Short answer: local SEO is usually a monthly fee per location, plus one-time projects such as an audit or a listings cleanup. In BrightLocal's 2023 survey, US providers billed each client $799.00 to $1,569.00 a month on average. Listing tools from Moz Local and BrightLocal add $20.00 to $65.00 a month for one location, paying monthly. Our SEO Starter costs $1,500.00 a month for one location, with no setup fee, month to month.
The work a local SEO fee pays for
Local SEO is the work that helps a business show up when someone nearby searches for what it sells, on Google Maps and in the local results of Google Search.
- The Google Business Profile. Categories, services, photos, posts, opening hours and holiday hours. If your profile has a questions and answers section, answering those too: Google says it's available only for some categories and regions. Google also says a verified profile is more likely to show up in search results. Our guide on how to verify your Google Business Profile covers each method and what to do when one fails.
- Reviews. Asking every customer with a review link or a QR code, replying to good and bad reviews, and reporting the ones that break Google's rules.
- Citations. Your listings in directories, maps and apps, with the same name, address and phone number as the profile. Fixing the old ones is mostly a one-time job; keeping them right is upkeep.
- Local pages on your website. A page for each service, and one for each area you serve, each with content of its own.
- Local links. Mentions from your chamber of commerce, local press, suppliers and the events you sponsor.
- Measurement. For verified profiles, Google's Performance report counts the calls from the call button, the direction requests, the website clicks and, when they go through a booking provider, the bookings. Listing tools add a map grid: your position seen from several points of your area, such as different neighborhoods.
If you would rather do part of it yourself, our checklist on how to rank higher on Google Maps has the steps.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, Edit your Business Profile and Understand your Business Profile performance & insights, read October 22, 2026.
How local SEO is charged
Our article on digital marketing agency pricing covers how agencies charge for any service. In local SEO, the number that moves the price is locations: most tools count them, and many fees do.
| Model | How it works | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee per location | A set amount of work each month for one location: the profile, posts, review replies, listings and some work on your pages | How many posts, replies and pages each month, and what a second location adds |
| Setup fee | Paid once, for the cleanup at the start: the profile, old listings, call and form tracking | What it covers that the monthly fee doesn't (our SEO Starter has no setup fee) |
| One-time project | A fixed price for an audit, a new profile, a citation cleanup or a set of area pages | What you get in writing at the end, and who makes the fixes |
| Hourly | Time spent on your profile and site, often to review the work of your own team | The minimum charge, how the time is rounded, and whether you get notes in writing |
BrightLocal asked local SEO agencies and freelancers how they bill. In its 2023 table, 63% of agencies charged a monthly fee for a set list of tasks, 36% charged per project and 28% by the hour. Freelancers were more evenly split: 51% a monthly fee for a set list of tasks, 44% per project and 43% hourly. The shares add up to more than 100%, so many named more than one method.
A monthly fee for a set list of tasks is what providers sell as a local SEO package. Per location, a package should list how many posts and review replies it includes, which listings it keeps up, which pages it fixes or adds and which searches it tracks. Our article on SEO pricing explains how SEO packages work and what else to get in writing.
Several locations, or no storefront
Each location that customers visit gets its own profile. Google asks a chain to use the same name on all of them, and the same category where they offer the same service. Three locations mean three profiles to keep up, three sets of listings and three areas to track.
A business that goes to its customers, such as a plumber or a cleaning company, is a service-area business. If it doesn't serve customers at its address, Google asks it to remove the address from the profile. It gets one profile for its whole area, with up to 20 service areas. That area shouldn't extend farther than about two hours of driving from the base, though Google allows larger areas for some businesses.
A virtual office, a rented address the business doesn't work from, can't hold a profile at all. For these businesses, more of the work moves to the website: a page for each area that matters.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google and Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses; BrightLocal, Local Search Industry Survey 2023. Read October 22, 2026.
What local SEO providers charge
The newest survey of local SEO providers we found that publishes its sample and its method is BrightLocal's Local Search Industry Survey. BrightLocal, which sells local SEO software, ran it on SurveyMonkey. It got 534 responses from its subscribers, its customers, social media and peers, and 72% came from the US. It published the results on August 17, 2023, and doesn't say when the answers were collected.
It averaged what its US respondents billed each client a month, grouped by how long their clients usually stay:
| Clients usually stay | Average billed per client a month |
|---|---|
| Up to 12 months | $799.00 |
| 1 to 2 years | $1,349.00 |
| 2 to 3 years | $1,569.00 |
| 3 to 5 years | $1,355.00 |
| 5 to 10 years | $1,190.00 |
| More than 10 years | $1,285.00 |
Source: BrightLocal, Local Search Industry Survey 2023, read October 22, 2026. Respondents: SEO agencies 53%, freelancers 13%, businesses with one or more locations 21%, web design agencies 10%, others 3%.
These are averages of what providers bill, not prices for a set amount of work, and they are more than three years old.
We left out two newer sources. A GoodFirms survey of more than 300 agency professionals, from April and May 2026, covers SEO in general rather than local work. WebFX, an agency, cites 250 US marketing and sales professionals without saying when it asked them. Our article on SEO pricing reads two 2024 surveys of SEO providers, from Ahrefs and SE Ranking.
Two companies that sell local SEO software also print a price for doing the work: BrightLocal's managed SEO service costs $1,299.00 a month, and Whitespark's done-for-you SEO plans run from $499.00 to $1,999.00 a month. Before you compare them with a quote, ask what each one includes.
What listing and review software costs
Many providers use a listings tool to send the same name, address and phone number to directories and to keep an eye on reviews. Sometimes the provider pays for it, sometimes the business does. These are the plans for one location, as each company prints them:
| Plan | Price for one location | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Moz Local Lite | $20.00 a month, or $199.00 a year | Listings on more than 90 directories, review monitoring, a map ranking grid and data health reports |
| Moz Local Preferred | $30.00 a month, or $299.00 a year | Lite, plus replies to Google and Facebook reviews, posts to both, and competitor analysis |
| Moz Local Elite | $40.00 a month, or $399.00 a year | Preferred, plus its Listings AI, posts to Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and reports on leads and reviews |
| BrightLocal Track | $41.00 a month, or $369.00 a year | Local SEO audits, rankings for up to 100 keywords and 4 competitors, citation checks and a profile audit |
| BrightLocal Manage | $54.00 a month, or $485.00 a year | Track, plus your details kept in sync on major sites, and posts scheduled on your profile |
| BrightLocal Grow | $65.00 a month, or $584.00 a year | Manage, plus review monitoring and replies, review requests by email, SMS and in store, and reviews shown on your website |
| Whitespark Local Platform | $1.00 a month | Google profile management: edits in bulk and protection against unwanted updates |
| Whitespark Reputation Builder | $79.00 a month | Review requests and review management |
| Yext | No published price: a custom quote, billed yearly | Listings, pages, reviews and social in one custom bundle, built for companies with many locations |
Moz Local asks for one subscription per location and manages listings in the US, the UK and Canada. BrightLocal prices each plan by how many locations it manages: for 2 to 5 locations, the whole plan costs $62.00 a month on Track, $76.00 on Manage and $87.00 on Grow, paying monthly.
Yext says its price depends on how many locations you have, which of its solutions you need and how long you commit. It bills yearly, and it says smaller businesses are better served by its reseller partners.
Citations can also be bought without a subscription. BrightLocal's Citation Builder starts at $3.20 per site, or as little as $2.00 with bulk credits, and Whitespark's listing packages run from $20.00 to $999.00, paid once.
Sources: pricing pages of Moz Local, BrightLocal and Whitespark, and Yext's page on how much Yext costs, read October 22, 2026. Prices in US dollars.
What Google rewards, and what it bans
Google says local results depend mainly on relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance and prominence: how well known the business is, which includes how many websites link to it and how many reviews it has. It also says nobody can pay it for a better local ranking. A fee can buy work on relevance and prominence, never a position.
- Your name. The name on the profile has to be the one on your storefront, website and stationery. Extra words are not permitted and can get the profile suspended. In Google's own example, "Midas Auto Service Experts" should read "Midas".
- Reviews. You can ask every customer for a review. You can't offer money, a discount or a free service for one. You can't ask only the happy customers, discourage bad reviews, pressure people to write one while they're at your business or give your staff a quota. When Google finds fake reviews, it can block new ones for a while, hide the ones the profile has or show a warning that fake reviews were removed.
- Area pages. Google's spam policies call it doorway abuse to make pages aimed at specific cities or regions that send visitors to one page. A page for an area has to be useful on its own.
When a provider breaks these rules for you, it's your profile that pays: our guide on a suspended Google Business Profile explains why it happens and how to appeal. To ask for reviews inside the rules, see how to get more Google reviews. For the bad ones, see how to respond to negative reviews and how to remove a Google review.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Guidelines for representing your business on Google and Business Profile restrictions for policy violations. Maps User Generated Content Policy Help, Prohibited & restricted content. Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search. Read October 22, 2026.
What a local SEO fee leaves out
- Software. A listings or review tool, when the provider doesn't include it: see the plans above, and ask whose account it's in.
- Photos and video. The profile takes both. A photo shoot at your business is usually a separate cost.
- Review requests by text or email. Sending them from a tool is often a subscription of its own, such as Whitespark's Reputation Builder at $79.00 a month per location.
- The website. Local SEO fixes and adds pages. A new website is a separate project: see what a website costs.
- Sales tax. Our prices don't include it. Where Florida applies it, it goes on the invoice.
Our local SEO prices
On our pricing page, local SEO is the SEO plan listed as "Google Maps and local SEO". SEO Starter costs $1,500.00 a month for one location, with no setup fee, month to month; to cancel, you give 30 days' written notice. Each month it includes:
- Your Google Business Profile, with 4 posts a month and a reply to every review.
- Directory listings with the same name, address and phone number as the profile.
- Fixes on up to 4 pages of your website, or 2 new pages.
- A report with your position in Google Maps for up to 15 searches, and the calls, direction requests and website clicks that came from the profile.
- Posts and the report in English, Spanish or both, at the same price.
Growth and Pro have a 3-month minimum, and we give their prices on a call. Pro covers up to 3 locations or a whole metro area, and more than three locations get a custom quote. Our local SEO page shows how we do the work, and our SEO services page covers the other plans.
One location or three
| What you pay for | One location | Three locations |
|---|---|---|
| Our fee | $1,500.00 a month, SEO Starter | SEO Pro, priced on a call |
| Moz Local Lite, paid yearly | $199.00 a year | $597.00 a year, one subscription each |
| BrightLocal Manage, paid monthly | $54.00 a month | $76.00 a month in total, the plan for 2 to 5 locations |
Our calculation with the prices on our pricing page and the Moz Local and BrightLocal pricing pages, read October 22, 2026: $199.00 × 3 = $597.00.
A year of SEO Starter for one location comes to $18,000.00 ($1,500.00 × 12), before sales tax. With an active PPC plan, each extra monthly service costs $150.00 less, so SEO Starter would cost $1,350.00 a month while the PPC plan lasts. If you want a second opinion first, our marketing audit costs $500.00 and is credited in full if you sign a plan within 30 days. Consulting costs $200.00 an hour, with a 1-hour minimum and then 30-minute blocks.
Frequently asked questions
How much does local SEO cost per month?
The newest survey of local SEO providers with a published sample and method that we found is BrightLocal's, from 2023: its US respondents billed an average of $799.00 to $1,569.00 a month per client. Listing software adds $20.00 to $65.00 a month for one location on Moz Local and BrightLocal. Our SEO Starter costs $1,500.00 a month for one location.
Is local SEO priced per location?
Usually. Each location that customers visit has its own Google profile, its own listings and map rankings to track, so fees and tools tend to count locations. Moz Local asks for one subscription per location, and BrightLocal prices its plans by the number of locations. A service-area business with one base has one profile for its whole area.
How much does Yext cost?
Yext doesn't publish a price. Its own page says the price is custom and depends on how many locations you have, which solution you need and how long you commit, with yearly billing. It also says smaller businesses are better served by its reseller partners. Moz Local, BrightLocal and Whitespark print their prices.
Who should own my Google Business Profile?
Your business. Keep the primary owner role with someone at your company and add the agency as a manager: open More (three dots), Business Profile settings, People and access, select Add, enter the agency's email and choose Manager. Managers can edit the profile, reply to reviews and publish posts, but can't add or remove users or remove the profile.
Can I give customers a discount for a Google review?
No. Google's Maps content policy bans offering money, discounts, free goods or services for posting, changing or removing a review, and it bans asking only happy customers. Google removes those reviews and can stop new ones for a while or warn visitors on your profile. You can ask every customer, with a review link or QR code.
Questions for a local SEO provider
- Who will be the primary owner of the Google Business Profile, and will the agency join as a manager rather than an owner?
- Which listings and tools does the fee include, whose account are they in, and what happens to the listings if you cancel?
- How many locations and service areas does the price cover, and what does one more cost?
- How will reviews be asked for, and who replies to them, in which languages and how fast?
- What does the report show: calls, direction requests, website clicks and bookings from the profile, and your map position from several points of your area?
- Which pages of your website get fixed or written each month, and what makes each area page different from the others?
- What results do they expect, by when, and how will they measure them? Google's page on hiring an SEO suggests that question too.
- Is there a minimum term, and how much notice do you have to give to leave?
If your business is in Miami, see how we do local SEO in Miami and how we work as an SEO agency in Miami.
