This is the single most heavily-searched pricing question in South African digital marketing, and the most commonly hidden answer. Most agencies won't publish a number. Here's roughly where the market actually sits.
The real bands
- R3,500 – R15,000/mo: small-business SEO, usually keyword-count-based tiers or a fixed set of monthly tasks
- R8,000 – R45,000/mo: full-service agency retainers, more comprehensive technical and content work
- R60,000+/mo: enterprise and multi-market accounts with dedicated teams
The question that actually matters more than the price
"Is my SEO agency doing anything" is nearly as common a search as the pricing question itself, which tells you the real problem in this industry isn't price, it's opacity. A retainer that costs R12,000/mo and produces documented, implemented fixes beats one at R8,000/mo that produces a monthly report nobody reads and nothing changes.
What separates a real retainer from a report subscription
Ask directly: are fixes implemented by the agency, or just listed for your own developer to action (who may never get to it)? A retainer that only audits and reports is cheaper for a reason, it's not actually doing the work, it's describing work someone else still has to do.
Google Ads, bundled or separate
If ads management is bundled into a retainer, check the ad spend threshold it covers before the percentage fee kicks in. A retainer priced around a low spend ceiling gets expensive fast once your spend grows past it, so ask this before you sign, not after your first invoice surprises you.
The honest bottom line
Pay for the fixes being made, not the audit describing them. That single distinction explains most of the price variation you'll see between quotes that otherwise look similar on paper.
See published SEO retainer pricing, with fixes implemented not just listed →