If you have ever Googled “how much does SEO cost,” you have probably noticed that nobody gives you a straight answer. Every agency website has the same non-answer: “It depends.” Then they ask you to book a call.
That is not helpful when you are a plumber trying to figure out whether to spend money on getting found on Google, stick with Checkatrade, or just keep relying on word of mouth. You want actual numbers so you can make a sensible decision with your actual budget.
So here are the actual numbers. Every option, what it costs, what you get, and what you do not get. No “it depends.” No booking a call to find out.
The options, honestly
There are roughly seven routes a tradesperson can take to get more visible online. Some are free. Some are expensive. Some look cheap but end up costing more than you think when you factor in time and results. Let us go through each one.
DIY SEO
Cost: Free (but twenty-plus hours a week of your time)
You can absolutely learn SEO yourself. There are thousands of YouTube videos, blog posts, and free courses out there. Nobody is gatekeeping this information.
The problem is time. SEO is not one skill — it is a dozen skills stitched together: website structure, content writing, directory listings, Google Business Profile optimisation, review management, rank tracking. Most tradespeople spend a few evenings reading about it, make a couple of changes, and then get busy with actual paying work and never come back to it. That is not a criticism — your job is installing boilers or rewiring houses, not learning a whole second profession.
What you get
A basic understanding of how local search works. Some improvements to your Google Business Profile.
What you do not get
Consistent execution. The tradespeople who successfully DIY their SEO are rare, and they tend to be the ones who genuinely enjoy the technical side. If that is you, brilliant. If not, your time is almost certainly better spent on billable work.
Website builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy)
Cost: £15-30 per month
These platforms make it easy to build a professional-looking website without knowing how to code. Pick a template, drag some blocks around, add your photos and text, and you have a website within a weekend.
The issue is what happens after. You end up with four or five pages: homepage, about, services, gallery, contact. It looks clean. Your mum says it looks lovely. But Google has almost nothing to work with. When someone searches “emergency electrician in Maidstone,” Google wants a page that specifically talks about emergency electrical work in Maidstone. A generic services page that lists everything you do and vaguely mentions “Kent and surrounding areas” does not compete.
What you get
A presentable digital business card. If someone already knows your name and Googles you directly, they will find a nice-looking site.
What you do not get
Leads from people who do not already know you exist. Creating the thirty or forty targeted pages needed to rank across a county is practically painful on these platforms. If you want to understand why page structure matters, our article on whether tradespeople need a website goes into detail.
Hiring a local web designer
Cost: £800-2,000 one-off, plus hosting
A local web designer will build you a better site than you would manage on Wix. The design will be more polished and you will not have to spend a weekend figuring out domain names.
But here is the thing most people do not realise until after they have paid: web design and SEO are different skills. Most web designers care about how the site looks and how the navigation flows. What they typically do not do is keyword research, content strategy, schema markup, directory submissions, or citation building. You end up with a beautiful five-page website that ranks for nothing except your own business name.
What you get
A professional website that looks credible. A step up from a DIY builder, especially if the designer has experience with trade businesses.
What you do not get
Ongoing SEO. No directory listings. No review system. No rank tracking. The site is a one-off project — once delivered, you are on your own. If you want it to actually rank, you need to learn SEO yourself or hire someone else on top.
Lead platforms (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People, Bark)
Cost: £80-120 per month membership, plus per-lead fees on some platforms
Lead platforms are the most common first step for tradespeople who want more work beyond word of mouth. Sign up, create a profile, and homeowners in your area can find you and request quotes.
The model works. People do get leads from Checkatrade and MyBuilder. But the economics are worth understanding clearly.
When a homeowner posts a job, multiple tradespeople receive that lead. You are competing with three to six other businesses for every enquiry. You spend time quoting, the homeowner picks whoever responds fastest or cheapest, and you win some and lose some. The leads you lose still cost you time — time that is not billable.
The other issue is ownership. Every review you collect on Checkatrade stays on Checkatrade. If you leave the platform, those reviews do not come with you. Your visibility on the platform disappears the day you cancel. You have been renting access to customers rather than building something you own.
We wrote a detailed comparison of Checkatrade versus having your own website if you want the full breakdown of the numbers.
What you get
Immediate access to homeowners looking for your trade. A faster route to your first enquiries than SEO, which takes months to build momentum. A reasonable option for new businesses that need work now.
What you do not get
Exclusive leads. A long-term asset. Google reviews (they stay on the platform). Any lasting benefit once you stop paying. Over time, the monthly cost adds up to more than a proper SEO setup would have cost, with nothing permanent to show for it.
Google Ads (Pay-Per-Click)
Cost: £300-1,000 per month, depending on trade and area
Google Ads puts you at the top of search results immediately. You pay, you appear. When someone clicks, you pay Google — anywhere from a few pounds to over twenty pounds per click depending on your trade and location.
For competitive trades, a single click can cost £15-25. Not a lead — a click. The person might look at your site for three seconds and leave. You still pay. A realistic conversion rate is ten to twenty percent, which means you could be paying over a hundred pounds per actual lead.
The maths can still work for high-value jobs. If you are a roofer and an average job is worth five thousand pounds, a hundred pounds per lead is fine. But for lower-value trades, the numbers get tight quickly.
What you get
Instant visibility. Leads from day one. Complete control over your budget.
What you do not get
Anything permanent. The moment you stop paying, you disappear. Google Ads is a tap — turn it on, leads flow; turn it off, they stop. After twelve months of spending eight hundred pounds per month, you have spent nine thousand six hundred pounds and own precisely nothing.
SEO agency retainer
Cost: £500-1,500 per month
An SEO agency handles the ongoing work of getting your website to rank: content creation, technical optimisation, link building, monthly reporting. A good one will also manage directory listings and your Google Business Profile.
The wide price range reflects a wide range of quality. At the lower end, you get a junior account manager sending monthly reports full of graphs but not much progress. At the higher end, experienced specialists who actively work on your visibility every month.
Things to watch for: many agencies do not include the website itself — that is extra. Some take on multiple clients in the same trade and area, competing against themselves. And some lock you into long contracts with limited transparency.
What you get
Professional, ongoing SEO work. Monthly reporting so you can track progress.
What you do not get (always)
A website — often extra. Exclusivity — many agencies work with competitors in the same area. A guarantee they understand trade businesses specifically, rather than treating you the same as a solicitor or a restaurant.
All-in-one service (like Localengine)
Cost: £300 per month, no setup fee
This is the model we built, so take this section with that context in mind. We will stick to facts and let you judge whether it fits.
An all-in-one service bundles everything into a single monthly cost. In our case, that includes:
- A website built specifically for your trade and county, with thirty-plus pages targeting every relevant service and town
- Directory listings across forty-plus platforms for citation authority
- Google Business Profile optimisation and ongoing management
- Physical review cards so you can collect Google reviews from every job
- GeoGrid rank tracking so you can see exactly where you rank across your county
- Everything managed for you — no homework, no logins, no learning curve
The key difference from a standalone agency is that the website is included from day one. No separate design fee, no setup cost.
The other difference is exclusivity. We only work with one tradesperson per trade per county. If you are the plumber in Kent, no other plumber in Kent can sign up. We are never competing against our own client.
What you get
A complete local SEO setup, managed for you, for a predictable monthly cost. Rankings that compound over time. Leads that come directly to you and are not shared with competitors. Google reviews that belong to you permanently. Our local SEO tips for plumbers gives a flavour of the kind of strategy that goes into each trade.
What you do not get
Instant results. SEO takes time — typically three to six months before the momentum really builds. If you need leads this week, Google Ads or a lead platform will get you there faster. SEO is the long game that pays off bigger once it gets going.
Putting it side by side
Here is a rough comparison of annual costs and what you end up with after twelve months:
| Option | Annual cost | Leads after 12 months | What you own afterwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY SEO | Free (but 20+ hrs/week) | Minimal for most | Some improvements |
| Website builder | £180-360 | Very few | A basic website |
| Web designer | £800-2,000 | Very few | A nice-looking website |
| Checkatrade | £960-1,440+ | Moderate (shared) | Nothing |
| Google Ads | £3,600-12,000 | Good (while paying) | Nothing |
| SEO agency | £6,000-18,000 | Good (growing) | Rankings, but maybe no site |
| Localengine | £3,600 | Good (growing) | Website, rankings, reviews |
The right choice depends on where you are in your business. If you are just starting out and need work immediately, a lead platform or Google Ads makes sense as a short-term move. If you have been trading for a few years and want to build something sustainable, investing in SEO — whether you do it yourself or pay someone — is almost always the better long-term decision.
What to watch out for
Whatever route you choose, here are a few things worth knowing:
Long contracts with vague deliverables. If an agency asks you to sign a twelve-month contract but cannot tell you specifically what they will do each month, walk away.
Guaranteed rankings. Nobody can guarantee you will rank number one on Google. Anyone who promises that is either lying or using techniques that will get your site penalised.
Unusually cheap prices. If someone offers full SEO management for fifty pounds per month, the work is either automated, outsourced, or simply not being done. SEO is labour-intensive — there is a floor below which the maths does not work.
No transparency. You should be able to see your rankings and understand what work is being done. If your provider sends a PDF full of jargon and never picks up the phone, that is a red flag.
The honest takeaway
There is no single right answer for every tradesperson. The best option depends on your budget, your timeline, and how established your business is.
If you are brand new and need work now, start with a lead platform and your Google Business Profile. Get some jobs done, collect some reviews, and build a foundation.
If you have been going for a while and want to stop renting leads, invest in a proper website and local SEO. Whether you do that through an agency, a service like ours, or by learning it yourself, the goal is the same: build an online presence you actually own, that generates leads you do not have to share, and that gets stronger over time instead of resetting to zero when you stop paying.
If you want someone to handle the whole thing — website, directories, reviews, tracking — Localengine does it for three hundred pounds per month with no setup fee. One tradesperson per trade per county, everything included, six-month minimum so we have time to actually get results. You can check whether your area is available and see if it makes sense for your business.