SEO agency or AI? What you can do yourself in 2027
What NZ SEO retainers cost, and which parts of SEO an AI can now do for a small business.
What SEO agencies charge
NZ$1,500 to NZ$4,000 a month for a retainer (Digital Hall of Fame), with packages from about NZ$1,500 a month and blog posts at NZ$200 to NZ$500 or more each (Netbranding).
The SEO work AI can draft
- Service and area pages with the answer in the first sentence.
- Blog posts that answer the questions customers ask you on the phone.
- Page titles and descriptions.
- FAQ sections and the structured data that goes with them.
- Google Business Profile posts and review replies.
Many agencies already write this with AI: in a Databox and Jasper survey of 255 agencies, about 88% said they use generative AI for written content.
The SEO work worth paying a specialist for
- Moving or rebuilding a website without losing rankings.
- Fixing technical problems: slow pages, indexing errors, broken redirects.
- Winning very competitive national searches.
Pay for these as one-off projects, not a monthly retainer.
A monthly SEO routine you can run with AI
- Pick one customer question a week and publish a page that answers it.
- Ask every happy customer for a Google review.
- Check what ChatGPT and Google say about your business each month. See how to get recommended by ChatGPT.
JENA’s Content Writer drafts the pages and posts for your approval, from NZ$29 a month, GST included. Full disclosure: NOVA makes JENA.
Start with the overview: marketing agency or AI? What NZ businesses pay in 2027.
Questions
How much does SEO cost in NZ?
SEO retainers commonly run NZ$1,500 to NZ$4,000 a month, with blog posts at NZ$200 to NZ$500 or more each.
Can AI do SEO for a small business?
AI can draft the pages, posts, titles and FAQs that local SEO depends on. Technical fixes and site migrations are still worth paying a specialist for.
What matters most for local SEO?
A complete Google Business Profile, real reviews, consistent business details and pages that answer customer questions plainly.
Give the busywork to an AI team.
Pick a role, connect your apps and approve the first job. Free for 7 days, no card.