An SEO retainer is a fixed monthly fee whether or not you rank. Pay-per-result SEO bills each search you want to show up for only in the months it sits on Google's first page, at a rate set by how high it sits. Off page one, it costs nothing. Which model costs you less depends on how many of your searches reach page one, and how high they climb.
Five terms to know first
- •SEO, short for search engine optimization, is the work that gets your website into Google's regular results, the listings under the ads.
- •A keyword is one search you want to show up for, such as 'roof repair Aurora'.
- •Your position is your spot in Google's list for that keyword. Position 1 is the top.
- •Page one means positions 1 to 10, the first ten regular results.
- •A cap is the most you can be charged in one month, however many keywords rank.
How a retainer bills
A retainer is a fixed fee you pay every month for an agreed list of SEO work. The amount in month one is the same as the amount in month twelve. You know the number in advance, which makes it easy to budget.
SEO is slow. Google has to find the changes on your website and weigh your pages against pages that have been around for years, so a keyword can take months to reach page one. On a retainer, you pay the full fee through those months. If a keyword never gets there, the fee stays the same.
Ask what you'll see each month, too. A useful SEO report lists where each keyword ranks, so you can tell whether the work is moving anything.
Some retainers also cover work that has nothing to do with rankings, such as writing blog posts or running other channels. If you're weighing one, compare the list of work as well as the price.
How pay-per-result SEO bills
Pay per result ties the bill to where you show up. With us, you pay a one-time keyword reservation fee of $1,500 up front. After that, we check each keyword's position once a month, and that position sets its rate for the month. Rankings shift a little from day to day, so one check a month gives a single number to bill from:
- •Position 1: $244 a month
- •Position 2: $220 a month
- •Position 3: $186 a month
- •Positions 4 and 5: $170 a month
- •Positions 6 and 7: $152 a month
- •Positions 8 to 10: $122 a month
- •Page two or lower: $0
There's a ceiling too. On the 30-keyword package, the most you pay in any month is $1,995, however many of them rank. On the 50-keyword package, the ceiling is $2,995.
You shouldn't pay every month for a keyword nobody can find yet, and on this model you don't. Until your first keyword reaches page one, the reservation fee is the only charge.
One month's bill, worked out
Say a roofing company tracks 20 keywords. At this month's check, 10 of them are somewhere on page one, and the other 10 are on page two or lower.
| Position at the monthly check | Keywords | Rate each | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | $244 | $244 |
| 2 | 1 | $220 | $220 |
| 3 | 2 | $186 | $372 |
| 4 and 5 | 2 | $170 | $340 |
| 6 and 7 | 1 | $152 | $152 |
| 8 to 10 | 3 | $122 | $366 |
| Page two or lower | 10 | $0 | $0 |
| Month's bill | 20 | $1,694 |
The 10 keywords off page one add nothing. That month's bill is $1,694, which is under the $1,995 cap on the 30-keyword package.
The month after
Positions change, and the bill follows them. If the two keywords at position 3 both climb to position 1, each one goes from $186 to $244, and the bill rises by $116. A keyword at position 8 that slips to page two drops to $0 until it's back. Over a few months, the bill becomes a rough picture of how easy you are to find.
Now picture all 20 keywords at position 1. Their rates would add up to $4,880, and you'd pay $1,995, the cap.
Before you sign any SEO plan, get two numbers: what you'd pay in a month when nothing ranks, and the most you could pay in a month when everything does.
Want this done for your business
Comparing a whole year
One month tells you little, because SEO takes time to show. For pay per result, add the $1,500 reservation fee to twelve monthly bills. A retainer comes to its monthly fee times twelve. The early months of pay per result tend to cost the least, since few keywords have reached page one yet, and later months rise as more of them do.
Which one fits your business
A retainer fits an owner who wants the same number on the bill every month, or who wants the SEO firm doing other work besides rankings.
Pay per result fits an owner who wants the bill tied to where the website shows up, and it suits anyone who has paid for SEO before without being able to tell whether anything changed. Expect the bill to grow as your keywords climb, and budget for the cap.
On either model, the choice of keywords matters as much as the rankings. A first place for a search nobody types brings no calls. Searches with a town or a specific job in them, such as 'roof leak repair Aurora', tend to come from people ready to hire. Pick the searches your best customers would use, with your town's name where it fits, and drop the ones that bring jobs you don't want.
Rankings bring visitors, and your website has to turn them into calls. Open your own site on your phone and time how long it takes to find your phone number.
What to ask any SEO company
- •Find out what you'd pay in a month when none of your keywords are on page one.
- •Ask how your positions are measured and how often they're checked.
- •Get the most you could pay in one month as a dollar figure.
- •Check who picks the keywords, and whether you can change them later.
- •Read how many months you're committed to before you can stop paying.
Our Pay-Per-Result SEO uses these rates and caps after the $1,500 keyword reservation fee, and it's billed month to month with no long-term contract.
