Ask any Australian digital marketing agency what AI search optimisation costs and you will get the same non-answer: “packages start from” followed by a form asking for your phone number. It is frustrating — and deliberate. Agencies keep pricing opaque because they want to quote based on what they think you can spend.
This article breaks down the actual market range for GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and AI search optimisation in Australia in 2026, explains what drives cost differences between providers, and publishes our own prices in full. If you are comparing options, this is the starting point.
The Three Tiers of AI Search Optimisation
The Australian market for GEO services broadly splits into three tiers. Where you start depends on how much data you already have about your current AI visibility and how urgently you need to close the gap on competitors.
This tier is about understanding where you stand. You can manually query ChatGPT and Perplexity yourself at zero cost, or pay for a structured diagnostic that benchmarks your AI Citation Score against competitors across multiple platforms. The $149 diagnostic from Leap Digital sits here. The output is a report — not an ongoing service.
A one-time engagement covering the structural work: schema markup implementation, entity signal corrections, a content brief aligned to how AI platforms retrieve business information, and a baseline citation audit. This tier suits businesses that have an in-house team capable of executing the content side but need a specialist to set the technical foundation.
Continuous work: monthly citation tracking, content creation designed to increase AI recommendation frequency, schema maintenance as AI platforms update their retrieval logic, and regular ACS reporting. This is the only tier that compounds over time — the structural fixes from Tier 2 degrade without ongoing maintenance as competitors and AI models evolve.
Leap Digital's Pricing — Full Transparency
We publish our prices publicly because we think you should be able to evaluate cost versus value before speaking to anyone. Here is the complete breakdown, with no asterisks redirecting you to a PDF:
| Product | Price | What's Included |
|---|---|---|
| AI Search Diagnostic | $149 one-time | ACS baseline across 4 AI platforms, competitor gap analysis vs your top 3 rivals, priority fix recommendations — delivered in 10 days |
| GEO Accelerator | $1,500/month | Schema + entity signal work, monthly citation tracking, 2 GEO content pieces per month, monthly ACS report |
| GEO + SEO Dual Engine | $4,000/month | Full GEO layer + traditional SEO (technical + keyword strategy), content calendar, 4 GEO content pieces, monthly reporting |
| Professional Plan | $5,500/month | Everything above + weekly calls, 4-hour priority support SLA, custom ACS dashboard, 6 GEO content pieces, up to 6 competitors tracked |
No lock-in contracts. Month-to-month. Cancel anytime.
The $149 diagnostic fee is credited in full against your first month's retainer if you decide to proceed. You are not paying twice.
What Does an AI Search Diagnostic Include?
The $149 diagnostic is built around a metric called the AI Citation Score (ACS) — a 0–36 point measure of how consistently AI platforms recommend your business in relevant queries. The diagnostic measures your ACS across four platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Claude.
Your 10-day report covers three things:
The report is delivered via email with a written debrief. There is no obligation to proceed to a retainer — and if the data shows your AI visibility is already strong, we will say so.
How Do These Prices Compare to Traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO agencies in Australia typically charge between $1,500 and $10,000 per month, with most mid-market SMB retainers landing in the $3,000–$5,000 range. That price buys Google ranking work — keyword research, link building, technical audits, and content aligned to search volume.
GEO sits in a similar price band for ongoing retainers, but the cost-to-first-result timeline is significantly faster. Traditional SEO typically takes three to six months before meaningful ranking movement. GEO shows measurable ACS improvement in four to eight weeks, because you are not waiting for a crawl cycle — you are adjusting the signals that AI retrieval systems check in real time.
The $149 diagnostic also has no direct equivalent in traditional SEO. Most SEO agencies will not tell you where you stand without a discovery call and a proposal process. With GEO, the diagnostic is the starting point — you get data before signing anything.
Important distinction:GEO and SEO address different surfaces. SEO gets you to the top of Google's blue-link results. GEO gets you recommended when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI a question. Both matter — which is why our most popular package combines them.
What Determines the Cost of GEO?
Not all GEO engagements are equal. Four factors drive the difference between a $1,500/month retainer and a $5,500/month retainer:
1. Industry competitiveness
A niche industrial equipment supplier and a Sydney family law firm both want to rank on ChatGPT — but the law firm is competing against dozens of highly optimised practices in the same suburb. Competitive industries require more content volume, more schema depth, and more citation sources to achieve the same ACS improvement.
2. Starting ACS score
A business scoring 1/36 on the ACS baseline requires substantial structural work before citation frequency can improve. A business scoring 15/36 is already being recommended in some contexts — the work is more targeted optimisation rather than ground-up rebuilding. The diagnostic tells you which situation you are in.
3. Content creation requirements
Technical GEO fixes (schema, entity disambiguation, crawler access) are a fixed amount of work. Content creation is not. If your existing content library is thin or misaligned with how AI platforms retrieve answers, creating GEO-optimised content adds to cost. If you have a strong existing content base, the lift is smaller.
4. Local vs national targeting
Ranking on AI platforms for "best physiotherapist in Manly" requires different work than ranking for "best physiotherapist in Australia." National targeting involves broader citation building across more geographic contexts, which increases the content and monitoring workload proportionally.
What's Included vs Not Included
GEO retainers are sometimes sold as catch-all digital marketing packages. Ours are not — we have a clear scope.
Included in GEO retainers
✓Schema markup implementation and maintenance
✓AI citation monitoring across 4 platforms
✓GEO-optimised content creation (volume depends on plan)
✓Quarterly ACS reporting with competitor comparison
✓Entity signal corrections and updates
✓AI-crawler access optimisation
Not included
—Paid advertising (Google Ads, Meta Ads)
—Website redesigns or development work
—Social media management or content
—Email marketing or CRM setup
—Photography or video production
—PR outreach or media placements
Is GEO Worth the Cost?
For high-intent service businesses — health, legal, trades, education — the answer is usually yes, but the maths depends on your average client value.
When someone asks ChatGPT “best physio near Bondi” or “top family lawyers in Melbourne,” they are a high-intent buyer. They are not browsing — they are about to make a decision. A single AI citation in those queries can generate multiple qualified enquiries per month. At $1,500/month for GEO Accelerator, you need one to two new clients to break even. For most service businesses, that is within reach in the first quarter.
The calculus is less clear for low-margin product businesses or sectors where AI platforms are not yet a primary discovery channel. That is exactly why we recommend starting with the $149 diagnostic — it tells you how visible you already are, how large the competitor gap is, and whether the investment is likely to produce ROI in your specific industry and location.
The diagnostic is not a sales tool. If the data shows GEO is not the right priority for your business right now, we will tell you — and recommend what to focus on instead. We would rather give you an honest answer at $149 than sell you a $4,000/month retainer that does not make sense for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there a cheaper option than the $149 diagnostic?
Not from us — and for good reason. The $149 covers actual manual querying across four AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, and Claude), competitor benchmarking, and a written report with prioritised recommendations. Below that price point, you are getting automated scrapers and templated output that misses the nuance of how AI systems actually recommend businesses. The $149 is the floor for a credible baseline.
Q: Do I have to sign a contract?
No. All Leap Digital retainers are month-to-month. There are no lock-in contracts, no penalty clauses, and no minimum commitment periods. If you want to pause or cancel, you notify us before the next billing cycle and that is it.
Q: Can I start with GEO and add SEO later?
Yes, and that is actually a common path. Many clients start on the GEO Accelerator ($1,500/month) while keeping their existing SEO agency. Once they see the AI Citation Score improving and want a unified strategy, they upgrade to the Dual Engine ($4,000/month) and consolidate everything with us.
Q: What if I do not see results after the diagnostic?
The diagnostic delivers data, not results — it tells you where you stand and what to fix. If your ACS score is already strong and the competitor gap is small, we will tell you honestly and you will not feel pressured into a retainer. If the gaps are significant, the report will show exactly which fixes would move the needle fastest.