This is the first question every service business owner asks when someone pitches them SEO. And the honest answer is frustrating: it depends.

But I can give you real numbers instead of that non-answer. I’ve spent the last few months talking to local service business owners in San Antonio, and I’ve seen every end of this spectrum.

The actual ranges

For a single-location service business (roofer, plumber, HVAC company, garage door shop), the market breaks down into three tiers.

First, there’s the DIY route. You manage your own Google Business Profile, post your own updates, ask customers for reviews, and maybe use a tool like BrightLocal ($30-60/month) to track how you’re doing. Total cost: $0-60/month plus 3-5 hours of your time per week. This works if you have the time and the discipline, but most owners I talk to don’t. They got into their trade to do the work, not to manage a Google profile.

Second, a freelancer or small agency runs $750-2,500/month. They handle your profile, write content for your website, build citations in directories, and send you a monthly report. This is where most single-location businesses should start. Quality varies wildly though. Some are excellent. Some are recycling the same generic blog posts for 40 different clients and calling it “SEO.”

Third, full-service agencies charge $3,000-7,500/month and bundle SEO with paid ads, website redesign, and social media. If you’re a multi-location company in a competitive metro, this might make sense. If you’re one truck and a phone, you’re overpaying for services you don’t need yet.

The number that actually matters

What most people miss, but most business owners I talk to focus on the monthly cost and never calculate the return. Think about what a new customer is worth instead of what SEO costs.

I work with a contractor whose average job is around $8,000. If better Google visibility brings him two extra jobs a month, that’s $16,000 in revenue against maybe $1,500 in SEO spend. The math isn’t even close.

And here’s the thing BrightLocal’s 2026 research confirms: 45% of consumers now use AI tools like ChatGPT to find local businesses. That’s up over 7x from last year. The businesses that show up in those results are the ones with complete profiles, real reviews, and websites that actually say what they do. It’s not just Google Search anymore.

But if an agency can’t show you a clear path from “we do this” to “you get more calls,” your money is better spent on Google reviews and a clean website.

What I’d do with $500/month

If I were a solo operator with a limited budget, I’d spend it in this order. Get my Google Business Profile completely filled out: every field, 10+ photos, real business hours. Ask my last 10 happy customers for a Google review. Make sure my website mentions every service I offer and every city I serve. Submit my business to the top 10 free directories.

That’s not sexy. But it’s what actually moves the needle before you need to pay someone. I’ve seen businesses go from invisible to page one just by doing these basics, because their competitors aren’t doing them either.

Want to know what SEO would actually cost for your specific business? Get a free audit — I will look at your Google presence, your competitors, and tell you exactly what needs fixing. No sales pitch.