SEO in Australia is usually charged as a monthly fee, and the price depends on how competitive your market is, how many services and areas you want to rank for, and how much work your website needs.
At JS Website Design, ongoing SEO starts from $1,000 + GST a month, Google Business Profile management starts from $500 + GST a month, and a one-off SEO audit starts from $1,000 + GST.
This guide explains what drives those numbers, what you should get for your money, and how to work out whether SEO will pay for itself in your business.
How SEO is usually priced
There are three common ways to pay for SEO, and most businesses end up using more than one.
A monthly retainer
This is the most common model by a long way. An Ahrefs survey of 439 SEO providers found that 78% charge a monthly retainer. You pay a set amount each month, and in return you get an agreed amount of work, such as new pages, technical fixes and reporting.
SEO is priced this way because it builds over time. Google rewards websites that keep improving, and a single burst of work rarely holds its position for long.
A one-off audit or project
Some work has a clear start and finish, such as an SEO audit, a website migration or fixing a technical problem. These are usually quoted as a fixed price. An audit is often the best first step, because it shows you what is holding your website back before you commit to anything ongoing.
An hourly rate
Some consultants charge by the hour for advice, training or small jobs. It can suit a business with an in-house team that only needs guidance, but it makes the total cost harder to predict.
What changes the price of SEO
Two businesses can ask for “SEO” and need very different amounts of work. These are the things that make the biggest difference.
How competitive your market is. Ranking for “accountant Sydney” takes far more work than ranking for “retaining walls Blue Mountains”, because far more businesses are fighting for it and many of them have years of history on Google.
How many services and areas you want to rank for. Each service and each location usually needs its own page. A plumber who wants to be found in five suburbs for three services needs a lot more content than one who works in a single town.
The state of your website. If your website is slow, has broken links or was built without SEO in mind, some of the early budget goes into fixing the foundations before any new work starts.
How much new content you need. Writing a good service page takes research, writing and checking. A plan that includes two new pages a month costs more than one that includes one.
Local or national. Local SEO focuses on your suburb, your region and the Google map results. National SEO competes with businesses across the country, which usually takes more content and more time.
Whether your Google Business Profile is included. For many local businesses the profile brings in as many calls as the website, so it is worth checking whether a quote includes looking after it or leaves it out.
What a monthly SEO plan should include
Whatever you pay, you should be able to see exactly what is being done each month. These are the things a good plan usually covers.
- Keyword research, so the work targets the searches your customers actually make
- New or improved pages each month, such as service pages, location pages or articles
- Improvements to your existing pages, including titles, headings and internal links
- Technical checks and fixes, such as speed, broken links and indexing problems
- Google Business Profile posts and updates, if the profile is part of the plan
- A monthly report that shows rankings, visitors and enquiries in plain English
As a guide, our plans from $1,000 + GST a month usually include one new page or article each month, along with the technical work, Google Business Profile posts and a monthly report. Larger plans add a second page each month, directory listings and backlink work, and regular strategy reviews.
Why very cheap SEO rarely works
You will find SEO packages advertised for a few hundred dollars a month. It is worth asking what that price can realistically cover.
Writing one good service page for your business takes several hours, and that is before any technical work, reporting or profile updates. At a very low monthly price, there is usually no time left for the work that moves rankings, so cheap packages tend to rely on automated reports and generic tasks that could apply to any business.
That does not mean you need the biggest budget. It means the price should match the amount of real work being done for you, and you should be able to see that work each month.
Warning signs when comparing SEO quotes
Most SEO providers are doing honest work, but a few warning signs are worth knowing.
Guaranteed rankings. Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO is clear: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” You can read it in full in Google’s guide to hiring an SEO. A provider can promise the work, but not the result.
No clear list of monthly work. If a quote does not say what will be done each month, you have no way to tell whether it is being done.
Secret methods. Good SEO is not a secret. You should be able to ask what is being changed on your website and get a plain answer.
Reports without enquiries. Rankings and traffic matter, but the number that pays your bills is enquiries. A good report shows whether the work is bringing in customers.
Long lock-in contracts with no way out. Read how long the agreement runs and how you can end it. The ACCC explains the protections small businesses have against unfair terms in standard form contracts.
You do not own the work. Make sure the pages written for you, and your Google Business Profile, stay yours if you leave.
Our article on how to choose the right SEO company goes into more detail on what to ask.
Is SEO worth the cost?
SEO is worth it when the new customers it brings in are worth more than you spend. The simplest way to check is to work backwards from the value of a customer.
Say an average new customer is worth $3,000 in profit to your business. A plan at $1,000 a month needs to bring in one extra customer every three months to pay for itself, and anything above that is a return. If your average customer is worth $20,000, the maths looks even better.
Here is what that looked like for one of our clients.
Laser Landscapes and Excavation has invested $38,000 with us since July 2023. That covers the original website, every page added since, the monthly SEO, hosting and maintenance, which works out to about $1,000 a month. In that time the website has brought in 268 enquiries and $2 million of work, which is about $142 per enquiry. You can read the full story in our Laser Landscapes case study.
Results like that do not happen in the first month. SEO works a lot like going to the gym, because you do not see a difference after the first session, but the work builds on itself if you keep going. Most businesses start to see movement within three to six months, and it usually takes six to twelve months to see the full results. We explain why in our article on how long SEO takes.
SEO packages or a custom plan?
Many SEO providers sell fixed packages, such as bronze, silver and gold. Packages make prices easy to compare, but they can mean paying for work you do not need or missing work you do.
A custom plan starts from your business instead. A roofer who wants more work in three suburbs needs different work from an accounting firm that wants clients from across Australia, even if the monthly budget is the same.
Whichever you choose, ask what is included each month, how progress will be reported and what happens if you want to change the plan later.
Where to start if your budget is tight
You do not need to commit to a large monthly plan to make progress.
Start with an audit. An SEO audit shows you exactly what is holding your website back and gives you a plan you can work through at your own pace. Roof Ranger’s audit fixes lifted their website enquiries by 83% in five months, before their new website was even designed.
Focus on your Google Business Profile. For many local service businesses, the map results bring in more calls than anything else. Google Business Profile management costs less than full SEO and often shows results sooner.
Build one page at a time. A single well written page for your most valuable service in your main area can bring in work on its own. Start there, and add more once it is working.
How much does SEO cost with JS Website Design?
Our SEO services start from $1,000 + GST a month. Google Business Profile management starts from $500 + GST a month, and SEO audits start from $1,000 + GST as a one-off cost.
The final price depends on your market, the number of services and areas you want to rank for, and how much work your website needs. You will get a clear, fixed quote before anything starts, so you know exactly what is included and what it costs.
Our SEO plans run month to month, with no lock-in contract. We ask for 30 days notice if you decide to stop, because each month’s work is planned ahead as part of your strategy.
Want a clear price for your business?
Book a free SEO review and we will look at your website, your Google Business Profile and who is ranking above you. You will get a clear picture of what your SEO would involve and what it would cost, with no obligation to go ahead.
