The Budget Framework Architecture Firms Use to Evaluate SEO Investments

SEO pricing isn't arbitrary. The number you see on a proposal reflects three things: the competitiveness of the keywords you're targeting, the current condition of your website, and how much work needs to happen each month to move the needle.

For architecture firms specifically, a few factors consistently shape scope:

• Geographic competition: Ranking for "residential architect in Austin" is a different task than ranking in a mid-sized market. Competitive metros require more link building, more content, and more sustained effort.
• Website starting point: A firm with a five-year-old portfolio site that's never had technical SEO attention will need a heavier initial investment than one that's already structurally sound.
• Service specificity: Firms targeting high-intent niches — historic preservation, LEED-certified commercial work, hospitality design — need specialized content strategies that take more time to build than generic service pages.
• Number of locations: Multi-office firms require local SEO work across each location, which multiplies the scope of GBP management, citation building, and geo-targeted content.

In our experience working with professional services firms, the biggest pricing variable is competitive keyword difficulty. A firm in a low-competition market with a clean site can see results from a leaner monthly engagement. A firm going after commercial architecture keywords in a major metro needs a more sustained investment to build the domain authority required to compete.

The honest framing: SEO is a resource-intensive service when done properly. The work involves technical auditing, content creation, link acquisition, and ongoing analysis. Pricing that seems too low usually means one or more of those components is missing.

Most architecture firms encounter SEO proposals in one of three budget bands. Here's an honest account of what each tier typically delivers.

Entry-Level: $500–$1,200/month

At this range, expect templated reporting, light technical maintenance, and minimal content or link building. This tier may be appropriate for a very small firm in a low-competition market that primarily needs someone to monitor their Google Business Profile and fix technical errors. It is not appropriate for a firm with growth ambitions in a competitive metro. The economics of this price point don't allow for the content creation and link building that actually drives ranking movement.

Mid-Range: $1,500–$3,000/month

This is where most architecture firms with genuine growth goals operate. A well-structured engagement at this level should include monthly content production (service pages, project case studies, or blog content targeting buyer-intent keywords), active link building, local SEO management, and monthly performance reporting tied to actual business metrics — not just rankings. This scope is appropriate for a firm targeting one to two metro areas with a defined service mix.

Full-Service: $3,500–$6,000+/month

Firms in highly competitive markets, firms with multiple locations, or firms targeting national visibility alongside local search need this scope. At this level, content production accelerates, link acquisition becomes more strategic, and technical SEO receives continuous attention rather than periodic review. In our experience, commercial architecture firms competing for developer and contractor referral searches often land in this range.

One-Time Projects

Technical audits, site migration oversight, and local SEO setup projects typically run $1,000–$3,000 depending on site complexity. These are appropriate for firms that have internal capacity to execute but need an expert to define the roadmap.

The right SEO budget isn't a universal number. It depends on your firm's current visibility, growth goals, and the competitive environment you're operating in. Here are three scenarios that reflect real situations architecture firms navigate.

Scenario 1: Small Firm, Single Market, Local Focus

A 3–5 person residential architecture firm in a mid-sized city wants to stop relying entirely on referrals and generate a consistent stream of inbound inquiries. Their website is functional but hasn't been optimized. Appropriate starting budget: $1,500–$2,000/month. Priority work: Google Business Profile optimization, service page improvements, local citation cleanup, and a monthly content cadence targeting residential project keywords. Timeline to first meaningful results: 4–6 months.

Scenario 2: Mid-Size Firm, Competitive Metro, Mixed Services

A 15-person firm with residential and commercial practices wants to rank for both. They're in a competitive market where established firms have strong domain authority. Appropriate starting budget: $2,500–$4,000/month. Priority work: separate service page architecture for each practice area, link building targeting design publications and local business press, and content that addresses the specific search behavior of developers, contractors, and high-net-worth homeowners. Timeline to competitive rankings: 9–12 months.

Scenario 3: Multi-Location or National Practice

A firm with studios in multiple cities, or one pursuing national recognition for a specialized practice area (healthcare architecture, adaptive reuse, etc.), needs a broader scope. Appropriate starting budget: $4,000–$6,000+/month. Priority work: location-specific landing pages, a scaled content strategy, and authority-building through design media placements and speaking credential mentions. Timeline varies significantly by market and starting authority.

These ranges assume a full-service engagement. Firms with strong internal marketing capacity can often accomplish more at the lower end of each range because execution doesn't bottleneck.

One of the most common sources of budget frustration in SEO is misaligned expectations about deliverables. Here's a clear breakdown of what a properly scoped engagement for an architecture firm should include, and what falls outside standard scope.

What should be included

• Initial technical audit: A review of site structure, crawlability, page speed, Core Web Vitals, and schema markup. This happens at the start and informs the roadmap.
• On-page optimization: Title tags, meta descriptions, header structure, and internal linking across your key service and project pages.
• Content production: At minimum, two to four pieces per month targeting buyer-intent keywords — this could be service pages, project case study pages, or educational content that attracts your ideal client profile.
• Link building: Outreach to design publications, local business media, industry directories, and relevant editorial sources. This is what builds domain authority over time.
• Local SEO management: GBP maintenance, review monitoring, and local citation consistency for each office location.
• Monthly reporting: Rankings, organic traffic, and — critically — conversion metrics like form submissions and phone calls from organic search.

What's typically out of scope

• Website redesign or development work (requires a separate engagement)
• Paid search management (a separate service with separate pricing)
• Photography or project documentation (content requires your assets)
• PR campaigns (adjacent to link building but a distinct service)

When reviewing proposals, ask specifically what content deliverables are included each month and how link building is executed. Vague answers to those two questions are a reliable signal that the engagement will underdeliver.

Architecture firm principals are analytical. The budget questions that come up in early conversations tend to be specific and legitimate. Here are direct answers to the ones we hear most often.

"We're already getting referrals. Why invest in SEO?"

Referral networks are genuinely valuable, and we're not suggesting you stop cultivating them. The case for SEO is that it adds a second, compounding channel — one that works while you're billable. Firms that depend exclusively on referrals have no use when a key referral source retires, moves, or shifts their own practice. Organic search creates inbound demand that isn't contingent on any single relationship.

"Can we start small and scale up?"

Yes, but with a caveat. A meaningful starting budget — at minimum $1,500/month — is necessary to run a campaign that includes content and link building. Engagements below that threshold typically don't have the room to do the work that drives rankings. Starting too small often means spending money for a year without seeing results, then abandoning SEO with a negative impression of it.

"How long before we see ROI?"

Industry benchmarks suggest that most professional services firms begin seeing measurable organic traffic increases at the 4–6 month mark. For competitive keywords in larger markets, ranking movement often takes 9–12 months. SEO ROI is not linear — it builds. The firms that see the strongest returns are those that hold the investment steady through the early months rather than pausing when results aren't immediate.

"Why can't we just do this in-house?"

You can manage pieces of it — GBP updates, adding project content, gathering client reviews. But link building and technical SEO require tools and outreach relationships that are expensive to build independently. Most firms find that a hybrid model — internal content support plus external SEO management — is the most cost-effective structure at mid-range budgets.