Done for You SEO: What It Costs and What You Actually Get
SearchBlueprint · · 12 min read · scored 92/100
Done for you SEO is a service where a specialist or software platform runs the audit, keyword research, on-page and technical fixes, content, links and reporting for your website, and you approve the plan. Listed prices range from one-off packages starting at $3,997 to retainers of GBP 500 to GBP 4,000 a month.
It suits owners who know search matters but can't give it hours every week. The catch is in the word "done." One provider's package ends with a content plan you still have to write yourself. Another writes weekly blog posts and builds links for you. Before you compare prices, find out exactly which tasks come off your plate.
What done for you SEO includes
A complete done for you SEO service takes six jobs off your hands. Providers bundle and name them differently, but the work underneath is the same.
The six jobs a full package covers
- Audit and strategy. A health check of your whole site, a look at which competitors rank and why, keyword research, and a roadmap in priority order. Everything after this step depends on it.
- On-page optimization. Title tags, meta descriptions, headings, page copy, image alt text and the links between your own pages. Each page gets reworked to target one clear search.
- Technical fixes. Page speed, mobile layout, broken links, redirects, and anything that stops Google from crawling or indexing a page. A good technical SEO audit puts these fixes in the order they matter, so the most damaging problems are fixed first.
- Content. New service pages, landing pages and blog posts mapped to the keywords from step one, plus refreshes of older posts that have slipped.
- Links and mentions. Outreach to relevant sites, digital PR, and business citations for local companies. This is the slowest and most manual job on the list.
- Reporting. A monthly account of what was done and what changed: traffic, rankings, and the enquiries and sales that came from search.
Some DFY SEO packages now add a seventh job. They check whether AI answer engines, such as ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews, cite your pages when people ask about your service. Most of what earns those citations is the same six jobs done well: clear pages that answer a question directly.
Where "done for you" stops short
Three published packages show how much the scope varies.
Laura Jawad Marketing lists DFY SEO packages starting at $3,997 for service-based businesses. That covers keyword and competitor research, on-page and technical fixes, and a recorded strategy session. You also get a content plan of at least 10 long-form pieces, with keywords for each, and written instructions for maintaining your SEO. The package lists blog writing, paid ads, social media and ongoing tracking and reporting as not included. Reporting is sold as an add-on.
Figment, a UK agency working since 2006, prices done for you SEO campaigns from GBP 500 to GBP 4,000 a month. Its worked example is a 20-hour monthly campaign covering 50 keywords, with weekly blogs, technical SEO, manual outreach and management, for GBP 2,000 plus VAT. That comes to about GBP 100 per campaign hour.
Bulldog Digital Media lists an SEO package from GBP 1,500 a month. It includes keyword research, a content calendar, onsite optimization, link building, digital PR, blog content refreshing and reporting.
| Provider (as published) | Listed price | Format | Content writing | Links and reporting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laura Jawad Marketing | From $3,997 | One-off project | A plan for 10+ pieces; writing not included | No link building listed; reporting is an add-on |
| Figment | GBP 500 to GBP 4,000 a month | Monthly retainer | Weekly blogs in the GBP 2,000 example | Manual outreach; monthly reports and a KPI dashboard |
| Bulldog Digital Media | From GBP 1,500 a month | Monthly retainer | Content calendar and blog refreshing | Link building, digital PR and monthly reports |
Compare scope before you compare price. A cheaper quote that leaves the writing to you costs more if that writing never happens.
How much done for you SEO costs
You'll come across three pricing models, and each one buys something different.
- One-off project. You pay once for research and implementation. It fits a site with basic problems to fix, but you still need a plan for the content that follows.
- Monthly retainer. The most common model. You pay for a block of hours or a set list of tasks each month, usually with a minimum term.
- Software subscription. A platform does the research, fixes and drafting, and you review and approve. You pay for output rather than hours.
What moves the price
- Keyword count. Figment's example ties its GBP 2,000 price to 50 keywords. More keywords mean more pages to build and track.
- Content volume. Weekly posts cost more than monthly ones, and long guides cost more than short posts.
- Link building. Manual outreach and digital PR take hours of human work for every link earned.
- Competition. A plumber in a small town needs less work than a law firm in a big city.
- Site size and technical debt. A 500-page store with tangled redirects needs more fixing than a 10-page service site.
If you're setting a budget, this breakdown of what it costs to outsource SEO as a small business goes through the options line by line.
What your retainer hours buy
At about GBP 100 an hour, you should know where the hours go. Some go on repeatable work: pulling keyword data, rerunning the audit, rewriting meta tags, formatting the monthly report. Others go on judgment, like choosing which pages to build, pitching editors and deciding what to cut.
Ask your provider for that split. Software now handles the repeatable part well, and a platform built around those same jobs can take it over without billing you by the hour.
Done for you vs done with you vs DIY
The three approaches differ in who does the work. Laura Jawad Marketing puts the gap between a strategy package and a full-service one this way: one hands you the playbook, the other runs the plays. Done with you sits in the middle. An expert builds the plan and reviews the work, and your team makes the changes.
| Approach | Who does the work | Your time each month | Best fit | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY | You, with free and paid tools | High | Small sites and owners who enjoy the work | Technical gaps and content that stalls |
| Done with you | An expert plans and reviews; your team implements | Medium | Teams with an in-house writer or developer | The plan stalls when your team gets busy |
| Done for you SEO (agency) | The agency, end to end | Low: approvals and access | Busy owners with a steady budget | Paying for hours you can't see |
| Done for you SEO (platform) | Software, with you approving | Low: reviewing drafts | Small businesses and agencies running many sites | Weaker at PR and relationship-based links |
When DIY is enough
You don't always need to hire anyone. A local business with a handful of pages can go a long way on its own. Give each page its own title and meta description. Build one page per service instead of listing everything on one page. Keep your Google Business Profile up to date and ask happy customers for reviews. If you're comfortable in your website builder, you can do all of this yourself.
When to hand it off
- Your pages aren't showing up in Google and you can't tell why.
- Competitors publish every week and you publish every few months.
- You've started SEO twice and stopped twice because the business came first.
- You're moving to a new site or platform, where one wrong redirect can cost you rankings it took years to earn.
Agency or AI platform: two ways to get SEO done for you
Until recently, done for you SEO meant hiring an agency. Software now does much of the same work. The right choice depends on which of the six jobs you need done.
Where an agency earns its fee
- Digital PR and outreach. People pitching editors at real publications, which software can't do for you.
- Big judgment calls. Site migrations, rebrands, and recovering from a sudden traffic drop.
- Brand voice. Interviews with you and your customers, so the content sounds like your business.
- A named person. Someone who picks up the phone and explains a bad month.
Where a platform does the job better
- Speed. An audit and a strategy in minutes rather than weeks of onboarding.
- Consistency. Every draft is held to the same rules every time.
- A visible record. Software can log each change it makes, so you can see the work behind the bill.
- No hours to bill. Repeat tasks don't add to your invoice each month.
SearchBlueprint is one example. It crawls your site, maps keywords to pages, and drafts articles that have to pass 36 checks. It adds internal links drawn from a crawl of your own site instead of guessing URLs. It also tracks rankings weekly in each market and confirms each post is live at its URL after publishing.
A platform won't pitch a journalist or sit in your strategy meeting. Plenty of businesses pair one with a specialist, using software for the repeatable work and a person for PR and the big decisions.
How long done for you SEO takes to work
Expect early signs within about three months and bigger growth somewhere between months six and nine. That's the pattern the agencies above publish, and it fits how search engines work.
Why results lag behind the work
Rankings only move after Google re-crawls each improved page and weighs it against competitors. Laura Jawad Marketing names four things that set the pace: how competitive your niche is, how much content you've already published, the strength of your online reputation, and how clearly your site says what you offer. A site that was missing the basics may see quick shifts. A site with a decent foundation tends to grow steadily over three to six months and beyond.
A realistic timeline
| Timeframe | What you should see | Where the expectation comes from | What to ask your provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | Audit findings, keyword research and a roadmap in priority order | Every package reviewed here starts with research | Which fixes come first, and why |
| First 3 months | More impressions in Search Console and early ranking moves | Laura Jawad Marketing; Bulldog says most clients see movement within 3 months | Which pages gained impressions |
| Months 3 to 6 | Steady growth as Google re-crawls improved pages | Laura Jawad Marketing's published FAQ | Which keywords reached page one |
| Months 6 to 9 | More significant growth in traffic and leads | Bulldog Digital Media's published FAQ | How many enquiries and sales came from search |
Figment's published case studies show the upside. One reports 83% more page one rankings and 80% more organic traffic after six months, plus 24% more website enquiries in the first three months. These are results an agency chose to showcase, so read them as the best case you could hope for.
How to choose a done for you SEO provider
The right done for you SEO provider covers the jobs you can't do and shows you the work. Ask the questions below first, then check for the warning signs.
Six questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly will you do, and what's excluded? Get the exclusions in writing. In the packages above, content writing and reporting are where scope varies most.
- Will you make the changes on my site yourself? Ask what access they need and who approves changes before they go live.
- How do you pick keywords? A good answer covers search volume, difficulty and likely click-through, the three factors Figment lists. It should also say which page each keyword belongs to.
- What will the monthly report show? Look for a log of the work done, plus business results such as enquiries and sales. Rankings alone don't tell you enough.
- Who owns the content, links and accounts if we part ways? The answer should be you.
- How long is the contract, and what's the notice period? If you're locked in for a long time before you see results, you carry all the risk.
Red flags that should end the conversation
- Guaranteed rankings. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO, published through Google Search Central, says no one can guarantee a number one ranking.
- Links sold in bulk. A flat fee for hundreds of backlinks usually means paid or low-quality links. Those count as link spam under the policies in Google Search Essentials, and they can cost you rankings.
- Copy-paste location pages. Dozens of pages where only the city name changes are doorway pages, which the same policies treat as spam.
- Accounts in their name. Your Search Console, analytics and Google Business Profile should belong to you, with the provider added as a user.
- Reports with no work log. If the report shows rankings but not the work behind them, you can't tell effort from luck.
- Secret methods. A provider that won't explain its tactics may be using ones you wouldn't approve.
FAQs
What is done for you SEO?
Done for you SEO is a managed service. A specialist or software platform handles the research, on-page and technical fixes, content, links and reporting for your website. You approve the plan and the changes, but you don't do the work yourself.
How much does done for you SEO cost?
Published prices vary widely. Laura Jawad Marketing's packages start at $3,997 as a one-off project, Figment lists GBP 500 to GBP 4,000 a month, and Bulldog Digital Media starts at GBP 1,500 a month. The gap comes from scope, keyword count, content volume and link building.
Is done for you SEO worth it for a small business?
It's worth it if you have no time for SEO, a site worth ranking, and the budget to keep going for at least six months. If your site has only a few pages and you're comfortable in your website builder, you may be able to start by fixing titles, service pages and your Google Business Profile yourself.
How long does done for you SEO take to show results?
Most providers point to early movement within about three months and bigger gains between months six and nine. It takes longer in competitive niches and on sites with little existing content.
What is the difference between done for you and done with you SEO?
With done for you SEO, the provider plans and carries out everything. With done with you SEO, an expert builds the plan and coaches you, while your own team makes the changes and writes the content. Done with you costs less, but it only works if someone in-house has the hours.
Compare every quote against a real report
Before you sign a done for you SEO contract, check what a finished deliverable should contain: the issues found, the fixes in priority order and the pages to build next. Open the sample SEO report and hold each provider's pitch up against it. Then talk to the team about running the same plan on your site.
Resources / References
Related reading: Why Brands Should Use SaaS SEO Instead of Hiring It Out.
Sources
About the author
SearchBlueprint researched, wrote and scored this article with the content pipeline our customers run on their own sites. The score in the byline is what our content engine gave this page before it published. Nothing here is reviewed by hand, which is the point: it is the product's output, published where anyone can check it.