Working as a local SEO freelancer can feel a world apart from life in an agency, with different pay, services, and priorities affecting every part of the working day. Following our recent Local Search Industry Survey, we wanted to highlight the differences and similarities beween these two sides of the local SEO industry – and provide information on what life could be like on the other side of the fence.
When looking at the experiences of both SEO freelancers and agencies (local, national and international), we wanted to answer questions such as:
- How much do freelance SEOs earn vs agency SEOs?
- How much do freelance SEOs bill per hour?
- How much do SEOs charge for their services and how do they structure deals?
- Which services are most in demand from clients?
- How many clients do freelance SEOs and agency SEOs personally manage?
- How do freelancers and agency SEOs feel about the search industry in 2018?
We hope the below information is useful for you and your business this year.
How Much Can You Earn In SEO?
Income of search professionals 
The Local Search Industry Survey shows that it’s more lucrative to be an SEO professional in an agency, with a typical employee earning over $17,000 more than freelancers per year. This equates to 35% more annually for agency workers.
- Freelancer SEOs earn an average of $49,422 each year.
- Agency SEOs earn an average annual salary of $66,617.
Revenue for Agencies vs Freelancers
Company revenue varies significantly between the different groups of SEO professionals, with freelancers far more likely to see lower revenues.
The average company revenue for freelancers is $141,075. For agencies, this was $1,649,194.
- 36% of freelancers reported company revenues of less than $30,000, compared to just 7% of respondents from agencies.
- 24% of agencies saw revenues of over $1million.
- A significant chunk of SEOs don’t know their revenue: 20% of agencies, and 8% of freelancers.
Total Hours Worked & Hours spent on SEO
Those in agencies tend to spend fewer hours on SEO than freelancers, who may be more likely to specialize. The nature of freelancing means full responsibility for tasks, while agencies may delegate or refer to team members to complete SEO tasks.
Freelancers spend an average of 31 hours per week on SEO-related tasks. A typical freelancer works 41 hours a week – meaning they spend 76% of their time on SEO.
Agency professionals spend a far smaller proportion of their time on SEO – just 57%. They typically spend 25 hours a week on SEO, out of a total 44 hours worked.
Earnings Per Hour
Taking into account annual wages and total hours worked –
- On average, freelance SEOs earn $23 per hour.
- On average, agency SEOs earn $29 per hour – $6 more per hour than freelancers.
While freelancers tend to work fewer hours than their in-agency counterparts, this isn’t enough to offset the difference in income.
How Much Does SEO Cost?
SEO costs can vary based on hourly rates, retainers, and project costs. In the charts below we explore how freelancers and agencies bill clients, and the differences in these charges.
SEO Hourly Rates
Freelancers charge less per hour than agencies do.
- Freelance SEOs bill clients a median of $75 per hour.
- Agencies bill clients a median of $100 per hour.
69% of freelancers bill less than $100 per hour, compared to 34% of agencies.
Only 10% of freelance SEOs charge an hourly rate of more than $150, while this is the norm for 28% of agencies. The lower overheads for freelancers can allow them to charge clients less.
However, there can be a lot of competition among freelancers to reach smaller clients. The abundance of freelance SEOs targeting small businesses could be the reason for the lower hourly rates – with prices being driven down due to heavy competition.
Agencies, on the other hand, are able to provide scalable services for clients with bigger budgets. This means they can charge clients more for their extended offerings than one-man bands.
SEO Monthly Charges
Freelancers receive less from each client per month than agencies do.
- Freelancer SEOs receive an average of $1,228 from clients each month.
- Agencies typically receive $2,043 per client per month.
- 71% of freelancers get less than $1,000 from each client each month, compared to 46% of agencies.
- Only 3% of freelancers see a monthly average of more than $3,500 from each client, compared to 12% of agencies.
Which SEO Services Should You Provide?
(Respondents were asked to pick three from the list)
Clients are most likely to require on-site optimization from freelancers and agencies, although this is more in demand for freelancers. Link building is more requested for freelancers, while agencies are more likely to be asked for PPC, and web design and development services.
It’s worth noting that, even with all branches of social media moving towards a culling of organic traffic in order to boost revenue from paid ads, organic social media is still more requested from both agencies and freelancers than paid social. Will we see this shift in 2018?
Most In Demand For Freelancers
- On-site optimization
- Google My Business optimization
- Content creation / optimization
- Citation building / clean-up
- Link building
Most In Demand For Agencies
- On-site optimization
- Website design / development
- PPC
- Google My Business optimization
- Content creation / optimization
How Many Clients Do SEOs Manage?
SEOs in agencies personally manage an average 23 clients each, while freelancers manage just 9. This is likely due to the team structures in agencies allowing employees to stretch further.
28% of SEOs in agencies have over 20 clients each, compared to 6% of freelancers.
48% of freelancers have fewer than 5 clients, compared to 28% of agencies.
Agencies are also more likely to bring in more clients, with 53% of agencies winning over 11 clients in 2017. In comparison, 58% of freelancers won under five.
New Customers / Leads
Despite winning clients, a surprisingly high proportion of both agencies (33%) and freelancers (35%) didn’t contact any SEO leads at all in an average month.
This could make sense for agencies, as not all SEOs are responsible for business development, but the idea that over a third of SEO freelancers didn’t attempt to win new business in 2017 is a real shock.
Will 2018 Be A Good Year For SEO?
The local search industry is optimistic about the local SEO industry in 2018. 91% of agency employees and 93% of freelancers told us they feel optimistic about what this year has to bring.
Hiring in Local SEO
For those of you considering a new job this year, now could be a great time to start looking. 67% of agencies told us they’re likely to hire new SEO employees this year, with just 2% saying they definitely won’t.
This is great news for the 23% of agency SEOs and 43% of freelancers wanting a new job this year – they’ll have plenty of options to choose from.
Here’s to another exciting year for local SEO!
For more on our Local Search Industry Survey, click here to read the full report.
