How much does search engine optimisation cost in Finland?

In Finland, search engine optimisation typically costs a small business between 250 and 2,500 euros per month, whilst one-off work costs between 500 and 2,500 euros. The range is so wide that it’s of no help to anyone — so this article explains what the price covers, what the monthly fee actually covers after the first month, and when it’s not worth buying search engine optimisation at all.

Price ranges

The prices published by Finnish retailers are roughly as follows:

Designer	Monthly price
You do it yourself; you pay for the tools	€50–200 per month
Freelancer	€500–3,300 per month
Office, small business client	€800–2,500 per month
An agency, an online shop or a competitive sector	€3,000–8,000 per month

For one-off projects, the figures are lower: keyword research €500–2,500, a one-off website project €500–1,500, one SEO-optimised article €300–650.

These are published price lists, not actual transactions. In Finland, no statistics are collected on what is actually paid for search engine optimisation.

What the price consists of

Search engine optimisation is divided into three parts, and their relative importance determines the price:

• Technical condition. Speed, indexability, heading structure, internal linking, structured data, mobile. This is a one-off task that is carried out once and then amended as necessary.
• Content. Pages and articles tailored to the searches your customers actually carry out. This is an ongoing task and typically the largest expense.
• Links and mentions elsewhere. The most expensive and time-consuming part, and the one where the line between beneficial and harmful work is drawn. Purchased link networks are against Google’s guidelines.

What happens to the monthly payment in the second month?

This is the question that is rarely asked. The work carried out in the first month is easy to justify: a technical review, keywords, a list of improvements. It’s tangible and visible.

From the second month onwards, the same amount will be invoiced for work that is much more difficult to quantify. You should therefore ask for a quote that includes a monthly work breakdown in figures: how many new pages or articles, how many hours of technical work, what will be reported and how often. If the answer is ‘ongoing optimisation’, that is not an answer.

Another point to check: who owns the work produced. The content and pages belong to you, but if the reporting and keyword data are stored in the agency’s tool, they will remain there when the contract ends.

When it’s not worth paying for search engine optimisation

We sell visibility services, so it’s not in our interest to say this — but it’s true. Search engine optimisation isn’t worth it if any of the following apply:

• There are no searches. If your service doesn’t have an established name that people type into the search bar, there’s nothing to optimise. You can check this yourself for free: type into the search bar and see if Google suggests your search term.
• The site can’t cope with the traffic. If the site doesn’t have a clear way to get in touch or is slow, extra visitors won’t turn into enquiries. Fix that first — it’s cheaper.
• Customers come from elsewhere. If a sale comes about through recommendations or tenders, search engines aren’t the channel worth investing in.
• You need your shop up and running next month. Search engine optimisation takes months to have an effect, not weeks. For immediate needs, advertising is a more honest solution.

What you need to know about investment promises

No one can promise a top spot on Google, because no seller has control over search results. Google states this itself in its own guidelines: it advises treating anyone who guarantees a ranking with caution.

Instead, we can promise the work and measure the results. These are the metrics we track, and they are visible in Search Console, which is free:

Meter	What does that tell us?
Page views	How often did the site appear in search results?
Clicks	How many people visited the site?
Average ranking by search term	Which direction are we heading in?
Indexed pages	What does Google actually see?

If your provider won’t give you access to your own website’s Search Console, ask them why. It’s your data.

What about AI search — do you have to pay extra for that?

It shouldn’t. Google states quite clearly in its own guidelines that optimisation for generative search is search engine optimisation. Yet GEO, AEO and LLMO are still being sold on the market as separate packages for the same work. We covered this in detail in the articles ‘Artificial Intelligence Optimisation’ and ‘What is GEO Optimisation?’.

A rule of thumb when reading a quote: if the same quote contains separate lines for both search engine optimisation and AI visibility, ask what work is involved in the latter line. If the answer is that it’s the same work, you’ll end up paying for it twice.

What we charge

We have two levels, and the difference between them lies in the strategy. Visibility covers search engines and AI responses as a single package: get the basics sorted and two response pages per month, €890 to get started + €390 per month, minimum duration six months. This is the right choice when you want to be visible without a major investment.

Search engine optimisation starts with a strategy, €2,900: keyword research based on measured data, competitor analysis, technical audit, quantified targets for 12 months and a monthly roadmap. The strategy is yours, and anyone can implement it. Implementation according to the roadmap costs €1,490 per month, covering 4–6 pages per month and a monthly report against targets; or, in a competitive sector or for an online shop, €2,900 per month. All prices are exclusive of VAT (0%). There is no investment guarantee in either case: if, after three months, we are not on track with the roadmap, the roadmap will be revised.

The minimum duration is not a sales gimmick, but a consequence of the fact that results take months to become apparent. A three-month period would not be long enough to show whether the work had been effective — it would be a payment without the opportunity to assess the value for money.

In demand

How quickly do the effects of search engine optimisation become apparent?

Technical fixes may take weeks to become visible. The impact of content work usually starts to show within 3–6 months and builds up from there. A new domain name takes longer to gain traction than an established one. If someone promises results within a month, ask what they mean by ‘results’ — page views can rise rapidly without leading to any increase in enquiries.

Can you do search engine optimisation yourself?

The basics, yes, and they account for most of the benefit for a small business: clear headings, a dedicated page for each service, image captions, Search Console set up and a Google Business Profile in order. These don’t require any tools and don’t cost a thing. The only thing left to pay for is the work that takes up time each week — namely, content creation.

Why does one charge €500 a month and the other €5,000?

Usually, this is because the amount of work involved differs — but not always. The only way to compare is to ask both for the same information in figures: how many hours per month, how much content, and what is reported. Once the quotes are written in the same format, the difference becomes immediately apparent.

Should a small local business invest in search engine optimisation?

Often not — at least not at first. For a local business, the greatest single benefit comes from a Google Business Profile, which is free, and from having a separate page for each service named after the locality. These two take a few hours. Only once they’ve been set up and Search Console shows what people are searching for is there a basis for monthly work.