Article
Penguin Team4 min read
How to Price White Label SEO and PPC for Your Clients
TL;DR Start from the provider's price, account for your agency's management time and risk, then check the result against the client's expected value. A 50% markup corresponds to a 33.3% gross margin; a 100% markup to 50%; and a 150% markup to 60%. These are illustrative pricing scenarios, not verified averages. Quote the scope and price in writing before work starts.
Markup and margin are not the same thing
Two numbers get mixed up in pricing conversations. Markup is how far above your cost the price sits. Margin is the share of the price you keep. If you pay a partner $500 and charge your client $750, your markup is 50% and your margin is 33%.
| Markup on the partner price | Your margin as a share of the resale price |
|---|---|
| 50% | 33% |
| 100% | 50% |
| 150% | 60% |
A 50% markup corresponds to a 33.3% gross margin; a 100% markup to 50%; and a 150% markup to 60%. These are illustrative pricing scenarios, not verified averages of partner resale prices. Whichever number you use, use it consistently. Mixing them is the quickest way to underprice by accident.
What your client is paying you for
The provider's price covers execution. Your client pays your agency for more than that: the relationship, the strategy, the review of every report, the answers when something moves in the wrong direction, and the fact that you are accountable. Those are real costs and real value, and they belong in your price.
Add up what you do around the provider's work: calls, reviewing reports, briefing, client emails, tools you pay for. If a client will take five hours of account management a month, that is part of the cost, not a favour.
Worked examples with real package prices
The table applies the three markups to four packages from our price list. It shows arithmetic, not recommended prices.
| Package | Our price | +50% | +100% | +150% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard SEO Package (setup) | $499 | $748.50 | $998 | $1,247.50 |
| Basic On-page SEO Management | $299 /mo | $448.50 | $598 | $747.50 |
| Advanced PPC Management (Google Ads) | $499 /mo | $748.50 | $998 | $1,247.50 |
| Max PPC Management (Google Ads) | $799 /mo | $1,198.50 | $1,598 | $1,997.50 |
Two things to remember when you quote. Ad spend is separate: package prices cover the work, and the ad budget is paid to the platform. And where an SEO package includes link building, the link-building budget is calculated separately, so add it to your quote.
Three ways to set the price
Cost-plus. Start from our price, add your account management time and your target margin. It is predictable and easy to explain, but it prices the work, not the result.
Value-based. Price against what the outcome is worth to the client. For lead generation, where a lead has a known value, this often supports a higher price than cost-plus. It needs a client who can tell you what a lead is worth.
Market-anchored. Look at what comparable agencies in your market charge and place yourself deliberately: at the market, above it because of your service, or below it to win a first client. The mistake is drifting below the market without meaning to.
Setup fees and monthly retainers
Our packages come in two forms, one-time setup and monthly management, and you can sell them the same way or bundle them. Selling setup as a project and management as a retainer makes the first invoice easy to justify. Bundling into a single monthly fee makes the price simpler for the client.
Watch the cash flow. We bill setup packages once, upfront, and management packages monthly, in advance. If you invoice your client monthly in arrears, you finance the gap. Invoicing in advance closes it.
What can eat your margin
- Scope creep beyond the agreed package limits. The package fee covers the agreed scope; additional work should be scoped and priced before it starts. Hours you give away in account management are still hours.
- Add-ons given away. Content writing ($40–$100 per page), link building (from $400) and technical fixes (from $400) are priced separately. Decide before the first quote whether you include them or bill them.
- Price changes mid-project. Quote once, in writing, with what is and is not included.
A five-point pricing check
- Do you know the partner price of every item in the quote?
- Have you added your own account management time?
- Are ad spend and link-building budget shown separately?
- Does the quote say what is not included?
- Would the price still work if the client took twice the attention you expected?
