You did it. You landed a fantastic web design client on a healthy monthly retainer. Your margins are solid, your team is humming, and the work is best-in-class. Then the client asks the inevitable question: “Can you help us with SEO, too?”
Your mind races. You know a great white-label provider who can handle the execution—the perfect way to expand the account and increase revenue. But when you look at the numbers, a knot forms in your stomach. The cost of the white-label service means your margin on SEO will be far lower than what you make on your core design work.
Do you say yes and risk diluting your agency’s overall profitability? Or do you say no and risk the client looking elsewhere?
This isn’t just a pricing problem; it’s a margin puzzle. And for thousands of agencies, solving it is the key to scalable growth.
The Agency Profitability Puzzle: Understanding Your Blended Margin
Most successful agencies don’t rely on a single service. You might offer branding, web development, and paid media management, each with its own cost, price, and profit margin.
Your blended margin is the weighted average profit margin across all your services and clients. Think of it as your agency’s true profitability score. According to industry benchmarks, healthy agencies aim for a gross margin of 50-60% and a net profit margin of over 20%.
The fear, of course, is that adding a new, seemingly lower-margin service like outsourced SEO will pull that average down. But that only happens if you treat it as a simple, tacked-on cost.
When you strategically bundle and price white-label SEO, it doesn’t just add a new revenue stream—it strengthens the value of your existing services, making your entire client relationship more profitable and secure.
Why You Can’t Just “Mark Up” White-Label SEO
The most common mistake agencies make is treating a white-label service like a physical product. They take the provider’s cost, add a 20-30% markup, and present it to the client.
This “cost-plus” approach almost always fails for three reasons:
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It Ignores Your “Soft Costs”: Your agency still spends time on sales, strategy, project management, and client communication. A simple markup rarely covers the cost of your team’s direct involvement.
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It Commoditizes the Service: When you price SEO as a line item, you invite the client to compare it to other providers. You’re forced to compete on price, not value.
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It Creates a Vulnerability: An à la carte service is the first thing a client cuts when budgets get tight. If it’s not woven into the core retainer, it’s seen as a “nice-to-have” expense.
The goal isn’t to resell a service; it’s to deliver a comprehensive solution. And delivering that requires a more sophisticated approach to packaging and pricing.
3 Smart Frameworks for Bundling SEO Services
Instead of thinking about markup, think about integration. How can SEO make your core offering more valuable? Here are three proven frameworks to bundle white-label SEO that protect and even enhance your blended margin.
Framework 1: The Strategic Add-On
The simplest approach is to offer SEO as a distinct, optional package alongside your core services. It’s a good starting point for testing the waters with a client who is hesitant to commit to a larger retainer.
How it works: You offer a “Website Performance Package” or “Content Visibility Module” that can be added to their existing retainer.
Pros: Easy to explain and implement. Provides clear, transparent pricing for the client.
Cons: Still the easiest service for a client to cut. Can feel disconnected from the core strategy if not positioned carefully.
Pricing Tip: Price it on the outcome, not on your cost. For example, instead of “SEO Package – $1,500/mo,” frame it as “Lead Generation Engine – $1,500/mo.” This shifts the conversation from your expense to their return.
Framework 2: The Integrated Retainer (The Gold Standard)
This is the most profitable and strategic approach. Here, you don’t sell SEO as a separate service at all; you weave it directly into your core retainer to create a single, high-value solution. With nearly 85% of agencies already using a monthly retainer model, it’s the perfect vehicle for this strategy.
How it works: You stop selling “Web Design” and start selling “High-Performance Digital Presence.” SEO isn’t an add-on; it’s a feature of your premium offering, just like mobile responsiveness or site security.
Pros: Dramatically increases client stickiness. The average agency sees 7-10% monthly client churn, and integrated services are a powerful way to reduce it. It also protects your blended margin by elevating the total price—and value—of the entire engagement.
Cons: Requires you to recalculate your entire pricing structure. Can be a more complex sale for new clients.
Pricing Tip: When you combine services, the value you create is greater than the sum of the parts. Your new retainer price should reflect that. This holistic approach allows you to scale your agency far more efficiently than selling piecemeal services.
Framework 3: The Performance-Based Tier
This hybrid model combines a base retainer with performance incentives, making it an excellent way to build trust and align your agency’s goals with your client’s business objectives.
How it works: The client pays a base retainer that covers your costs and a healthy margin for all services, including SEO. On top of that, you establish performance bonuses for hitting specific KPIs, such as generating a certain number of qualified leads, achieving top-3 rankings for target keywords, or increasing organic traffic by a set percentage.
Pros: Directly ties your work to tangible business results, making your agency an indispensable partner. It’s the ultimate method for proving the ROI of SEO.
Cons: Requires sophisticated tracking and reporting. Payouts can be less predictable than a flat retainer.
Pricing Tip: Make sure the base retainer comfortably covers all your costs, including your white-label partner fees and your team’s management time. The performance bonus should be the “gravy,” not the meal.
Selling the Value, Not Just the Service
No matter which framework you choose, your success depends on your ability to communicate the value of SEO. Don’t sell activities like “keyword research” or “link building.” Sell outcomes.
Use data to build your case. Remind your clients that:
Leads from search have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (like cold calls) have a meager 1.7% close rate.
Businesses that consistently create content are 13x more likely to achieve a positive return on their investment.
When you frame SEO as a powerful customer acquisition channel instead of a technical marketing cost, price becomes a secondary concern.
Finding the Right Partner Makes Pricing Easier
Your ability to price for value is directly linked to the quality of your fulfillment. A true white-label SEO partner does more than just execute tasks—they provide the strategic insights, clear reporting, and reliable results you need to build a compelling case for your client.
When your partner operates as a seamless extension of your team, you can focus on what you do best: managing the client relationship and demonstrating the incredible value you deliver together.
FAQ: Pricing White-Label SEO for Profitability
What’s a typical markup for white-label services?
This is the wrong question to ask. Instead of “cost-plus,” think “value-based.” Your price should reflect the business results you generate, not the cost of your tools or partners. However, as a general rule, any service you offer should aim for a gross margin of at least 50-60% to cover your own management, sales, and overhead costs.
Should I show my white-label costs to the client?
Absolutely not. The client is hiring your agency for a comprehensive solution and a specific outcome. Your cost of goods sold (COGS), whether that’s a software subscription or a fulfillment partner, is internal business information. Transparency is about results and progress, not your P&L.
How do I handle clients who only want one part of the SEO service, like link building?
Gently steer them back to a holistic strategy. Explain that SEO is an ecosystem where technical health, on-page content, and off-page authority all work together. Selling tactics à la carte often leads to poor results and a frustrated client. Frame your packages around outcomes (e.g., “Local Visibility Package”), not isolated tasks.
Can I start with an add-on and move to an integrated retainer later?
Absolutely. This is a fantastic land-and-expand strategy. Use the results from the initial add-on service to build a case for a deeper, more integrated partnership at the next contract renewal. Show them the ROI you’ve already generated and paint a picture of what’s possible with a fully unified strategy.
Your Next Step: From Margin Protection to Margin Growth
Adding SEO to your service mix shouldn’t be a threat to your profitability—it should be an accelerant.
By moving away from simple markups and toward strategic, value-based bundling, you transform a potential margin-killer into a powerful engine for growth. You create stickier client relationships, increase lifetime value, and position your agency not as a vendor, but as an essential partner in your clients’ success.
The question isn’t whether you can afford to add SEO. It’s how you can afford not to.