Where these numbers come from
All prices below are published by Dubai SEO providers, checked on 13 October 2026. They are asking prices from sellers, and several guides are written by agencies explaining their own tiers. The one aggregate figure, a median starting price of AED 2,567, comes from Widget System's own price index of Dubai agencies.
Monthly retainers by tier
| Tier | Hikmah | Digital Perfection | Reach Gulf | Fynx |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local / starter | AED 1,500–3,000 | AED 1,500–3,000 | AED 3,000–5,000 | AED 1,500–3,000 |
| Standard / growth | AED 3,000–7,000 | AED 3,000–8,000 | AED 6,000–12,000 | AED 3,500–6,000 |
| Premium / competitive | AED 7,000–15,000 | AED 8,000–20,000 | AED 12,000–20,000 | AED 7,000–15,000 |
| Enterprise | AED 15,000–35,000+ | AED 20,000–50,000+ | AED 20,000+ | — |
Sources: Hikmah, Digital Perfection, Reach Gulf, Fynx.
By provider type, Trinity's table: freelancer AED 800–3,000, boutique agency AED 1,200–6,000, mid-size agency AED 4,000–12,000, enterprise network AED 10,000–35,000+.
One-off projects
| Project | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Technical audit, under 50 pages | AED 2,500–5,000 | Hikmah |
| Technical audit, 50–500 pages | AED 5,000–12,000 | Hikmah |
| Local SEO set-up (Google Business Profile + citations) | AED 1,500–3,500 | Hikmah |
| Keyword research and content strategy | AED 3,000–8,000 | Hikmah |
| Website migration SEO support | AED 5,000–20,000 | Hikmah |
| Link building campaign, 20 links | AED 4,000–10,000 | Hikmah |
| Hourly consulting | AED 200–800 | Digital Perfection |
What one article or one link costs inside a package
Retainers are hard to compare because each bundles different deliverables. Three Dubai providers publish exact contents, so we divided:
| Package (as published) | Monthly | Contents | Rough per-item cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity Growth, 6-month contract | AED 1,799 | 2 articles + 1 optimised page + monitoring | ~AED 600 per item |
| Widget System Growth | AED 4,500 + VAT | 4 articles + 5 links, 30 keywords | ~AED 500 per article or link |
| Widget System Competitive | AED 7,500 + VAT | 8 articles + 10+ links, 60+ keywords | ~AED 415 per item |
| Hikmah Standard (range) | AED 3,000–7,000 | 4–8 posts + 5–10 links | AED 170–780 per item |
Our arithmetic, splitting the fee evenly across deliverables; monitoring, reporting and technical fixes are folded in, so read it as a comparison tool, not a rate card. The useful question for any quote: how many pieces of content, how many links, and what kind?
Worked example: the 12-month bill
SEO needs months to show results, so compare annual totals:
| Option | Calculation | 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Trinity Growth, 6-month contract | AED 1,199 onboarding + 12 × 1,799 | AED 22,787 |
| Trinity Growth, month-to-month | AED 1,199 + 12 × 2,199 | AED 27,587 |
| Widget System Local SEO | 12 × 2,500 + 5% VAT | AED 31,500 |
| Widget System Growth SEO | 12 × 4,500 + 5% VAT | AED 56,700 |
| Typical SME retainer (Reach Gulf band) | 12 × 5,000–12,000 | AED 60,000–144,000 |
For scale: the AED 4,500 a month of Widget's Growth tier would buy about 450 Google Ads clicks at AED 10, a common UAE price (see Google Ads cost in the UAE). Ads stop when the budget stops; rankings keep bringing visits for a while after work pauses. Most businesses need both, in different proportions.
What nobody tells you
Very cheap SEO can hurt. Markamo warns that packages under about AED 1,500 often amount to a report and spammy links that risk a manual penalty. Ask where links come from.
Head terms take a year. Widget System quotes 9–12 months for competitive head terms and 3–4 months for first movement on long-tail and local searches. A six-month contract that promises "page one for dentist dubai" is overpromising.
Arabic content is a separate budget. Hikmah's basic tier excludes Arabic; Arabic content appears from the premium tier, and the enterprise tier lists Arabic, English and sometimes Hindi or Russian for Dubai's expat markets.
You should own everything. Markamo states that clients own their Search Console, analytics and content and keep it all if they stop. Make that a contract line.
Google Business Profile is the cheapest win. For clinics, restaurants and salons, Maps visibility often matters more than blog posts. Our Google Business Profile guide covers it for free.
Write for AI answers too. Vladimir Chernyshev, GM: "Assistants like ChatGPT quote pages that answer the question in the first lines and link every number. That is how we write this journal, and it costs nothing extra to ask your SEO provider for the same."
Which tier to buy
| Business | Tier | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Single clinic, salon or restaurant | Local SEO | AED 1,500–3,000 |
| Service SME, UAE-wide | Standard | AED 3,000–8,000 |
| E-commerce or multi-location | Premium | AED 7,000–15,000 |
| Property, finance, legal head terms | Competitive | AED 15,000–25,000+ |
What Savage Media charges
| Savage Media | Special offer | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Website | from AED 3,200 | Fast, search-ready site with our own photo and video |
| SMM | from AED 950 | Instagram and TikTok management with our own content |
Plan the site with our website and app cost calculator, and see website cost in Dubai for build prices.
