How Much Does SEO Content Actually Cost?
Freelancers charge $200-500 per article. Agencies charge $2,000-6,000 per month. We deliver 30 SEO-optimized articles for $99/month. Here's the full breakdown so you can decide what makes sense for your business.
SEO Content Cost Comparison (2026)
Every option has trade-offs. Here's an honest look at what each costs and what work falls on you.
| Service | Per Article | Monthly | Articles/Mo | Your Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance Writer (Entry) | $50-150 | $200-600 | 4/month | Briefs, editing, publishing, SEO |
| Freelance Writer (Expert) | $200-500 | $800-2,000 | 4/month | Briefs, editing, publishing, SEO |
| Content Agency | $300-800 | $2,400-6,400 | 8/month | Strategy calls, approvals, feedback |
| In-House Writer | $150-300* | $4,000-6,000 | 12-16/month | Management, training, benefits |
| AI Writing Tool (DIY) | $1-5 | $20-100 | Unlimited (raw) | Prompts, editing, formatting, publishing, SEO |
| FirstSearch (Done-For-You) | $3.30 | $99 | 30/month | Nothing. Fully automated. |
* In-house writer per-article cost based on $60K salary + benefits divided by output.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
The sticker price of an article is never the real cost. Here's what adds up behind the scenes.
Your Time
Even with a freelancer, you spend 2-4 hours per article on briefs, reviews, revisions, and publishing. At $50/hour, that's $100-200 per article in hidden labor costs.
SEO Optimization
Raw content is not SEO content. Adding meta tags, schema markup, internal links, alt text, and keyword optimization is a separate skill and cost.
Management Overhead
Finding reliable writers, managing deadlines, handling revisions, onboarding replacements when writers leave. This adds 5-10 hours per month.
Keyword Research
Before writing begins, someone needs to identify which keywords to target. SEO tools cost $99-399/month. Agencies charge $500-1,500 for keyword research.
True Cost: When You Factor In Your Time
A $200 freelance article sounds reasonable until you calculate the full picture. You spend an hour writing the brief, 30 minutes reviewing the draft, another 30 minutes requesting edits, 20 minutes on SEO optimization, and 15 minutes publishing to your CMS.
That's 2.5 hours of your time per article. If your time is worth $50/hour, the real cost of that "$200 article" is $325. For 8 articles per month, you're looking at $2,600 in total cost and 20 hours of your time.
With FirstSearch, the total cost is $99 and 0 hours of your time. No briefs, no editing, no publishing. The system researches keywords, writes articles, optimizes for SEO, generates images, and publishes directly to your site. You get 30 articles per month instead of 8, at a fraction of the cost.
Which Option Is Right for Your Business?
Choose a Freelancer If...
- You need a very specific brand voice that requires human nuance
- You're in a YMYL niche (health, finance, legal) requiring certified expertise
- You have budget for $1,000+/month and time to manage the relationship
Choose an Agency If...
- You need a full content strategy with multiple content types
- You have budget for $3,000+/month
- You need video, social, and blog content coordinated together
Choose FirstSearch If...
- You want consistent SEO content without any work on your end
- You need volume (30 articles/month) at an affordable price
- You're a small business owner who needs results, not another project to manage
- You want content published directly to your CMS automatically
Related Resources
30 SEO Articles for $99/Month
That's $3.30 per article. Fully optimized, fully automated, published directly to your website. No hidden costs, no time investment, no management overhead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does SEO blog content cost per article in 2026?
SEO blog content costs $50-800 per article depending on the provider. Entry-level freelancers charge $50-150, experienced SEO writers charge $200-500, and content agencies charge $300-800 per article. AI-powered services like FirstSearch deliver SEO-optimized articles for approximately $3.30 each ($99/month for 30 articles).
Is $99/month for SEO content worth it?
At $99/month for 30 fully optimized articles, you pay $3.30 per article. A single freelance article costs $200-500. To get 30 articles from a freelancer, you'd spend $6,000-15,000/month. For small businesses, $99/month for consistent, automated SEO content is one of the highest-ROI marketing investments available.
How much should a small business spend on SEO content?
Most SEO experts recommend spending 5-10% of revenue on marketing, with content being a significant portion. For small businesses, the key is consistency over volume. Publishing 4-8 quality articles per month is a good baseline. With FirstSearch at $99/month, you get 30 articles, making it accessible for businesses of any size.
Is AI content cheaper than hiring a writer?
Yes, significantly. AI content services cost $1-5 per article for DIY tools, or $3.30 per article for fully managed services like FirstSearch. Human writers cost $50-800 per article. However, DIY AI tools still require your time for editing, optimization, and publishing, so the true cost comparison should factor in your time.
What's the ROI of investing in SEO blog content?
SEO content typically generates returns within 3-6 months. A single well-ranked article can drive 100-1,000+ visitors per month for years. At a conservative $5 per visitor value, one ranking article could return $500-5,000/month. With 30 articles per month, even a 10% ranking rate generates significant organic traffic.
Does cheap SEO content actually work?
Price alone doesn't determine quality. What matters is: keyword targeting, content depth (1,500+ words), proper SEO optimization (meta tags, schema, internal links), and publishing consistency. FirstSearch articles are 3,000-5,000 words with full SEO optimization, making them competitive with $300-500 freelance articles despite the lower cost.