Guide
How Much Does SEO Cost in Australia?
Most small businesses in Australia pay A$1,000 to A$3,000 a month for SEO. The price depends on how much content and link work is included and how competitive your market is.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure below comes from the public pricing pages of two Australian SEO agencies and three published Australian SEO cost guides, all read on 21 October 2026. We've kept the numbers and left the names out. Most agencies don't publish a price at all, and the ones that do quote "from" figures, so treat these ranges as the shape of the market and the written quote in front of you as the real number. Prices are ex GST unless we say so.
What each monthly level usually buys
| Monthly retainer | Who it suits | What the plans at this level typically include |
|---|---|---|
| A$500–1,000 | A small local business in a quiet market | A basic audit, keyword setup, light fixes to titles and pages, a citation or two |
| A$800–1,500 | One location, low competition | Business Profile management, local citations, ongoing page work, suburb keywords |
| A$1,500–3,000 | Trades, clinics, hospitality, most small businesses | A keyword plan, two to four pieces of content a month, technical fixes, some link building, monthly reporting |
| A$3,000–5,000 | Competitive industries like legal, finance and real estate | More content, a link-building or digital PR program, conversion work, strategy sessions |
| A$5,000 and up | National or multi-location businesses | A team: technical SEO, writers, digital PR and a strategist |
One-off work and hourly rates
| Type of work | Typical Australian price |
|---|---|
| SEO or technical audit | A$1,500–10,000, by site size |
| Content audit and plan | A$2,000–6,000 |
| Site or domain migration | A$3,000–10,000, more for large stores |
| Digital PR campaign | From A$4,000 a campaign |
| Hourly SEO work | About A$100–400 an hour, junior to senior |
What moves the number
Most of the spread between A$500 and A$5,000 comes down to five things:
- How competitive the search is. Ranking for "plumber" in a small town is a different job from "personal injury lawyer Sydney". The second needs years of content and links.
- How much content is included. Writing is the biggest cost in most retainers. Ask how many pages or articles a month, and who writes them.
- Link building. Earning links from other real sites is slow, skilled work. Cheap packages either skip it or buy links, which can get a site penalised.
- How many locations. Each location means its own Business Profile, reviews and suburb pages.
- The state of your site. A slow site, or one Google can't read, needs fixing before the monthly work can do much. That's often cheaper done once, in a rebuild, than billed hourly for months.
Red flags in an SEO quote
Any of these is a reason to ask one more question before you sign:
- Guaranteed rankings. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and that if an SEO guarantees first place you should find someone else.
- A long lock-in before you've seen results. A contract you can't leave for a year means the agency doesn't have to earn month two. One of the agencies we read publishes its plans with no lock-in, so it can be done.
- No list of changes. Google suggests asking an SEO whether they'll share every change they make to your site. You should be able to see what you paid for each month.
- Very cheap packages. One Australian cost guide says offshore and budget providers at A$300–500 a month can't fund meaningful work. At that price, ask exactly what gets done.
- Reports full of rankings nobody searches for. Ranking first for a phrase with no searches is easy. Ask for enquiries, calls and the searches that bring real customers.
- Accounts in their name. Your Business Profile, Search Console and analytics should belong to you, with the agency added as a user.
What you get without a retainer
A lot of what an entry-level package bills monthly is one-off work: a fast site, a page per service, clear titles, a sitemap, Search Console and a complete Business Profile. Our Starter package (from A$1,000 ex GST) includes basic on-page SEO, and Growth (from A$3,000) adds local SEO with service and suburb pages and local business markup, all in the build price. A retainer starts to make sense once that's done and you want to take searches off competitors who are already paying for theirs.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo
No one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and the questions Google suggests asking before you hire.
Where to next
- The Climb: how we got our own site found, step by step
Every SEO step we took, in order, in plain English.
- How much website maintenance costs in Australia
The other monthly line on most websites, and what it covers.
Get the search basics in the build price
Every package we build ships with on-page SEO done, and Growth adds local SEO. We'll design your homepage free before you pay anything.
