Who are European SEO specialists and how much do they spend on SEO? What percentage of their budget is allocated to on-site activities and link building? According to the latest report from the WhitePress platform, the average SEO specialist is a male (62%), employed in an agency (35%) or as a freelancer (33%), working remotely or in a hybrid model, and is often involved in other marketing services (65%). Nearly one-third of SEO professionals in the UK have a monthly budget of up to 4,500 euros per domain. In comparison, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania operate with budgets ranging from 400 to 500 euros per website. What else do we know about the work of SEO specialists based on the WhitePress report?
Table of Contents:
- A bit about the European SEO specialist
- Where and in what model do international specialists work?
- Budgets and tools in SEO – how much does it cost?
- On-site SEO and link building
- What does the future hold for the SEO industry?
A bit about the European SEO specialist
The international SEO market is dominated by men, as confirmed by the WhitePress study, where out of 1,500 specialists, men accounted for 62% of respondents, while women made up 37%.
Where and in what model do specialists work in European SEO? It turns out that most are employed in agencies (35%) or work as freelancers (33%), while the rest work in-house for companies that optimize their own websites (31%). Of those surveyed, nearly 4 out of 10 perform their tasks remotely or in a hybrid mode, while only 2 out of 10 work in an office. Typically, SEO specialists in a given company handle only one domain, while managing multiple websites is primarily the domain of agencies and freelancers. Internationally, nearly 40% of people work on 2-5 domains simultaneously.
The full version of the report can be downloaded here.
Interestingly, the majority, 65%, not only specialize in SEO but also engage in other areas of marketing, such as social media advertising, SEM, or email marketing.
- “In the market, we see a trend towards combining SEO with other areas within holistic marketing strategies. Furthermore, freelancers are increasingly demonstrating versatility to gain an advantage in the market. That’s why it’s not surprising that professionals, in addition to SEO, are also involved in other activities,” says Patrycja Górecka, Head of Marketing & PR at WhitePress.
Gerald Murphy, Senior Solutions Business Manager at Similarweb, adds:
“Note that SEO itself has diversified. It has always been an area subject to changes driven by Google’s guidelines, algorithm updates, and an increasingly competitive environment. One of the most important trends we observed at Similarweb this year is SEO for channels other than Google. SEO for YouTube and Amazon is already quite well-established—especially interesting is the growth of TikTok. The query ‘Tiktok SEO’ has a monthly search volume of almost 10 thousand, and ‘Tiktok SEO strategy’ exceeds a thousand. While new generations begin to dominate the search landscape, SEO specialists must not only deal with additional marketing tasks but also adapt to the continually growing and changing SEO landscape.”
Budgets and tools, or… how much for these pleasures?
Looking from the perspective of foreign data, mainly from the U.S. market, expenditures on website optimization range from $500 to several thousand dollars per month. What does it look like on the European market? WhitePress asked specialists from 22 countries, and specialists in the UK operate with the largest budgets, where 27% of SEO professionals spend more than 4,500 euros per domain. The Czechs, Poles, and Romanians have budgets ranging from 400 to 500 euros. These costs may increase over time, partly due to expenses on modern analytical tools.
- “Using SEO tools is a must-have today, and this refers not only to free solutions but primarily to personalized tools that increase the efficiency of actions. Currently, specialists have access to around 200 tools, with spending ranging from tens to even several thousand euros per month. Record holders from Italy and France (about 2.5% of respondents from each of these countries) allocate even over 5000 euros to them,” says Anna Halama, Marketing Team Leader at WhitePress.
On-site SEO and link building
What type of SEO services do European specialists perform? The majority, nearly 70%, combine on- and off-site activities, 26% focus solely on optimizing the domain itself, and the least common is conducting only link building activities.
- “Only 26% of respondents focus solely on On-site SEO activities, which used to be considered easy to implement and, therefore, more popular among those taking their first steps in website optimization. It also carried less risk of penalties than link building, which requires knowledge beyond the basics of SEO. Currently, professionals realize that these two aspects must be combined, as confirmed by the survey results,” says Aleksander Mrowiec, Marketing Specialist at WhitePress and the study coordinator.
The future of SEO through the eyes of specialists from 22 countries
WhitePress decided to ask nearly 1,500 experts from across Europe about their opinions on what awaits the SEO industry in the coming years. Due to the dynamic nature of this field, predictions are extremely difficult, and as much as 1/3 of respondents found it challenging to say in which direction this industry will develop. However, based on their responses, several consistent trends and directions were identified for the near future. What are they?
According to 65% of respondents, links will have to be of increasingly higher quality to have a chance against competitors and search engine policies.
39% of survey participants believe that SEO will become more accessible thanks to automation tools.
The SEO industry will continue to grow dynamically despite ongoing changes in Google’s policies.
For over 60% of respondents, behavioral factors will gain importance and will have an increasingly significant impact on positioning and optimization.
Szymon Słowik, SEO Consultant & Strategist, adds, “Google systematically strengthens its ability to collect this type of data over the years, utilizing platforms such as Android and Chrome. New solutions in GA 4, such as ‘Engagement rate,’ also indicate a shift towards greater user satisfaction.
What else awaits the SEO industry according to leading specialists? You can find out by downloading the entire report.
Methodology – how was the report created?
WhitePress conducted a study in 22 European countries and gathered responses from nearly 1500 specialists. A web form translated into 22 languages was used to collect data. Additionally, in individual markets, support was provided by over 90 international partners, some of whom expressed their opinions.