How much does a freelance SEO cost?

A freelancer is usually 30–60% cheaper than an agency for the same scope, because there's no overhead. Hourly rates vary wildly, anywhere from €30 to €150+ depending on experience and market.

Project rates are often the better deal: a technical audit might be €300–€800, a full small-business setup like the barbershop project €400, a monthly retainer €500–€2,000.

Cheap can be fine for narrow tasks (audit, keyword research, schema). Cheap is dangerous when you let someone write content or build backlinks without quality control. Bad SEO can take longer to clean up than it took to produce. Ask for past work and real results before the price.