SEO
2026-10-02 · 9 min read
Sapun Lamichhane
Founder & CEO of Arcetis
SEO is not one service, it is a bundle of technical work, content production, and ongoing maintenance, and what you pay depends on how much of each your site already needs. A site with broken page structure and no content plan needs a very different amount of work than a site that just needs more backlinks.
A proper scope usually includes a technical audit and fixes, on-page optimization, content writing, local SEO and Google Business Profile management, some link building or digital PR, and monthly reporting. Before you ask "how much," ask "what exactly is included," because two agencies quoting the same number can be selling completely different amounts of work.
For context, a technical audit alone can take ten to twenty hours depending on site size, and ongoing content production, two or three well-researched articles a month, for example, takes real writing and research time that should show up as a specific line item rather than being folded into a vague "SEO work" description. Knowing the labor behind each piece makes it much easier to judge whether a quote is reasonable for what it promises.
Reporting is worth scrutinizing too. A monthly report that simply restates ranking positions without connecting them to traffic, inquiries, or revenue is not demonstrating value, it is filling a page. Ask what a useful report looks like before signing, and request to see a sample from an existing client relationship if the agency is willing to share one with identifying details removed.
“If an SEO quote does not change when you describe your website, your competitors, and your city, it is not a quote, it is a price list.”
A small local business in one city with limited competition, say a clinic, a salon, or a repair shop, can get meaningful work done for NPR 15,000 to 30,000 per month. At this tier, most of the budget goes to Google Business Profile optimization, basic on-page fixes, and light, consistent content.
A growing SME or retailer with a real website and some competition should expect NPR 30,000 to 60,000 per month, covering proper technical SEO, a steady content calendar, and basic outreach for links. Competitive niches like e-commerce, finance, real estate, or anything with national reach and multiple cities can run NPR 60,000 to 1,50,000 or more per month, because the content volume and outreach needed to compete is simply larger.
If you just want a diagnosis rather than ongoing management, a one-time technical audit alone typically costs NPR 20,000 to 50,000 depending on site size and complexity.
Keyword competitiveness matters more than business size. A niche repair shop in Pokhara competes with maybe five other local results, while Kathmandu real estate or personal finance keywords compete with dozens of well-funded national players. The more existing content you already have, the less needs to be built from scratch, which also affects cost.
Technical debt is an underrated cost driver. An old CMS, missing SSL, broken navigation, or a site that was never built with SEO in mind usually needs expensive upfront fixing before any content work can pay off. Multi-location or multi-language needs (Nepali and English, or multiple cities) also add real cost because each variant needs its own optimization.
Your current starting point also matters. A site with a handful of indexed pages and no prior SEO work needs a slower, more foundational build-up, while a site that already ranks for some terms but has stalled often needs a narrower, faster push to break through a specific plateau. Agencies that quote a number without first looking at your actual Search Console data or current rankings are usually guessing.
At very low retainers, there usually is not enough time budgeted for real work, often five to eight hours a month total. That is enough to check rankings and maybe publish one blog post, not enough to fix technical issues, build topical authority, or earn any real links.
Watch for guaranteed number one rankings, contracts promising hundreds of keywords ranked, or monthly reports that only show ranking screenshots with no context about what was actually done. Cheap SEO that produces nothing for six months often ends up costing more than a properly scoped engagement, because you have paid for zero compounding and have to start over.
Another common pattern at this price point is a single generalist handling dozens of client accounts at once, with no dedicated writer, technical specialist, or outreach person involved. That setup can work fine for the most basic local businesses with almost no competition, but it rarely holds up once you are competing against businesses that are investing properly.
It is worth remembering that SEO work compounds, meaning a small amount of real progress each month builds on the last, while a retainer that produces nothing compounds in the opposite direction, each wasted month is a month a competitor spent building an advantage you now have to catch up to. That dynamic is exactly why underfunded SEO so often ends up costing more in lost time than a properly scoped engagement would have.
Ask for a breakdown of hours or deliverables per month, not just a flat retainer figure. Ask what the work looks like in month one versus month six, it should shift from technical fixes and foundation-building toward compounding content and authority over time, not stay identical every month.
Ask who owns the accounts. Your Google Search Console, analytics, and content should sit in accounts you control, not the agency's, so you are never locked in and can leave cleanly if the relationship does not work out.
It also helps to ask what happens if the agreed work is not completed in a given month, whether hours roll over, get made up the following month, or are simply lost. Vague answers to this question are often a sign that the retainer is sold as a fixed monthly fee with no real accountability for the actual hours delivered.
Arcetis scopes SEO engagements from around NPR 20,000 to 30,000 a month for smaller local businesses, up through larger multi-channel programs for bigger budgets, based on an actual technical audit and competitive research rather than a flat rate card. Clients keep ownership of their Search Console, analytics, and content throughout.
The goal is not to sell the cheapest or priciest version of SEO, it is to match the spend to what your site and market actually need, and to be honest when a business is not ready to spend on SEO yet.
For a business just starting to take SEO seriously, it is worth having an honest conversation about timeline and expected scope before committing to a monthly number, since the right engagement size depends on your competitive situation, not a one-size-fits-all package.
For low-competition local searches, you can see early movement in two to three months. For competitive niches like e-commerce or finance, expect six to twelve months before rankings become durable. Anyone promising faster guaranteed results for a competitive keyword is not being straight with you.
A technical audit can be a one-time purchase, but SEO itself is ongoing because competitors keep publishing content and earning links, and Google keeps re-crawling and re-ranking. Stopping SEO does not freeze your rankings in place, they tend to drift down as competitors keep working.
For a very small local business with time to invest, yes, basic on-page fixes and consistent Google Business Profile management can be done without an agency. For competitive niches, the technical and content volume needed usually makes DIY impractical unless you can genuinely commit significant hours every month.