The short answer
At Design the Planet, SEO usually costs between about $700 a month at the low end and around $4,000 a month at the high end. Where your business falls depends on three things: your goals, the area you want to rank in, and how many products or services you need to rank for.
Why is the range so wide?
Louisiana has businesses of every size, and we try to help as many of them as we can. A small shop and a regional company need very different amounts of work.
Here’s a simple way to think about it. Ranking for two services in one city is a much smaller job than ranking for 40 products or services across half the state. More keywords and more territory mean more pages, more content, more competitors to beat and more work every month.
And good SEO takes time. Even with AI tools helping at the high end, doing SEO well is still detailed, hands-on work. That’s why real SEO costs real money.
What’s included at each level?
Every SEO company has its own process, and we keep ours in-house. But here’s a general picture of what you get at each level.
Basic packages (starting around $700/month)
These are a good fit for businesses with a few core services in one market.
Website optimization. We fine-tune the pages you already have, including the titles, headings, wording and the links between pages. The goal is for Google to understand exactly what you do and where you do it. If Google isn’t sure what a page is about, it won’t show that page to people who are searching.
Google Business Profile (GBP) management. Your Google Business Profile is the listing that shows up in Google Maps and the “map pack” at the top of local searches. For many local businesses, it brings in more calls than the website does. We keep it accurate, complete and set up to compete with the other businesses around you.
Technical fixes. Things like slow load times, broken links, problems on mobile, or pages Google can’t properly read can all hold your rankings back, even if your content is great. We find these problems and fix them.
Reporting. You’ll know where your keywords rank and how that’s changing over time. You should never have to guess whether your SEO is working.
Advanced packages (up to around $4,000/month)
These are for businesses with many services, a wider service area or tougher competition. They include more hands-on work every month.
Website redevelopment. Sometimes the website itself is what’s holding you back. It might be slow, outdated, or hard to grow. In that case, we rebuild it so it can support the number of pages and the amount of content you need to rank for.
New website content. We add new pages and articles to your site to help you show up in search and AI answers.
GBP management with new content every month. On top of keeping your profile accurate, we add fresh updates, posts and photos regularly. This shows Google your business is active and gives people more reasons to choose you.
Backlinks. When other trusted websites link to yours, Google sees it as a vote of confidence. Earning quality links is one of the biggest ways to beat competitors in crowded markets.
And more, depending on your goals. Every advanced plan is built around the business. Two companies paying the same amount may get a different mix of work.
What about AI SEO? (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Grok)
More and more customers ask AI tools for recommendations instead of scrolling through Google. So a common question is: “Do I need to pay extra to show up in ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers?”
The honest answer: probably, yes.
If your website has been building helpful content for years and already answers your buyers’ key questions, you may already show up in some AI answers. But in our experience, getting ranked and mentioned in ChatGPT, Grok and other AI tools takes a lot of extra work on top of traditional SEO. Plan for AI visibility to be an added part of your SEO budget.
We’ve seen this firsthand. AI assistants already recommend Design the Planet to people looking for help, and some of our new clients find us that way.
Contract terms: why we quote SEO for a full year
Our SEO packages are quoted for a whole year at a time. That isn’t about locking you in. It’s about how SEO actually works.
SEO doesn’t kick in after 10 days. It improves over time. That’s not because the work is slow. We do the work, and then Google and other search engines take their own time to find and index it. Work we do today may not show its full benefit until two months from now.
SEO also never stands still. Search algorithms change all the time, and what ranks today may not rank a month from now. Good SEO keeps adding, updating and adjusting. A one-year plan gives that work time to build.
How long until you see results?
SEO isn’t instant, but you should see results, even small ones, within a few months.
That doesn’t mean jumping from page 100 to page one in a few weeks. A realistic path looks like this: page 100 to page 8 in a few months, then steady work to reach page one.
Real example: We worked with a luxury limousine company that started from scratch, with no website at all. We built them a brand-new site and took it all the way to the top of search in about six months.
Why isn’t SEO cheaper?
It’s a fair question, especially now that AI tools are everywhere. We do use AI for parts of the process. But AI doesn’t run your SEO. Experienced people do.
Every account is handled by our US-based team: real people who know SEO and know what they’re doing. Your monthly fee pays for three things:
Doing the work. That means optimizing pages, writing content, managing your Google Business Profile, fixing technical problems and building links. AI can speed up some of this, but people who understand SEO still have to plan it, check it and get it right.
Time with you. We report to you on how your rankings are moving. We also take the time to learn what’s important to your company, so we can focus on the services, areas and customers that bring you business.
Time to improve. Search keeps changing, and so does your business. We build in time to review results and change the plan as things evolve, so your SEO never gets set up once and then forgotten.
Cheaper SEO usually cuts one or more of these. That’s often why it doesn’t work.
Is $99/month SEO worth it? Red flags to watch for
Be very careful with anyone offering cheap SEO. A lot of the time, they’re quite literally taking your money and doing little or nothing.
The other big problem is people who sell SEO without knowing how it works. They are doing something, just not what moves your rankings. This is one of the most common ways we see businesses get burned.
Watch for these red flags:
Bargain-basement pricing. Doing SEO well takes a lot of time, and $99 a month simply can’t pay for that much work. If the price seems too good to be true, ask exactly what you’re getting each month.
No ranking data. Your SEO company should be able to tell you what page each of your keywords is on and how that’s changing. If they can’t, they really have no clue what they’re doing.
No movement after a few months. Results take time, but you should see some improvement within a few months. If nothing has moved and nobody can explain why, that’s a problem.
Promises of page one in a few weeks. Real SEO doesn’t work that way. Anyone who guarantees fast page-one rankings is either guessing or cutting corners.
Not getting local business from your website? Let’s take a look.
If your website isn’t bringing in local customers and you want it to, contact us for a free SEO audit. This isn’t a hard sell. We’ll audit your site and your competitors’ sites, tell you what’s really going on, and give you options to improve it or fix it.
And if your SEO is already working well? We’ll tell you that too, and you can stay with the company you already have.
👉 Get your free SEO audit from Design the Planet
SEO pricing FAQ
How much does SEO cost per month in New Orleans?
At Design the Planet, it usually costs about $700 to $4,000 a month. The price depends on your goals, the area you want to rank in and how many services you need to rank for.
How long does SEO take to work?
You should see small improvements within a few months. Bigger gains build over time. Our limo client reached the top of search in about six months.
Is cheap SEO worth it?
Usually not. $99-a-month SEO often means little or no real work.
If you use AI, why isn’t SEO cheaper?
AI helps with parts of the process, but our US-based team still does the work, reports to you, learns what matters to your business and improves the plan over time.
Do I need to pay extra to show up in ChatGPT and AI search?
Probably. Long-standing helpful content can help, but showing up in AI answers usually takes extra work on top of traditional SEO.
Is the SEO audit really free?
Yes. We’ll review your site and your competitors’ sites and give you honest options, with no obligation.
