Most agencies settle into monthly retainers because SEO is ongoing work. A local business retainer in Ottawa might run $2,000–$4,000/month, while enterprise clients with national reach often pay $8,000–$25,000+ monthly. The retainer covers audits, content production, technical fixes, link outreach, and reporting. You're not selling hours—you're selling predictable ranking improvements and traffic growth that justify the spend. Project-based pricing works for defined scopes like site migrations, one-time audits, or content cluster builds. Charge $5,000–$15,000 for a technical audit with implementation roadmap, or $20,000–$50,000 for a full migration with redirects and content optimization. The advantage is clear deliverables; the downside is clients often need ongoing support afterward, so you end up proposing a retainer anyway. Hourly rates ($100–$300/hour) suit consultants or agencies that troubleshoot specific issues, but clients hate open-ended billing. Use hourly for discovery phases or short advisory engagements, then convert to retainer or project once scope is clear. Pricing should ladder with value. A 20-location franchise generates more revenue per ranking than a single plumber, so charge accordingly. At Ottawa SEO, we price based on competitive difficulty (how hard are the target keywords), content volume required (10 pages vs. 200), technical lift (Shopify tweaks vs. custom platform overhauls), and link acquisition cost (local citations vs. national editorial links). Avoid race-to-the-bottom pricing. $500/month retainers force you to deliver nothing meaningful or juggle 40 clients poorly. If a client can't afford $2,000/month minimum, they're better served by DIY or hiring junior in-house help. Your pricing signals expertise—underpricing signals desperation. Charge what lets you dedicate real hours to research, execution, and iteration, because SEO done badly is worse than no SEO at all.