# Monthly SEO services for Google and AI answers

> An SEO and GEO retainer is monthly work to rank in Google and get cited in AI answers (GEO), done against a written plan. We fix technical issues, publish or rewrite 2 to 8 pages a month and report rankings, Search Console data and citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Retainers cost $3,000 to $8,000 a month, with a 6-month minimum.

- Page: https://methodcrew.com/services/seo-geo-retainers
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Publisher: [The Method Crew](https://methodcrew.com/)
- Service: SEO and GEO retainers
- Category: Care and retainers

Each month starts with a written plan and ends with a report: what we fixed, what we published, where you rank on Google and which AI answers cite you.

## Key facts

- Price: $3,000 to $8,000 per month. Set by pages per month, markets or product lines covered and how much technical repair the site needs. 6-month minimum.
- Timeline: Monthly, with a 6-month minimum term
- Typical tools: Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics 4, Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Looker Studio, PageSpeed Insights, Schema Markup Validator, IndexNow
- Change requests: $175 an hour, quoted in writing first
- Model and tool usage: billed to your own accounts at cost, no markup
- Ownership: code, workflows, prompts, accounts and data belong to you

## Who it is for

- B2B companies with 10 to 500 staff whose buyers research on Google and in AI assistants before they get in touch
- Teams that have an SEO or GEO audit and need someone to work through it
- Marketing leads who need a monthly report a CFO can read in 5 minutes
- Companies keeping their current site on WordPress, Webflow or Next.js and growing it page by page

## Signals you need it

- **The audit is finished and the fixes are not.** A list of 80 issues sits in a spreadsheet. Nobody owns it, and the site keeps changing underneath it.
- **AI answers name your competitors.** Ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for providers in your category and you are missing, or described with last year's offer.
- **Reports show traffic and nothing else.** You get charts of sessions and keyword counts every month, but nobody can say which leads came from search.
- **Pages go live without a plan.** Content is published when someone has time, on topics picked in a meeting, with no target query and no review date.

## What we hand over

- **Monthly work plan.** Written before each month starts: pages to publish or rewrite, technical fixes and entity tasks, each with the query or AI prompt it targets.
- **Published pages and rewrites.** 2 to 8 pages a month, written answer-first with named sources, a visible updated date and schema that matches the page text.
- **Technical health log.** A monthly Screaming Frog crawl plus Search Console indexing and Core Web Vitals checks. Each issue is fixed or ticketed with an owner.
- **AI visibility panel.** A fixed set of 30 to 50 buyer prompts run every month in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Claude and Copilot, logging mentions, citations and the URLs cited.
- **Monthly search report.** Leads from search, Search Console clicks and AI feature impressions, Bing AI citations, AI referral sessions, rankings for tracked queries and next month's plan.
- **Quarterly review.** A 60-minute session to compare results with targets, reset the plan and drop work that is not paying back.

## How the engagement runs

1. **Map** (Weeks 1 to 2): We review your existing audit or run a short one, research the queries and AI prompts your buyers use and record a baseline: rankings, Search Console data, AI panel results and leads from search.
2. **Prove** (Weeks 3 to 4): We fix the highest-impact technical issues, rewrite 2 pages that already sit on page 2 and set up tracking in Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and GA4. Baseline and targets go into the first report.
3. **Build** (Months 2 to 6): Monthly cycles. The plan goes out in the first week, pages and fixes ship through the month and the report lands within 5 working days of month end. Targets are reset each quarter.
4. **Run** (Month 7 onward): The retainer continues month to month, steps down to a smaller scope, or hands over to your team with the playbook, templates and dashboards we built.

Every engagement follows [The Method](https://methodcrew.com/approach): Map, Prove, Build, Run.

## What do monthly SEO services include?

A retainer is a working month with a fixed shape. In the first week we send the plan. Through weeks 2 and 3 we fix, write and publish. In week 4 we measure, and the report reaches you within 5 working days of month end.

The work splits 4 ways:

- Technical upkeep. Crawl errors, broken internal links, redirect chains, slow templates, indexing problems and schema that has drifted from the page text.
- Pages. New pages for questions your buyers ask, and rewrites of pages that rank on page 2 or collect impressions without clicks. Each one opens with a direct answer, cites its sources and shows when it was last updated.
- Entity work. The same company name, description and founders on your site, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile and directories. Our [entity SEO](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/entity-seo) entry explains why that matters.
- Measurement. Rankings, Search Console, the AI visibility panel and, most of all, leads.

GEO, short for generative engine optimization, means getting cited in AI answers such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Most of it is the same work done well. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode have no additional requirements beyond a page being indexed and eligible to show a snippet ([Google's AI features guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features)). What changes is the writing: answer-first sections, specific numbers and named sources an AI answer can lift.

If you have never had an audit, start with a one-off [SEO and GEO project](https://methodcrew.com/services/seo-and-geo). The retainer then works through its findings.

## How much does a monthly SEO retainer cost?

Our retainers cost $3,000 to $8,000 a month. For market context, an [Ahrefs survey of 439 SEO providers](https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-pricing/) (updated August 2024) found that agencies charged an average of $3,209 a month, and that the most common retainer band across all providers was $501 to $1,000.

Most of our fee pays for writing. A researched, sourced page with a review from your subject expert takes us 6 to 10 hours from brief to publish. Monthly reports and technical checks take far less.

| Monthly fee | Pages a month | Typical scope |
|---|---|---|
| $3,000 | 2 to 3 | Technical upkeep, a 30-prompt AI panel and the monthly report |
| $5,000 | 4 to 5 | Adds entity and citation work, a 50-prompt panel and the quarterly review |
| $8,000 | 6 to 8 | Adds a second market or product line and 1 original data piece a quarter |

What moves a retainer within that band:

- How much technical repair the site needs before new pages can rank.
- Whether we publish straight into your CMS or hand drafts to your team.
- The number of markets, languages and product lines covered.
- How many subject experts we need to interview each month.

Not included at any level: paid search or social ads, social media management, bought links and general digital marketing, which we do not sell. If the site itself is the problem, a rebuild is quoted separately as a [web design and development](https://methodcrew.com/services/web-design-development) project.

## What should a monthly SEO report include?

Enough for a CFO to answer 2 questions in 5 minutes: is search producing leads, and what did the fee pay for. Ours has 6 parts:

1. Leads and pipeline from organic search and AI referrals, taken from your CRM.
2. Search Console clicks, impressions and average position for tracked queries, by page.
3. AI feature impressions from Search Console's generative AI performance report, which covers AI Overviews and AI Mode and reached all sites on August 31, 2026 ([Google's announcement](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports)).
4. Citations in Copilot and Bing AI summaries from the [Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance dashboard](https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/march-2026/the-ai-performance-dashboard-your-view-into-where-your-brand-appears-across-the-ai-web), with the grounding queries behind them.
5. Results from the AI visibility panel.
6. Work shipped, with dates and links, and next month's plan.

Tracking how often ChatGPT mentions you is possible, with limits. No engine gives a complete count of brand mentions, Bing's figures are a sample, and answers vary from one run to the next. So we run a fixed panel of buyer prompts 3 times in each engine every month and report a mention rate and the URLs cited, alongside referral sessions from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com in GA4. The trend over several months tells you more than any single run. Our [AI visibility](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/ai-visibility) entry covers the method in more detail.

What we leave out: third-party authority scores treated as goals, keyword counts with no traffic behind them and ranking screenshots taken from one location.

## How long does SEO take to work, and how long should a contract last?

Plan on 6 months before judging a retainer. Technical fixes can show in Search Console within weeks, once Google recrawls the affected pages. Rewrites of pages already sitting on page 2 usually move sooner than new pages. New pages for competitive B2B queries take longest, often several months on a newer domain. AI citations depend on the same index, because Google's AI features only draw on pages it has indexed and can show as a snippet.

That is why our minimum term is 6 months, then month to month with 30 days' notice. A shorter contract mostly buys setup. A longer lock-in protects the agency more than it protects you.

Google's own advice is blunt: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" ([Do you need an SEO?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo)). We commit to work shipped and to leading indicators we can both see, and we report plainly when a target misses.

| | SEO or GEO project | Monthly retainer |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | An audit or a fixed sprint with an end date | Ongoing work against a monthly plan |
| Price | $3,500 to $15,000, once | $3,000 to $8,000 a month |
| What you get | Findings, a ranked fix list or a set of rewritten pages | Pages published, fixes shipped and a monthly report |
| Best when | Your team can do the work and needs direction | You need the work done and measured |

For how AI answers choose their sources, read our guide to [getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews](https://methodcrew.com/insights/get-cited-by-chatgpt-perplexity-ai-overviews).

## When is a retainer the wrong choice?

When the monthly work would not move anything. That happens in 4 cases.

The site needs rebuilding. If templates are slow, URLs are a mess or the CMS fights every edit, a retainer spends months patching. Rebuild first, then retain.

Nobody on your side can approve content. Every page needs a subject expert's review before it goes live. If drafts wait 6 weeks for sign-off, you pay for work that never ships. Name an approver before you sign.

You already employ a strong writer who knows search. Buy the audit and a quarterly technical check, and keep the writing in-house. It costs less and the knowledge stays with you.

Your buyers do not search. Some deals come only through referrals and long relationships, and search work will not change that. We will tell you so on the first call.

We also do not guarantee rankings or AI citations, and we do not buy links. Buying links that pass ranking credit breaks Google's spam policies and puts the whole domain at risk. If a proposal from anyone promises page 1 within 30 days, ask exactly how they plan to get there and what happens to the site afterward.

## What changes for your team

- A written plan before each month and a report after it, with every change dated
- Search Console errors fixed or ticketed with a named owner
- Pages that answer your buyers' real questions, published on a schedule with sources and visible dates
- A month-by-month record of which AI answers mention or cite you, by prompt and by engine
- Leads from organic search and AI referrals counted in your CRM, separate from traffic

## Tools we work with

Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics 4, Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Looker Studio, PageSpeed Insights, Schema Markup Validator, IndexNow

## What it costs

$3,000 to $8,000 per month. Set by pages per month, markets or product lines covered and how much technical repair the site needs. 6-month minimum.

- Change requests: $175 an hour, quoted before work starts
- Model and tool usage: billed at cost, no markup

All 20 price bands: https://methodcrew.com/pricing

## Related blueprints

- [AI search content engine](https://methodcrew.com/blueprints/ai-search-content-engine): built in 6 to 8 weeks, $12,000 to $25,000 per project.

## Common questions

### Do you guarantee rankings or AI citations?

No. Nobody controls how Google ranks pages or which sources an AI answer cites, and Google itself warns against anyone who guarantees first place. We commit to the work: the pages, fixes and reports in each monthly plan, delivered on dates you can check. We also set targets for leading indicators such as impressions and AI panel mentions, and report plainly when they miss.

### Who writes the content, and do you use AI to write it?

Our writers and editors do, and a subject expert from your team reviews every page before it goes live. We use AI models for research, outlines and first drafts of some sections, then rewrite and fact-check by hand. Every claim gets a source or comes from your expert. Google's spam policies target content made mainly to manipulate rankings, whatever produced it, and we write to a higher bar than that.

### Do you build links?

We earn mentions and links through original data from your business, partner and integration pages, accurate directory listings and expert commentary for trade publications in your field. We never buy links. Links bought to pass ranking credit break Google's spam policies and can get a site demoted. On the $8,000 scope, the work includes 1 original data piece each quarter.

### Can we change the scope from month to month?

Within the band, yes. You can move between the $3,000, $5,000 and $8,000 scopes with 30 days' notice, for example stepping up before a product launch and back down after it. The 6-month minimum counts from the start of the retainer, whichever scope you are on. Unused page slots do not roll over, because each month's plan is built around them.

### What happens to the work if we stop?

You keep all of it. Pages live on your site, dashboards and Search Console properties sit on your accounts, and the AI visibility panel's prompts and history are exported to you. In the final month we hand over a playbook covering templates, the content calendar and the checks we run, so an in-house marketer or another agency can carry on without starting again.

### Can you work alongside our marketing team or agency?

Yes. Your team keeps brand, campaigns and social; we take technical SEO, the search pages and the reporting. We agree in writing who owns which pages and target queries, so nobody publishes 2 pages competing for the same search. If another agency already runs your SEO well, a one-off GEO audit is probably the better buy, and we will say so.

## Related services

- [SEO and GEO](https://methodcrew.com/services/seo-and-geo): Technical SEO plus pages written to be quoted by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews. $3,500 to $15,000 per project.
- [Answer engine optimization (AEO)](https://methodcrew.com/services/answer-engine-optimization): 10 to 25 pages rewritten so AI answers can quote them, tracked on 30 to 50 buyer prompts. $6,000 to $15,000 per project.
- [Content operations](https://methodcrew.com/services/content-operations): A pipeline from keyword to CMS draft, with an editor approving every piece. $8,000 to $25,000 per project.

## Further reading

### Guides

- [How to get your company cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews](https://methodcrew.com/insights/get-cited-by-chatgpt-perplexity-ai-overviews)
- [GEO vs AEO vs SEO: what is actually different](https://methodcrew.com/insights/geo-vs-aeo-vs-seo)

### Terms explained

- [AI visibility (share of voice in AI answers)](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/ai-visibility): AI visibility measures how often AI assistants mention or cite your business when answering the questions your buyers ask, compared with competitors over the same set of prompts.
- [Entity SEO](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/entity-seo): Entity SEO is making sure search engines and AI systems recognize your business as one distinct thing, with consistent facts about what it is, does and connects to.
- [Generative engine optimization (GEO)](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/generative-engine-optimization): Generative engine optimization is the work of making your pages likely to be retrieved, quoted and cited in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
- [Google AI Overviews and AI Mode](https://methodcrew.com/glossary/ai-overviews): AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries shown at the top of some Google results with links to sources; AI Mode is a conversational search view built on the same systems.

## Next step

Request a 30-minute scoping call: https://methodcrew.com/contact. Or email contact@methodcrew.com.