The cost of SEO services in New Zealand can range from as little as $1,500 NZD per month up to $10,000+ NZD per month depending on the type of website, competition in the industry, and SEO goals.
For those wanting a once-off foundational website set-up, the cost of setting up the basic SEO framework can cost anywhere from $3,500 – $10,000+ NZD depending on the size and type of website.
Just like anything in the digital marketing space, the cost of SEO in New Zealand can vary dramatically between companies. Not all SEO providers offer an equal service and paying for search engine optimisation isn’t enough to guarantee website growth – far from it in a lot of cases.
Some of the most common questions we get from would-be clients centre around the difference between SEO providers. What they should be looking out for, and how much they realistically need to be investing – with us or any other SEO provider for that matter – to see results.
In this article, we’ll do our best to address some of those questions and provide insights into the factors that affect SEO prices in New Zealand.
Factors that influence the cost of SEO services in NZ
When it comes to the cost of SEO, there’s no magic number. There are a number of important factors that are unique to your business and your goals that will influence how much you need to invest into your search engine optimisations strategy.
Some of the factors that impact the cost of SEO in New Zealand, include:
Like we said, there isn’t a magic number that you need to invest in SEO to see results. There are, however, a range of important factors that are unique to your business that you need to consider. Comparing the price that your business pays to a business in a completely different industry or location is a surefire way to add confusion to SEO prices in NZ.
What is the average cost of SEO in New Zealand?
The average cost of SEO services in New Zealand ranges from as little as $1,500 NZD per month right up to $10,000+ NZD per month.
There is no magic number for SEO costs in NZ – it is a sliding scale of pricing that is contingent on your business, your location, your previous SEO work, and your desired SEO goals. For a once-off basic SEO framework setup for a website for things like meta data, site structure, technical, and limited content, the cost can range from $3,500 – $10,000+ NZD.
It’s important to emphasise that SEO isn’t a ‘one-and-done’ kind of activity. SEO is like going to the gym – it requires constant attention and consistency to achieve and then maintain results. To provide some SEO costs that you can take to market when searching for an SEO provider for your business, here is an idea of what an average business in New Zealand – according to size – can expect to pay each month.
Again, it’s important to emphasise that SEO pricing is unique to the business. As a rule of thumb, in industries where the value of a lead is extremely high – think of customers with a high average lifetime value – the competition for SEO tends to be very high.
Is it cheaper to hire an SEO specialist in-house or work with an agency?
According to the latest data from Seek New Zealand, the average annual salary for an in-house Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) specialist in New Zealand ranges from $75,000 – $95,000 per year as of October 2024.
To compare that to the cost of working with an SEO agency, a small business can expect to pay anywhere from $18,000 – $30,000 to work with an SEO agency. While a large business may pay somewhere between $70,000 – $100,00+ each year to work with an SEO agency or external SEO consultant.
It’s important to remember that when you work with an SEO agency, you typically get to work with a team that offers all aspects of SEO – content, technical, on-site, and off-site. Whereas, when you hire an in-house team, you may need to hire 2-3 SEO experts to cover all of these services.
For small to medium sized businesses – it’s almost always cheaper to work with an external SEO provider than to hire in-house. For large and enterprise level companies, it may start to make more sense to look at hiring internally – but that doesn’t guarantee a better result.
Final thoughts
Investing in SEO for your business shouldn’t be a ‘check box’ activity. If you’ve quoted an amount significantly less than what has been outlined above, then it’s worth understanding what’s included, timeline for results, and how the SEO company intends to benchmark success. SEO should be a value-add to your business that adds value to your bottom line and builds your strength in the market. If your current SEO provider isn’t delivering, then get in touch to find out how we can help with SEO for your business.
