Online marketing is a million-dollar industry with experts all around the world that help different companies employ SEO techniques to make their content and their webpages rank higher. Search Engine Optimization costs can vary from almost nothing to thousands of dollars per project. It depends entirely on what sort of marketing is needed by the brand or website, and what kind of content and links already exist on the page.

Budgets may also vary according to the kind of  SEO specialist  hired to introduce new strategies or to apply such strategies to the content practically. In-house training may be better investments and may also prove to be more cost-effective than outsourcing experts to come in and use SEO techniques.

The three most important factors about SEO are Google’s RankBot, your content, and links. According to Healthy Links & VM Interactive here are a few points that can help website and business owners estimate how much budget they should allocate for SEO:

  • RankBot ranks can be manipulated by focusing on other factors. Costs can vary depending on what strategies are used. Link-building strategies start from straightforward, low-cost solutions to massive digital campaigns which can cost up to $30,000 per campaign.

Depending on the needs of the business, budgets may vary. On average, for new businesses or established businesses struggling with SEO, a good idea is to set aside $15-20,000.

  • The effectiveness of low-cost link-building strategies and most SEO strategies is based mostly on three factors:

o    content and value added by that content

o    audience engagement,

o    the credibility of the source.

Some examples which achieve such results are Expert roundups, Guest Blogging, and Interviews. Expert roundups consist of having many, relatively unknown experts provide their takes on subjects about the brand. This creates credibility in the content and gives different viewpoints which could appeal to larger audiences. Guest blogging also builds links by engaging with an already established audience. These guest bloggers, for relatively little cost, bring new audiences to the content and give their own points of view which widen the reach of the brand. Interviews with experts achieve the same purpose and can be done telephonically or physically as well.

  • Other techniques which focus more on the content side of SEO and cost relatively little are data analyses, case studies, and long-form guides. While these techniques are more effective when it comes to business to business models, a case can be made for their use for the consumer side as well. For one, they provide new, more relevant information which can lend credibility to the brand. Additionally, so much content can also result in more informed consumers who engage with the brand more.
  • There are too many alternatives to low budget techniques which do not cost copious amounts of money.

o    Brand collaborations allow both brands to pool in resources and create campaigns which not only generate links for both brands but also reach each other’s, possibly otherwise disconnected, audiences.

o    Local news and PR are often neglected as too specific and with too narrow an audience to be effective; however, they are easy to tap into and reach localised audiences which may not be very well informed about the brand or its competitors.

o    Infographics are a risk since the market is saturated with poorly made ones; however, a well-made infographic could be cited as a source in many different contexts.

o    Teaming up with local researchers and conducting research which could be published may also prove to be a relatively inexpensive but effective technique of not only understanding the market but the brand building credibility.

  • Finally, many high budget techniques of SEO include interactive assets, surveys, and brand building. Studies, like research papers, provide insight into the market the brand is trying to reach. Interactive assets, in an increasingly digital world, provide customer engagement and even word of mouth marketing.

Brand building is a time and resource intensive process which results in the brand creating an audience and credibility which it can then levy to improve SEO rankings. It is difficult to say what exact budget would work for each company because, as mentioned above, many different strategies can be used to improve search engine rankings. Some expensive and extensive options might work for some companies, but others may choose cheaper but comparably efficient methods to achieve the same thing. Deciding a budget can only be done if the company or business assesses the problems within their content and digital marketing, and plans ahead about what sort of solutions would suit their business and their audience the most.