# SEO proposal template (with pricing options)

An SEO proposal template that wins retainers: the client's situation in their own numbers, a phased plan, three pricing options and a clear next step.

> **How to use it:** the first section does most of the selling, so write it about the client, not your agency. Send it as a link after the discovery call, and check whether they opened it before you follow up.

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**Example proposal: SEO for Northwind Plumbing, prepared by Ridgeline Search.** *15 June 2026. Both companies are fictional.*

## Where Northwind stands today

Northwind gets most of its online work from people who already know the name: 61% of organic clicks in the last three months came from searches for "Northwind Plumbing". That is a strong brand and a thin pipeline. People searching "emergency plumber denver" (about 2,400 searches a month) or "water heater replacement cost" (about 1,900) mostly find two competitors and a directory.

Three things hold the site back:

- The service pages are short and nearly identical, so Google has little reason to rank one over a competitor's.
- The 2024 site move left 38 redirect chains and a set of old URLs still indexed.
- The Google Business Profile lists 6 of Northwind's 11 services.

## Goals

| Goal | Today | In 12 months |
|---|--:|--:|
| Non-branded organic clicks per month | ~900 | 3,000 |
| Calls and form requests from organic per month | ~40 | 120 |
| Map pack top three for "plumber near me" (grid points) | 9 of 49 | 30 of 49 |

These are targets, not guarantees. Search results depend on competitors and on Google, and nobody controls either. What we control is the work and the reporting.

## The plan

**Months 1–2: fix and foundations.** Technical clean-up, Business Profile rebuild, tracking for calls and forms, and a keyword map of every service × area combination worth a page.

**Months 3–6: the pages that win work.** Cost pages for the six highest-value jobs, rebuilt service pages with prices, photos and reviews, and one area page per suburb that sends real calls.

**Months 7–12: authority and expansion.** Local links (suppliers, trade associations, community sponsorships), seasonal content ahead of winter, and a monthly review of what to build next.

## What you get each month

- A monthly report as a link on the 5th: what we did, what moved, what's next.
- A 30-minute call to go through it.
- Every page we write, sent for your review before it goes live.

## Pricing

| | Foundations | Growth | Growth + Local |
|---|--:|--:|--:|
| Technical fixes and tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| New or rebuilt pages per month | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Business Profile management | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Local link building | — | — | ✓ |
| Monthly report and call | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Monthly fee** | **$1,500** | **$2,800** | **$3,900** |

Minimum term: six months, then month to month with 30 days' notice. We recommend Growth: it covers the cost pages, which is where most of the new calls will come from.

## What we need from you

- Access to Search Console, Google Analytics, the Business Profile and the website.
- Prices, or price ranges, for your main jobs. Cost pages only work if they give real numbers.
- One person who can approve pages within five working days.

## Next step

Reply with the option you'd like, and we'll send the agreement and start on the 1st of next month. Questions are welcome as comments on this page.