The Uncomfortable Math Behind Monthly SEO Packages

Let me be direct with you.

I've spent seven years building a network of 4,000+ writers and journalists. I've personally directed the creation of 800+ pages of SEO content for this site alone. I'm not telling you this to impress you — I'm telling you because I know, down to the penny, what SEO actually costs to produce.

And here's what makes me uncomfortable: most monthly SEO packages are black boxes designed to hide that math from you.

Agencies bundle services into 'Gold Packages' at $2,500/month, but they won't tell you that $1,500 of that is pure margin because they're running your content through AI and calling automated crawls 'technical audits.'

I built the Specialist Network on a contrarian principle: you deserve to know exactly where your money lands. Every dollar. Are you paying for a senior strategist who's seen your competitive landscape before? Or a junior account manager reading from a script?

This guide is the result of dissecting hundreds of agency proposals — and running my own authority operations where I can't hide from the economics. I'm going to crack open the pricing models and show you the math they hope you never ask about.

Consider this the pricing guide the industry wishes didn't exist.