Most New Zealand small businesses pay for SEO as a monthly retainer, and the useful range to plan around is a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars a month, ex GST. At Media Giant, SEO with link building and automated blogging is $600 a month ex GST on an open term, and it is bundled with a website from $850 a month. Anything much cheaper usually leaves out the two things that move rankings: new content and links from other websites.
That is the short answer. The rest of this guide explains what sits inside an SEO price, how the common pricing models work in New Zealand, and the questions that separate a fair quote from an expensive mistake.
What you are actually paying for
SEO is not one task. A monthly fee is paying for some mix of four kinds of work, and a quote that cannot tell you which ones are included is a quote you cannot compare.
- Technical health. Page speed, mobile layout, crawl errors, redirects, metadata and structured data. Most of this is done once, then checked.
- Content. New pages and articles that answer what your customers search for. Google cannot rank a page you have not written.
- Authority. Links from other reputable websites pointing at yours. Google reads each one as a recommendation, which is why link building is slow, manual work and the part most cheap packages skip.
- Local signals. Your Google Business Profile, consistent business listings and reviews. For a business serving one region, such as greater Wellington, this is often where the first gains come from.
Reporting sits across all four. You should be able to see which keywords moved, which links were built and which pages they point at, every month.
The three ways NZ agencies price SEO
Monthly retainer
The most common model. You pay a fixed amount each month and the agency works through an agreed scope. Retainers suit SEO because results compound: links and content built in month two are still working in month twelve.
The thing to check is the contract term. A long lock-in removes the agency's reason to keep earning your business. Our SEO programme is open term, so you can stop with a month's notice and the links already built stay yours.
One-off project
A fixed price for a defined piece of work, such as a technical audit, a site migration or a set of new service pages. Projects make sense when you know exactly what needs fixing. They do not replace ongoing work, because rankings drift once competitors keep publishing and you stop.
Hourly
Some agencies and freelancers bill by the hour. It is transparent, but it is hard to budget for and it rewards slow work. Media Giant's standard rate for ad hoc work is $160 plus GST an hour, and we tell you before anything chargeable starts.
Media Giant SEO pricing, in full
All prices are ex GST, taken from our pricing page.
| Plan | Monthly price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| AI blogging only | $199 | Two SEO-optimised articles a week, human-reviewed, no link building |
| SEO + link building + auto blogging | $600 | 25+ white-hat links a month plus published articles, open term |
| Website + SEO and blogging | $850 | The above, plus a website built at no extra cost, hosting and rank tracking |
| Full digital | $1,100 | Website, SEO, blogging and AI-managed Google Ads on one invoice |
The two bundled plans carry a 12-month minimum term, then go open term. The standalone SEO programme is open term from day one. You can read how the link-building side works on our SEO and link building page, and how AI search fits in on our AEO page.
Why cheap SEO is usually expensive
A low monthly fee is not a problem in itself. The problem is what has to be left out to reach it. Watch for these patterns:
- "Guaranteed page one rankings." Nobody controls Google's results. A guarantee usually means ranking for a phrase nobody searches.
- Hundreds of links for a small fee. Real links take real placement work. Bulk links from link farms and private blog networks are exactly what Google's spam policies target, and cleaning up after a penalty costs far more than doing it properly.
- No content. If nobody writes new pages, there is nothing new for Google to rank.
- A PDF report every quarter. If you cannot see the work, you cannot judge it.
We have written more about the risk side in the link-building mistake that can get your site penalised.
What affects your price
Two businesses can pay very different amounts for SEO, and both can be getting a fair deal. The main drivers are:
- Competition. A Lower Hutt electrician competes with far fewer pages than an Auckland law firm. Thinner competition across greater Wellington and the Kāpiti Coast is one reason a steady 25+ links a month usually goes further here than the same programme would in Auckland.
- Where your site starts. A slow site with thin pages needs technical work before content and links can do much.
- How many services and locations you want to rank for. Each one needs its own page, and each page needs supporting content.
- How fast you want to move. More content and more links each month shortens the timeline, at a higher monthly cost.
How long before SEO pays off
Plan on a quarter before you see much movement. On our programme the shape is consistent: months one to three are foundations (citations cleaned up, listings made consistent, the first authority links placed), months three to six are where most clients see measurable ranking movement on less competitive terms, and months six to twelve are where the earlier work compounds and new pages start ranking faster.
That timeline is why SEO is budgeted monthly. If you need enquiries next week, Google Ads is the faster lever, and many businesses run both. Our post on SEO or Google Ads, and why most businesses need both covers how to split a budget between them.
SEO and AI answers
Search is no longer only ten blue links. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity now answer many questions directly and cite a handful of sources. The work that earns those citations overlaps heavily with good SEO: clear answers near the top of a page, structured data, consistent business details across the web and links from sites the AI tools already trust. When you compare quotes in 2026, ask whether the programme covers answer engine optimisation (AEO) as well as rankings. Ours does, as part of the same monthly fee.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly happens each month, and how will I see it?
- How many links will you build, where from, and will I see each one?
- Who writes the content, and does a person review it before it is published?
- What is the minimum term, and what happens to the work if I leave?
- Is GST included in the price you have quoted?
If an agency cannot answer all five plainly, keep looking.
Get a straight quote
Send us your website and we will show you your current domain authority and what a realistic programme would look like for your trade and region. You can compare every plan on our pricing page, or start with the SEO service itself.
Frequently asked questions
How much does SEO cost per month in NZ?
Most NZ small businesses pay a monthly retainer of a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars ex GST, depending on competition and scope. Media Giant's SEO, link building and blogging programme is $600 a month ex GST on an open term.
Is SEO worth it for a small business?
Usually, if customers search for what you sell. SEO keeps working after you stop paying for each click, so the cost per enquiry tends to fall over time. It is less useful if your customers do not search online, or if you need results within weeks.
Do SEO prices include GST?
Agencies usually quote ex GST, and GST in New Zealand is 15 percent. Our prices are all ex GST, so $600 a month becomes $690 including GST.
Can I do SEO myself?
You can do the basics yourself: keep your Google Business Profile complete, ask for reviews and write helpful pages about your services. Link building and technical fixes take time and experience, which is where most owners decide to hand it over.
How long is the contract?
That depends on the agency. Our standalone SEO programme is open term from day one, with a month's notice to stop. The website bundles have a 12-month minimum, then go open term.