B
Evidence Grade B
Graded
accuracy verified by the review judge
Safe to Cite
Current
$3,209
$3,209 -- average monthly retainer for SEO agencies (2026)
According to Ahrefs' 439-professional survey, the average monthly retainer charged by SEO agencies is $3,209.
Attribution:
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Lighthouse Research Team
Last verified:
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Source verified
Evidence graded
Value
$3,209
Unit
Currency Usd
Data Vintage
2026
Entity
Sample Size
439
Evidence Quality
B
Strong, reliable evidence
Sourced from a well-regarded research firm or industry leader with transparent methodology and a reasonably large sample.
Single source - not yet corroborated
Score breakdown
Extraction
95
Source Trust
60
Citation Chain
20
Independence
30
Methodology
45
Freshness
95
Source
Ahrefs
Primary
Tier A
https://arvow.com/blog/seo-agency-statistics-2026 ↗
Source Article
SEO Agency Statistics 2026: 89+ Sourced Stats
Original Research
Ahrefs
· Original study ↗
Methodology
Ahrefs survey of 439 professionals
Methodology documented
Segmentation
Industrymarketing
Cite this stat
Plain Text
SEO agencies: $3,209 average monthly retainer. Source: Ahrefs (2026). Via Lighthouse Intelligence -- https://lighthousedata.io/data/agency-retainer-ahrefs
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<blockquote cite="https://lighthousedata.io/data/agency-retainer-ahrefs" style="border-left:3px solid #2563eb;padding:12px 16px;margin:16px 0;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;background:#f0f4ff;"><strong>$3,209</strong> -- average monthly retainer for SEO agencies<br><small>Source: Ahrefs (2026) · <a href="https://lighthousedata.io/data/agency-retainer-ahrefs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Intelligence</a></small></blockquote>
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