TL;DR
An SEO package is a fixed monthly scope at a fixed price, and the published ones on October 14, 2026 sort into four bands. Under $500 (Boostability's $299 to $499 starter, Third Marble's $399, Loganix's $500 link plan) buys listings, citations, titles and a report, with content and links either absent or automated. $500 to $1,500 (Boostability $600 and $1,200, Third Marble $699 and $999, Skill Mammoth's $750 Local tier) adds on-page work, Google Business Profile management, one to two posts a month and review handling. $1,500 to $3,000 (our $1,500 Authority tier, Boostability $1,800 and $2,400, Epidemic from $2,499, WebFX from $2,900) adds city pages, authority links, four to six posts and a monthly strategy call. Above $3,000 (our Pro tier, Searchbloom and Helium from $3,000, Percepture from about $3,000) is topic clusters, digital PR and original research. Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers puts the most common retainer at $501 to $1,000, so most small businesses buy the second band. The table below shows what each band should contain, so you can grade any package by its line items instead of its price.
Every page on the first result for "seo packages for small business" was written by an agency, including this one. Our packages are published, which is the reason we can write the guide: the line items below are the ones we sell, the ones our competitors sell, and the ones that should make you suspicious at any price. If you want the market rates first, read how much SEO costs; this post is about what the money buys.
What a package is, and why agencies sell them
A retainer is "we will work on your SEO for $X a month." A package is "for $X a month you get these twelve things," and the difference is the list. Ahrefs found 78.2 percent of 439 providers charge a monthly fee, the most common band is $501 to $1,000, agencies average $3,209 and freelancers $1,349. Packages exist because small businesses cannot evaluate a retainer; they can evaluate a list. The trick is that most published lists are padded with items that cost the agency nothing ("keyword research," "monthly reporting," "Google Analytics setup") and thin on the items that cost real hours (pages written, links earned, reviews answered). Grade the list by hours, not by length.
The four price bands and what each should contain
| Band | Published examples (Oct 14, 2026) | What it should include | What it cannot include at this price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500 | Boostability Listings $49, Local Search Starter $299 to $499; Third Marble $399 (under 40 pages); Loganix Standard $500 (links only) | Directory listings and citations, Google Business Profile cleanup, title and meta updates, a monthly report | Written pages, earned links, review responses, a strategist on the phone |
| $500 to $1,500 | Boostability Growth $600 and $1,200; Third Marble $699 and $999; Loganix Authority $1,000; Skill Mammoth Local $750 | Everything above plus on-page fixes across the site, schema, Google Business Profile posting, one to two posts a month, a review request system, a quarterly review | City-page expansion, authority placements, monthly strategy calls |
| $1,500 to $3,000 | Skill Mammoth Authority $1,500; Boostability $1,800 and $2,400; Epidemic from $2,499; WebFX from $2,900; eSEOspace's "realistic" band $1,000 to $2,500 | Everything above plus city and neighborhood pages, curated authority links, four to six posts a month, competitor gap analysis, AI visibility tracking, a monthly dashboard and call | Digital PR campaigns, original research, topic clusters at scale |
| Above $3,000 | Skill Mammoth Pro $3,000; Searchbloom and Helium from $3,000; Percepture about $3,000; Blue Corona $2,000 to $10,000 | Everything above plus pillar-and-cluster builds, original research with data, digital PR to high-authority publications, same-day support, a named lead strategist | Nothing it should not; the question is whether your market needs it |
| Verdict | A one-location service business in a mid-size market is a $500 to $1,500 problem. Three locations or a metro where the leader spends five figures is a $1,500 to $3,000 problem. Buy the band that matches the competition, then grade the package by the hours in it. | ||
What our three packages contain, line by line
We publish ours so you can hold any other quote against it. All three are month to month with no setup fee, and website care (hosting, security, updates, two edit requests a month, monthly reporting) is a separate ladder from $350.
Local, $750 a month. Weekly Google Business Profile management (posts, photos, updates, questions). Citations built and maintained on Yelp, Angi, BBB, industry directories and 20-plus local directories. Schema for LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ and Review. A baseline ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews visibility setup. Two SEO-optimized posts a month in answer-first format and a quarterly on-page refresh. An automated post-job review request system and responses to every review. A quarterly ranking and AI visibility snapshot.
Authority, $1,500 a month. Everything in Local, plus ongoing schema expansion on service pages, FAQ blocks and review markup; curated authority placements in industry publications and adjacent home service resources (real sites, no directory dumps); up to five new city and neighborhood pages a month; a competitor gap analysis with monthly action items; four to six posts a month; AI visibility tracking across 20-plus queries; a monthly dashboard of rankings, AI citations, local pack position and competitor gaps; a monthly strategy call.
Pro, $3,000 a month. Everything in Authority, plus full topic clusters (a pillar page plus eight to twelve supporting pages per cluster), original research content with proprietary data, digital PR outreach to the publications that feed AI training data, voice search work, Wikipedia and Wikidata entity work where applicable, competitor displacement monitoring, AI citation tracking across 40-plus queries, same-day support and direct access to the lead strategist.
How the published competitors compare
Boostability (Lehi, Utah) has the most price points: Listings from $49, Local Search Starter at $299 to $499, Growth at $600, $1,200 and $1,800, Scale at $2,400 and $3,000, and an Executive tier at $3,600. The deliverables are described in a paragraph per track rather than itemized, which is the first thing to ask for. Third Marble Marketing prices by site size, $399 under 40 pages, $699 to 80 pages, $999 above, per Thryv's roundup. Loganix sells two links a month at $500 or $1,000 with a $500 setup and no minimum term, and nothing else, which is honest and narrow. Epidemic Marketing (Denver) starts at $2,499 with Local Services Ads management included for trades. WebFX starts at $2,900 with its reporting platform. Searchbloom starts at $3,000 for SEO and $2,000 for Google Ads management. Our small business SEO companies list profiles each.
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Local SEO packages: what the "local" changes
"Local SEO packages" (480 searches a month) and "local SEO services for small business" (880) are the same purchase with the map pack in front. The deliverables that move a map-pack ranking are not the ones that move an organic ranking: a correct and complete Google Business Profile with the right primary category, a steady review velocity with responses, citations that agree on name, address and phone, service-area pages for the suburbs you actually drive to, and photos and posts on the profile. A local package that lists "keyword research" and "blog posts" but not "review responses" and "citation maintenance" is a national package with the word local on it. Our local SEO service page and contractor SEO guide cover the map-pack mechanics; the point here is to check the line items.
Six line items that should make you suspicious
"Guaranteed rankings." Nobody controls Google. A guarantee is either for a keyword nobody searches or a refund clause with conditions. "Unlimited keywords." Ranking is page by page; the number of keywords on a report is free to inflate. "100 backlinks a month." At $500 a month that is $5 a link, and $5 links are directories, comment spam or private networks; Loganix's $250 to $500 per link is what a real guest-post link costs. "Content" without a count. Ask how many pages, how many words, who writes them, whether they are AI-generated and edited, and who owns them. A setup fee above one month's retainer. Audits are real work, but a $2,500 audit on a $500 plan is the plan. A 12-month term on a package under $1,500. Loganix, Boostability's page and our tiers run month to month; if a competitor needs a year, ask what happens at month four if nothing has moved.
The 90-day test for any package
Whatever band you buy, three things should be visible by day 90. The citations and the Google Business Profile should agree everywhere, which you can check yourself by searching your business name and phone number. The pages in the package should exist, be indexed and be readable by a person, which you can check with a site: search. And the report should show movement on the handful of terms that bring customers, not the hundred that pad the list. An agency that cannot show those three at day 90 at any price is not going to show them at day 180. Our SEO ROI calculator turns the terms into a revenue number so the conversation at day 90 is about jobs, not positions.
Frequently asked questions
How much do SEO packages for small business cost?
Published packages on October 14, 2026 run from $299 (Boostability's starter) and $399 (Third Marble) to $3,600 (Boostability's top tier), with Skill Mammoth at $750, $1,500 and $3,000. Ahrefs' survey of 439 providers puts the most common retainer at $501 to $1,000 a month and the agency average at $3,209. A one-location service business should expect $750 to $1,500 for a program with written pages and review handling.
What should an SEO package include?
At minimum: citations and listings maintenance, a Google Business Profile cleanup, on-page fixes with schema, and a report. From $750: Google Business Profile posting, one to two written pages or posts a month, a review request and response system. From $1,500: city pages, authority links, four to six posts, competitor analysis, AI visibility tracking and a monthly call. Above $3,000: topic clusters, original research and digital PR.
What is the difference between an SEO package and a retainer?
A package is a fixed scope at a fixed price; a retainer is a fixed price for the agency's time. Packages are easier to compare and harder to tailor. Most agencies sell packages to businesses under $2,000 a month and retainers above it.
Are cheap SEO packages worth it?
Under $500 buys listings, citations and titles, which is worth it for a business with no real competition and a clean site, and insufficient anywhere else. The failure mode is a $300 package that promises content and 100 links; at that price the content is automated and the links are the kind Google penalizes.
Do SEO packages require a contract?
Loganix states no minimum term, Boostability's pricing page states none, and Skill Mammoth's packages are month to month. Many agencies attach six or twelve months; ask before signing, and ask who owns the pages and the Google Business Profile if you leave.
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