Most proposals price search as a single monthly figure covering technical work, content, links and reporting. Those four have different costs, different lead times and very different value to a given business, and a package that never breaks them out is impossible to compare against another. Asking for the split is the cheapest thing a buyer can do.
Technical work is finite and should be front-loaded
Crawling, indexing, site structure, speed and the handling of duplicates are a body of work with an end. On most sites it is largely done in the first two or three months and then maintained. A proposal that bills the same technical hours in month twelve as in month one is billing maintenance at build rates, and you are entitled to ask what changed.
Content is the part that keeps costing and keeps paying
Pages are where the ongoing money goes, and quality is the variable nobody can quote. Ask how many pages a month, who writes them, whether a subject expert reviews them, and what happens to pages that do not perform. Search guidance is explicit that content made primarily to rank rather than to help a reader is the thing it tries to filter, so volume alone is a poor target.
Links are where the risk sits
Link acquisition is the part of the bundle most often subcontracted and most often done in ways that breach the spam policies, particularly paid placements that pass ranking signals. Ask exactly how links are obtained and ask for examples from the last quarter. An unwillingness to show them is the answer.
Reporting should name a business number
Rankings and traffic are diagnostics. The report should lead with enquiries, calls or revenue attributed as honestly as the data allows, and should say where the attribution is uncertain. A report with no business number in it cannot be used to decide whether to renew, which is generally the point.
Questions people ask about search engine optimization marketing services
What is a normal monthly figure?
It varies enormously by market and scope, which is why the split matters more than the total. Compare like for like: pages per month, technical hours, link activity, and who is doing each.
Should the same firm do all four?
It is convenient and usually fine. The risk is that weakness in one part is hidden by the bundle, which is what an itemised report prevents.
How long before it works?
Technical fixes can show within weeks. Content and links generally take several months, and a supplier promising results faster is either inheriting an already-strong site or overpromising.
What should a contract include?
The deliverable counts, who owns the accounts and the content, the notice period, and what you receive on exit.