How much does an SEO audit cost?

An SEO audit finds out why a website shows up on Google less often than it could. Prices run from $0 to five figures, and they mostly depend on how many pages get reviewed and how deeply.

The price tiers

Prices go from free to five figures. The difference is mostly how much of the work a person does. At the bottom, a tool does everything, and with each step up you’re paying for more human time spent on your site.

  1. Free tools and scans

    $0 to $150

    Delivers
    Raw data, such as a list of technical errors, your page speed and any missing titles or descriptions.1
    Missing
    Someone who tells you which errors actually matter.

  2. Automated report

    under $500

    Delivers
    The same data as a PDF, usually with little judgment added.1
    Missing
    An order of what to fix first, and any connection to your own customers.
    AI Quick Check $9.99with audience, market and plan

  3. Lite audit

    $500 to $2,500

    Delivers
    A standard audit done by a freelancer or a smaller agency.1
    Missing
    The strategy part, which only a full audit adds.

  4. Full strategic audit

    $2,500 to $7,500

    Delivers
    A review of the technical side, the content and the links, plus a strategy.1
    Missing
    The actual fixes, because those are billed separately.

  5. Enterprise audit

    $10,000 and up

    Delivers
    A deep analysis of the technical side, the content and the links, made for large and complex sites.1 A comprehensive audit of a large site can run $12,001 to $15,000.2
    Takes
    Often more than 45 days.2

Which tier fits your site?

How big is the site?
What prompts the audit?
Who will do the work?

AI Quick Check

$9.99

For a first assessment, an automated report is enough. It checks whether the site fits its customers and how easily it can be found on Google and in AI assistants. At the end there’s a plan that starts with the most important change. It shows whether a $500+ audit is worth it at all.

With the plan, you can decide whether your team or an agency makes the changes.

Check my website ↓

What drives the price

Size

Number of pages

Every page takes time to review, so agencies usually charge for extra pages one by one.2 A store with thousands of product pages can’t be checked by hand anymore. It needs a crawler, which is a tool that visits every single page, and then a person has to read through what it found.

Depth

Scope of the review

A basic audit may only check the technical side. A comprehensive one goes further and also looks at content, links and competitors, and often at how visible the site is in AI search.2 Some providers even price the AI search check as a separate line item.2

Provider

Freelancer or agency

Freelancers and smaller agencies usually sit in the $500 to $2,500 range.1 The questions further down will help you judge any proposal you get.

Execution

Separate budget

The fixes are a separate job with their own budget. The agency WebFX puts ongoing SEO services at $2,500 a month and up.2 You’ll find more on that under website optimization services.

What a good audit covers

  • Technical

    Does the site load fast, and does it work on phones? Has Google picked up every important page? And do old addresses still lead somewhere instead of ending on an error page?

  • On-page

    That’s everything on the page itself. The audit checks the title, description and headings of every important page, plus the links between your own pages.

  • Content

    Do the pages answer the questions buyers really ask? And are there topics your competitors cover that your site leaves out?

  • Links

    Links from other websites are called backlinks, and Google treats them a bit like recommendations. The audit looks at who links to you, how much those links count and whether any harmful ones are among them.

  • AI search

    Many people now ask ChatGPT or Perplexity too, not just Google. So a good audit also checks whether these assistants may read the site and cite it as a source. A standard audit doesn’t always do this, though.2 There’s more on the topic in our GEO guide.

  • Priorities

    At the end there’s a plan that ranks the findings by what they’ll bring. This is the most important part, because a list of 200 errors in no particular order hands the real work right back to you.

Is a cheap check worth anything?

The marketer Neil Patel warns that anything under $500 is usually automated and comes without a strategy.1

To be fair, our AI Quick Check is an automated report too. It just starts somewhere else, namely with the company’s customers and market, and it ends with a plan that begins with the most important change.

Typical reportAI Quick Check
Starting pointMetrics of the siteThe company’s audience and market, analyzed automatically
ReviewedTechnical and on-pageContent, user journey, SEO and AI search
ResultRaw data without priorities1A plan with the most important change first
Priceunder $500$9.99, one time

The Quick Check is enough for

  • knowing where the site stands and what to fix first
  • preparing for agency proposals
  • a second opinion on audience, message and order of priorities

You need an agency for

  • finding the cause of a traffic drop in Search Console, Google’s free reporting tool
  • checking every single page of a large store or portal
  • a backlink analysis
  • a relaunch or migration with a redirect plan

Vetting a proposal

Questions to ask

  1. Which areas do you review, and how many pages?
  2. Do we get a prioritized plan or a list of errors?
  3. Is AI search included or a separate line item?
  4. Who interprets the data: a person or only a tool?
  5. Can we hand the report to someone else for the work?

Red flags

  • A #1 ranking guarantee. Google says no one can guarantee that.3
  • A flat price before anyone looked at the site. Size and structure set the effort.
  • Only a few pages reviewed. Some offers cover just a handful of pages.2
  • A hidden audit fee. WebFX advises choosing another company if an agency adds the audit as a hidden fee.2

Is an SEO audit worth it?

1 to 2 × a yeara full audit, plus one before and one after any redesign or migration.1

An audit pays off once your website is supposed to bring in leads and nobody has worked on it properly for a while. The plan then makes sure the work starts where it brings the most.

A small brochure site that hardly needs to be found on Google can wait. And as long as the findings of your last audit are still open, a new one won’t add much anyway.

Know now what your website needs.

Our AI Quick Check reviews your website and tells you what to fix first. Built by web and SEO experts, in your inbox within minutes.

  • Audience analysis
  • Market analysis
  • Content analysis
  • UX analysis
  • SEO
  • AI search
  • Action plan

$9.99 one-time payment · no subscription, no account

PDF by email, usually in under 5 minutes

First page of a sample report with the headline what the website needs now and three steps in order

SEO audit cost: common questions

How much does an SEO audit cost?

Most audits worth paying for cost $500 to $7,500, and enterprise audits run $10,000 and more. Anything under $500 is usually automated. Our AI Quick Check costs $9.99.

How much does a technical SEO audit cost?

A technical-only audit is what most providers call a basic audit. It leaves out content, links and competitors, so it usually sits at the lower end of the $500 to $7,500 range.1, 2

How much does a website audit cost?

Agencies price a website audit much like an SEO audit, mostly between $500 and $7,500.1 Where in that range it lands depends on the size of the site and on how much the audit covers beyond the technical side, such as content, the path to a lead and AI search.

How long does an SEO audit take?

WebFX puts a professional audit at 30 to 45 days. A site with 10 to 15 pages may only take a week, while one with more than 100 pages can take over 45 days.2 The AI Quick Check, by contrast, is usually done in under 5 minutes.

How often should you get an SEO audit?

Once or twice a year, plus before and after major changes such as a redesign or migration.1 For large ecommerce sites, WebFX recommends a quarterly audit.2

Can I do an SEO audit myself?

Partly, yes. Free tools run every quarter will catch smaller issues between full audits.1 They don’t tell you which fix comes first.

What does implementation cost after the audit?

Your own team can change titles and copy. If an agency takes over, ongoing SEO services start at around $2,500 a month, according to WebFX.2

Does an SEO audit cover AI search?

Not always. Some providers charge for the AI search check as a separate line item.2 The AI Quick Check includes it.

Is a free SEO audit legit?

As a list of technical errors, it can be useful. But to decide what to change, you usually need an order of priorities, and that’s what it lacks.

Sources

  1. Neil Patel, SEO Audit Pricing: Real Costs, What’s Included, and How to Spot a Ripoff (“Most audits worth your time cost $500–$7,500”), updated Aug 26, 2025, accessed Nov 5, 2026: neilpatel.com
  2. WebFX, SEO Audit Pricing: How Much Does an SEO Audit Cost in 2026? (survey of 250 U.S. businesses), accessed Nov 5, 2026: webfx.com
  3. Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO? (“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”): developers.google.com