How much does SEO cost in India? Most SEO companies in India charge a monthly retainer, and indicative prices range from roughly ₹15,000 for a small local business to ₹1,50,000 or more for a large ecommerce store. What changes the price is the size of the site, how competitive your market is, how many locations or products you have, and how much content and link work is included. Before you choose on price alone, check three things: what exactly is in scope, how results are reported, and where the provider gets its links.
The table below gives indicative ranges. They are broad market guides, not Shivi Tech pricing, so use them to sense-check proposals rather than as quotes.
| Business type | Typical monthly range (INR) | Typical focus |
| Local business, one location | ₹15,000 – ₹40,000 | Google Business Profile, citations, local pages, reviews |
| Small business, national reach | ₹30,000 – ₹1,00,000 | Technical fixes, content, on-page work, authority building |
| Ecommerce store | ₹40,000 – ₹1,50,000+ | Category and product pages, technical SEO, content, links |
| One-off SEO audit | ₹10,000 – ₹50,000 | Findings and a prioritised roadmap, no ongoing work |
Shivi Tech is an Ahmedabad-based team. We work with businesses across India and with agencies and brands in the UK, US and Australia. You can read about our SEO services in India for the full process.
What SEO costs in India
SEO pricing in India is lower than in the UK, US or Australia for comparable work, largely because of differences in salary and operating costs. That’s not the same as lower quality. It means you can often buy more hours of skilled work for the same budget. Prices are usually quoted in rupees for Indian clients and in US dollars for overseas ones, so ask which currency a proposal uses and whether GST applies.
Three common pricing models exist:
- Monthly retainer: a fixed fee for an agreed scope. This is the most common model, because SEO builds over time.
- Project fee: a one-off price for an audit, migration or technical clean-up.
- Hourly or deliverable-based: priced per hour or per item, such as per article or per batch of links.
Local vs. national vs. ecommerce
Local SEO is usually the cheapest because the target area is small and the work is concentrated on Google Business Profile, citations, reviews and a handful of location pages. If you’re comparing providers for a local business, our guide on how to choose a local SEO agency walks through what to ask.
National SEO costs more because you’re competing for broader keywords against bigger sites. It needs deeper content, stronger technical work and sustained authority building.
Ecommerce SEO is often the most expensive, because of the number of pages. Category and product pages, filters, duplicate content and site speed all need attention. Our ecommerce SEO checklist for Shopify and WooCommerce stores shows what that work involves.
What is inside an SEO package?
Packages differ in name but usually draw from the same list of deliverables. Check which of these are included in a proposal:
- Initial audit: technical health, content, links and competitors
- Keyword research and mapping: matching search terms to pages
- Technical SEO: crawlability, indexing, site speed, mobile usability, structured data
- On-page optimisation: titles, headings, meta descriptions, internal links, image optimisation
- Content: new pages, blog posts and refreshes of existing content
- Link building: outreach, digital PR and citations
- Local SEO: Google Business Profile, reviews and local pages, where relevant
- Tracking and reporting: Google Search Console, Google Analytics and rank tracking
- Strategy calls: regular check-ins and a plan for next steps
Tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush help with research and tracking, but a tool subscription isn’t a strategy. Ask what the team does with the data.
If your agency also resells SEO to its own clients, you may be better served by a white label arrangement. Our guide to white label SEO explains how that works.
Why do SEO prices vary so much?
Two proposals for the same website can differ by a factor of five. The usual reasons:
- Scope: one provider includes content and links, another only audits and advice
- Competition: ranking for “personal injury lawyer” is harder than for a niche product
- Site size and condition: a 20-page site is quicker to fix than a 5,000-page store with technical debt
- Who does the work: senior specialists cost more than junior staff or automated tools
- Content volume and quality: original, researched articles take more time than templated copy
- Link approach: earning links through outreach costs more than buying low-quality ones, and the cheap ones can harm a site
- Reporting and communication: dedicated account management and regular calls cost money
Very low prices often mean shortcuts. Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO warns about unrealistic promises and practices that could harm your site, so read it before you sign anything.
How to compare two SEO proposals
Putting two proposals side by side is easier if you compare the same things in the same order.
Scope
List what each proposal commits to doing each month, in numbers: how many pages optimised, how many articles written, how many links targeted, how many hours of work. Vague phrases such as “on-page SEO” or “link building” without quantities make it impossible to compare. Check what’s excluded, such as development changes or content writing.
Reporting
Ask to see a sample report. It should show more than rankings. Look for organic traffic, leads or enquiries, conversions where tracked, work completed this month and plans for next month, using data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics. A report made only of screenshots from a rank tracker isn’t enough.
Link policy
Ask where links come from and how they’re earned. Good answers mention outreach, digital PR, partnerships and content-led links. Be cautious about large numbers of links for a low fee, private blog networks and paid links, which Google’s spam policies treat as link schemes.
What questions expose weak SEO providers?
Try these in your first call:
- “Can you guarantee rankings?” The honest answer is no. No one controls Google’s results.
- “Can I see a sample report and a similar case study?” Weak providers avoid specifics.
- “Who will actually work on my account?” Find out if it’s in-house or outsourced.
- “Where will my links come from?” Listen for specifics.
- “What will you do in the first 90 days?” A clear plan beats a generic promise.
- “Who owns the accounts and data?” Search Console, analytics and ad accounts should be yours.
- “What happens if I leave?” Look for fair notice periods and clean handover.
- “How will we measure success?” The answer should mention leads or sales, not just rankings.
Any provider who gets defensive about these questions is telling you something.
Indian agency vs. an agency in your own country
If you’re based in the UK, US or Australia, you may wonder whether to hire an Indian SEO company or a local one. Both can work. The trade-offs:
| Factor | Indian agency | Agency in your own country |
| Cost | Often lower for similar scope | Often higher |
| Time zones | Some overlap, with calls scheduled around it | Same working hours |
| Local market knowledge | Depends on the team’s experience of your market | Usually strong |
| Communication | Needs clear processes and a named contact | Often easier face to face |
| Capacity | Can scale quickly | Varies |
Good Indian agencies serve overseas clients with documented processes, overlapping hours and clear reporting. What matters is evidence that they understand your market, so ask for relevant examples. If your business is in the UK, US or Australia and you need delivery capacity behind your own brand, our white label local SEO service is built for that.
What do realistic SEO results look like?
SEO takes time. Search engines need to crawl and assess changes, and your competitors keep working too. Expect improvements to show up gradually, with early signs in technical health and impressions before larger gains in traffic and leads.
No ethical provider can promise a specific ranking or number of leads. What they can promise is a clear plan, regular reporting and honest advice about progress.
AI search is changing how people find businesses, so ask providers how they approach it. Our GEO and AI SEO services cover how to be cited in AI-generated answers as well as in standard results.
Timelines by market
- Low-competition local markets: some movement in local visibility may appear within a few months
- Moderately competitive national niches: meaningful traffic growth often takes several months
- Highly competitive sectors, such as finance, legal and big ecommerce categories: expect a longer timeline, often six to twelve months or more, and a bigger investment
These are general expectations, not promises. Your starting point, your site’s condition and your competitors all change the timeline.
FAQs
Do you guarantee rankings?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. We commit to the work we’ll do, how we’ll report on it and how we’ll measure progress against your goals.
What does a monthly report include?
Organic traffic, leads or enquiries where tracked, keyword visibility, work completed, issues found and the plan for the next month, using data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Can I switch from my old agency?
Yes. Ask your current provider for access to your accounts and any reports. A new team will audit what’s in place before making changes, so you don’t lose existing progress.
Who writes the content?
It depends on your plan. Content can be written by the provider’s writers and reviewed by you, or created by your team with the provider supplying briefs and edits. Agree who approves what up front.
Is there a contract lock-in?
Many providers work month-to-month or on three- to six-month terms, since SEO takes time. Check the notice period before you sign.
Do you work with overseas clients?
Yes. Shivi Tech, based in Ahmedabad, works with businesses in India and with agencies and brands in the UK, US and Australia.