Is there standard SEO Pricing Australia?
One of the most common questions we are asked is “What Does SEO Cost?”
One way of addressing the question how much is SEO pricing Australia is to pose the question:
How much does it cost to build a house?
Of course the answer to that question is – Is it a double storey 6 bedroom house for a family of 8, or is it a 1 bedroom house with 3 rooms in total? Does it have a pool and spa? Is it constructed of basic timber, or does it use bluescope steel and expensive foreign roof tiles? Does it have refrigerated aircon throughout or simple ceiling fans? And on it goes…
Obviously the answer to the question “How Much Does it Cost to Build a House?” is “It Depends.”
So, what does SEO cost? It Depends! There are so many factors that determine what your SEO Campaign is going to cost that it is beyond the scope of this article. However, we can give you a rough idea of your outlays and returns by covering a few simple factors, and provide some touch-points to watch for when assessing an SEO Agency Proposal that you might be reviewing.
The Key Factors That Influence SEO Pricing Australia
1 Forget ‘SEO Packages’
One of the main misunderstandings about SEO pricing is that there must be some kind of standard or accepted scale that projects should adhere to, and often this is brought about by many SEO agencies offering ‘SEO Packages’. You may have seen these kind of offerings: “$495 per month”, “$995 per month” etc. etc. – a fixed fee whatever your business type. The problem with this approach is that it assumes that all websites are virtually equal, and that every business is the same size, covers the same area, and has the same number of potential customers – obviously this is not true and the exact opposite is the case: every business out there serves different markets, has varying levels of competition, provides goods and services in specific locations, and has a limited range of potential customers; in short – No Two Businesses Are The Same! So the concept of SEO Packages is extremely risky, because the underlying belief is that your business is exactly the same as all other businesses in Australia. Try telling a local one-person consulting operation in Yarraville, that they should pay the same monthly SEO fee as a huge multi-national that has 3,000 staff and offices around Australia, and see what they say – of course they are going to think you are crazy! SEO Packages make no sense and cannot possibly bring an acceptable return on investment, especially if you are a micro business.
2 Local vs City vs National SEO
The main factor in determining what Search engine optimisation may cost is what type of campaign you want to run. This is determined by how large your business is, what geographical locations you want to be promoted in, and what your growth plans are.
Very generally speaking, SEO campaigns come in three overall ‘flavours’ – Local SEO, City SEO and National SEO. What type of business you run and what your growth plans are dictate what type of campaign you need.
A Local SEO campaign would normally be right for local businesses – think Restaurants, Accountants, Mechanics, Chemists, Natural Health Practitioners, Beauty Therapists and so on. These types of businesses usually draw their customers from their immediate vicinity; for example if you are in Yarraville (VIC), you will also get customers from Footscray, Spotswood and Kingsville, but not from Ringwood. In Scarborough (WA) you would also get customers from Karrinyup, Doubleview and Innaloo, but not from Caversham, and so on. Very generally speaking, most local businesses get their customers from within a 5-15 km radius. Therefore your SEO campaign should consist of high quality mobile pages that highlight your services for all your local suburbs, and 100% optimisation of your Google Business Profile. These elements are backed up by on-page SEO and a solid campaign to gain links from local directories and chambers of commerce etc.. On a Very General Level, expect to pay between $500 – $1,500 per moth for a Local SEO Campaign.
A City SEO Campaign can generally be defined as a campaign that covers an entire metropolitan area such as Melbourne, Perth, Darwin etc.. Most businesses that require a City SEO Campaign tends to be larger small businesses, or medium businesses that gain customers from throughout their metropolitan area. These types of businesses tend to be building and construction companies, larger chemist chains, real estate chains, shopping centres, coaching and education firms etc.. These small to medium businesses tend to have a marketing budget, and a business plan for growth. City SEO campaigns very generally will cost between $1,500-$5,000 per month depending on various factors.
A National SEO Campaign is for Medium to Large Companies and generally cover most of Australia, or at least a swathe of the country, such as the Eastern seaboard. These companies have dedicated digital marketing budgets, and will look at SEO as one part of their overall digital marketing strategy. National SEO campaigns are high-stakes, and SEO Agencies such as SEO Australia will normally be very involved with various staff at a client company, such as the Marketing Director and Sales Manager. An integrated approach to all elements of marketing is critical for National SEO Campaigns to be successful. Usually SEO campaigns on a national scale will cost between $10,000 – $30,000 per month.
3 Your Plans for Growth
Another factor that has a bearing on your SEO pricing is your business plan, and what growth plans you have for your business. For example, if you are a local business and realise that a Local SEO campaign is best for you, you will also want to take into account what growth you are aiming for in 2024. If you want to remain steady and keep the same number of customers, then your Local campaign will be based more on branding and keeping your business name and logo top of mind. This calls for a specific type of Search and will overall cost less than a ‘growth’ campaign type. If you are looking at a City based campaign, again your growth plans will determine pricing – generally speaking those businesses looking for a City based search campaign have growth as their key aim – they want to increase their customer base, and spread the key messages of their business online. A National search campaign can be either ‘growth’ or ‘branded’ – that is a growth campaign to increase your customer base across Australia, or a ‘branded’ campaign aimed at cementing your company’s reputation in the market. Generally the pricing differentials will be determined by what online channels are used.
4 Return on SEO Investment
No article on SEO pricing will be complete without addressing the return on investment – or ROI – required by the customer for the campaign. More than anything, ROI is critical when determining what your SEO investment will be.
Here is the formula for calculating your ROI:
(Value of Conversions – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment
How this works is simple: Work out the cost of each conversion. A conversion could be someone signing up for your newsletter, ordering a product or service, or joining a course you promote. Each conversion needs to be assigned a dollar value, and this value is then entered into Google Analytics. At the end of each month or quarter, you wil take the value of total dollars you have gained through your analytics conversion, then subtract the total cost of your SEO investment. This figure is then divided by the total cost of SEO investment. The resultant figure will be an integer such as 2, 2.5, 3, 4 etc.. Multiply this by 100 to get your percentage ROI. Whilst this may sound complex, an SEO Agency such as SEO Australia will be able to arrive at these figures in collaboration with you, so that you can measure your ROI easily.
Obviously, the greater the ROI, the more money you can pump into your SEO campaign. This is where the value of great SEO shines – after all, if you work out that your ROI is 3, you are getting $3 back from each $1 you invest. Therefore, it is an easy decision to double your SEO campaign spend.
SEO Pricing Australia Summary
As you can see, there are many factors that determine SEO pricing Australia. From whether your campaign is local or national, to how much you want to grow your business and the ROI on your spend, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ cost of SEO. One thing we know for sure, avoid at all costs fixed ‘SEO Packages’ and talk with an agency such as SEO Australia to gain a solid understanding of what a search engine optimisation campaign can do for your business.
