Before we talk about low cost SEO, a disclaimer:
I work in SEO.
So even if I try not to be, I might be a little biased.
I’ve spent years seeing what works, what doesn’t, and what people get sold when budgets are tight.
But I also know this:
Not every business needs a big SEO retainer, not every business can afford one and not every SEO problem requires a full-scale strategy.
So in this guide, I’m going to do my best to look at low-cost SEO from a fair, realistic angle.
I’ll walk through:
- what low-cost SEO can actually achieve
- where it struggles and why
- how AI has made SEO both easier and harder
- what you can do yourself for free or almost-free
- which tools you actually need — and which you don’t
This won’t be doom and gloom, and it won’t be a sales pitch.
Just a level-headed look at what’s possible when you’re working with a smaller budget — written by someone who’s seen both the good and the bad up close.
Let’s start with the myth of cheap SEO.
I’m a freelance SEO consultant with 8+ years of experience helping small businesses climb the ranks.
If you’re looking for someone to handle SEO for you, find out more about my services below:
Read on for the rest of the article.
Quickly skip to the section you’re interested in using the Table of Contents below.
The myth of low cost SEO
Let’s start with this:
Cheap SEO isn’t really cheap. It just costs you in different ways.
People don’t buy low-cost SEO because they believe it works.
They buy it because they’re tired. Cash-strapped. Stretched.
They think, “Something is better than nothing.”
And if you’re reading an article like this, you’ve probably been there too.
Here’s the real problem:
Cheap SEO isn't priced to deliver anything meaningful
If someone charges you £99 a month, you’re not getting:
- a strategy
- keyword research
- technical fixes
- content that anyone would read
- or links that won’t embarrass your domain
What you’re getting is templated emails, automated reports, and maybe a few directory submissions.
Cheap work ends up costing more
Bad SEO sets you back:
- Poor content that you have to delete later
- Links that put you at risk
- Technical issues ignored for months
- No real growth, so you end up hiring someone else anyway
Most small businesses are juggling bills, suppliers, late invoices, and keeping the lights on.
SEO feels like one more thing to pay for.
So when someone shows up promising top rankings, fast results and a tiny price tag…it’s tempting. Almost comforting.
But here’s the truth you already know deep down:
If SEO actually worked at £99/month, every business in the country would be ranking on page one.
But let’s not knock low cost SEO completely.
Sure, having a bigger budget makes SEO easier.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a lot done with a small budget. Or even no budget.
Let’s talk about that.
What low cost SEO can actually do
Asking “can I rank with a budget of £X?” is like asking “how long is a piece of string?”
There’s no clean answer.
There’s no chart.
There’s no magical budget where things suddenly start working.
It depends on your niche, your competition, your website, your expectations and what your competitors aren’t doing.
Low-cost SEO isn’t about chasing every keyword under the sun.
It’s about figuring out where you can realistically win without blowing your savings.
Let me show you what that looks like in the real world.
Before we get into broader lessons, let’s look at a real example that shows what’s actually possible with minimal resources.
A real case example: Kyle Roof’s Rhinoplasty Plano experiment
Kyle Roof is an SEO known for running controlled tests — the kind where he isolates variables to see what Google actually responds to versus what people assume matters.
In 2018, he entered a public SEO competition called “Rank or Go Home.”
The idea was simple:
build a page from scratch on a brand-new domain and see who could rank fastest for a specific keyword.
Kyle chose rhinoplasty plano (a keyword targeting people searching for a nose job surgeon in Plano, Texas).
Here’s what he did:
- Built a brand-new site for the test.
- Structured the page using his usual on-page SEO set-up.
- Filled about 98% of the text with Lorem Ipsum, not real sentences.
- The only actual words were the target keyword and a few related terms.
- Within roughly two weeks, the page ranked #1 for the term.
What this teaches us about low-cost SEO
Kyle’s win about showing how Google actually understands pages.
The lesson was pretty simple:
- Google doesn’t “read” content like a human.
- It doesn’t understand quality the way you or I would.
- It uses structured signals — entities, headings, keyword placement, internal links, contextual cues.
- When the competition is extremely weak, those signals are often enough for a page to rank. Case in point: Mr. Roof’s experiment.
So the reason Kyle’s nonsense page won wasn’t that it was good — it’s that it was the best-structured option in a niche where nobody else had done even the basics.
This doesn’t mean SEO is easy.
It means SEO is relative.
If you’re targeting:
- a hyper-specific niche,
- ultra-specific keywords,
- with very low competition,
then small amounts of well-structured SEO can go further than people expect.
A modest budget won’t win you competitive national terms.
But it can absolutely get traction in areas where the bar is low and the competitors haven’t done basic optimisation.
Low cost SEO performs best where the competition is weak.
Low cost SEO in the age of AI
AI is a double-edged sword.
It frees up your workload — and quietly raises the bar at the same time.
On one side, tools like ChatGPT are a gift for small businesses.
If you don’t have the budget for a freelance writer or an SEO consultant, you can still use AI for things like collating spreadsheets for outreach or researching competitors.
I use AI for parts of my workflow too, to speed up all the processes around the thinking.
And for a small business, that’s where the real value is: AI gives you leverage when money is tight.
But — and it’s a big “but” — the other side of this is where ranking has become harder.
Because if AI makes content creation easier for you…
it also makes it easier for your competitors.
And easier for content farms.
And easier for every site that used to struggle to publish even one article a month.
So the internet has become flooded with more content than ever.
Not better content — just more of it.
Why that makes low-cost SEO harder
A few years ago, you could win traffic by targeting long-tail keywords nobody else had written about. They were the “easy wins” — the low competition, low effort, low budget opportunities.
Except now… AI summarisation often sits above those queries.
Those long-tail informational clicks?
Many are now answered directly in AI Overviews. And let me tell you, that’s enough to raise the difficulty level.
The truth most people don’t say out loud
Websites built solely on content — especially average content — are getting hit the hardest.
And that’s because:
- AI Overviews take a slice of clicks
- Everyone can produce “okay” content now
- Thin articles don’t stand out
- Google wants more authority, more clarity, more intent alignment
- Competition has increased even in niches that used to be quiet
But don’t get discouraged by that.
This isn’t the “SEO is dead” narrative people like to shout.
This is simply the new normal:
AI makes SEO more accessible, but also more crowded.
What this means for a small budget
If you use AI to support good SEO — not replace it — you’re in a better position than many.
The key is understanding where AI helps and where you need more human judgment.
AI helps with:
- planning
- drafting
- structuring
- organising
- accelerating
To win now, even with a small budget, you need to focus on:
- choosing the right battles (keywords you can realistically win)
- making content clearer and more useful than the competition
- improving your site structure
- building trust signals (translation: things on your website that show Google and real people that you’re legitimate, credible)
- matching search intent better than generic AI text
Tools for low cost SEO
If I only had £1,000 per year to spend on SEO, here’s the truth:
I wouldn’t spend a single penny on tools.
Not one.
Tools are nice. They make you feel productive. But you don’t need paid tools to rank — especially as a small business.
Here’s how to approach your SEO tool-stack when you’re working with a tight budget.
1. You don’t need paid tools to do SEO
This is one of the biggest myths in the industry.
Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz — they’re great, but they’re not required for 90% of small business SEO.
Especially if you’re not producing content at scale or doing technical audits every week.
2. Google Search Console is more than enough for most people
It’s free.
It’s accurate.
And it already gives you:
- what keywords you show up for
- what people click
- which pages need help
- indexing issues
- mobile usability problems
- internal link insights
- performance over time
If you understand how to read Search Console, you’re already ahead of most £99-per-month SEO agencies.
3. The free version of Screaming Frog is perfect for small sites
The free version crawls up to 500 URLs — which covers the majority of local and small business sites.
But be honest:
Unless you’re constantly changing your website…
you’ll hardly ever need to run it.
One technical crawl every few months is enough for most businesses.
4. Only buy a paid tool if you need something free tools can’t give you
This is the rule I stick to:
Don’t buy tools unless they save you time you truly don’t have, or they give you information you cannot get anywhere else.
For example:
- tracking thousands of keywords? (most small businesses don’t need this)
- backlink auditing at scale?
- automated client reporting?
- large-site technical crawling?
If none of these apply to you — skip the paid tools.
Most small businesses will never hit the point where they need a paid tool.
5. If you’re a local business, focus on your Google Business Profile first
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) will move the needle faster than anything else if you’re a small or local business.
The most important things you need are:
- a completed profile
- good reviews from real customers
- strong, honest descriptions
- recent photos
- accurate opening hours
- consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across the web
GBP traffic can outperform organic traffic for local businesses — and it’s free.
Final note
If you’re reading this, you’re probably trying to grow your business without burning through money you don’t have.
Most people won’t admit it, but the early stages of a business are held together by grit and late nights.
So let me talk straight to you.
You don’t need a massive SEO budget, expensive SEO software or a 50-page strategy deck.
What you do need is a clear head and a realistic plan.
Start by fixing the things that are clearly broken.
- Clean up your landing pages (if you’re a local business, get those landing pages up and running!)
- Write a few blog posts that actually help people. Check out the search intent guide for a straightforward guide to doing this.
- Sort out your Google Business Profile and ask customers—real ones—to leave honest reviews.
These aren’t glamorous steps, but they’re the ones that move your business’ website forward. Little by little.
If you want someone to sit with you, look at your site, tell you what actually matters and what doesn’t — I can help with that.
But even if we never work together, I want you to walk away with this:
SEO doesn’t reward the loudest or the richest. It rewards the businesses that show up consistently.