SEO Singapore Costs: A No Holds Barred Breakdown

Insights into SEO Costs in Singapore and What Influences Them

Negotiations between SEO agencies and clients typically revolve around two crucial factors: the first is expertise and the range of services offered, and the second, pricing.

The first factor is relatively straightforward, as the scope of services–based on the needs of the website–is clearly defined. The second factor, however, is where negotiations often stall or break down entirely, especially when costs seem unreasonable or out of line with expectations.

At Rogue Digital, expertise notwithstanding, we credit our success to being transparent about the value we provide; which got us thinking: how can we help other businesses determine whether they are being charged fairly for services.

The plethora of agencies—old, new, big and small—and the spectrum of services provided (at varying levels of expertise and proficiency) can make it difficult to distinguish where the costs of SEO end and where the return on investment begins.

In this article, we’ll delve into factors that affect SEO pricing, pricing models, as well as tips on how to choose the right agency.

Factors That Affect SEO Singapore Costs

SEO is a service. We don’t say this just to state the obvious, but to highlight the difference between something you’d buy and acquire in one fell swoop—a product, and a service, which often requires work, time and effort to achieve an objective—like SEO. This distinction is the main reason why quotations may vary between businesses depending on factors such as job scope, state of the website, key performance indicators and more. Below are some of the factors that affect SEO pricing.

Number of Keywords

Every keyword is a potential source for website visits, requiring time, energy and resources—such as backlinks, content, and meta tags—to rank effectively. A business, like eCommerce, with a variety of products in multiple disparate categories, may require more keywords, than one like tailoring, that focuses on a specific service or niche product, commanding a higher pricing due to the increased workload and costs to get each of the keywords on page 1.

Keyword Themes

As mentioned earlier, pricing based on the number of keywords can get costly especially for businesses with diverse offerings, services or broad categories. To remain competitive, some SEO agencies charge based on keyword themes as opposed to individual keywords.

Keyword themes, to put simply, are a set of keyword variations around a particular topic. For example, if you were running an early childhood student care outfit, ‘student care services’, ‘child care centre’ and ‘student care Singapore’ would each fall under the same keyword theme.

Type of Business

The nature of a business can affect the cost of SEO services. Different businesses have different SEO needs. For example, some businesses may require local SEO-services, while others such as international or eCommerce businesses may require more intensive optimisation for individual pages, content creation or link-building efforts, further affecting the pricing structure.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

In an effort to extract the most value from digital marketing services or out of a need to meet specific targets, some clients set expectations at the start of the agent-client partnership. These key performance indicators, especially if they require strict adherence, can drive up the price of SEO services, due to the need for additional resources to meet target objectives.

Reversing Black-Hat SEO Effects

Once in a while, we encounter businesses who may have relied on black-hat SEO practices to boost their rankings. Reversing the negative effects of these unethical tactics, and bringing the site back into compliance with best practices may require additional work, such as disavowing harmful backlinks, or repairing penalties imposed by search engines, further increasing the quoted price.

Industry Competitiveness

SEO pricing is also influenced by the competitiveness of an industry. Highly saturated industries such as food and fashion in Singapore, for example, tend to be highly competitive, requiring extensive and ongoing efforts to rank well due to the number of competitors. Conversely, low competition niches like pet products, sports equipment or bathroom accessories require a more straight-forward SEO approach, resulting in lower costs.

State of the Website

A website plagued with a multitude of issues, such as poor site structure, thin content, or broken links will naturally require additional work to bring it up to SEO standards. And, as you can imagine, fixing these problems requires time, effort, and investment. Depending on the state of the website, some agencies may charge higher fees to address these issues to ensure better traction on search engines.

Backlink Outreach

Backlinks in SEO are vital because they act as endorsements from other websites, signalling to search engines that your content is credible and valuable. Websites with little to no backlinks, due to the need for more authority building, may require additional resources on the part of the agency, resulting in a higher quotation or time required to rank your keywords on the 1st page of Google.

Average SEO Costs in Singapore

Below is a breakdown of the different types of SEO providers that your business can consider engaging. Do note that these are estimates based on average market rates and do not include outliers or unconventional pricing models.

Type of SEO Provider	Monthly Cost Range (SGD)	Suitable For
Freelancers	$50 and above	Suitable for micro or small businesses with a lean budget. Recommended for businesses with SEO savvy stakeholders and/or management that possess the capability to manage off-shore vendors and to ensure SEO quality.
In-house SEO Staff (Singapore-based Staff)	$3,000 and above	Suitable for business with the capacity and financial resources to hire, train and manage an in-house SEO staff. Recommended for mid-sized businesses to large enterprises with the capability to track and measure results, and maximise the SEO team’s productivity.
In-house SEO Team (Singapore-based Staff)	$6,000 and above	Suitable for business with the capacity and financial resources to hire, train and manage an in-house SEO team. Recommended for mid-sized businesses to large enterprises with the capability to track and measure results, and maximise the SEO team’s productivity.
Standard SEO Campaigns (Offshore Agency)	$150 and above	Suitable for small to medium businesses with a lean budget. Recommended for businesses with SEO savvy stakeholders and/or management that possess the capability to manage off-shore vendors and to ensure SEO quality.
Standard SEO Campaigns (Singapore-based Agency)	$400 to $2,000	Suitable for small to medium businesses that require timely response and strong local support.
Entreprise / Global SEO Campaigns (Singapore-based / Global Agency)	Above $2,000	Suitable for large enterprises that require timely response and strong local and/or global support.

Common SEO Pricing Models

If you’ve been shopping around for an agency to handle your SEO, reaching out to multiple options for comparison, you’ve likely received a variety of quotations, some bundled as packages, others based on hourly rates, and a few entirely custom, tailored to the specific needs of your website. However, generally you’ll find that they fall under either a fixed pricing model, a variable pricing model, or a hybrid of the two.

A Fixed Pricing Model

A fixed pricing model, for the most part, involves a fixed monthly fee for a set of predetermined services. These sets often come in tiers with names like “Basic”, “Intermediate”, “Advanced” or “Core”, “Standard”, and “Pro”, with higher tiers providing more services. It’s not uncommon to find, with this pricing model, some commitment, on the part of the business, for a specific period of time, such as 6 or 12 months.

Variable Pricing Model

In stark contrast to fixed pricing models, here, costs are based on actual hours worked each month. For example, say you wanted to find the best keywords to rank for conversions in addition to metadata optimisation for your website, the agency would charge you based on how long it takes to conduct keyword research and implement the necessary changes to your website metadata. This type of pricing model is common among freelancers, though some agencies might adopt it.

Hybrid Pricing Model

A hybrid pricing model takes on an aspect of both fixed and variable pricing model where a fixed fee is charged for core services, and any additional work beyond that scope is billed separately. Core services might include something like keyword research and content creation, and any additional work such as technical SEO audits or extensive backlink building might be charged based on a standard fee or the actual time or effort required.

Alternative Pricing Models

Not every SEO agency follows traditional pricing models; you may also encounter others that, to some, might come across as unconventional. Examples include pay when you rank or commission-based pricing.

Pay When You Rank

In this model, your business only pays once an agency achieves specific rankings for a select group of keywords. For many businesses, this is attractive given that payment depends on meeting agreed-upon targets. On the other hand, however, there is a risk that short-term strategies may be used to achieve quick results as opposed to long-term strategies that sustain rankings.

Commission-Based Model

Some agencies may charge a commission based on the revenue generated from their SEO efforts. What makes this model attractive is that both agency and client share the same objective, which is boosting revenue, encouraging a strong focus on performance. It’s also more affordable initially because payment increases only when revenue does.

The downside is there’s always a risk that agencies might prioritise tactics that drive quick results rather than sustainable, long-term growth. For example, they may focus on low search volume keywords to rank quickly or earn their commission.

How Do You Choose the Right Agency?

Selecting the right agency is an important decision, one that directly affects your online visibility, brand reputation, and, ultimately, your return on investment. So many agencies offering SEO services makes it difficult for the uninitiated to determine which of the many options to pick. Below are several factors to consider when choosing an SEO agency.

Experience and Expertise in Your Industry

Not all industries are the same, and more often than not, neither are their SEO requirements. We recommend choosing an agency that has experience in your specific industry; they are more likely to have an understanding of the challenges, competitors, and customer behaviours. Ask if they have worked with clients in your industry. Request case studies or examples of their work in that field. That will help you determine if they are equipped to deliver results for your niche.

Reputation and Reviews

Harvey Mackay, author of several New York Times bestsellers, once said, “You can’t buy a good reputation; you must earn it.” The reputation of an agency is often a good indicator of its reliability and success. Look for client testimonials that provide feedback about how the agency operates, how well they communicate, and whether they consistently meet client expectations.

Processes and Deliverables

Transparency in agency-client relationships is usually a good sign that the agency values openness and accountability. Reputable agencies will have a transparent process, whether it’s conducting audits or implementing strategies and tracking progress, so a client knows what to expect in terms of timelines, deliverables and tactics used to improve rankings.

Keyword Selection and Strategy

Given that people use keywords to find products or services they are searching for, selecting the right keywords becomes that much important. Ask how the agency conducts keyword research. Do they focus on long tail or short tail keywords? Ideally, you want to approve the final keyword list before it is implemented.

Content Creation and Optimisation

Content, as the saying goes, is the backbone of SEO. And a good agency will provide content creation as part of its services, whether it’s optimising existing content or creating new content in line with the SEO strategy.

Read More: Is SEO Worth It?

Key Takeaway

Ultimately, when it comes to SEO costs in Singapore, there can be no one-size-fits-all approach; it really boils down to each business’s individual needs and their goals.

Before signing any contract, we recommend clearly outlining your business objectives and SEO expectations to avoid paying for any unnecessary extras. Speak to the agency representative and request a customised proposal based on your needs. Evaluate the scope of services to determine whether the deliverables align with your objectives.

Pro Tip: SEO isn’t your only option; SEM can also be highly effective, particularly for immediate results. The difference between the two is that SEO focuses on organic growth while SEM involves paid advertising to drive traffic and conversion quickly. The choice between the two ultimately rests on your business’s specific needs.

Typically, if keyword search volume is high and cost per click is low, SEM might be more effective. Meanwhile, SEO works best for high search volume and high cost-per-click keywords. Combining both strategies can also be effective, especially if you have a larger budget and wish to be more aggressive in securing your marketing objectives.

Rogue Digital isn’t just an SEO agency. We’re a full-service digital marketing agency, providing a wide variety of services, including SEO, SEM, Content Writing, Creative Design, Video and Display Advertising, and more. Not only is our agency a Google Partner, but we also value the importance of long-lasting SEO results through quality on-page and off-page SEO (quality content, backlinking etc). Why? We value long-term business relationships with our clients and sustainable results means exactly that.

Are you ready to take your business to the next level? Reach out to us for a free consultation to learn how we can help your business achieve its marketing goals.