01 / Define the problem
The same monthly number can describe very different work.
Google lists many activities an SEO may provide, including reviewing site structure and content, giving technical advice, developing content, researching keywords and bringing market or geographic expertise. A local campaign may also include Business Profile work, local landing pages, review-process guidance, business-data consistency and reporting. A quote should identify which of these are actually required.[1]
A single-location business with a sound website and an accurate Profile starts from a different position than a multi-location business with duplicate listings, weak service pages and unresolved technical problems. Industry competition, service breadth, languages, approval processes and the amount of implementation the provider owns all affect effort. Publishing a universal Melbourne price would hide those differences rather than help a buyer compare.
Paying an agency does not buy placement from Google. Google states that advertising does not affect organic Search presence and that it does not accept payment for inclusion or ranking in organic results. The commercial question is therefore whether the proposed work is useful, transparent and proportionate—not whether someone can sell a position.[1]
02 / Choose the delivery model
Separate foundation work from ongoing improvement.
A project and a monthly engagement solve different problems. Neither is automatically better; the deliverables should match the current stage.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide covers enduring foundations such as helping search engines understand content, organising a site logically and creating useful pages. Those foundations can be scoped as a project. Competitive research, new content, local Profile changes and conversion improvement continue as the market and business change, which may justify ongoing work when the planned cadence is explicit.[2]
One-off foundation
Useful when ownership, technical issues, core pages, tracking or Profile configuration need a defined audit and implementation project with a clear handover.
Ongoing programme
Useful when the business needs recurring content, Profile maintenance, testing, reporting and prioritisation across changing demand or several locations.
Advisory support
Useful when an internal team can implement but needs research, quality review, measurement design and a senior decision-maker at agreed intervals.
03 / Inspect the work
A useful proposal names outputs, owners and dependencies.
- 01
Baseline and diagnosis
Document indexation, key pages, Business Profile status, local visibility, conversions, ownership and obvious policy risks before making claims about opportunity.
- State which data sources and date range will be used.
- Separate observations from recommendations and assumptions.
- 02
Technical and on-page implementation
Specify whether the provider only recommends changes or also implements titles, internal links, structured data, redirects, page improvements and technical fixes.
- Name the CMS or developer dependency.
- Define review and approval responsibilities.
- 03
Local assets and content
Identify Profile work, service or location pages, photography inputs, review workflow and business-data correction. Avoid promising bulk suburb pages without distinct value.
- State the number and type of pages or content pieces.
- Explain what original business evidence the client must provide.
- 04
Measurement and communication
Define reporting cadence, business outcomes, access, meeting time and how priorities change when evidence contradicts the original plan.
- Include qualified enquiries or conversions where tracking permits.
- Avoid reducing performance to one ranking screenshot.
04 / Understand effort
These factors can materially expand the scope.
Google’s spam policies identify practices such as doorway abuse, link spam and scaled content abuse. Where a site has inherited risky tactics, responsible work may begin with removal or consolidation rather than producing more pages. A proposal should surface this risk instead of hiding remediation inside a generic monthly package.[5]
- Several genuine business locations, each with distinct Profiles, pages, ownership and local evidence.
- English and Simplified Chinese pages that require genuine localisation, separate metadata and reciprocal language links.
- A difficult CMS, unavailable developer, slow approval process or extensive technical debt.
- Profile suspensions, duplicates, ownership disputes, moves or inconsistent real-world business details.
- A large service range or several different customer intents requiring original subject-matter input.
- Past doorway pages, bought links, automated content or other risky work that must be assessed and unwound.
- Weak analytics, call tracking or enquiry records that make the commercial baseline difficult to establish.
05 / Compare line by line
Look past the fee to the commercial terms.
Put competing proposals into the same structure before deciding which is cheaper or more complete.
Australian Government business guidance recommends recording what work the contract covers, when it will be supplied or completed and how much it costs, then keeping the related paperwork. Before paying a deposit, verify the provider’s legal or trading identity through ABN Lookup and, where relevant, ASIC’s business names register. Registration confirms who the counterparty is; it does not prove SEO quality.[6][8][9]
The ACCC states that service claims should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds. Ask a provider to explain the evidence and assumptions behind performance claims, especially when a proposal uses urgency, guaranteed outcomes or an unverifiable market comparison.[7]
- 01
Deliverables
What will be audited, written, changed, published or configured—and how many times during the stated period?
- 02
Ownership and access
The business should understand who owns the website, domain, Business Profile, analytics, Search Console, content and working files during and after the engagement.
- 03
Dependencies and exclusions
Check whether development, photography, translation, link acquisition, software, ad spend, GST or third-party fees are included, estimated separately or excluded.
- 04
Communication and exit
Confirm the contact person, reporting cadence, approval process, notice period and what is handed over when the work ends.
06 / Protect the decision
Demand realistic measurement and reject guarantees.
Google recommends asking a prospective SEO what results they expect, in what timeframe and how success will be measured. It also says no one can guarantee a number-one ranking and warns against providers that claim a special relationship with Google or will not explain their actions. A proposal should describe uncertainty openly.[1]
Search Console can show queries, impressions, clicks and position for the website, while Business Profile and business systems can add calls, bookings and qualified enquiries where available. Agree on a small set of definitions before work begins. Rankings vary by location and query, so a grid or screenshot should be supporting evidence rather than the commercial goal.[4][3]
- Guaranteed first place, permanent map-pack position or a fixed number of leads.
- A secret method, unnamed link network or refusal to document website changes.
- Bulk suburb pages that only replace the place name and add no real local value.
- The provider retains sole ownership of the Profile, domain, analytics or Search Console.
- Reports show activity and keyword movement but never connect to customer actions or business outcomes.
Author and method
How this buying guide was prepared.
Melb Marketing used Google’s own descriptions of SEO work, provider-selection warnings, local ranking guidance, Search Console reporting and spam policies. We deliberately do not publish invented competitor prices, client outcomes or a universal Melbourne package price.
- Scope before price
- The guide compares types of work and commercial terms because an unscoped number is not a like-for-like benchmark.
- Official limitations
- Google’s own warning against ranking guarantees underpins the risk checklist.
- No hidden benchmark
- No market average, client fee or result is implied where verifiable source data is unavailable.
Primary references
Official guidance behind the checklist.
Use these sources to test a provider’s claims and understand the work being proposed.
- 1. Google Search Central — Do you need an SEO?
- 2. Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide
- 3. Google — Tips to improve local ranking
- 4. Google Search Console — Performance report
- 5. Google Search Essentials — Spam policies
- 6. Australian Government — Types of contracts
- 7. ACCC — False or misleading claims
- 8. Australian Government — ABN Lookup
- 9. ASIC — Business names register