Last updated: 22 June 2026
SEO for tradies in Australia typically costs between $500 and $3,500 a month. The price depends on how competitive your trade and area are, how many suburbs and services you target, and how much work the provider actually does each month. Most trade businesses running a full local campaign land between $1,000 and $2,000 a month. Here’s what each price tier really buys, and how it stacks up against paying per lead.
Key takeaways
- Tradie SEO in Australia runs roughly $500 to $3,500 a month; most full local campaigns sit around $1,000 to $2,000.
- Price is driven by competition (your trade plus your area), how many suburbs and services you target, and how much content and link work is included.
- Cheap “set and forget” SEO under about $500 a month usually means little ongoing work and slow results.
- Unlike per-lead platforms, SEO is a fixed cost: the leads it produces are exclusive and carry no per-lead fee once you rank.
- Our plans are transparent: Spark $100, Growth $250, and Domination $450 a week, all-inclusive.
“How much does SEO cost” is the right question, but the honest answer is “it depends,” so this guide makes it concrete. Below we break down the real price bands in Australia, what actually moves the price, what you should expect at each tier, and how the cost compares to renting leads from a platform.
What does tradie SEO actually cost in Australia?
There are three broad ways to buy SEO, and the price reflects how much human work goes in. Doing it yourself costs only your time. A freelancer typically runs cheaper but does less. A specialist agency costs more but owns the whole campaign.
| Option | Typical monthly cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| DIY | $0 plus your time | The basics: Google profile, a few reviews, slow progress |
| Freelancer | $500 to $1,200 | Part-time effort, limited content and link work |
| Specialist agency | $1,000 to $3,500 | Full campaign: suburb pages, content, reviews, links, reporting |
Most established tradies who want steady, compounding leads end up in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, because that’s what a genuinely active local campaign costs to run.
What changes the price?
Four things move tradie SEO pricing more than anything else. Competition is the big one: ranking an electrician in metro Melbourne is harder, and so costs more, than ranking a painter in a regional town. The number of suburbs and services you want to rank for adds work. So does how much fresh content gets written each month, and how much off-site link and citation work is included.
If a quote looks unusually cheap, it usually means one of those is missing, most often the ongoing content and links that actually move rankings.
What you get at each price tier
Price tiers map fairly cleanly to how much gets done. Here’s the honest version of what each band buys.
- Under $500/mo: usually a Google profile tidy-up and not much else. Fine as a start, rarely enough to rank in a competitive trade.
- $500 to $1,000/mo: active local SEO, a handful of suburb pages, some content. Good for lower-competition trades and regional areas.
- $1,000 to $2,000/mo: a full campaign with regular content, suburb and service pages, reviews, and link building. This is where most tradies see steady growth.
- $2,000+/mo: aggressive campaigns for competitive metro trades, or multi-location businesses.
SEO cost vs paying per lead
The real comparison isn’t agency vs freelancer, it’s owning your leads vs renting them. A per-lead platform charges every time, shares the lead, and never stops. SEO is a fixed monthly cost, and once you rank the enquiries are exclusive and effectively free. We’ve laid out that math in detail in our look at whether Hipages is worth it, and it’s the same logic behind SEO for tradies.
Over twelve months, a tradie spending $1,000 a month on SEO that produces 15 exclusive enquiries a month is paying far less per booked job than the same spend on shared platform leads, and they own the asset at the end.
What we charge (and why it’s transparent)
We price in plain tiers so you always know what you’re paying: Spark at $100 a week, Growth at $250 a week, and Domination at $450 a week, all-inclusive with no per-page charges. You can see exactly what’s in each on our pricing page. No percentage of anything, no surprise add-ons.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a tradie spend on SEO?
Most tradies running a full local campaign spend $1,000 to $2,000 a month. Lower-competition trades and regional areas can see results from $500 to $1,000. Under $500 a month usually means too little ongoing work to rank in a competitive market.
Is cheap SEO worth it for tradies?
It depends what’s missing. Very cheap SEO often skips the content and link work that actually moves rankings, so you pay for activity rather than results. A modest budget done well beats a cheap package that does nothing.
How long before SEO pays for itself?
Most tradies start seeing steady enquiries within 60 to 90 days, with results compounding from there. Because the leads are exclusive and carry no per-lead fee, the cost per booked job usually drops below platform leads within the first few months.
Is SEO cheaper than Hipages or Airtasker?
Over time, yes, for most tradies. Platforms charge on every lead or job forever and share the lead with competitors. SEO is a fixed cost that produces exclusive leads, so once you rank the cost per booked job is almost always lower.
Related reading
- What Google Ads Really Costs for Tradies
- Is Hipages Worth It for Tradies?
- Is Airtasker Worth It for Tradies? The Real Numbers
Written by Luc Dossis, founder of Dossis Digital. We help Australian trade businesses own their lead flow instead of renting it.
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