SEO agencies in Newcastle: six of them, in their own words and their own prices.

Each entry uses the agency's own description and published pricing where there is any.

They are listed alphabetically after the first, and the order carries no judgement.

The agencies

• spareday works from Wickham.

  Website, Google listing, SEO and the follow up handled as one monthly arrangement. Month to month, no lock-in, every account in the client's name.

• Firewire Digital is in Newcastle.

  Founded 2017. Publishes campaigns from $2,500 a month, no lock-in, with quarterly scope reviews.

• Local Clicks is at Honeysuckle.

  Publishes services from $7 a day and describes itself as the most affordable SEO agency in Newcastle. No long term contracts.

• Ramp Up Digital is in Wallsend.

  Run by Lachlan Rampling. Publishes SEO from $1,999 a month, Google Ads from $899 plus a $399 setup, and websites from $2,500, all excluding GST.

• Sirocco Digital is in Newcastle.

  100% Australian owned and operated. Websites, SEO and local SEO across Google, Bing and Apple maps. No price published.

• Zimple Digital is in Charlestown.

  A search marketing and SEO agency. Notes that SEO is not a fixed rate service, so publishes no price.

Each of the other agencies has its own site, and every description above comes from it: Firewire Digital, Local Clicks, Ramp Up Digital, Sirocco Digital, Zimple Digital.

On what is included each month rather than the monthly figure. Two agencies at the same price often deliver very different work.

The published Newcastle range runs from a few hundred dollars a month to several thousand. The gap is almost always the number of pages written.

What to compare

• Compare the pages written each month.

  The largest single difference between two quotes at the same figure.

• Check whether the Google listing is included.

  It decides the map, and it costs nothing but attention.

• Ask about lock-in.

  Month to month is common locally, so a long term should come with a reason.

• Ask what happens if you leave.

  The pages, the listing and the accounts should stay with the business.

Guarantees about positions, and reporting that counts tasks rather than enquiries. Both are worth questioning.

Nobody controls Google's results, so a promise about a position is a promise about something outside the agency's hands.

Worth a question

• Question any page one guarantee.

  Ask which phrase. Page one for something nobody searches is not a result.

• Be wary of reports listing tasks.

  Work performed is not the same as work that produced enquiries.

• Ask what a very low monthly fee includes.

  Ask what is included. Often it is reporting rather than pages.

• Ask why a twelve month term is needed.

  Reasonable if justified, when month to month is normal here.