29 May 2026 · 7 min
Australian SEO retainers typically range from $1,500 to $10,000+ per month. The spread is not arbitrary — it tracks competition, location count and catalogue size.
What drives your number
Competition: a Sydney law firm needs far more authority investment than a regional trade business.
Scale: every extra suburb, service line or product category adds content and technical work.
Starting point: a fast, well-structured site needs less remediation than a slow legacy build.
One-time versus ongoing
A one-time optimisation, from $2,500, fixes the foundation: technical health, schema, metadata, speed, local setup and AI readiness.
Ongoing retainers, from $1,500 per month, add content, authority building and continuous optimisation — the parts that compound.
Warning signs at the cheap end
Fixed keyword counts, no technical work, offshore content and lock-in contracts almost always signal a template being resold.
Ask what the first 90 days include, who does the work, and how results are reported. Vague answers are the answer.
Key takeaways
- — Expect $1,500+/month ongoing or $2,500+ for a one-time optimisation.
- — Competition and scale drive price more than agency size.
- — Lock-in contracts are a red flag, not an industry standard.