SEO Contract Job Trends in the South East

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring SEO skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 176 145 191
Rank change year-on-year -31 +46 +23
Contract jobs citing SEO 9 12 14
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.19% 0.38% 0.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.22% 0.42% 0.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 2 7
10th Percentile - £205 £315
25th Percentile £256 £206 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £263 £206 £400
Median % change year-on-year +27.43% -48.50% -1.23%
75th Percentile £269 £207 £425
90th Percentile - £207 £428
England median daily rate £430 £385 £375
% change year-on-year +11.69% +2.67% -11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 1
10th Percentile £15.70 - -
25th Percentile £18.25 £26.00 -
Median hourly rate £25.00 £27.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.41% -22.86% -
75th Percentile £27.50 £28.00 -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £28.09 £60.50 £28.25
% change year-on-year -53.57% +114.16% +28.41%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

SEO falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 4,001 2,857 4,747
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 83.70% 90.47% 87.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,624 1,758 2,880
10th Percentile £256 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £392
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £612 £614
90th Percentile £694 £675 £694
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 354 104 356
10th Percentile £14.50 £18.29 £13.25
25th Percentile £17.00 £24.18 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.94 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -42.76% -7.49% +5.56%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.50 £63.00
90th Percentile £82.78 £75.35 £76.53
England median hourly rate £26.78 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -23.49% - -

SEO
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing SEO relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

SEO job vacancy trend in the South East

SEO
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SEO.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SEO

SEO
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SEO.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SEO

SEO
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SEO in the South East over the 6 months to 19 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SEO in the South East

SEO
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SEO within the South East region over the 6 months to 19 February 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Hampshire -20 6 £263 - 2
Thames Valley -32 3 - - 4
Berkshire -16 2 - - 2
Buckinghamshire - 1 - - 2
SEO
England

SEO
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 3 (33.33%) CMS
2 2 (22.22%) Adobe Experience Manager
Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (11.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 1 (11.11%) Photoshop
Cloud Services
1 4 (44.44%) Google Analytics
2 2 (22.22%) SaaS
Development Applications
1 2 (22.22%) JIRA
General
1 6 (66.67%) Marketing
2 3 (33.33%) Social Skills
3 2 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (22.22%) Arabic Language
3 2 (22.22%) Brand Awareness
3 2 (22.22%) Dutch Language
3 2 (22.22%) French Language
3 2 (22.22%) German Language
3 2 (22.22%) Italian Language
3 2 (22.22%) Japanese Language
3 2 (22.22%) Mandarin Language
3 2 (22.22%) Organisational Skills
3 2 (22.22%) Polish Language
3 2 (22.22%) Portuguese Language
3 2 (22.22%) Publishing
3 2 (22.22%) Spanish Language
4 1 (11.11%) Automotive
4 1 (11.11%) Law
Job Titles
1 3 (33.33%) Marketing Executive
2 2 (22.22%) Content Marketing Specialist
2 2 (22.22%) Digital Executive
2 2 (22.22%) Marketing Specialist
3 1 (11.11%) Coordinator
3 1 (11.11%) Digital Marketing Coordinator
3 1 (11.11%) SEO Executive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (11.11%) CSS
1 1 (11.11%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 4 (44.44%) Blog
1 4 (44.44%) Social Media
2 2 (22.22%) Educational Technology
2 2 (22.22%) Podcast
3 1 (11.11%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (66.67%) Analytics
2 3 (33.33%) Customer-Centricity
2 3 (33.33%) Lead Generation
3 2 (22.22%) Content Curation
3 2 (22.22%) Content Marketing
3 2 (22.22%) Content Strategy
3 2 (22.22%) CRM
3 2 (22.22%) Development Roadmap
3 2 (22.22%) Digital Content Management
3 2 (22.22%) E-Commerce
3 2 (22.22%) Multichannel Marketing
3 2 (22.22%) Pay per click
3 2 (22.22%) Project Management
3 2 (22.22%) Roadmaps
3 2 (22.22%) Storytelling
3 2 (22.22%) Thought Leadership
3 2 (22.22%) User Experience
4 1 (11.11%) Copywriting
4 1 (11.11%) Digital Marketing
4 1 (11.11%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 1 (11.11%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 1 (11.11%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (22.22%) QA
Vendors
1 4 (44.44%) Google
2 3 (33.33%) Adobe
3 2 (22.22%) HubSpot
3 2 (22.22%) YouTube