Search “how much does SEO cost” and you get a dozen articles that end with “it depends” and
a contact form. Fair enough, it does depend. But you are not asking out of curiosity; you are
trying to budget. So this article does something the ranking pages will not: it explains what
drives the price, gives you honest ranges for the Ottawa market, and then shows you exactly
what Keyboard and Coffee charges, because our pricing is on our website and has
been since the day it launched.

The short answer

In our experience, most Ottawa small businesses pay somewhere between $500 and $2,500 per
month for search engine optimization, and established companies in competitive categories,
think roofing, HVAC, law, dental or multi-location trades, commonly spend $3,000 to $5,000 or
more. One-time projects such as an audit, a Google Business Profile clean-up or a competitor
analysis run from about $200 to $1,000. Hourly consulting in Canada tends to sit between $100
and $250 an hour.

Those ranges are wide because the work is not one product. Here is what actually moves the
number.

Seven things that decide your SEO price in Ottawa

1. Where you compete

Ranking a plumber in Brockville and ranking a
plumber in downtown Ottawa are different jobs with different price tags. Downtown, you are up
against businesses that have been publishing content and earning links for a decade. In
Brockville or Clarence-Rockland, the field is
thin and a solid foundation plan can own the market. Suburb pages matter here too: a business
serving Kanata, Nepean
and Orleans needs a real page for each, which is more
work than a single “Ottawa” page.

2. How many keywords and services

A handyman with five services and one location needs a fraction of the pages, citations and
tracking that a company with twenty services and two locations needs. Every plan we sell is
scoped by keyword count for that reason: 15, 25, 50 or 100 or more.

3. The state of your website

This is the factor nobody warns you about. A site built on a drag-and-drop funnel platform
or a cheap template ships bloated code, slow mobile pages and thin, duplicated content. Some of
that can be fixed in place. Often the cheapest path to rankings is a rebuild, which is why our
monthly SEO plans apply only to sites we build, and why the
web design pricing and the website plus SEO bundles
exist. Paying for SEO on a site that cannot be optimized is the most expensive option of all.

4. Language

The Ottawa-Gatineau market is bilingual, and a business in
Gatineau has French-language obligations under Quebec’s Bill 96 that affect its website
and marketing. Ranking properly in both languages roughly doubles the content work, and any
honest quote for a Quebec-side business will say so.

5. Speed

SEO compounds. Two articles a month and three backlinks a month will, over a year, beat one
article and none, but they cost more per month. The plans are tiered by how aggressively you
want to push, not by how much you can be talked into.

6. Who does the work

Agencies that resell overseas fulfillment can charge $300 a month and still make margin. The
work reflects it. Agencies with in-house people charge for those people’s time. Freelancers
sit in between and vary enormously in quality. Ask any agency, including us, one question: is
the person I am talking to the person who will do the work?

7. What is bundled in

“SEO” on one quote means keyword research and a monthly report. On another it means Google
Business Profile management, citations, content, links, review management and CRM set-up. Read
the deliverables, not the headline number.

The three ways SEO is priced

MODEL TYPICAL RANGE BEST FOR WATCH OUT FOR
Monthly plan $500 to $5,000+ per month Ongoing rankings that compound 12-month contracts, vague deliverables
One-time project $200 to $5,000 Audits, profile clean-ups, migrations, rebuilds No follow-through once delivered
Hourly consulting $100 to $250 per hour Teams with in-house staff who need direction Hours that grow with no outcome attached

What Keyboard and Coffee actually charges

Every number below is published in full on our pricing section, and
every monthly SEO plan is month to month.

PLAN PER MONTH KEYWORDS WHAT CHANGES
Essentials $599 Up to 15 Google Business Profile optimization, 10 citations, 1 blog post and 1 Google post per month, on-page and technical SEO, review management, reporting
Growth $999 Up to 25 Adds 2 backlinks a month, 20 citations, 2 posts of each kind, yearly competitor analysis and heat map tracking, quarterly strategy meetings
Accelerator $1,499 Up to 50 Adds review replies, 3 backlinks a month, 30 citations, quarterly competitor analysis, strategy meetings every other month; Google Ads add-on $250
Dominance $2,799 + $999 set-up 100+, 2 locations 4 posts of each kind, 10 backlinks and up to 3 new pages a month, 50 citations, monthly strategy, Google Ads management to $5K spend

If your site was built elsewhere, the website plus SEO bundles start at $399 a month with a
$599 set-up on a 12-month term (the only contract we sell, because it spreads a new website
over the year), and run month to month from $699 upward. Website-only builds are $1,750,
$2,750 and $4,750, and can be split over three payments. One-time
Google Business Profile optimization is $499, a competitor
analysis is $199.

What $599 buys versus $2,799

The honest way to think about the tiers is speed and surface area. Essentials builds the
foundation most small businesses never had: a profile that matches the website, correct
citations, technical problems fixed, one useful article a month. It is the right plan for a
single-location business in one suburb. Dominance is for a company that wants to own a category
across two locations: four articles and four Google posts a month, ten links a month, three new
service or city pages a month, and Google Ads managed alongside so the paid and organic work
share what they learn. Growth and Accelerator sit between, and Accelerator is what most
established Ottawa businesses in competitive trades end up choosing.

Red flags on any SEO quote

  • A guaranteed ranking. Nobody controls Google. A guarantee is either for a keyword
    nobody searches or a promise that will be quietly forgotten.
  • A price with no deliverables. “SEO: $800/month” tells you nothing. Ask for the list.
  • A 12-month minimum with no reason. A term can be fair when it is spreading a real
    cost such as a website build. A term on a pure SEO retainer exists to stop you leaving.
  • Reports built on impressions and “visibility scores.” The number that matters is
    phone calls and form fills from organic search, which you can see yourself in Search Console
    and Analytics if you own them. Make sure you own them.
  • Nobody will tell you who does the work. See factor six.

How to budget it

Start from what a customer is worth to you. If an average job is worth $600 and a plan
costs $999 a month, two extra jobs a month pays for it, and the rankings keep working after
the invoice clears. If you are a new business with no site, the starter bundle exists so you
are not paying $1,750 up front. If you are an established company losing calls to a competitor
who is simply easier for Google to understand, price the plan against what those calls are
worth, not against the cheapest quote in your inbox.

And if you want to know where you stand before spending anything, ask for the
free audit. It is a real document, yours to keep either way.

Questions people ask next

Is $599 a month enough to see results in Ottawa?

For a single-location business in a suburb like Nepean or Orleans, targeting a focused set of local keywords, yes: the Essentials plan covers the technical clean-up, Google Business Profile work, citations and one article a month that most small businesses were never getting. In downtown Ottawa against established competitors, or for a trade with a dozen services, the Growth or Accelerator plan is the realistic starting point.

Why do agencies refuse to publish SEO prices?

Usually one of three reasons: they price each client on what they think that client can pay, they resell outsourced fulfillment at a markup they would rather not reveal, or they want you on a sales call where a contract is easier to close. None of those reasons benefit you, which is why we put every plan on our pricing section.

Should I pay for SEO or Google Ads first?

If you need calls this month, Google Ads, because they work the day the campaign goes live and stop the day you stop paying. If you want a lower cost per lead a year from now, SEO. Most businesses that can afford both run Ads while the SEO compounds, then reduce ad spend as organic rankings take over the same searches.

Does a cheap SEO package from overseas work?

Rarely, and it can do damage. Bulk directory submissions, spun articles and purchased links are exactly the patterns Google’s spam systems are trained on. The cheap package costs $150 and the clean-up afterwards costs more than a year of a real plan.