The Short Answer
SEO pricing in Australia varies significantly based on engagement model, scope, competition level, and business size. Here are the current market ranges for 2026:
Monthly SEO Retainers: $1,500-$4,000/month for small businesses, $4,000-$10,000/month for mid-market companies, $10,000-$25,000+/month for enterprise clients.
Hourly Consulting: $150-$350/hour AUD depending on specialist experience and engagement complexity.
Project-Based Engagements: $3,000-$25,000 AUD for defined-scope projects such as SEO audits, website migration planning, or content strategy development.
These are real market rates I've observed and charged across 15 years and 250+ projects. Below, I'll explain what drives these numbers, what you should expect at each price point, and the red flags that indicate you're about to waste money.
Why SEO Pricing Varies So Much
If you've requested SEO quotes, you've probably received proposals ranging from $500/month to $20,000/month - and wondered why the gap is so wide. The honest answer is that SEO pricing reflects several variables that interact differently for every business.
Competition level. Ranking a local plumber in a regional town is fundamentally different to ranking a national eCommerce brand against competitors with seven-figure marketing budgets. The more competitive your industry and market, the more work - and therefore more cost - is required.
Scope of work. An engagement that covers technical SEO, content strategy, link building, and local SEO is more resource-intensive than one focused on technical fixes alone. Some businesses need the full spectrum; others need targeted intervention in a specific area.
Current website state. A site with strong technical foundations that needs content and authority building is a different proposition to a site with thousands of indexation errors, no structured data, and a toxic backlink profile that needs cleanup before growth work can begin.
Business size and site complexity. An eCommerce site with 50,000 product pages requires more technical and strategic work than a 20-page professional services website. Scale directly impacts cost.
Provider experience. A consultant or agency with 15 years of enterprise-scale experience and government-backed credentials will charge more than a freelancer with two years of experience - and typically delivers proportionally better outcomes. You're paying for pattern recognition, proven methodology, and the ability to diagnose issues quickly that less experienced providers might spend months troubleshooting.
The Three SEO Pricing Models Explained
Monthly SEO Retainer
The monthly retainer is the most common engagement model for ongoing SEO. You pay a fixed monthly fee for a defined scope of work that typically includes strategy, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
Why retainers work for SEO: SEO is a compounding discipline - results build over time through sustained effort across technical optimisation, content production, link acquisition, and performance monitoring. A monthly retainer ensures consistent progress rather than sporadic bursts of activity.
What to expect by tier (AUD):
$1,500-$4,000/month - Small Business / Local SEO: Suitable for businesses targeting a local or regional market with a site under 500 pages. Typically includes a technical audit and fix cycle, keyword strategy for 20-50 target terms, monthly content recommendations or production (1-2 pieces), Google Business Profile optimisation, basic link building, and monthly reporting via Google Search Console and GA4.
$4,000-$10,000/month - Mid-Market / National: For businesses competing nationally or in moderately competitive industries. Includes comprehensive technical SEO management, content strategy and production (4-8 pieces/month), active link building campaigns, competitor monitoring, conversion optimisation recommendations, and detailed monthly reporting with strategic recommendations.
$10,000-$25,000+/month - Enterprise / Highly Competitive: For large sites (10,000+ pages), highly competitive industries, or multi-market operations. Includes dedicated strategic oversight, full content production pipeline, aggressive link acquisition, cross-functional team coordination, stakeholder reporting, and advanced analytics with attribution modelling.
Hourly SEO Consulting
Hourly consulting is typically used for advisory engagements, training, or specific technical consultations rather than ongoing implementation.
$150-$250/hour: Mid-level consultants with 3-7 years of experience. Solid for standard technical audits and tactical advice.
$250-$350/hour: Senior consultants with 10+ years of experience, enterprise client portfolios, and specialist expertise (entity-based SEO, international SEO, complex migrations). At this level, you're paying for pattern recognition and strategic depth that prevents expensive mistakes.
Hourly engagements work well when you have an internal team that needs strategic direction, when you need a second opinion on an existing SEO strategy, or when you need specialist input on a specific challenge (migration planning, penalty recovery, structured data architecture).
Project-Based Engagements
Project-based pricing applies to defined-scope deliverables with a clear start and end point.
$3,000-$8,000 - SEO Audit: A comprehensive technical, content, and competitive audit with prioritised action plan. Scope depends on site size: 1-2 weeks for small sites, 2-4 weeks for mid-sized, 4-8 weeks for enterprise-scale properties.
$5,000-$15,000 - Content Strategy: Complete keyword research, topic cluster architecture, content calendar, and detailed content briefs for 20-50 pages. Includes competitive gap analysis and internal linking strategy.
$5,000-$20,000 - Website Migration SEO: Pre-migration audit, URL mapping, redirect strategy, technical specification for the development team, and post-migration monitoring. The cost depends on site size and migration complexity (platform change, domain change, site restructure).
$8,000-$25,000 - Penalty Recovery: Backlink audit, disavow file preparation, content quality remediation, and reconsideration request strategy. Timeline and cost depend on severity and the extent of issues to resolve.
Red Flags: When SEO Pricing Should Worry You
After 15 years in this industry, I've seen every questionable SEO sales tactic. Here are the pricing-related red flags that should make you walk away:
"Guaranteed first page rankings for $500/month." No ethical SEO professional can guarantee specific rankings. Google's algorithm considers hundreds of factors and changes constantly. Anyone promising guaranteed positions at bargain prices is either targeting keywords nobody searches for, or planning to use tactics that will eventually harm your site.
Suspiciously low pricing. If an SEO provider is offering comprehensive monthly services for $300-$500/month, ask yourself: what quality of work is possible at that rate? In practice, ultra-low-cost SEO typically means automated reporting with no strategic input, outsourced link building from spammy sources, or templated work applied identically regardless of your business context.
Long-term contracts with no exit clause. Reputable SEO providers are confident enough in their results to offer reasonable contract terms. Be cautious of providers who require 12-24 month commitments with no performance benchmarks or exit provisions.
No transparency about methodology. If a provider can't clearly explain what they'll do, what tools they use, and how they'll measure progress, that's a problem. SEO is complex, but it's not magic - a good consultant should be able to articulate their approach in plain language.
Promising "secret techniques" or "special Google relationships." There are no secret SEO techniques, and nobody has a special relationship with Google that influences organic rankings. This is a hallmark of providers selling mystique rather than competence.
How to Evaluate SEO Value (Not Just Price)
The cheapest SEO option is almost never the best value, and the most expensive option isn't automatically the best either. Here's how to evaluate whether an SEO investment is likely to deliver returns:
Ask about ROI, not just rankings. Rankings are a means, not an end. The right question is: "How will this SEO investment translate into traffic, leads, and revenue for my business?" A good consultant should be able to model expected returns based on your market data.
Evaluate experience specificity. 15 years of general digital marketing experience is different from 15 years of SEO-specific practice. Ask for case studies in your industry or with businesses of similar size and complexity.
Check credentials beyond commercial certificates. Google certifications and SEMrush badges are easy to obtain. Look for credentials that require independent assessment - for example, VETASSESS accreditation (government-backed) or peak industry body memberships that validate professional competence.
Understand the reporting framework. You should receive monthly reporting that shows organic traffic trends, keyword ranking movements, conversion data, and strategic recommendations - not just automated dashboards with vanity metrics.
Compare cost per acquisition. Once SEO is generating traffic, calculate your organic cost per acquisition and compare it to your paid channels (Google Ads, social media advertising). In most cases, SEO delivers significantly lower long-term CPA - which is why it's an investment, not an expense.
What I Charge and Why
I'm transparent about my positioning: I'm at the senior end of the market, and my rates reflect 15 years of practice, 250+ completed projects, a VETASSESS government accreditation, and a client portfolio that includes Louis Vuitton, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and LC Waikiki.
I offer both monthly retainers and project-based engagements. I don't publish fixed pricing on my website because every business has different needs, competitive landscapes, and starting points - and I'd rather give you an accurate quote based on your specific situation than a generic price list that may not apply.
What I can tell you is that I don't take on projects I can't commit to delivering results for. I'm deliberately selective about client volume because quality requires focus. Every engagement gets strategic depth, direct access to me (not a junior team), and reporting against meaningful KPIs.
If you'd like to discuss your project and get a clear picture of investment and expected returns, let's talk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SEO a one-time cost or an ongoing investment?
SEO has both one-time and ongoing components. A technical audit and initial fixes are project-based. But content production, link building, competitive monitoring, and algorithm adaptation require sustained effort. Most businesses see the best results from ongoing monthly engagements because SEO is a compounding discipline - consistent investment builds momentum that one-off projects cannot replicate.
Why is SEO more expensive than it used to be?
The complexity of ranking in Google has increased dramatically. Google's algorithms now evaluate E-E-A-T signals, content quality at a much deeper level, user experience metrics (Core Web Vitals), entity relationships (Knowledge Graph), and AI-generated search results. Delivering effective SEO in 2026 requires significantly more expertise, more sophisticated tools, and more strategic depth than it did even five years ago.
Should I choose an SEO consultant or an agency?
Both models have advantages depending on your needs. An independent consultant typically offers senior-level expertise, direct communication, and lower overhead costs. An agency may offer broader team resources but often at higher cost and with less direct access to senior strategists. I've written a detailed comparison to help you evaluate which model fits your situation.
Can I do SEO myself instead of hiring a consultant?
You can handle basic SEO tasks - Google Business Profile setup, title tag optimisation, basic content creation - if you have the time and willingness to learn. But technical SEO, link building strategy, schema implementation, and competitive analysis at scale require specialist expertise and professional tools. Most business owners find that the opportunity cost of doing SEO themselves exceeds the cost of hiring a specialist.
How do I know if my SEO consultant is delivering results?
You should see measurable progress within defined timeframes: technical improvements (months 1-3), ranking and traffic gains (months 3-6), and business impact (months 6-12). Your consultant should provide monthly reporting against agreed KPIs using Google Search Console and Google Analytics data - not just vanity metrics. If you're six months in and can't see measurable progress, it's time for a serious conversation.
Next Steps
Understanding SEO pricing is the first step. The second step is understanding what your specific business needs and what results are realistic for your market and budget.
I offer a free initial consultation where I'll review your current search performance, identify the highest-impact opportunities, and give you a clear picture of the investment required to capture them. No generic proposals - just honest advice based on your situation.
Discuss Your Project | Explore SEO Services | How to Choose an SEO Consultant