Elmrank vs a Freelance SEO Writer: 30 Articles for $300
Freelance blog posts cost $375 to $675 each at median pro rates. We publish up to 30 a month for $300, site and technical SEO included. When to hire one.
Elmrank editorial4 min readLast reviewed
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A thread on r/SEO asked people who had tried both in-house SEO and an agency what actually worked, "real experiences, not sales pitches." A reply with 23 upvotes when we read it came from someone who had worked on both sides: "Freelancers are cheaper, but they might ghost randomly if they're not reputable. Agencies are expensive, some are good, but most will just assign you a junior know-nothing assigned to 30 other accounts." If you're choosing between a freelance writer and us, here is that trade in published numbers.
| Line | Elmrank | Freelance writer |
|---|---|---|
| Per 1,500-word article | $10 at 30 a month | $375 to $675 at the blog post rate (25¢ to 45¢ a word); $480 to $1,313 at the business and marketing rate (32¢ to 87.5¢) |
| 30 articles a month | $300 | $11,250 to $20,250 at the blog post rate |
| Monthly SEO retainer | $300, after a $500 first month | $1,348 average (Ahrefs poll); $1,400 (WebFX guide), for work you scope |
| What the price covers | Topic plan, fact-check, a person's approval, publishing, technical SEO, hosting, domain, monthly report | The writing. Anything else is agreed separately |
| Who edits | We do; you tell us about your product and approve what matters to you | You: briefs, fact-checks, edits and publishing |
| Replies | By email, within 12 hours | Whatever you agree |
We used the blog post rate for the headline numbers. The EFA's business and marketing rate is higher, so if your posts sell a product, expect the upper row. Both are medians reported by professional members. Marketplaces have people who charge far less, and we haven't priced them. Whatever the rate, the work around each article stays with you.
What managing a freelancer actually takes
Hiring a writer means you become the editor. Each month you:
- decide what to write about and brief each piece
- read every draft and check its facts, numbers and names
- send edits and wait for the second version
- format, publish and schedule the posts yourself, or pay someone to
- keep the site fast, indexed and online, which is outside a writer's job
- find a replacement when the writer gets busy
That last one happens; it's the risk the r/SEO commenter above put first.
Google adds its own item to the editor's list. Its checklist for content asks "Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?" With a freelancer, you're the one answering that.
What comes off your desk for $300 a month
Take the editor's list above. With us, each line is our job.
- Topics and briefs: the first month ($500) includes an SEO and GEO audit and a content plan, and we pick each month's topics from it.
- Drafts and fact-checks: AI tools draft each article, our pipeline fact-checks it, and a person approves it before it goes live.
- Edits and second versions: we make them; you only see what you ask to approve.
- Publishing: up to 30 articles a month, formatted and published by us.
- The site: the setup month fixes speed, indexing, schema and structure and designs the site (we build one if you don't have it); after that, fixes and updates as they come up, plus hosting and the domain.
- Replacing the writer: there's no one to replace, and email replies come within 12 hours.
Each month you get a report on what we published, what we fixed and how the site does in search. You share your Search Console and domain account and tell us about your product. There's no contract, and the code, content and domain stay yours.
What the pipeline has published on our own sites
The same setup runs three sites we own. They're ours, not clients', with names and domains hidden, and their Search Console data is on our use cases page.
- Articles published
- 1,844
- Across the three sites, April to October 2026
- Google clicks
- 203,298
- Search Console, final data to Oct 10, 2026
- Best single week
- 7,358 clicks
- Game news site, week of June 29
The game news site above has also slipped since that June peak, and its last 28 days were 18% below the same stretch ten weeks earlier. We show it anyway, because a chart that only goes up isn't telling you everything.
When a freelancer is the better choice
Hire the writer if one of these is true.
You need a named expert's voice
If your articles have to carry a specialist's name and judgment, say a lawyer, a clinician or an engineer who writes about their own field, hire that person. Our pipeline works from public sources and what you tell us.
You want a few long pieces, not a steady stream
For two or three deep, original pieces a quarter, a good freelancer on a fixed brief is the better buy. Our plan is built for a monthly run of up to 30.
You already have an editor and a working site
If someone on your team already plans, edits and publishes, and the site runs fine, a writer fills the only gap you have.
One r/SEO commenter advised small businesses that "you are better off with a freelancer than a proper agency." For a lot of owners that's right, as long as they're ready to manage one. If you'd rather not, we plan, write, publish and keep the site running for $300 a month, which is less than the median rate for a single 1,500-word post. You still tell us about your business and approve what matters to you.
What we write, check and publish each month is listed on our SEO content service page.
How we know this
Written by Elmrank editorial. Every source below was read on the date shown; the page was last reviewed on Oct 14, 2026.
- Editorial Freelancers Association, 2026 Rate Chart, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Ahrefs, SEO Pricing: 439 People Polled, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- WebFX, SEO Pricing, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, accessed Oct 14, 2026
- r/SEO, In-house SEO vs agency. What's actually worked for you? (post by u/HotGene4495; comment by u/Nyodrax), accessed Oct 14, 2026
- r/SEO, How do I choose an SEO agency for my small business (comment by u/downpourinsunshine), accessed Oct 14, 2026
- Elmrank, Search Console data for three sites we own (snapshot Oct 13, 2026), accessed Oct 14, 2026
Email us your site.
We reply within 12 hours with what we'd fix first. Then we run it for you, technical SEO and content: $500 for the first month, then $300 a month for up to 30 articles. You don't need any technical knowledge, and you can cancel any time.