How much should I budget for SEO per quarter?

You should budget for SEO per quarter based on your company’s size, goals, and the competitiveness of your industry – but a common range is somewhere around $4,500 to $15,000 per quarter for small to mid-sized businesses. 

That works out to roughly $1,500–$5,000 per month on SEO. 

Many online businesses find that investing in this range consistently can drive meaningful growth in organic traffic and signups.

To give you a straightforward answer: plan on a few thousand dollars per month (so at least $9K+ per quarter) for a quality SEO effort. Let’s dive into the details so you know where that money goes and how to decide the right budget for you.

Typical SEO Costs in 2025

Industry surveys show that quality SEO services usually start around $3,000 per month and go up from there. If you break it down quarterly, that’s $9,000 per quarter as a solid baseline for a serious campaign.

For local businesses in less competitive niches, some spend a bit less (perhaps $1,500–$2,500 per month, which is about $4,500–$7,500 a quarter). 

On the flip side, larger companies in competitive national markets might spend $10,000+ per month (so $30k or more per quarter) on comprehensive SEO. Enterprise-level SEO can even reach hundreds of thousands per quarter if it involves massive content production and link building efforts – but let’s assume you’re not at that extreme.

Factors That Affect Your SEO Budget

Not all businesses should spend the exact same amount. Consider these factors:

Competition

If you’re in a highly competitive industry (like insurance, real estate, or a hot SaaS niche), you’ll likely need a higher budget to outperform rivals who are also investing heavily in SEO. 

More competition means you may need more content, more outreach for links, and possibly longer to see results – which all raise the investment needed.

Goals and Timeline

Are you trying to aggressively grow organic traffic in the next 6 months, or are your goals more modest? A faster growth goal might mean a bigger upfront budget (for example, paying for lots of content and technical improvements quickly). 

If you have a longer timeline, you might spread the cost out more evenly. Generally, SEO is a long-term play, so budgeting per quarter (and expecting to continue for multiple quarters) is wise.

In-house vs Agency

If you plan to hire an SEO agency (like Embarque or others), they’ll quote you a monthly retainer fee which often falls in that $3k–$10k per month range depending on scope. 

If you instead hire an in-house SEO specialist, you’ll be paying a salary (plus tools, etc.), which could be $60k–$100k annually for a skilled professional – roughly $15k–$25k per quarter when all in.

 Sometimes an agency gives you more breadth of skills for the cost, whereas an in-house person is dedicated solely to you; factor in what fits your needs.

Scope of Work

SEO isn’t one single thing – your budget should reflect what you need done. 

Content creation(writing blog posts, guides, landing pages) has a cost (either via writers or agency fees). Link building might involve outreach campaigns, which can be labor-intensive or require sponsorships/guest post fees. 

Technical SEO fixes might require a developer’s time. If you need “the whole package,” your budget will be on the higher side of the range. If you only need a specific service (say, an SEO audit and some content ideas), you might budget for a one-time project fee instead of an ongoing quarterly spend.

Is $X too much?

A common question is, for example, “Is spending $5,000 a month ($15k a quarter) too much on SEO?” The answer is: it depends on the return you get. If that $5k/month brings you, say, 50 new customer sign-ups that are each worth $500 to your business, then $5k is a no-brainer investment.

 On the other hand, if you spend $5k/month and see no discernible uplift in traffic or revenue after a couple of quarters, then even $1k was too much. It’s all about ROI – return on investment. 

A good SEO strategy should more than pay for itself over time. Keep this mindset: SEO isn’t a cost, it’s an investment. The goal is that every dollar put in returns multiple dollars in value via organic traffic and sales.

Beware of Too-Low Budgets

It might be tempting to budget very little (say a few hundred dollars a month), but be cautious. SEO requires quality content and legit link building – super cheap services often cut corners or automate tasks.

 In fact, many industry experts warn that if someone is charging under $1,000 per month, they might not be doing much (or could be using risky, spammy tactics).

 You don’t want to under-spend and get zero results or, worse, penalized because the work was low quality. It’s usually better to allocate a healthy budget or wait until you can, rather than spending $500 on something that won’t move the needle.

Budgeting Per Quarter vs. Per Month

The question specifically asks about per quarter, which implies you might be thinking in three-month chunks. This can be smart, because SEO results often materialize over a span of months. By committing a quarterly budget, you give the strategy time to show effect and you can evaluate every quarter.

 For instance, you might say: “Okay, I’ll invest $9,000 this quarter in SEO efforts, and by the end of the quarter I expect to see our organic traffic up by 20%.” After three months, review the progress and decide if you’ll maintain, increase, or adjust the budget for the next quarter. 

Many companies will set an annual SEO budget (say $40k for the year) and then break it into quarterly plans, which allows flexibility if they want to ramp up or down based on results.

Real-Life Perspective

To put things in perspective, more than 80% of businesses are actually planning to increase their SEO budgets, not decrease them, as organic search continues to be a major driver of web traffic.

Companies have realized that an upfront cost for SEO pays off in “free” traffic down the line. 

For example, our own clients (mostly SaaS and online businesses) often start with a few thousand per month and see such growth in traffic and sign-ups that they scale up their content output (increasing budgets accordingly because it’s fueling revenue growth). 

One of our client tripled their organic traffic in two months by investing in a steady content and SEO plan – the leads generated were worth far more than what they spent in that period. This is the kind of outcome you’re budgeting for.

How to Decide Your Number

If you’re still unsure how much you specifically should budget for SEO each quarter, here’s a quick exercise:

• Look at a competitor or two that’s doing really well in search. How much content are they producing? How many backlinks do they have? This gives a hint of the effort required to match or surpass them.
• Estimate the value of the organic traffic you want. For instance, if reaching #1 in Google for a certain keyword could bring you $50k in business, it might be worth spending $10k over a couple of quarters to try to get there.
• Talk to a few SEO agencies or consultants. Get quotes and see what they recommend for budget. Reputable providers will give you an honest range after understanding your goals.
• Ensure you set aside budget not just for one quarter, but for at least 2-4 quarters. Consistency is key in SEO. A common mistake is to spend for one quarter, then pause – that often stalls momentum. Plan for a sustained investment.

What is a reasonable SEO budget?

Budget what you can reasonably afford while ensuring it’s enough to make an impact. 

A safe starting point for many is around $3k/month (so about $9k a quarter), adjusting up if you’re in a tough market or need faster growth. Always tie your spend to outcomes – it’s not “throw money at SEO and hope,” it’s “invest money in SEO and expect growth in traffic/users that you can track.” 

By thinking in quarterly chunks, you can measure and iterate. And remember, whether you spend $5k or $50k per quarter, the goal is to turn that into a multiple of value. Set your budget with clear goals in mind, and you’ll be in great shape to justify the expense when those organic results start rolling in.