An SEO package is a recurring monthly scope of work covering seven deliverables: a technical audit, keyword research and mapping, on-page optimization, content production, authority building, Google Business Profile management, and reporting through Google Search Console. A working package states a countable output for each line, not a category.
TL;DR
- Seven deliverables belong in any working package: audit, keyword mapping, on-page, content, authority, Google Business Profile, reporting.
- Each line should name a countable monthly output. Categories are not deliverables.
- Grant Manager access on Google Business Profile and read access on Search Console at audit stage.
- Google publishes its own guidance on hiring an SEO, including the promises to refuse.
- Implementation, tools, and ad spend usually sit outside the retainer.
- Published price averages run from about $1,348 to $3,250 monthly depending on provider type and survey.
Price the deliverables, not the retainer.
Key Numbers
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Providers polled, most-cited survey | 439 | Ahrefs, updated 2026 [3] |
| Average monthly retainer, all provider types | $2,917 | Ahrefs [3] |
| Average agency retainer | $3,209 | Ahrefs [3] |
| Average local SEO retainer | $1,557 | Ahrefs [3] |
| Average hourly rate | $111 | Ahrefs [3] |
| Providers billing a monthly retainer | 78.2% | Ahrefs [3] |
| Agencies charging under $1,000 monthly | 64% of 260 | SE Ranking [4] |
| Google Business Profile user roles | 2 (Owner, Manager) | Google Business Profile Help [2] |
What an SEO Package Is, and What It Is Not
In short: An SEO package is a recurring monthly scope of work, not a document you receive once.
An SEO package is a bundled set of search engine optimization services delivered on a monthly cycle for a fixed fee. A typical package covers technical fixes, keyword research, on-page changes, content, authority building, local listing management, and reporting. The work is ongoing because search results shift continuously and single fixes decay. [3]
Four terms get used as if they mean the same thing. They do not.
| What you were quoted | What you receive | How often |
|---|---|---|
| SEO package | A defined bundle of monthly deliverables | Every month |
| SEO audit | A one-time diagnostic document and roadmap | Once |
| Monthly retainer | A billing structure, not a scope | Ongoing, scope varies |
| Hybrid | An audit first, then monthly execution against it | Once, then monthly |
The distinction matters at signing time. A retainer describes how you pay. A package describes what you get. An audit is an artifact that may sit inside either one or stand alone. The hybrid shape is the most common serious engagement, because a baseline established up front is what makes month-six reporting mean anything. Two Los Angeles proposals can quote the same monthly figure while one funds recurring production and the other funds a single audit with email support attached.
Retainer billing is the default. In a poll of 439 SEO providers, 78.2% reported charging a monthly retainer. [3] That makes “what is included” the question that actually separates one quote from another, since the billing model rarely does.
A scope of work is the written list of what the agency will produce each month. If a proposal has no scope of work attached, there is no package. There is a subscription.
The Seven Deliverables in a Working SEO Package
In short: A real package produces seven things every month, and each one has a countable output you can point at.
Categories are easy to promise. Outputs are not. Here is what each line item should hand you.
1. SEO audit and technical baseline
Output: a prioritized issue list with owner and status per item. The audit covers crawlability, indexation, redirects, duplicate content, Core Web Vitals, and structured data. Ongoing months carry a shorter re-crawl, not a repeat of the full document. Watch for tool scores presented as the deliverable. Google does not evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, and those tools have no access to Google’s internal ranking data, so a rising tool score is a diagnostic signal and nothing more. [1]
2. Keyword research and mapping
Output: a keyword map assigning every target term to a specific URL, with search intent labeled. This is what prevents two of your pages from competing for the same query, a problem known as keyword cannibalization. A list of keywords with search volumes is research. A map is the deliverable.
3. On-page SEO
Output: a log of pages changed, with before and after values. Title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, internal links, image alt text, and structured data. Ask for post-release QA and a change log as well, since fixes that quietly regress after the next site update are the failure nobody catches. Ask how many pages per month. A package that optimizes four pages and one that optimizes forty are not the same product at the same price.
4. Content production
Output: published pages, counted. Briefs, drafts, and refreshes of existing pages that have slipped. Optimizing for generative AI belongs inside this line rather than sold separately, and Google now publishes its own guidance on that work. [5] If an agency sells an AEO or GEO add-on, ask which of Google’s recommendations it follows.
5. Authority building
Output: earned mentions and links, listed with the referring domain. Digital PR, expert commentary, and industry citations. Be careful with monthly link quotas. Google says you should never have to link to an SEO, and calls link popularity schemes and submitting a site to thousands of search engines useless exercises. [1] Volume promises tend to indicate purchased placements.
6. Google Business Profile
Output: a monthly log of posts, photos, review responses, and profile edits, plus citation cleanup and NAP consistency, meaning your name, address, and phone number matching across directories. For local SEO in Los Angeles, this line often outperforms everything above it. Grant your agency the Manager role, not Owner. Google’s documentation defines two roles, and a Manager can do the daily work while remaining unable to add or remove users or delete the profile. [2] Pages still listing a third “site manager” role are describing something Google retired.
7. Reporting and Google Search Console
Output: a monthly report tied to conversions, not rankings alone. Sessions, queries, impressions, calls, and form fills. Keep ownership of the Search Console property in your own account. If an agency proposes an audit, Google’s guidance is to grant read access at that stage rather than write access. [1] You can widen it later. Recovering a property you never owned is harder.
What a Monthly SEO Retainer Buys, Month to Month
In short: The seven deliverables do not arrive in equal portions, and a package still delivering setup work in month five has stalled.
The first 90 days
Month one is front-loaded. The audit runs, the keyword map gets built, Search Console and conversion tracking get connected, and the reporting baseline gets set. Month two turns findings into changes: technical fixes ship, priority pages get rewritten, the Google Business Profile gets cleaned up. Month three is the first month where published content and earned mentions start accumulating against a baseline that already exists.
Judging results at day sixty is early. Crawling, indexing, and re-evaluation each take weeks and depend on the step before them, which is why most retainers assume a six to twelve month commitment. Budget accordingly, and see what SEO costs in Los Angeles for the ranges local businesses actually pay.
Month four and beyond
The mix flattens out. Content production, authority building, Google Business Profile management, and reporting run at a steady cadence. Audit work shrinks to a monthly re-crawl. Keyword mapping becomes maintenance rather than construction.
Two things should still change. Scope shifts as data arrives, since the pages worth optimizing in month eight are the ones Search Console flagged in month six. And reports start comparing rather than describing. A month-one report establishes where you stood. A month-six report that still lists metrics without comparing them to that baseline is a screenshot, not analysis.
AI Overviews change what a good report has to explain. Answer-style results can lift impressions while clicks stay flat, so a report that celebrates impression growth alone is measuring the wrong half. Ask your agency to separate impressions from clicks and to track which queries changed shape, because Google’s own guidance on generative AI features rests on the same content fundamentals rather than a separate ranking system. [5]
Local engagements sit at the lower end of the market. The same 439-provider survey put local SEO retainers at $1,557 per month on average, against $3,209 for agency work overall. [3]
What Google Says Your SEO Should and Should Not Do
In short: Google publishes its own guidance on hiring an SEO, and most package pages never mention it.
Access to grant, and access to withhold
Google’s advice is that when an SEO offers to run an audit for you, consider carefully what is involved and grant read access to Search Console at that stage rather than write access. [1] Widening access later is simple. Reclaiming a property you never controlled is not.
Google also states that it does not evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, that those tools have no access to Google’s internal ranking data, and that buyers should be wary of any tool claiming to be approved by Google Search. [1] Treat tool scores as diagnostics.
Three questions Google suggests asking are worth putting in writing: does the agency follow Google Search Essentials, how do they measure success and over what timeframe, and will they share every change they make to your site. [1]
Promises Google tells you to refuse
No one can guarantee a number one ranking. Google says to beware of anyone who guarantees rankings, alleges a special relationship with Google, or advertises a priority submit. It adds that you should never have to link to an SEO, and that a company being secretive about what it intends to do is a reason for caution, since you remain responsible for the actions of anyone you hire. [1]
On AI search, Google now lists optimizing for generative AI among the services SEOs provide, and tells buyers to check whether an AEO or GEO provider’s advice lines up with Google’s official guidance on optimizing for generative AI features. [5] That guidance is published and free to read. Ask which parts of it your agency follows.
If you believe an SEO deceived you, the Federal Trade Commission handles complaints about deceptive business practices in the United States. [1]
What Is Not in the Package, and What Gets Billed Separately
In short: The surprises on an SEO invoice are almost always implementation, tools, or ad spend, and all three can be settled before you sign.
| Usually in scope | Usually billed separately |
|---|---|
| Audit and recommendations | Developer time to ship fixes |
| On-page changes via CMS | Site redesign or migration |
| Content briefs and drafts | Photography, video, custom graphics |
| Google Business Profile management | Paid ads and ad spend |
| Reporting and analysis | Rank tracking and call tracking tools |
| Earned mentions and outreach | Paid placements or sponsored posts |
| Monthly strategy call | Ecommerce feed or product data work |
Three of these cause most of the friction.
Implementation. A package can include a prioritized fix list and still not include anyone to ship it. If your developer controls the codebase, ask in writing who makes the change and whose hours pay for it.
Tools. Rank tracking and call tracking subscriptions get passed through at cost by some agencies and absorbed by others. Either arrangement works. An unstated one turns into a line item in month three.
Ad spend. No SEO retainer includes it, and the two are unrelated on the organic side. Google states plainly that advertising with Google has no effect on a site’s presence in its search results. [1]
Content is the quietest ambiguity. “Content included” can mean two posts or twelve. Ask for the monthly unit count, not the category.
Who owns what
Scope arguments usually trace back to an unwritten assumption about ownership. Settle it in three lines.
| Owner | Areas |
|---|---|
| Agency | Research, roadmap, technical recommendations, content briefs, on-page updates where CMS access exists, reporting |
| Shared | Approvals, subject matter expertise, brand positioning, review responses |
| You or your developer | Code and template changes, design work, platform migrations, deployments |
Scope should still move as data arrives. A contract that says how priorities shift, without a renegotiation every quarter, is worth more than a longer list of inclusions. Compare that language across the package tiers you are considering.
How to Read an SEO Scope of Work Before You Sign
In short: Six questions separate a working scope from a category list, and all six can be answered before money moves.
Six questions to ask before signing
- How many units per month? Pages optimized, pages published, mentions earned. Numbers, not categories.
- Who implements the fixes? If the audit finds forty technical issues, name the person who ships them and whose hours pay for it.
- What access do you need, and at what level? Manager on the Google Business Profile, read access on Search Console at audit stage. Both properties stay in your accounts.
- What does the monthly report compare against? A report with no baseline describes. A report with one measures.
- How long is the term, and what happens at month three? Six to twelve months is standard. The useful question is what the review looks like if the data disappoints.
- How does scope change when priorities change? Search Console will surface pages nobody planned for. The contract should say how those get picked up.
Google publishes its own version of this list, and asking whether an agency works to Google Search Essentials is a fair opening question. [1]
What a real deliverable looks like on paper
A deliverable is something you can receive, count, and file. If you cannot name the artifact, the line is a category wearing a deliverable’s clothes.
Compare the same commitment written two ways:
Ongoing content optimization and improvement.
Four existing pages rewritten each month, listed by URL in the monthly report.
Same work, possibly the same price. Only one of them is checkable in month two. Put both proposals side by side on unit counts alone, and the price gap usually explains itself.
One more thing: the scope of work belongs in the signed agreement, not the sales deck. Decks get revised. Contracts do not.
What This Costs, and Where the Numbers Come From
In short: Published SEO averages disagree by three times, and the spread comes from who answered the survey rather than from the market itself.
The most cited dataset is a poll of 439 SEO providers. It reported $2,917 per month on average across all provider types, with agencies at $3,209, consultants at $3,250, freelancers at $1,348, and local SEO work at $1,557. Hourly pricing averaged $111. [3]
Two caveats belong with those numbers. They are provider-reported figures from a self-selected survey, not audited invoices. And several pages quote the $3,209 agency figure as the overall average, which the survey does not say.
Other surveys land elsewhere. SE Ranking’s poll of 260 agencies found 64% charging under $1,000 per month. [4] Both results are accurate. They measure different slices of a market where a solo local specialist and a national agency both call the product an SEO package.
Notice also that agency pages publishing their own tier ranges tend to open above the survey medians. A page quoting $1,500 to $4,000 for local work sits well above the $1,557 average local retainer that providers themselves reported. [3] Neither number is dishonest. One describes a price list and the other describes a market.
Which returns the question to scope. Two Los Angeles quotes at $2,500 a month can carry twice the unit count, and the sections above give you the means to check which. Price the deliverables, not the retainer.
For local ranges by business type and competition level, see our full breakdown of SEO pricing in Los Angeles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is included in an SEO package?
A standard SEO package includes seven deliverables: a technical audit, keyword research and mapping, on-page optimization, content production, authority building, Google Business Profile management, and monthly reporting through Google Search Console. Each should carry a countable monthly output rather than a category name.
What is not included in an SEO package?
Developer time to implement fixes, site redesigns and migrations, photography and video, paid advertising and ad spend, and third-party tool subscriptions usually fall outside the monthly fee. Google states that advertising with Google has no effect on a site’s presence in organic search results.
How much does an SEO package cost per month?
A poll of 439 providers reported an average of $2,917 per month across all provider types, $3,209 for agencies, and $1,557 for local SEO work. A separate survey of 260 agencies found 64% charging under $1,000 monthly, so published averages vary by which providers answered.
What is the difference between an SEO package and an SEO audit?
A package is a recurring monthly scope of work. An audit is a one-time diagnostic document and roadmap. An audit can sit inside a package or stand alone as a project, and the two are priced differently because one repeats and one does not.
Should I give my SEO agency access to Google Search Console?
Yes, with limits. Google advises granting read access at the audit stage rather than write access, and the property should stay in an account you own. Access can be widened later. Reclaiming a property you never controlled is harder.
Can an SEO agency guarantee first-page rankings?
No. Google states that no one can guarantee a number one ranking and advises caution toward anyone who guarantees rankings, claims a special relationship with Google, or advertises a priority submit to Google.
What should an SEO content brief include?
A usable brief names the target query and three to five supporting questions, states the search intent, lists required sections and headings, names the sources to cite, and specifies which internal links to include. Without those elements, a brief is a topic suggestion rather than a production document.
Definition Bank
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| SEO package | A bundled set of search optimization services delivered on a monthly cycle for a fixed fee. |
| SEO audit | A one-time diagnostic review of a site that produces a prioritized list of issues and a roadmap. |
| Monthly retainer | A billing structure, ongoing and fixed, that describes how you pay rather than what you receive. |
| Scope of work | The written list of what an agency will produce each month, belonging in the contract rather than the sales deck. |
| Change order | A written agreement to shift the scope when priorities change mid-engagement. |
| Keyword map | A document assigning every target keyword to a specific page, with search intent labeled. |
| On-page SEO | Changes made on the page itself: titles, meta descriptions, headings, internal links, alt text, structured data. |
| Authority building | Earning mentions and links from other sites through outreach, commentary, and digital PR. |
| Manager role | The Google Business Profile access level that allows daily management without the ability to add or remove users or delete the profile. |
| Google Search Console | A free Google tool reporting how a site performs in search, including queries, impressions, clicks, and indexing status. |
Entity Cards
Google Search Console
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| What it is | Free Google reporting tool for search performance and indexing |
| Who should own it | The business, in an account it controls |
| Access at audit stage | Read access, per Google guidance [1] |
| What it proves | Queries, impressions, clicks, position, coverage issues |
| Common misuse | Reporting impressions alone with no conversion tie-in |
Google Business Profile
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| What it is | The business listing that appears in Maps and the local pack |
| User roles | Owner and Manager [2] |
| Role for an agency | Manager |
| Manager limits | Cannot add or remove users, cannot remove the profile [2] |
| Monthly outputs | Posts, photos, review responses, profile edits, citation cleanup |
SEO audit
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| What it produces | Prioritized issue list with owner and status per item |
| Frequency | Full audit once, shorter re-crawl monthly |
| Covers | Crawlability, indexation, redirects, duplicates, Core Web Vitals, structured data |
| Not the same as | A third-party tool score, which Google does not endorse or evaluate [1] |
| Implementation | Often billed separately from the audit itself |
Sources
- Google Search Central, “Do you need an SEO? Tips for hiring an SEO,” updated June 5, 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo
- Google Business Profile Help, “Manage your Business Profile owners and managers,” accessed September 2026. https://support.google.com/business/answer/3403100
- Ahrefs, “SEO Pricing: How Much Does SEO Cost? 439 People Polled,” updated 2026. https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing
- SE Ranking, agency SEO pricing survey, 260 agencies, 2026.
- Google Search Central, “Optimizing for generative AI,” accessed September 2026. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide