wait several months for results. SEO ROI is the profit from customers who found you through organic search, minus what you spend on SEO, divided by that spend. If a £800 a month programme eventually brings in £1,440 a month of extra profit, the monthly return after the ramp-up is (1,440 − 800) ÷ 800 = 80%.

The catch is time. Google’s own SEO starter guide says changes can take from a few hours to several months to show, so most programmes cost money for months before they return any. This guide gives you a calculator for the return and the payback month, shows where to find each input for free, and lists the situations where SEO is the wrong first spend. For a scoped plan, see our SEO and growth service.

AJ Creationz sells SEO. The calculator and examples use labelled assumptions, not results from a client, and no one can guarantee a ranking or a return.

The SEO ROI formula

SEO ROI = (extra monthly profit from organic search − monthly SEO cost) ÷ monthly SEO cost

Extra monthly profit = extra organic enquiries × close rate × profit per customer. Use profit, not revenue: a £2,000 job that leaves £400 after materials and labour is worth £400 here.

Two refinements make the number honest. Count only extra enquiries, above what organic search already brings you before the work starts. And if customers come back or refer others, use the profit over the time they stay with you, not just the first job.

SEO ROI calculator: worked UK and US examples

Every figure below is an assumption to show the method, not a forecast. Replace them with your own.

SEO ROI and payback for a small service business
Line	UK example	US example
Monthly SEO cost	£800	$1,500
Ramp-up before extra enquiries arrive (assumed)	6 months	6 months
Extra organic enquiries a month after ramp-up (assumed)	12	15
Close rate (share of enquiries that buy)	30%	30%
New customers a month: enquiries × close rate	3.6	4.5
Profit per customer	£400	$500
Extra profit a month: customers × profit	£1,440	$2,250
Monthly ROI after ramp-up: (profit − cost) ÷ cost	80%	50%
Cost before any return: ramp-up months × cost	£4,800	$9,000
Net gain a month after ramp-up: profit − cost	£640	$750
Months after ramp-up to recover the early cost	7.5	12
Payback month from the start	About month 14	Month 18

Check: 12 × 30% = 3.6 and 3.6 × £400 = £1,440; (1,440 − 800) ÷ 800 = 0.8. 6 × £800 = £4,800 and 4,800 ÷ 640 = 7.5, so 6 + 7.5 = 13.5 months. US: 15 × 30% = 4.5 and 4.5 × $500 = $2,250; (2,250 − 1,500) ÷ 1,500 = 0.5; 6 × $1,500 = $9,000 and 9,000 ÷ 750 = 12, so 6 + 12 = 18 months.

Notice how much the answer swings on profit per customer and on the ramp-up. If the UK business above earned £200 a customer instead of £400, the extra profit would be £720 a month, less than the £800 fee, and SEO would never pay back at that level of results. That is why the calculator matters more than any average.

Where to find each input for free

Search demand: Google Keyword Planner (inside a free Google Ads account) shows how often people search for your services in your area. If the numbers for your main services are close to zero, SEO has little to win.
What you get today: Google Search Console shows the searches you already appear for, your clicks and your average position. This is your starting point, so you only count extra enquiries later.
Close rate: your own records. Of the last 20 enquiries, how many became paying customers?
Profit per customer: your accounts. Use the average profit on a job, not the price.
Enquiry rate from visits: Google Analytics, if your contact form and phone clicks are set up as key events. If they are not, fix tracking first, because you cannot measure ROI without it.

To estimate extra enquiries, take the monthly searches for your top services, assume you would win a modest share of the clicks if you reached the first page, and multiply by the share of visitors who enquire on your site today. Keep the assumptions conservative and write them down, so you can check them against Search Console in six months.

How long SEO takes

Google’s SEO starter guide says changes to your site can take from a few hours to several months to be reflected in search, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether a change worked. In practice, a new or weak site in a competitive market usually needs longer than an established site that only needs fixes.

Plan cash flow for at least six months of cost before you expect a return, and judge progress in stages: pages indexed and errors fixed first, then impressions growing in Search Console, then clicks, then enquiries. If impressions are not rising after three to four months of real work, ask why.

When SEO is worth it, and when it is not

Signs SEO will or will not pay for your business
SEO is likely worth it if…	Spend elsewhere first if…
People search for your service in the places you serve	Hardly anyone searches for what you sell yet
A new customer is worth hundreds of pounds or dollars in profit	Profit per customer is very low and volume is small
You can fund six months or more before expecting a return	You need enquiries this month to pay bills
Your site can be edited and improved	Your site is about to be rebuilt anyway
You can deliver more work if more enquiries arrive	You are already fully booked for months

If you need enquiries quickly, paid search can test demand while SEO builds. Our Google Ads cost guide shows what that costs, and the Google Ads vs Facebook Ads guide helps you choose a channel.

SEO for a small business in the UK: what to do before you pay anyone

Some of the highest-return SEO work costs nothing but time. Do these first, then judge any quote against what is left:

Verify your Google Business Profile, choose accurate categories, add real photos and reply to every review.
Add your site to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap.
Give each main service its own page with a clear title, the area you cover and prices or price ranges where you can.
Make sure your phone number and contact form work on mobile and are tracked as key events in Google Analytics.
Ask every happy customer for a Google review, with a direct link.

If you then hire help, our SEO pricing guide shows what UK and US providers charge and what each budget should buy, and the local SEO cost guide covers map and local rankings.

How to measure SEO ROI properly

Track form submissions, phone clicks and booked calls as key events in Google Analytics, and check that organic search is reported separately.
Add a how did you hear about us field, or a source field in your CRM, so offline sales are counted.
Use a call-tracking number on the website if most customers phone, so organic calls are not lost.
Review monthly: Search Console clicks, organic enquiries, customers won and profit, against the assumptions in your calculator.

Fill in the calculator with your own numbers

Use your real profit per customer and close rate, and a conservative guess for extra enquiries. If the payback month is beyond what you can fund, fix the free items first or test demand with ads. If you want a second opinion, send us your numbers and website and we will tell you in writing whether SEO looks worth it and where we would start.

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Frequently asked questions

Is SEO worth it for a small business?

It is worth it when people search for your service, each customer is worth a meaningful profit and you can wait several months for results. Run the calculator above with your own numbers to see the payback month.

How do you calculate SEO ROI?

SEO ROI = (extra monthly profit from organic search − monthly SEO cost) ÷ monthly SEO cost. Extra profit = extra organic enquiries × close rate × profit per customer.

How long does SEO take to work?

Google says changes can take from a few hours to several months to show in search. Plan for at least six months of cost before expecting a return, longer for a new site in a competitive market.

What is a good ROI for SEO?

There is no single benchmark. A programme is worth continuing when extra profit from organic search clearly exceeds its cost after the ramp-up and the early months are recovered within a period you can fund.

Is SEO better than Google Ads?

They do different jobs. Ads can bring enquiries this week but stop when you stop paying. SEO is slower but keeps working. Many small businesses use ads to test demand while SEO builds.

October 22, 2026

How much does local SEO cost per month? Prices and what you get

What you will get from this guide

Local SEO price ranges in pounds and dollars, monthly, one-off and hourly, with sources and where they disagree
What Google says decides local rankings, and what a monthly fee should actually cover
A break-even sheet that shows how many extra customers cover the fee and when you might see a return

Local SEO for a small business usually costs about £500 to £1,200 a month in UK guides and about $500 to $3,000 a month in US guides. WebFX puts the US average at $500 to $3,000, with one-off projects at $500 to $5,000 and consulting at $75 to $200 an hour. Prices below about £500 a month tend to mean automated tasks rather than strategy. Cost rises with competition, the number of locations and the number of services you want to rank for.

Local SEO is not a purchase you can rush: sources put noticeable results at roughly three to six months, and Google itself says no one can pay for a better local ranking. This guide shows what the fee should cover, how to check it will pay back, and what to do for free first. For a scoped plan, see our SEO and growth service.

AJ Creationz sells SEO, and nearly every local SEO price guide is published by an SEO provider. Treat all ranges as indicative. We cannot promise a ranking, and neither should anyone you hire.

Local SEO cost: UK and US price ranges

Local SEO pricing from published guides
Measure	UK, pounds	US, dollars
Monthly retainer, small business	£500 to £1,200 for local and startup work, about 5 to 10 hours a month (Whitehat)	$500 to $3,000 average (WebFX); $750 to $1,500 for a local foundation (W3era)
Agency retainer range	Agencies from £1,500 for wider SEO (Whitehat)	$500 to $2,000 (SEO.com)
One-off project	Not covered by the sources we opened	$500 to $5,000 for an audit, profile set-up or location pages (WebFX)
Hourly consulting	Freelancers £300 to £2,500 a month (Whitehat)	$75 to $200 an hour (WebFX)
Multi-location or enterprise	£5,000 to £20,000 or more for multi-location or international work (Whitehat)	More than $5,000 a month for enterprises (WebFX)

Whitehat says UK SEO packages cost £500 to £20,000 or more a month overall, and that below £500 a month you should expect automated output rather than strategy. Its figures say they rose 15% to 30% since 2024, which is the provider’s own claim.

Why do some surveys show lower numbers? SEO.com’s survey of what businesses spend lists $100 to $500 a month for businesses with up to 50 employees. That is what businesses report spending, which includes low-cost providers and tools. Agency retainers for a managed programme sit higher, so compare like with like: ask what hours and work a fee buys.

What decides how much local SEO costs

Competition in your area and industry. A crowded market needs more pages, better content and more links to compete.
Number of locations. Each location needs its own profile, pages and review effort.
Number of services. Each service you want to rank for usually needs its own page.
Who you hire. Freelancers cost less than agencies, and often include fewer deliverables.
Scope. An audit and profile clean-up is a project. Ongoing content, links and reporting is a retainer.

WebFX lists the same five drivers, with industry competition first.

What local SEO is and what a fee should cover

Google’s Business Profile help says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well known you are, based on factors such as links and reviews). It also says plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

That sets what work is worth paying for. Distance is not something a fee can change, so the work is relevance and prominence:

Google Business Profile: verified, complete and kept up to date, with photos, categories, hours and a clear description.
Citations: your name, address and phone number consistent across the listings that matter.
Reviews: a steady way of asking for them and replying to every one. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.
Website and pages: service and location pages with real local information, fast on mobile.
Local links and mentions: from sites a local customer would trust.
Reporting: calls, direction requests and enquiries from search, not only positions.

How long does local SEO take to work?

One agency breaks it into phases: set-up and optimisation in the first one to three months, citations and links over three to six, and content and ongoing work over six to twelve. Other guides say three to six months before you see clear movement. These are provider estimates, and your market and starting point change them.

Google’s SEO starter guide is more cautious: changes can take from a few hours to several months to show, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging a change. Plan your budget for at least six months of cost before you expect a return.

Worksheet: how many customers does the fee need?

Customers needed to cover the fee = monthly fee ÷ profit per customer

Months to payback = (fee × ramp-up months) ÷ (extra monthly profit after ramp-up − fee). A ramp-up is the months before results arrive.

The figures below are assumptions, not a forecast, and results are not guaranteed. Swap in your own.

Illustrative payback for a local service business
Line	UK example	US example
Monthly fee	£600	$1,000
Profit per customer	£150	$200
Customers needed to cover the fee: fee ÷ profit	4	5
Assumed ramp-up with no extra customers	6 months	6 months
Cost before any return: 6 × fee	£3,600	$6,000
Extra customers a month after ramp-up (assumed)	8	8
Extra profit a month: 8 × profit per customer	£1,200	$1,600
Net each month after the fee	£600	$600
Months to recover the ramp-up cost	3,600 ÷ 600 = 6	6,000 ÷ 600 = 10
Payback reached in month	12	16

If the extra customers are fewer than the fee requires, the campaign loses money. That is why the question to ask any provider is how they will measure calls and enquiries, not just rankings.

What you can do for free before paying anyone

Google’s own tips are a good starting list, and they cost nothing but time:

Verify your business on Google, so you can manage your profile.
Keep your business information accurate and up to date: address, hours, phone number and categories.
Respond to reviews, positive and negative.
Add photos and videos of your premises, team and work.
Make sure your website lists the same name, address and phone number as your profile, and runs the checks in our technical SEO audit checklist.

Questions to ask a local SEO provider

Google’s guidance on hiring an SEO gives a useful set. Ask for examples of previous work and success stories, whether they follow Google’s Search Essentials, what results and timeframe they expect and how they measure success, what experience they have in your industry and your area, and how they will communicate and share every change they make. If anyone guarantees first place, find someone else. Compare fees with SEO pricing.

Do this next

Do the free Google Business Profile steps this week, then fill in the payback table with your profit per customer. If the sums work, send us your location, services and goals and we will scope a plan with a written measure of success.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does local SEO cost per month?

UK guides give about £500 to £1,200 a month for local and startup work. US guides give about $500 to $3,000. Costs rise with competition, the number of locations and the number of services.

Is local SEO worth it for a small business?

It can be, if the extra customers it brings cover the fee after the ramp-up period. Use the payback table: divide the fee by your profit per customer to see how many customers you need each month.

How long does local SEO take to work?

Providers estimate about three to six months for clear movement and six to twelve for sustained results. Google says changes can take from hours to months and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging a change.

What is the difference between SEO and local SEO?

Local SEO focuses on appearing in map and local results for searches with local intent. Google says those results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence.

Can I do local SEO myself?

Yes, the basics. Verify and complete your Google Business Profile, keep details accurate, ask for and answer reviews, add photos and keep your website consistent. Hire help for competitive markets or several locations.

Is local SEO a one-off cost or ongoing?

Both exist. One-off projects such as an audit, profile set-up or location pages are quoted at $500 to $5,000 in US guides. Ranking and reviews need ongoing work, so most providers sell a monthly retainer.

Why are some local SEO packages so cheap?

Several UK providers say packages under about £500 a month mostly cover automated tasks. Ask what a person does each month and how success is measured.

Can I pay for a better Google local ranking?

No. Google’s Business Profile help says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. You pay for the work that improves relevance and prominence, not for a position.

October 14, 2026

Technical SEO audit checklist for small business websites

What you will get from this guide

Twenty checks in five groups, each with a free way to test it, what a pass looks like and how serious a failure is
Current Google thresholds for Core Web Vitals, including why older checklists that list FID are out of date
A way to record findings and a list of common false alarms, plus what we found when we ran this on our own site

A technical SEO audit checks whether Google can find, load and understand your pages. For a small business site, you can run a useful first pass in an afternoon with free tools: Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, your browser and two files on your own domain, robots.txt and the sitemap. Work through five groups in order, crawling and indexing, redirects and security, speed, mobile and rendering, then structure and markup, and rate each failure Critical, High, Medium or Low so you fix the damaging problems first.

The checklist below has 20 checks. If you would rather have someone run a deeper audit, see our SEO and growth service. Whoever does it, Google’s advice is to give an auditor read-only access to Search Console, not write access.

AJ Creationz sells SEO audits, and most checklists on this topic are published by SEO tool vendors. This one uses only free methods, and the severity ratings are our own house standard, not a Google score. Fixing technical issues does not guarantee higher rankings.

What a technical SEO audit covers

A technical audit looks at how search engines crawl, render and index your site. It does not judge your writing or count your backlinks. That keeps the job small enough to finish, and it matters because a page that Google cannot index cannot rank, however good it is.

Set expectations before you start. Google’s SEO starter guide says changes can take a few hours to several months to show up, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether your work helped.

The free tools you need

Google Search Console: the source of truth for indexing, Core Web Vitals and manual actions. Verify your site and submit your sitemap.
PageSpeed Insights: shows real-user (field) data when your site has enough traffic, and lab data otherwise.
Your browser: view-source, the developer tools and a real phone for mobile checks.
Google’s Rich Results Test: validates structured data.
Two URLs on your own domain: /robots.txt and /sitemap.xml.

Group 1: crawling and indexing

Checks 1 to 5
Check	How to test it free	A pass looks like	If it fails
1. robots.txt is not blocking important pages	Open /robots.txt	No Disallow: / and no blocks on key sections. Google says robots.txt manages crawling and does not reliably keep a page out of results	Critical if key sections are blocked
2. No accidental noindex	View source on key pages and look in the head for a robots meta tag; check Search Console	No noindex on pages meant to rank. Google reads the tag from the head of the page	Critical if site-wide
3. Sitemap is present and clean	Open /sitemap.xml and submit it in Search Console	Lists real, canonical pages that return 200, with believable last-modified dates. Google says well-linked sites can be found without one, but it helps larger sites	Medium
4. Canonical tags are correct	View source on key pages	Each page points to itself or its single preferred version, and matches the sitemap and internal links	High if conflicting
5. Important pages are indexed	Search Console, Pages report; URL Inspection for single pages	Key pages show as indexed. A site: search is only a rough check: Google says it may not list every URL and does not rank results	High if key pages are missing

Group 2: status codes, redirects and security

Checks 6 to 10
Check	How to test it free	A pass looks like	If it fails
6. Key pages return 200	Browser developer tools, Network tab; Search Console	Live pages return 200, not 404 or 5xx errors	High for key pages
7. Missing pages return a real 404	Request a made-up URL on your site	A genuine 404 or 410 status, not a 200 page that says not found, which Google reports as a soft 404, and not a redirect to the home page	High if at scale
8. Permanent moves use 301 or 308	Developer tools, Network tab	Permanent redirects use 301 or 308, with at most one hop. Google treats a permanent redirect as a signal that the target should be the canonical URL	Medium; Low for a single hop
9. One version of the site	Try http://, https://, www and non-www	All other versions redirect to one HTTPS address	High
10. HTTPS works everywhere, nothing hacked	Browser padlock; Search Console Security and Manual actions	No mixed-content warnings, no manual actions, no spam pages injected into your site	Critical if broken or hacked

Group 3: speed and page experience

Checks 11 to 14
Check	How to test it free	A pass looks like	If it fails
11. Core Web Vitals on key pages	PageSpeed Insights, field data; Search Console Core Web Vitals report	Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds, Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1 (Google’s thresholds)	High on key templates
12. Page weight is sane	Developer tools, Network tab	HTML well under 2 MB. Googlebot crawls the first 2 MB of a file, and each CSS or JavaScript file is fetched under the same limit	Critical if key content sits beyond the limit
13. Images are sized and compressed	PageSpeed Insights	Images are sized for the screen and served in an efficient format, with descriptive alt text	Low to Medium
14. No blocking pop-ups on mobile	A real phone	Nothing covers the main content when a visitor arrives	Medium

Many checklists still list First Input Delay. Google replaced it with Interaction to Next Paint, so a checklist that tests FID is out of date.

Group 4: mobile and rendering

Checks 15 to 17
Check	How to test it free	A pass looks like	If it fails
15. Mobile has the same content	Browser device mode and a real phone	Text, links, structured data and metadata match desktop. Google uses the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking	High
16. Main content is in the rendered page	Compare view-source with the inspected page; URL Inspection, view crawled page	Key text, links and metadata appear without depending on a script that can fail. Google processes JavaScript in crawling, rendering and indexing phases	High if content is missing
17. Links are real links	View source	Navigation uses an a element with an href. Google generally cannot extract links that only work through script events	Medium to High

Group 5: structure and markup

Checks 18 to 20
Check	How to test it free	A pass looks like	If it fails
18. Titles and descriptions are unique and clear	View source; Search Console Performance, pages	Each page has its own descriptive title and a description that summarises it. Google may rewrite either	Medium if missing or duplicated
19. Important pages are linked internally	Click through from the home page; check key pages for inbound links	Each important page is reachable in a few clicks with descriptive link text, and none is an orphan	Medium
20. Structured data matches the page	Rich Results Test	Markup describes content that is visible on the page, with no errors on types that still earn features. FAQ markup no longer earns rich results, so do not add it for visibility	Medium; High for fake or hidden content

How to rate and record what you find

Use four levels. They are our house scale, not a Google score, but they keep you fixing the right things in the right order.

Critical: stops pages being indexed or loaded now, such as a site-wide noindex, robots.txt blocking key sections, broken HTTPS, hacked content or key content beyond the 2 MB limit.
High: a clear drag, such as poor field Core Web Vitals on key templates, conflicting canonicals, soft 404s at scale or main content that only appears after failing JavaScript.
Medium: real but bounded, such as duplicate titles, shallow internal linking or intrusive pop-ups.
Low: polish, such as minor alt text gaps or an occasional extra redirect.

Audit sheet columns: URL, check number, what you saw, how you found it, severity, fix, owner, retest date

Copy these eight columns into a spreadsheet. Keep what you saw separate from what you assume, and record the date, because results change.

Common false alarms

Paid tools flag many items that Google’s documentation does not treat as problems, and they give scores that are not Google data. Before you act on a flag, ask which Google page says it matters.

Third-party scores such as an authority or health score. They are vendor estimates, not Google metrics.
Keyword density and word-count warnings.
A site: result count treated as the number of indexed pages.
An FID warning, which refers to a metric Google has replaced.

What we found when we ran this on our own site

We ran this checklist on ajcreationz.co.uk on 13 and 14 October 2026. The sitemap, robots.txt, canonicals and structured data passed. Three things did not:

Missing social images (check 18 area, Medium): 19 of 27 pages had no share image and reused the home page’s text. We fixed it the same day.
Mobile speed (check 11, High): PageSpeed Insights reported a Largest Contentful Paint of 4.1 seconds on mobile, because the opening text waited for JavaScript before it appeared. We moved the entrance animation to CSS and are retesting.
Sitemap dates (check 3, Medium): every page showed the same last-modified date. We switched blog posts to their own dates.

None of these is exotic. They are the kind of issue a first pass finds, which is why running the sheet is worth an afternoon.

When to bring in a professional

Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO is a useful filter. A good time to hire is a redesign or new site launch, when search can be built in. If an auditor asks for access, give read-only Search Console access. If anyone guarantees first place, find someone else. Check their recommendations against Google’s official documentation rather than a third-party tool’s score. If you are moving to a new site, use our website migration SEO checklist, and for pricing see SEO pricing.

Do this next

Copy the audit sheet columns into a spreadsheet and work through the 20 checks on your five most important pages. Fix Critical items first. If you would rather have a written audit with a fix list, send us your site and we will scope it.

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Frequently asked questions

What is included in a technical SEO audit?

Crawling and indexing, status codes and redirects, security, page speed and Core Web Vitals, mobile and rendering, internal links, metadata and structured data. It checks how search engines access your site, not the quality of your writing.

How do I do a technical SEO audit myself?

Verify Search Console, then work through the 20 checks above on your key pages using Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, your browser and your robots.txt and sitemap files. Record each finding with a severity and a fix.

What are the Core Web Vitals thresholds?

Google’s thresholds are Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds and Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1.

How often should I run a technical SEO audit?

Run a full pass once or twice a year and after any redesign, migration or platform change. Check Search Console monthly for new indexing or security issues.

How long do technical SEO fixes take to work?

Google says changes can take from a few hours to several months to show. It suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether a change helped.

Do I need paid tools for a technical SEO audit?

Not for a first pass on a small site. Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and your browser cover the main checks. Paid crawlers help on larger sites, but their scores are not Google data.

What is the difference between crawling and indexing?

Crawling is Google fetching a page. Indexing is Google storing it so it can appear in results. A page can be crawled and not indexed, and a page blocked in robots.txt can sometimes still appear without its content if it is linked from elsewhere.

Is a technical SEO audit the same as an SEO audit?

No. A full SEO audit also reviews content, links and how well pages match what people search for. A technical audit covers whether pages can be found, loaded and understood.

October 12, 2026

SEO pricing: how much does SEO cost for a small business?

What you will get from this guide

Typical monthly SEO prices for small businesses, in pounds and dollars, with named sources
What you should receive at each price, so you can spot a package that is mostly automation
A break-even formula, with the arithmetic shown, to decide if SEO is worth it for your business

SEO pricing for a small business usually lands between £500 and £2,000 a month in UK guides, and between $500 and $5,000 a month in US guides. Local-only work can start lower, around £300 a month, and competitive national or ecommerce campaigns run higher, from about £2,000 to £8,000 a month. Freelancers are cheaper, at roughly £300 to £1,000 or $300 to $1,500 a month, but you rely on one person.

How much does SEO cost in practice depends on what you are paying for: technical fixes, content, links and reporting all take different amounts of time. Prices under about £400 a month are treated with suspicion by several UK providers, who say they usually cover automated tasks with little strategy. This guide shows the ranges, what each tier should include, and a formula to test whether SEO is worth it for your numbers. If you want a scoped plan, see our SEO and growth service.

AJ Creationz sells SEO, and nearly every price guide we found is also published by an SEO provider. Treat all ranges as indicative and compare written quotes.

SEO pricing by type of provider

Indicative monthly SEO prices
Type	UK guides (£ per month)	US guides ($ per month)
Typical small-business retainer	£500 to £2,000 (one guide says most land at £500 to £900)	$500 to $5,000
Local-only SEO	from about £300	$500 to $2,500
Freelancer	£300 to £1,000 (another guide: £50 to £500)	$300 to $1,500
Agency	£500 to £5,000+	$1,500 to $5,000 for mid-size agencies
Competitive national or ecommerce	£2,000 to £8,000	not separated in the guides we reviewed
One-off audit, rebuild or migration	not separated	$1,000 to $5,000

Sources are listed at the end. One UK agency claims prices rose 15% to 30% since 2024; that is a single agency’s statement, not an independent survey.

What you should get for the money

Package names mean little. Ask for the list of work and the monthly hours, and check it against this.

Technical audit and fixes: crawling, indexing, speed and mobile problems, with a list of what was changed.
Keyword and page plan: which page targets which search, based on the searches your customers use.
Content: new or improved pages with a named author, not filler.
Local SEO, if you serve a place: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone, and review handling.
Authority work: earned mentions and links from real sites, not bulk directory submissions.
Reporting: leads and calls from search, not only rankings, in a monthly report you can understand.

Cheap SEO packages

Several UK providers say packages under about £400 a month, and a blogger’s £150 to £250 packages, are mostly automated citation submissions with little strategy. That is their opinion, but it is a useful test: ask what a person actually does each month. Google also says no one can guarantee a top ranking, so be wary of anyone who promises one.

Is SEO worth it? A break-even test

SEO is worth it when the gross profit from the customers it brings in exceeds what you pay. Work it out with three numbers from your own business.

Monthly gross profit from SEO = leads × close rate × gross profit per customer

Break-even month = total SEO spend to date ÷ monthly gross profit from SEO.

This worked example is illustrative; the figures are assumptions, not a forecast or a promise.

Illustrative break-even for a £1,000 monthly retainer
Step	Number	Arithmetic
Search leads per month once the work has built up	12	assumption
Share of those leads that become customers	25%	assumption
Gross profit per customer	£800	assumption
Monthly gross profit from SEO	£2,400	12 × 0.25 × 800
Monthly profit after the £1,000 fee	£1,400	2,400 − 1,000
Spend before leads arrive (first 4 months at £1,000)	£4,000	4 × 1,000
Months of £1,400 profit needed to repay that	about 3	4,000 ÷ 1,400 = 2.9

If your real numbers are 4 leads, 20% and £500, monthly profit is 4 × 0.20 × 500 = £400, which is below a £1,000 fee. SEO would not pay for itself at that price. Run your own numbers before you buy.

Search results take time, so always include months with no return in the formula. Ask any provider to put expected timing and what you will see in the first 90 days in writing.

Local SEO cost and when it is enough

If you serve customers in a town or region, local SEO is often enough on its own: guides put it at about £300 a month in the UK and $500 to $2,500 in the US. It focuses on your Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent business details and location-relevant pages. If you sell nationally or online, you need the broader work above, which costs more. Our website development work covers the technical side if your site is the bottleneck.

Questions to ask before you sign

What exactly will be done each month, and by whom?
How will you measure success: leads and revenue, or rankings only?
Do I own the content, the accounts and the reports if we part ways?
What is the contract length and notice period?
Which links or mentions will you pursue, and how?
Can I see two clients in a similar situation I can contact?

Do this next

Fill in the break-even table with your own lead count, close rate and gross profit. If the monthly profit is below the fee you were quoted, either lower the scope or fix your website or sales process first.

Talk to us →

Frequently asked questions

How much does SEO cost per month for a small business?

UK guides mostly give £500 to £2,000 a month, and US guides $500 to $5,000. Local-only work can start around £300 a month.

Is SEO worth it for a small business?

It can be, if the profit from the customers it brings exceeds the fee after the waiting period. Use the break-even formula in this guide with your own numbers.

What is the difference between a freelancer and an agency?

Freelancers are cheaper, roughly £300 to £1,000 or $300 to $1,500 a month, but you depend on one person. Agencies cost more and split the work across a team.

Are cheap SEO packages worth it?

Several UK providers say packages under about £400 a month are mostly automated work. Ask what a person does each month before you buy.

How long does SEO take?

It takes months, not days, and results vary with competition and your site’s starting point. Ask for the expected timing in writing and treat guaranteed rankings as a warning sign.

October 2, 2026