SEO & AI Search Optimization Pricing
South African SEO retainers typically run somewhere between R1,500 and R50,000 a month depending on scope. Knock Twice packages start at R6,500 a month, and every one of them includes AI Search Optimization alongside SEO from the first tier up.
What scales as you move up is the depth of that AI-specific work, not whether it’s included at all. Google Ads runs as a completely separate service with its own fee, priced apart from any SEO package, covered further down this page.
What Affects SEO Pricing in South Africa
A handful of things move the price up or down: how competitive your industry’s keywords are, how many locations or service areas you’re targeting, how much technical work your existing site needs before content work can even start, and how much depth the AI Search Optimization side needs — more platforms tracked, more competitive prompts, more third-party presence-building.
A single-location service business in a low-competition category costs meaningfully less to rank than a multi-city ecommerce brand competing against national players. That range is why a flat, one-size price never tells the full story, and why the audit comes first.
Every relationship starts the same way, whichever package looks like the right fit on paper: with an SEO audit. That tells us what your site actually needs and which package matches it — rather than asking you to guess upfront or selling you a tier you don’t need yet.
Four tiers. Two disciplines. One retainer.
Built for businesses that need to show up well in search — whether that’s one specific location and service area, or a smaller site getting its SEO foundation right for the first time.
- Technical SEO fundamentals
- Google Business Profile management where relevant
- Local citation building
- On-page optimisation around a focused keyword set
- Core entity & structured-data setup
- Visibility check across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews
- 4 content pieces per month
Everything in Starter, at greater depth on both sides — broader keyword coverage for SEO, and a fuller AI Search Optimization build-out.
- Broader keyword coverage
- Fuller AI Search Optimization build-out
- More third-party presence work
- Recurring visibility tracking on wider platform set
- Copilot added alongside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews
- 8 content pieces per month
The full depth of both disciplines — broader keyword coverage, more competitive terms, more locations or content volume, AI Search Optimization tracked and maintained at scale.
- Widest platform coverage
- Most active third-party presence-building
- Closest ongoing monitoring
- Broader keyword & location coverage
- 12 content pieces per month
- Google Ads available on top (priced separately)
Multiple markets, unusually high competition, large-scale content operations, or several brands under one strategy.
- Pricing built around specific scope
- Content volume matched to need
- No forced fixed tier
- Multi-brand or multi-market support
Why AI Search Optimization Isn’t Sold as a Bolt-On
Google Ads is genuinely separate from SEO. Different channel, different mechanics, no reason to force them together. AI Search Optimization works differently, and selling it as an optional add-on would misrepresent how the work actually functions.
The technical structure, the content, and the entity signals that get a page ranking well organically are largely the same signals that get a brand cited inside an AI-generated answer. Try to buy one without the other and you end up paying twice for overlapping work.
That’s also the reason this agency is named Knock Twice. Someone asks an AI a question, gets a recommendation, then checks it on Google before acting — most people, most of the time. Win only one half of that loop and you still lose the customer at the other half.
- How many platforms get tracked
- How much third-party presence-building happens each month
- How competitive the keywords and prompts being targeted are
Every package, including the entry-level one, includes both SEO and AI Search Optimization together.
Google Ads Pricing
Google Ads sits outside any SEO package. It’s priced and run entirely on its own, whether or not you’re also on an SEO retainer with us.
Our fee for building, running, and optimising campaigns. Layered on top of ad spend, quoted per project based on scope.
Goes directly to Google, not to us. As a starting point, most businesses see meaningful movement from around R5,000 a month. More competitive categories generally need a higher spend to compete effectively.
Why Cheap SEO Costs More Long-Term
A retainer priced well below what its scope of work requires is usually cutting corners somewhere — and it’s worth knowing where before signing anything.
- Reporting vague enough to hide a lack of real progress
- A technical audit that was never run in the first place
- Content built around keyword-stuffed pages instead of genuine usefulness
- Link-building leaning on link farms or offshore content mills
A package that’s simply narrower in scope, priced fairly for what it covers, is a different thing entirely. Our own Starter tier is scoped tightly around local and foundational SEO rather than everything at once, and priced to match that scope — not to cut corners within a bigger one.
Common questions
How much does SEO cost in South Africa?
SEO retainers in South Africa generally range from R1,500 to R50,000 a month depending on scope. Knock Twice packages start at R6,500 a month, with AI Search Optimization included alongside SEO at every tier. Moving to R10,000 or R15,000 a month buys greater depth on both, not AI Search Optimization for the first time. Hourly consulting runs roughly R500 to R1,560 an hour. The exact fit depends on competition level and how many locations are being targeted — which is exactly what the initial audit is for.
Does AI Search Optimization cost extra?
No. It’s included in every package, including Starter, rather than sold as a separate line item. What scales as you move up a tier is the depth of it: platform coverage, third-party presence-building, and how competitive the keywords and prompts being targeted are.
Is Google Ads included in any of the packages?
No. Google Ads is priced and managed entirely separately from SEO and AI Search Optimization, whether you’re on a package with us or not.
Is there a contract lock-in?
No. Packages run month to month rather than locking you into a long-term contract.
Not sure which package fits?
Start with an SEO audit and we’ll tell you. We’ll check your site and your AI visibility, then match you to the tier that actually fits — not the one that costs most.
Get your free SEO + AI visibility audit →No commitment. Full diagnostic on both halves of your search presence.