Costs of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

If you’ve been looking into digital marketing for your trade business, you’ve probably heard that SEO is a long-term investment. But what exactly are you paying for? In this article, we’ll break down the typical costs of running a proper SEO campaign. This includes tools, time, and strategies that all play a role in helping your business rank on Google.

At Slingshot Marketing, we handle all of these areas as part of our SEO service for tradesmen. But if you’re curious about what goes on behind the scenes - or thinking about doing it yourself - this guide will give you a clear idea of where the money goes.

1. Website Hosting – Around £15 per month minimum

Every SEO campaign starts with a solid website. If your site is slow or unreliable, you’ll struggle to rank well.

At Slingshot, we build websites for trades businesses using Wix, which offers fast, secure, mobile-friendly websites for around £15 per month. This includes hosting, security, and CMS tools. Wix provides more than enough power and flexibility.

It’s important to note that your website is the foundation of your SEO. If you skip this part or try to rank an old, DIY website, you’re starting on the back foot.

Website design for a client of ours, with a strong value proposition as the H1 title, and a contact form immediately above the fold, adjacent to buttons with contact CTAs.

2. Backlink Budget – Around £300 per month

Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. They’re a major ranking factor.

Building high-quality backlinks takes time and strategy. At Slingshot, we aim for relevant, local links on trusted websites. We budget £300 per month per client for link outreach, guest posts, directory placements, and citations.

Cheap backlinks from spammy sites might work short-term, but they can hurt your rankings in the long run. That’s why it’s worth investing in doing it properly like getting featured in your local news publisher.

We got one of our clients, Glass House Architecture, featured in Grand Designs Magazine (yes, the one on Channel 4), passing a lot of authority from their website to our client's homepage.

Backlinks tell Google your site is trustworthy. Without them, it’s very hard to climb Google's search rankings.

3. Semrush – From £103 to £367 per month plus addons

SEO tools are the engine behind your campaign. At Slingshot, we use Semrush to carry out keyword research, track rankings, audit sites, and analyse competitors.

Here are the pricing tiers as of the last time this article was updated:

• Pro – £103/month (up to 5 projects)

• Guru – £183/month (up to 15 projects, historical data, device and location tracking)

• Business – £367/month (up to 40 projects, API access, extended data)

For agencies like us, the Guru or Business plan is essential. It helps us to not only find the exact keywords tradespeople need to rank for, but also track their SERP positions in real time, so we can see how they're ranking for their target keywords.

There are also a few free tools that don't come into cost considerations. We've included them in our comprehensive list of SEO tools.

A screenshot from Semrush position tracking, showing one of our clients ranking in 1st position for key terms such as "high-end conservatory" and "timber conservatory". Semrush estimates traffic, click volume and cost per click if it were paid traffic.

4. ChatGPT Pro – £15 per month

Good content helps you rank, and it needs to be fresh, useful, and optimised.

Many agencies and in-house marketers use ChatGPT Pro (£15/month) to speed up blog writing and idea generation. It’s not about cutting corners. It’s about improving productivity.

At Slingshot, we use AI to draft ideas and outlines, but every post is manually reviewed, rewritten, and optimised before going live. The result? More leads for our clients, and stronger rankings over time.

On top of that, we would never pretend to be experts in the work our clients do, which is where AI can step in - the details of patio grouting, garden design and electrical regulations are filled in and approved by our clients.

This tool is especially useful if you want to publish blog posts about your services, explain processes (like loft conversions or resin installations), or target location-specific keywords.

5. Semrush Local – £40 per month per site

If you're targeting local leads, you need more than just a good website. You need to appear on Google Maps, manage your Google Business Profile (GBP), and stay consistent across local directories. That’s where Semrush Local comes in.

This tool costs £40 per month per site, and it's designed to boost local visibility for businesses like yours. Here’s what it helps with:

• Google Business Profile optimisation – Schedule posts, update business info, and distribute it across other directories automatically.

• Listing management – Semrush submits your details to key UK directories and ensures everything stays accurate and consistent.

• Review management – Monitor reviews, respond using AI-suggested replies, and track competitor feedback to see how you compare.

• Map rank tracking – See how your business ranks in your local area, right down to a specific neighbourhood or street.

At Slingshot, we use Semrush Local to keep your listings active, accurate, and fully optimised. This gives you a better chance of ranking in the map pack - the top 3 local results shown in Google searches - and attracting local leads who are ready to buy.

Our client in the early stages of his SEO campaign, entering the Map Pack for local garden designers. Note that Oliver Burgess is open while the others are closed, allowing him to capture leads that skip his competitors. This is just one of the things we change in our Google Business Profile optimisation checklist.

6. Your Time - Variable, but valuable

This is the most overlooked SEO cost: your time.

Doing SEO properly means:

• Writing blog content regularly

• Optimising page titles, meta descriptions, images, and URLs

• Tracking your rankings and making changes as needed

• Keeping your Google Business Profile updated

• Reaching out for backlinks

• Updating your site structure, content, and CTAs

If you want to do all of this yourself, expect to spend 10+ hours per month minimum, not including learning time. For most tradespeople, that’s simply not realistic.

That’s why many choose to outsource SEO to agencies like us. It frees up your time while giving you a better return.

Personally, we limit the amount of SEO clients we work with so that we can dedicate considerable time to our campaigns. We aim to spend approximately half a day per week on each project, which varies based on project demand or which stage they're at.

Why These Costs Are Worth It

When SEO is done right, it becomes your best long-term source of leads. SEO is better than Google PPC ads and other paid marketing methods because the results of SEO compound over time, instead of being limited by the amount of money you pay to Meta or Google.

Here’s the key: organic search traffic doesn’t cost more as your leads grow. Whether 10 people or 1,000 click on your site, your SEO costs stay the same. Compare that to PPC, where every single click costs money, and you’ll see why many trades businesses are shifting towards SEO.

At Slingshot, we combine all of the above - content, tools, website design, backlinks, and support - into one clear monthly service.

DIY SEO: Is It Cheaper?

Technically, yes. But it comes with trade-offs.

Here’s what you might spend to run your own SEO campaign:

Expense	Approximate Cost
Professional website build	£1500–£3000 (one-time cost)
Website hosting (Wix)	£15/month
Semrush (Pro Plan)	$139.95/month (~£110)
Semrush Local	£40/month
ChatGPT Pro	£15/month
Backlink outreach (DIY or paid)	Time or £300+/month
Your time (10+ hrs/month)	Priceless

In total, you're looking at spending at least £2000-£3500 in the first month, and then £473 per month on a decent DIY SEO campaign, and that’s before you factor in the time you spend on it, not to mention accounting for learning, mistakes, and missed leads. For most tradesmen, it’s easier and more profitable to hire a team that does this full-time.

Final Thoughts

SEO isn’t “free traffic.” It’s a system that needs tools, time, and know-how. Whether you’re spending money on backlinks, writing blogs, or keeping your website running, it all adds up.

At Slingshot Marketing, we include everything mentioned here in our monthly service. That means no extra software bills, no long hours learning how to optimise pages, and no chasing backlinks.

Instead, we handle your SEO from start to finish, so you can focus on running your business.