The most common hourly cost of SEO consultancy is $76-$200, according to a new survey by SEOmoz.
However, cost-per-project is the most common pricing model and is offered by 70% of the agencies and consultancies surveyed.
A monthly retainer was the second most common cost model offered (60%), followed by hourly rates at 55%.
The data compares responses across six countries and regions, and though it is based on a simple set of questions on SurveyMonkey and relatively small sample sizes, it provides a benchmark of SEO costs and pricing models.
The survey also asked respondents for information about their business and client base. The data shows that a majority of respondents had fewer than 25 clients and had been in business for up to four years.
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6:27PM on 8th January 2012
This is interesting data which is based on the cost of labor per capita in each country, I think one of the solutions to be able to use labor that is cost effective out of higher cost countries, such as the US, is the communication between such cultures. Someone has to bridge the gap.
SEO Freelance at SEOnweb.es
7:24AM on 20th January 2012
It seems that this does not answer the question about which payment model is the best for SEO.