SEO packages in Adelaide: what’s actually inside them, and what to check.

Short answer: at the entry tier most Adelaide packages include a technical audit, on-page changes to a fixed number of pages, keyword tracking and a monthly report. Google Business Profile management, new content and “AI search” work are the three things most often sold separately or reserved for the higher tiers. Check those three lines first.

What is usually in, at every tier

• A technical audit at the start, and fixes to the obvious faults (indexing, speed, broken links, missing titles).
• On-page optimisation of a set number of pages: titles, headings, copy and internal links.
• Keyword tracking for a set number of searches, usually ten to thirty at the entry tier.
• A monthly report. Quality varies from a Search Console screenshot with notes to an automated dashboard nobody reads.
• Month-to-month terms. Almost every Adelaide provider now says no lock-in; one interstate provider with an Adelaide page has a three-month minimum.

What is often an add-on or a higher tier

Google Business Profile management. This is the single most important lever for a local business, and it is the most commonly separated item. In the packages we reviewed, one provider sells it as a monthly add-on per location at a few hundred dollars, another charges a one-off fee of several hundred dollars plus GST for an optimisation, and two include it only from their middle or top tier. If you are a trade, shop or venue, a package without the profile is missing the main event.

New content. Entry tiers typically include no new pages. Content volumes at the higher tiers are stated as a number of articles per month (four, eight or twelve at one provider) or a word count (one or two thousand words a month at another). Ask whether the content is written about your business and your area, or produced in bulk.

AI search and “GEO”. Three providers in the dataset include it in every plan; one reserves it for the top tier. Treat it with care: nobody can make an AI assistant recommend you. What is real is making your business details clear, consistent and machine-readable, which is ordinary good SEO. Our AI search page says what we do and do not claim.

Links. Some packages include “link building” with a monthly number. Ask where the links come from. Links from the provider’s own network of sites, press-release syndication or paid placements are the kind Google’s spam policies name, and the kind that get sites penalised later.

The price ladder, for context

Across the 14 Adelaide-market agencies with published prices, the entry tier runs from $399 to $2,000 a month with a median of $1,350; the middle tier has a median of $1,800 and the top tier about $2,540. 6 further agencies publish no price at all. Our own plans are Local $349, Growth $599 and Serious $1,099, all month to month. The cost article goes deeper on the numbers.

How to compare two proposals line by line

1. Pages touched per month. A number, not “ongoing optimisation”.
2. Google Business Profile. Included, add-on or excluded. If included, what: categories, services, posts, photos, review replies, Q&A.
3. New content. How much, who writes it, whether you approve it, whether it is about your area.
4. Links. Source and method. “Earned through local directories, partners and genuinely useful content” is a good answer. “Guaranteed 20 links a month” is not.
5. Tracking. Which searches, from which locations, how often, and whether branded searches are separated from the real ones.
6. Reporting. Ask to see a real report from a current client with the name blacked out.
7. Exit. Notice period, and confirmation that everything built stays on your site and your accounts.

What ours include, held to the same checklist

Every plan includes the profile work, because we think a local SEO package without it is not a local SEO package. The pages touched, content and tracking scale up through Local, Growth and Serious, and all three are listed line by line on the pricing page so you can compare them against anyone else’s using the list above. Growth and Serious also include Google Ads spend: 30% of the plan fee (about $180 or about $330 a month) goes into your Google Ads budget. The ad budget is spent in your own Google Ads account, so you own the account and the data. Setting up and running the campaign is included. Don’t want ads? No problem. The same 30% goes into extra SEO work instead: more local content pages and blog posts, more directory listings and backlinks, and more Google Business Profile posts. Same price, no lock-in. Local doesn’t include ad spend.