Two agencies can quote the exact same monthly price for "SEO services" and deliver completely different amounts of actual work. This guide breaks down what a real SEO services package in London, Ontario should include, how to compare packages that look similar on paper, and the red flags worth walking away from.
What a complete SEO services package actually includes
A properly scoped monthly SEO package covers all four pillars of SEO working together, not just one:
- Technical monitoring: Ongoing checks for site speed, crawl errors, broken links, and indexing issues - caught and fixed before they quietly cost you rankings.
- On-page optimization: Title tags, meta descriptions, header structure, and internal linking kept current as your site and offerings evolve.
- Google Business Profile management: Weekly posts, review monitoring and responses, photo updates, and Q&A management.
- Content creation: A defined number of blog posts or page updates per month, targeting the searches your customers actually use.
- Citation and link building: Consistent NAP data across directories and genuine local link acquisition - not purchased or spammy links.
- Monthly reporting: Clear, plain-English reporting showing ranking changes, traffic trends, and what specifically was done that month.
If a package is missing more than one of these, it's a partial service - useful, but not the full picture, and you should expect a correspondingly lower price.
How pricing breaks down in the London market
Local SEO services in London typically run $500-$1,500 per month. At the lower end, expect a narrower scope - usually Google Business Profile management plus light on-page work. In the middle of the range, expect the full package above with a modest content cadence. At the higher end, expect more aggressive content production and link building, appropriate for competitive categories like legal, dental, or home services. Our full SEO pricing breakdown covers this in more detail.
How to compare packages that look similar on paper
Two providers quoting $800/month can mean very different things. Before comparing price, ask:
- How much content, specifically? "Content creation" can mean one short post a month or four in-depth ones. Ask for word counts and cadence, not just the word "content."
- What does reporting actually show? A report listing "tasks completed" tells you nothing about results. Ask to see a sample report showing actual ranking and traffic data.
- Who does the work? Some agencies use senior strategists for strategy and junior staff or contractors for execution - that's normal, but you should know which parts of the process involve who.
- What's excluded? Ask explicitly what isn't included (e.g., paid link building, website redesign, ongoing content beyond a set number of posts) so there are no surprises later.
Contract length and what's reasonable
Most reputable agencies work month-to-month, or with a short initial term of 3-6 months to allow enough time for the work to show measurable results. Be cautious of contracts locking you in for a full year with no early exit - SEO takes time to prove out, and a provider confident in their work shouldn't need to lock you in to keep you.
Red flags to walk away from
Guaranteed #1 rankings (no one can guarantee this - Google's algorithm isn't controlled by any agency), pricing dramatically below local market rates for genuine ongoing work, vague reporting that never shows rankings or traffic, reluctance to explain their actual process when asked directly, and any reliance on link farms, keyword stuffing, or other tactics that risk a Google penalty rather than a real ranking improvement.
How our packages work
We scope every London client's package around the same core structure described above - technical, on-page, Google Business Profile, content, and citations - sized to your competition and goals rather than a one-size-fits-all tier. You get a monthly report showing exactly what moved and why, not a list of busywork.
The best way to find the right scope for your business is a free SEO audit - it shows exactly where you stand today so any package we recommend is sized to your actual gaps, not a generic starting point. See our full SEO services page for more detail on how we work.
Related read: How to Choose an SEO Company in London, Ontario →