On Google UK, "seo pricing" gets 480 searches a month and "seo agency" 6,600. "Seo quote" gets 50, "seo rfp" 30, "seo brief" and "seo agency brief" 10 each. People buying SEO in the UK ask for a price. Hardly anyone searches for how to write the request.
The first page shows the same imbalance. Of the nine organic results for "seo pricing uk", all nine are agencies or consultants selling the service. The AI Overview at the top puts a typical retainer at £500 to £5,000 a month. Search "seo quote" and Google assumes you want inspirational sayings about SEO: the only result about asking an agency for a quote is a Brick Marketing post from 2019.
The quality of the quotes you get depends on what you write. A two-line request produces proposals you can't compare, because each agency answers a different question.
Below are the fields to put in the request (the RFP, or request for proposal), what to ask for in reply and how to line up three proposals. At the end there's a note for public bodies, where the request becomes an invitation to tender.
Ask for "an SEO quote" and you'll get five different jobs
Look at any public price list. Red Eagle Tech lists SEO audits from £397, local SEO from £500 a month, a monthly Growth plan at £750 and a Pro plan at £2,000 (page updated July 2026). Those are different jobs under the same label. If your request doesn't say which one you need, each agency picks the one it knows best.
Picture three replies to the same email: an audit at £750, a £600-a-month retainer with four articles, and a £2,000-a-month package with link building. None of them is wrong and none can be compared with the others, because they're buying different things. To check whether a figure is in line with the market, see our analysis of how much SEO costs. The point here is different: getting figures you can compare.
| Search | Monthly searches | CPC | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|
| seo agency | 6,600 | £28.31 | September 2025 (22,200) |
| seo company | 3,600 | £27.52 | September 2025 (12,100) |
| seo pricing | 480 | £16.90 | May 2026 (1,300) |
| request for proposal | 480 | £36.90 | September 2025 and March 2026 (590) |
| invitation to tender | 390 | £3.75 | September 2025 and January 2026 (590) |
| seo pricing uk | 260 | £10.05 | September 2025 (1,000) |
| seo proposal | 70 | £8.43 | September 2025 and May 2026 (140) |
| seo quote | 50 | n/a | February, March and May 2026 (90) |
| seo rfp | 30 | n/a | April 2026 (50) |
| seo brief, seo agency brief, seo tender | 10 | n/a | n/a |
Searches bunch up in September and again in spring. "Seo agency" reached 22,200 searches in September 2025, more than three times its average, then 8,100 in March 2026, and sat at 3,600 from May to August. "Seo pricing" peaked at 1,300 in May 2026 and fell to 140 in August. Companies pick suppliers in the autumn and between March and May: if your request lands in those months, give agencies at least two weeks to reply.
The fields a request for a quote should include
A good request fits on two pages. You don't need a tender document: you need every agency to start from the same information.
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Company and offer | what you sell, to whom, which products or services earn the most | uPVC and aluminium windows for homeowners |
| Geography | towns, regions, countries and languages | Greater Manchester and Cheshire |
| Goal | the business result, with today's figure | from 20 to 40 survey requests a month from the website |
| Starting point | CMS, number of pages, monthly organic clicks from Search Console | WordPress, 180 pages, 2,300 clicks a month |
| Competitors | 3-5 names you see above you on Google | the two local showrooms and a national retailer |
| Internal resources | who writes, who works on the site, sign-off times | part-time marketer, external developer |
| Access | what you can share now and what after signing | Search Console read access now, CMS later |
| Budget | an annual range, even a wide one, and whether it includes VAT | £10,000-£15,000 in year one, excluding VAT |
| Term and notice | minimum acceptable term and notice period | 12 months, 60 days' notice |
| Constraints | regulated sector, legal, brand, fixed dates | new website going live in March |
| Selection timeline | proposal deadline, calls, decision | proposals within 3 weeks, decision within 6 |
The field that changes the replies most is the starting point. With clicks, pages and CMS, an agency can estimate the hours. Without them it guesses and adds a margin. You can find the figures in ten minutes in the Performance report in Google Search Console.
Write the budget down, even as a range
Many companies keep it hidden so the proposal isn't "sized" to it. The opposite happens: the agency doesn't know whether to propose £500 a month or £3,000, and picks something in between that suits nobody. With an annual range it can reply with a realistic plan and, if the budget is tight, tell you straight away what's left out. Say whether the range includes VAT: most UK agencies quote prices plus VAT, and on a £15,000 budget the difference is £3,000.
To read the replies, turn every retainer into hours. At £60 an hour, £600 a month is 10 hours; at £100 an hour it's 6. Two proposals with the same fee and very different hours are selling different work, or one of them hasn't done the maths.
What to ask for in reply to get proposals you can compare
The second half of the request says how you want the replies. Ask everyone for the same format:
- planned activities month by month for the first six months, with estimated hours for each;
- who works on the project, with name and role, and who your contact will be;
- tools included in the price and tools you'll pay for separately;
- which KPIs they propose, with what report and how often;
- realistic timings for the first measurable results;
- who keeps the content, accounts and data if the contract ends;
- a case similar to yours with the figures, and a client you can call.
Google, in its page on choosing an SEO, suggests similar questions: examples of previous work, what results to expect and in what timeframe, experience in your industry and in your country or city. It also makes clear that "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google". More questions for the calls are in our list of questions to ask an SEO agency.
Compare three proposals on a grid, not on price
When the replies come in, put them in a spreadsheet with one row per agency and one column for each point you asked for. That alone splits them into two groups: those who answered everything and those who sent their standard deck. An agency that ignores the format you asked for while it's trying to sell to you is unlikely to stick to it in its reports.
Then look for the signs that rule a proposal out:
- a guarantee of specific positions, or of page one by a set date;
- a retainer with no stated activities or hours;
- links sold by the bundle ("20 links a month") without saying on which sites;
- content, Google Ads accounts or profiles registered in the agency's name;
- a long tie-in with no exit clause.
For the other criteria (sector experience, support, tools) see the guide to comparing SEO agencies. The full process, from the first shortlist to onboarding, is in how to choose an SEO agency.
For public bodies the request becomes an invitation to tender
People working in the public sector search for "invitation to tender" (390 searches a month) rather than "seo quote". The logic doesn't change, the rules do. Under the Procurement Act 2023, which applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scottish bodies follow their own regime), the full procedures apply to services contracts above £135,018 for central government and £207,720 for other authorities, VAT included, from 1 January 2026 (Procurement Policy Note 023). Below those figures, the government guidance on below-threshold contracts lets an authority invite quotes from a group of selected suppliers, but contracts from £12,000 (central government) or £30,000 (other authorities) must still be published on the Central Digital Platform. An annual SEO contract is almost always below the main threshold.
In the specification it pays to make measurable what a private company leaves implicit: activities with quantities and deadlines, report format and frequency, ownership of the content produced, access to be handed back at the end of the contract. They're the same fields as in the table, written as binding terms.
Recommended reading: how to tell if your SEO agency is working, once the contract is signed.
Frequently asked questions
Agencies don't normally charge for a quote. The service itself, according to the UK pages on Google's first page, starts at a few hundred pounds a month for a local site and runs to several thousand for national or ecommerce work: Red Eagle Tech, for example, lists local SEO from £500 a month and LOCALiQ starts its campaigns at £1,300.
Who you are and where you sell, the goal with today's figure, CMS, pages and current organic clicks, competitors, internal resources, budget range and selection timeline. Then the format you want the replies in, the same for every agency.
Three or four are enough for a proper comparison. Beyond five, reading and comparing the replies becomes a job in itself.
Yes, and it's a good sign: without data the estimate is guesswork. You can grant restricted access and revoke it at any time from the property settings.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, services contracts below £135,018 (central government) or £207,720 (other authorities), VAT included, fall outside the full Procurement Act 2023 procedures, and the authority can invite quotes from selected suppliers. Contracts from £12,000 or £30,000 must still be published on the Central Digital Platform, and the services need to be defined in a specification.
Where to start
Open Search Console and note three figures: organic clicks over the last 12 months, how many of those come from searches that don't contain your company name, and how many pages received at least one click. The second figure is the one that matters: it measures how many people find you without already knowing you, and it's the number a good agency should grow. Put it at the top of the request and ask each agency how far they expect to move it in twelve months.
If you'd like to send it to us too, start from the contact page. What the work includes is described on our SEO service page, and some completed projects are in our case studies.
