You’re a small healthcare business that needs SEO services to compete with other businesses offering similar services. However, you’ve run into a few problems. First, the time it takes you to learn SEO is time you don’t have. On top of that, you’ve seen prices ranging from $500/month to $5000/month when you look for someone else to do it for you.

You don’t want to sacrifice quality, but you also don’t want to overpay if someone could do it for less money than $5000/month. Properly implementing SEO services can be opaque, time-consuming, and costly. 

Every business has different needs and resources. So, how do you find out what’s best for your business? Let’s discuss what you should expect to get for what you pay and how working with different types of SEO providers will change your experience. 

What is Healthcare SEO and Why is it Important?

Healthcare SEO is crucial in ensuring that medical practices and healthcare providers are discoverable online. The healthcare industry increasingly relies on digital marketing strategies to reach patients, provide accurate medical information, and persuade them to choose their services. By optimizing websites for search engines, healthcare professionals can enhance their online visibility. 

It can sound ludicrous - everyone needs healthcare, so of course I’ll get business - but everyone can get their care from a provider that’s easier to find online while you struggle to stay afloat.

SEO is essential for the healthcare sector as it helps improve the ranking of your website on search engine results pages, particularly in “near me” searches – ensuring that you reach the community you serve. 

Effective SEO strategies can increase website traffic and higher conversions, ultimately benefitting medical practices, scientific consulting firms, pharmacies, and anyone else in the business of solving health problems.

However, you can’t implement effective SEO without help, so let’s discuss whether there’s really a “better” option when it comes to picking who you’ll work with. 

SEO Agency vs Freelancer: Pros and Cons

There are typically two types of businesses or people providing SEO services: healthcare SEO agencies, which almost always charge more(pigs will fly when that changes), and freelancers, who work independently.

SEO agencies will offer a comprehensive range of services, from content optimization to link building and website maintenance. On the other hand, freelancers are more likely to provide personalized attention and a la carte services, meaning they are often more cost-effective.

Healthcare SEO agencies also have more overhead costs to cover, while freelancers don’t - another reason you might shell out $3500/month to an agency but $2000/month to a freelancer.

Advantages of hiring a healthcare SEO agency include access to a team of SEO experts with diverse skill sets and the ability to handle large-scale SEO campaigns and uncommon SEO needs, like global optimization(although healthcare providers with a physical practice shouldn’t need global SEO services). Agencies often have more years of experience under their belt, as well.

On the other hand, agencies are more likely to overcharge for services I don’t believe should cost that much, like technical SEO maintenance. Yes, in the first month, this can be a huge chore. If your website looks like it was designed in 2003, I’m liable to upcharge you a little bit just for the legwork of bringing it up to today’s standards(after an audit, of course). 

And there’s no denying that technical fixes can be downright tedious, especially depending on what service you use to host your website. 

However, ongoing month-to-month maintenance is simply not that much work once you’ve put in the hard work initially.

Conversely, working with a freelance SEO expert offers greater flexibility, tailored SEO strategies, and direct communication with the person managing your SEO efforts - meaning you may receive more transparency and are more likely to be able to negotiate what services you want and which ones you don’t.

Of course, it’s not just agencies that might try and charge you a lot for services that just don’t warrant it - freelancers might, too.

Why Comprehensive SEO is a Good Move For Any Healthcare Provider

Freelancers are often touted as the a la carte solution. Can’t pay for a full suite of SEO services? You don’t have to with a freelancer. While I will always appreciate the flexibility I can give my clients(more on my business model in a bit), I am a huge fan of a comprehensive SEO strategy. It’s a big investment that can pay off more quickly than piecemeal services.

What does this look like?

It looks like cleaning up your site on the backend, ensuring it’s crawled and indexed, and then planning out a content strategy with you - and anyone else on your team involved in this work - based on your buyer personas and target audience and a lot of keyword research. It looks like creating SEO-optimized article titles for a certain amount of content each month. Yes, a lot of SEO is simply producing well-written content that targets both your ideal user and the almighty search engine that is Google.

It involves building optimized pillar pages on your website, writing articles for you, and ensuring they’re optimized with strong internal linking and external linking to authoritative sources. It also involves securing backlinks.

The thing about a piecemeal approach is that I don’t get to do all of this in harmony, so we see the compounded effects of our work take hold much more slowly. This can get frustrating. It’s what you paid for. But it can get frustrating. 

Simply put, you do get what you pay for. You’ll see results more quickly if you go all in. However, not everyone can afford to pay for a comprehensive SEO strategy. And I can work with that; we’ll just see those results spread over time. I do the most with the resources you have. 

Speaking of, why does SEO cost so much?

Why Does SEO Cost So Much?

No one ever asked me this to my face, but here’s my answer. First, I want to address another question: how low is too low, and how high is too high, price-wise? Because the range of SEO prices is crazy.

I personally think $1000/month is the least I can get anything done with. It’s not that I can’t provide services for you that cost less than that(like website maintenance), but once we get under $1000/mo, I’m no longer talking about services that will generate results after a certain period. I’m talking about something that will keep your website healthy. Or a blog or two a month. However, the lack of integration my work has with the rest of what comprises and SEO strategy makes me very uncomfortable making any promises. 

So if someone does guarantee you results or offers a wide range of services for less than $1000/mo, especially if it’s drastically less, I’d think about if you want a cheap product. Will it be worth it? Why is it cheap?

On the other end of the spectrum, I’d say $4000/mo is the highest I would charge - and that would be for doing everything. For website maintenance, old content optimization, writing and rewriting service pages, writing four blogs a month, throwing myself into content strategy, and building backlinks. 

If the job is truly comprehensive, I can see a monthly retainer that high or near that high. But these agencies charging $10,000/mo? I can respect it, but it wouldn’t be me.

However, I will add that it also depends on how much you, the client, earn. Many pricing models may rely on, “What’s my fair share of their income? If my strategy gets them [x] new clients, they’ll make [y] amount more money/mo. My 20% of that = [z] amount.” 

 However, here’s one thing everyone should know: anyone guaranteeing results is lying. 

SEO results can be predicted and strategically worked toward but cannot be guaranteed. Any healthcare SEO agency or freelancer guaranteeing you a certain profit due to their efforts is not being entirely truthful with you.

Back to our original question: why does it cost so much?

SEO costs so much because of the work that goes into it. We’re not just tinkering with the backend of your website; we’re writing content. We’re strategizing the content we’ll write for months to a year in advance. We may be rewriting content. 

We do a lot of time-consuming research. Some of the best fixes for your website take forever. Add in backlinks, time for outreach, and follow-up on that outreach. SEOs do a lot. Often, our scope of work encompasses more than one traditional role.

Another aspect is that some agencies want a chunk of the money they’re earning you, and they will price their services accordingly.

So, be willing to pay for it or pay what you can, and be content with the results. 

How Do I Decide Who to Hire for SEO?

Here are a few factors to consider:

• What’s your budget?

• Is the freelancer/agency you’re looking at working with reputable? Can they give you examples of prior work or refer you to clients?

• How many new patients/clients do you need to reach to make this investment worthwhile?

• Do you want to work with a big team or one-two people?

• Do you want the option to pick and choose services?

Sadly, some SEOs have no idea what they’re doing and will still take your money. So please do your due diligence. Google the people you’re talking with. Look at their websites and portfolios. Ask to speak to current or former clients. Most of all, trust your gut.

How Camille Prairie Copywriting & Creative Solutions Does SEO

As a small business, we don’t technically fall into the freelancer category. If you have an SEO project you want us to work on, I may or may not hire a contractor for your project, depending on how busy I am. While technically in the agency category, we love meeting our clients where they’re at and helping them however we can—from big projects to small fixes. We always guarantee personalized attention - meeting with clients is my favorite part of the day!

The Future of Healthcare SEO: Trends in 2024

Here’s a little peek into where SEO is headed, particularly with “SEO is dead” doomsayers lurking. Hint: It’s not dead, it’s changing. In 2024, trends such as the impact of AI and voice search on medical SEO, as well as, I hate to say it, organic search via social media platforms, will shape the SEO landscape. However, search engines like Google will continue to be the main way people find healthcare information. 

By adapting to these emerging trends and hiring an experienced SEO, healthcare professionals can stay ahead of the curve and drive sustainable growth for their medical businesses.

Enjoy Personalized SEO Services Designed to Help Your Business Grow

When you work with Camille Prairie Creative Co., you’ll get tailored support for your SEO needs from professionals who work with small businesses to increase organic traffic and online visibility and turn first-time website visitors into lifelong patients.

We’ll work with you to create a customized SEO strategy to meet your goals and boost your online presence. Learn more when you book a 30-minute meeting with us today.