SaaS SEO Cost In 2025: Pricing Models

“How much does SEO cost?”

SaaS SEO cost is one of the most common questions we hear from B2B leaders. And it makes sense. When budgets are tight, sales cycles are long, and growth targets are high, you need clarity on where your marketing spend is going and what it delivers.

The short answer? It depends.

SaaS SEO cost varies based on factors like your market, competition, campaign goals, and the level of support you need. Whether you’re hiring an agency or building in-house, these elements shape the final investment.

At Common Ground, we prioritise transparency. This guide outlines what influences SaaS SEO pricing, how to assess value, and what deliverables you should expect from a strategic SEO partner.

Let’s break it down.

Importance of SEO for B2B & SaaS companies

Roughly 70% of B2B buyers use Google to search for suppliers. That number is only going up, which makes SEO a critical investment, not a nice-to-have, for SaaS and B2B brands that want to be found first.

SEO is a long-term investment that improves your website’s visibility in search results. It helps you compete for the right keywords, attract high-intent buyers, and convert organic traffic into pipeline.

 

Outrank Competitors and Capture Demand

A strong SEO strategy helps you secure top positions in search. The first organic result earns around 33% of all clicks, while traffic drops sharply for lower positions. That top spot is prime real estate for SaaS companies targeting competitive categories.

With smart targeting and execution, SEO becomes a reliable way to win market share from competitors and capitalise on search demand.

 

Generate Consistent, High-Quality Leads

When executed well, B2B SEO consistently outperforms other channels for lead generation. It brings in visitors who are actively searching for a solution, reducing wasted spend and improving lead quality.

That’s where the ROI calculation starts to make sense. You’re building an engine that attracts leads day after day, without paying for every click.

 

Build Brand Awareness and Trust

Appearing at the top of search results helps build credibility. When prospects repeatedly see your brand in relevant queries, they’re more likely to remember you, trust your expertise, and engage when the timing is right.

 

Gain a Strategic Edge

Many B2B firms still underinvest in SEO or treat it as an afterthought. That creates an opening for digital-first competitors to gain visibility early. With a focus on performance tracking and budget allocation, SEO offers a tactical edge to those willing to commit.

 

Lower Ad Spend Over Time

One of the most tangible long-term investment benefits of SEO is cost efficiency. Once your content ranks, it continues to drive traffic without additional spend. That’s a sharp contrast to paid media, where visibility stops the moment budgets run out.

 

What Influences SaaS SEO Cost?

There’s no fixed price tag on SEO. What you pay depends on what you need and what it takes to get results. Some businesses need foundational work.

Others are ready to scale fast. Either way, a clear sense of the key cost drivers helps you plan your SEO budget more confidently.

 

1. Expertise and Sector Relevance

If you’re in B2B or SaaS, you don’t just need SEO; you need SEO that fits how your buyers behave. That means hiring people who get the sales cycle, the content challenges, and the intent behind your keywords.

Specialist agencies cost more than generalists, but they also waste less time. You’ll avoid generic tactics and focus on what actually moves rankings and revenue.

 

2. SEO pricing model

How you pay matters, too. Some agencies charge by the hour, others offer a flat project fee, and many use monthly retainers tied to deliverables and performance.

The four most common pricing models for digital marketing campaigns are:

• Hourly
• Monthly
• Service-based
• Project-based

Each pricing model affects cost visibility and flexibility. Hourly works for ad-hoc support, project pricing suits one-off goals, and retainers help with long-term consistency.

 

3. Campaign Objectives and Timeline

Targeting broad awareness is very different to targeting high-converting keywords for enterprise buyers. The more ambitious or niche your objectives, the more effort and resources they require, and the more they cost.

Timeline also plays a role. A campaign aiming for rapid gains in three months will likely demand more intense work (and higher costs) than a longer, phased strategy over 12 months.

 

4. Geographic Focus

Local campaigns are simpler. They need fewer pages, fewer links, and less complexity. But if you’re targeting international markets or multiple regions, costs climb fast. You’ll need more research, tailored content, and technical optimisation, especially if localisation is involved.

 

5. Your Starting Point

Already ranking for a few high-value terms? Good — you’ve got a head start. But if your site structure’s a mess, load times are slow, and there’s no content strategy in place, your SEO partner will need to spend time fixing the basics. That early investment pays off later, but it does increase upfront costs.

 

6. In-House vs. Agency

Running SEO internally isn’t necessarily cheaper. You’ll need senior SEO leadership, technical support, content production, and performance tracking. Hiring all that takes time and budget. Agencies give you access to that full stack, without the overhead.

What matters most is capability. Whether in-house or external, you need a team that can plan, execute, and adapt.

 

7. SEO scale (e.g. local vs international)

The size and scope of your SEO campaign will also play a role in how much it costs. A local SEO campaign will be less expensive than an international one, for example. That’s because a local campaign will require less work, such as keyword research and link building, than an international one that needs to account for multiple language versions and country-specific search engines.

 

8. Existing SEO status

If you already have a strong SEO foundation in place, your campaign will likely be less expensive than if you’re starting from scratch. This is because it will take less work to get you ranking highly for your target keywords. Otherwise, you’ll need to account for the cost of an SEO audit as well as any penalty removal services that may be necessary.

 

Additional resource costs

There are also some additional resource costs that you may need to factor into your budget, such as the following:

• Tools – There are a number of different tools that can help with various aspects of your SEO campaign, from keyword research to link building. Many of these come at a cost, though some do offer free versions with limited functionality.
• Content – In order to rank highly in search results, you need to have high-quality, keyword-optimised content on your site. If you don’t have the in-house resources to produce this content, you’ll need to outsource it – which will add to the cost of your campaign.
• Links – One of the most important ranking factors for SEO is links. In order to get high-quality links, you may need to purchase them from a link-building service or engage in link exchanges with other websites.

The best way to get an accurate estimate of how much your B2B & SaaS SEO campaign will cost is to get in touch with us so we can assess your specific needs and requirements.

During our conversation, we’ll also talk about the deliverables that we’ll provide and how we’ll measure success, so you can be confident that you’re getting value for your money.

 

What SEO Deliverables Should You Expect?

Your deliverables will vary depending on campaign scope, but here’s what Common Ground typically provides for B2B and SaaS SEO clients. These are the building blocks of a strategy built for results — with full visibility into performance tracking and ROI.

 

Full technical SEO audit

Before we can create a winning SEO strategy for you, we need to know what we’re working with. So, our team will conduct a full audit of your website, looking at everything from your site structure to your content to your backlink profile.

This will give us a clear picture of where your website is currently at in terms of SEO and where there are opportunities for improvement.

 

Competitor analysis

In order to outrank your competitors, you need to know what they’re doing. Therefore, we’ll conduct a comprehensive analysis of your main competitors, looking at their SEO strategies and tactics.

We’ll also assess their strengths and weaknesses, so you can identify areas where you have a competitive advantage.

 

Keyword research

The initial step in any SEO campaign is keyword research. We’ll use a variety of methods to identify the best keywords for your business – keywords that will help you attract your target audience and convert them into customers or clients.

Google Analytics setup

If you don’t already have Google Analytics installed on your website, we’ll do it for you. Once it’s set up, we’ll configure it properly so we can track all the important data points related to your SEO campaign.

 

Ongoing SEO monitoring and reporting

Once we’ve implemented our SEO strategy, we’ll continuously monitor your progress and produce regular reports so you can see how well your campaign is performing.

We’ll also make adjustments to our strategy as needed to ensure that you’re getting the best results possible.

 

Content development and promotion

High-quality content is essential for any SEO campaign. We’ll help you develop content that is optimised for your target keywords and designed to engage and convert your audience.

On top of that, we’ll also suggest you promote your content through various channels, such as social media and email marketing, to get it in front of as many people as possible.

 

Site speed audits

One of the ranking factors for SEO is site speed. We’ll audit your site speed and then produce a list of tasks to prioritise to speed up your website. Then your visitors will have a better experience and Google will see your site as being worthy of a high ranking.

 

On-page & user-experience optimisations

After we’ve completed keyword research for you we then need to implement it. We create a list of optimisations that can be actioned on each relevant page to get them ranking. But, it’s not enough just to get people to your site. You need to make sure they have a good experience while they’re there. We’ll also help you design and implement a user-friendly website that will keep visitors engaged and encourage them to take the desired action.

 

Internal link optimisation

Your website’s internal linking structure plays an important role in SEO. We’ll ensure that your links are optimised for both search engines and users, so you can maximise the benefits of your website’s link equity.

 

Off-site link building and backlink analysis

Link building is one of the most important aspects of SEO – Google says it’s in the top three! We’ll help you build high-quality links from reputable websites to your own. On top of that, we’ll also monitor your backlink profile and disavow any harmful links that could negatively impact your SEO.

 

Conversion rate optimisation

The goal of SEO is to increase traffic to your website and convert that traffic into leads or sales. We’ll help you design a website that is optimised for conversion so that you can get the most out of your SEO campaign.

 

Ongoing monitoring of Google updates and SEO changes

Finally, we’ll keep an eye on all the latest Google updates and changes to SEO so we can make sure your website is always compliant and optimised for the best possible results.

 

SEO pricing models

At Common Ground, we understand that your SEO needs are constantly changing, and so will your budget. That’s why we offer a variety of pricing models – only pay for what you need, when you need it.

Here are the SEO pricing models we offer:

 

Monthly retainer

Under this model, you pay a fixed monthly fee for clearly defined SEO deliverables and goals. This is great for businesses that need a consistent, ongoing SEO strategy and want to see long-term results.

 

Hourly rate

This model is perfect if you need help with a one-time SEO project or occasional support on an ongoing basis. You’ll be billed for the actual hours worked, so you only pay for the SEO services you need.

 

Project-based

This model is ideal if you have a large, one-time SEO project, such as a website redesign or an international expansion. We’ll work with you to define the scope of the project, KPIs, and deliverables, and you’ll pay a fixed price for the entire project.

 

Service-based

With this model, you pay for specific SEO services on an as-needed basis. This could include link building, content creation, or conversion rate optimisation. This is a great option if you need help with specific aspects of your SEO but don’t need an ongoing strategy.

Note: all of our SEO pricing models are based on the same thing – results. We don’t believe in charging for SEO services that don’t produce results, which is why we offer a results-based pricing model.

If we don’t deliver the results we promised during the agreed-upon timeframe, then we’ll work for free until we do. No excuses – that’s the Common Ground guarantee.

 

How to measure SEO ROI

Finally, the last element of SEO pricing is measuring ROI.

At Common Ground, we believe in measurable results. We’ll work with you to define specific SEO KPIs and deliverables, so you can see exactly what your SEO campaign is achieving.

To do that, we’ll use tools like Google Analytics’ attribution modeling to estimate the gain from your SEO investment.

In the regular SEO reports we’ll send you, we’ll detail things like:

• How much of your current organic search traffic can be attributed to your SEO campaign
• How many conversions are directly attributable to organic search traffic
• How many keywords you’re now ranking for
• How your rank has improved for major keywords
• How much traffic you’ve gained from new keyword rankings
• A before-and-after comparison of your website’s organic traffic

You’ll never have to trust our word for it – we’ll let the data speak for itself when it comes to your ROI from your SEO investment.

And because it’s impossible to define a “good” or “average” ROI for SEO, since it varies so much from business to business and circumstance to circumstance, we’ll work with you to determine what an acceptable ROI would be for your business.

We want you to be happy with your SEO investment, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you are.

 

Let’s talk SEO

There’s definitely a lot to consider when it comes to SEO pricing. But at Common Ground, we believe in being upfront and transparent about every element of your SEO campaign, including what you’ll get and how much it will cost.

We offer a variety of pricing models to suit every need and budget, and we’re always happy to work with you to find the perfect fit for your business.

If you’re ready to get started with an SEO campaign that will deliver results, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our SEO services, or check out our case studies to see the results we’ve achieved for our clients.