Why quotes vary so much
Ask five Dubai agencies for an SEO quote and you'll get five numbers that don't seem to describe the same service. Some of that is margin. Most of it is scope: how many pages get written, who writes them, in how many languages, and whether anyone is earning links or just sending a report. The figures below come from proposals clients have shown us, not from our own price list, which is on our pricing page.
Around AED 5,000 a month
At this level you're usually buying a local or narrow campaign. Expect technical fixes on a small site, a cleaned-up Google Business Profile, a few blog posts a month and basic rank tracking. It can work well for a single clinic, a restaurant with two branches or a service business in one emirate.
What you usually won't get: content in two languages, much link building, or a senior person on your account every week. Be wary of anyone promising national rankings at this price.
Around AED 15,000 a month
This is where most mid-sized UAE businesses land. A typical scope covers regular technical work, eight or more content pieces a month in English and Arabic, some digital PR or outreach, and a strategist who knows your account well. Work on AI answers, such as checking that ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews describe your brand correctly, often starts here too.
For an online store with a few thousand products, or a developer with several projects on sale, this is often the minimum to keep pace with competitors who are also investing.
Around AED 40,000 a month
Here you're paying for scale and seniority: several markets across the GCC, content in more than one language, an ongoing PR programme, developer time for technical changes, and reporting that goes to a board. It suits regional brands, and groups with an in-house team that needs support rather than a fully outsourced service.
Questions to ask any agency
- How many pieces of content will you publish each month, and who writes the Arabic?
- What will you do in the first 90 days, and in what order?
- Who will I speak to each month, and how senior are they?
- What happens if we want to stop? Is there a notice period or a lock-in?
A good proposal answers all four before you have to ask.
- SEO
- Pricing
- UAE
Yousef Al Amiri
Yousef founded AdAscend in 2019 after ten years in-house at retail and property brands in the region.
