A functional SEO budget for most businesses falls between $1,500 and $5,000 CAD monthly. This range typically covers keyword research, technical audits, on-page optimization, content creation, and basic link building. Companies spending under $1,500 usually get maintenance-level work—enough to keep things stable but not enough to push past competitors. For competitive industries like legal, finance, or home services in major Canadian markets (Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa), you're looking at $5,000–$10,000 monthly minimum if you want measurable market share gains. Enterprise-level campaigns competing nationally or in multiple regions often run $15,000–$30,000+ because they need dedicated teams, custom content pipelines, and sustained outreach at scale. The math that matters: calculate 5–10% of your target revenue increase from organic search. If you want an extra $200,000 in annual revenue from SEO, budget $10,000–$20,000 per year ($830–$1,650/month). That's conservative. In practice, SEO compounds—year two and three deliver better ROI than year one because authority builds over time. What you're actually paying for breaks down roughly like this: - 30–40% technical work and site architecture - 25–35% content production (writing, optimization, updates) - 20–30% link acquisition and outreach - 10–15% reporting, strategy, and adjustments At Ottawa SEO, we've run campaigns from $2,000/month for local service businesses up to $12,000/month for multi-location companies. The lower end works when competition is thin and the site foundation is solid. The higher end makes sense when you're fighting established players or need to produce 8–12 optimized pages monthly plus serious link velocity. One warning: agencies quoting under $800/month are either offshore, automated, or cutting corners that'll hurt you long-term. Cheap SEO tends to mean thin content, spammy links, or cookie-cutter strategies that ignore your actual market. You want enough budget to do real research, produce quality assets, and earn links that won't vanish in the next algorithm update.