On this page
- 01Key takeaways
- 02What does SEO work involve?
- 03What does an in-house SEO specialist cost?
- 04What does an SEO agency cost?
- 05When is in-house SEO better?
- 06When is an agency better?
- 07How do you judge SEO results fairly?
- 08What are the red flags on either side?
- 09What should an SEO retainer deliver each month?
- 10What does this look like in practice?
- 11SEO checklist
- 12Next step
- 13Sources and further reading
- 14Frequently asked questions
Key takeaways
In-house SEO vs agency depends on scale. An SEO specialist on £38,000 costs about £46,000–£49,000 a year with tools. Agency retainers for UK SMEs commonly run at an indicative £750–£2,500 a month, £9,000–£30,000 a year. In-house wins for large sites with constant content; agencies suit most SMEs.
- In-house SEO: about £46,000–£49,000 a year with tools.
- Agency: an indicative £9,000–£30,000 a year for SME retainers.
- In-house SEO: best for large sites publishing constantly.
- Agency: best for technical fixes, local SEO and focused content.
Want SEO costed both ways for your site? Message us on WhatsApp.
Chat on WhatsApp →What does SEO work involve?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the work of making a website easier to find in search engines and AI answers. It covers technical health, page content, local listings, internal links and earning mentions from other sites. For most SMEs, the biggest gains come from a technically sound site and pages that answer buyers' questions.
What does an in-house SEO specialist cost?
An SEO specialist on £38,000 costs about £43,900 a year in employment costs using 2026/27 rates. SEO tools for research, rank tracking and site audits often add £1,200–£4,800 a year, and equipment more. The total is about £46,000–£49,000 before recruitment. Check local salaries against ONS occupation data.
What does an SEO agency cost?
Agency pricing varies widely. For UK SMEs, retainers commonly sit at an indicative £750–£2,500 a month, with one-off technical audits and projects priced separately. Ask how many hours the retainer covers, who does the work, and what will be delivered each month.
Want an SEO scope priced against a hire? Send us your site and goals on WhatsApp.
Chat on WhatsApp →When is in-house SEO better?
When the site is large and changes constantly, such as e-commerce with thousands of products or a publisher, and SEO needs to be built into daily work with developers and writers. There, a specialist inside the team is fully used and speeds everything up.
When is an agency better?
When the site has tens of pages rather than thousands, when you need technical skills only occasionally, or when local SEO and a steady flow of useful content are the main levers. A single hire rarely covers technical, content and local SEO equally well.
How do you judge SEO results fairly?
Judge on enquiries and sales from organic search, not rankings alone. Track organic sessions to key pages, enquiries from search in your analytics and CRM, and impressions and clicks in Search Console. Expect several months before new content ranks.
What are the red flags on either side?
Watch for guaranteed rankings, reports full of keyword positions but no enquiries, and link-buying schemes, which break Google's spam policies. In-house, watch for a specialist who is busy but cannot show what changed on the site or what it produced.
What should an SEO retainer deliver each month?
A clear list of work and results, not just a rankings report. Ask for the specific changes made to the site, the content published, any technical issues fixed, and what happened to organic enquiries. If a month's report shows no changes to the site, question what the retainer paid for.
- Technical fixes made, with pages affected.
- Content published or improved.
- Organic enquiries and sessions to key pages.
- Next month's planned work.
What does this look like in practice?
A pattern we see in UK professional services firms: a junior marketer is asked to do SEO alongside everything else. Outsourcing the technical fixes and a monthly set of question-led articles, with the marketer owning briefs and approval, grows organic enquiries without a specialist hire.
SEO checklist
Use these steps to decide.
- Count your site's pages and how often they change.
- List technical, content and local SEO needs.
- Cost a specialist with tools.
- Get agency scopes with hours and deliverables.
- Agree how enquiries from search will be tracked.
Next step
Send us your site and what you want from search. We will cost in-house and agency SEO in a 30-minute call.
Message us on WhatsApp for an SEO comparison, or book a 30-minute consultation.
Chat on WhatsApp →Sources and further reading
- SEO Starter Guide · Google Search Central
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content · Google Search Central
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 · HM Revenue & Customs
- Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14 · Office for National Statistics
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to hire an SEO specialist or an agency?
For most SMEs, an agency. A specialist on £38,000 costs about £46,000–£49,000 a year with tools, while SME retainers commonly sit at an indicative £9,000–£30,000 a year. Large, fast-changing sites with constant content and development work can justify a full-time hire.
How do I measure SEO results?
Measure enquiries and sales from organic search, organic sessions to key pages, and impressions and clicks in Search Console. Rankings alone are not results. Allow several months for new content to rank, and judge the trend rather than week-to-week movements.
Can SEO be split between in-house and an agency?
Yes. A common split is an agency for technical work and content production, with someone in-house owning priorities, briefs, approvals and reporting on enquiries. The in-house owner supplies the expertise and customer knowledge that makes content useful and accurate. Agree who approves changes before work starts.
How long does SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes can show within weeks once pages are recrawled. New content usually takes several months to rank, longer in competitive markets. Local SEO improvements, such as a complete Google Business Profile, often show sooner. Plan SEO as a year-long investment rather than a quick campaign.
Written by
Global Bridge Labs (GBL) is a UK–Sri Lanka partner for social media, websites and BPO. Everything here comes from client delivery, not theory.
