Stop renting traffic.
Start owning your rankings.
Melbourne SEO built for local service businesses. We rank you on Google and AI search, with strategies that compound for years. Not ones that disappear the moment you stop paying.
- Free audit · No commitment · Reply in 4 hrs
20% more sales,
without spending more on ads.
Thanks A Bunch Florist had a beautiful shop in Melbourne but a website that wasn’t pulling its weight. We rebuilt the site, fixed the SEO foundations, and built the kind of online presence that brings customers in the door. The result: 20% year-on-year sales growth, with no increase in advertising spend.
YoY sales growth
Local florist searches
Ad spend increase
Monthly sessions
SEO that isn’t just
a Google rankings report.
Most SEO agencies sell you “SEO” as a vague concept, then bury you in jargon. We don’t. Here’s exactly what’s in every Hayz SEO engagement.
Technical SEO foundation
Site speed, mobile experience, indexing, structured data, schema markup. The boring-but-critical work that lets Google and AI engines actually understand your site.
Local SEO
Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, local citations, review acquisition, suburb-level targeting. The stuff that gets you in the local pack and the map.
Keyword research that ties to revenue
We don’t chase volume. We map keywords to commercial intent. The terms that get you customers, not just visitors. Tied to your actual business goals, not vanity rankings.
On-page optimisation
Titles, meta descriptions, headings, content structure, internal linking. Every page on your site rebuilt to convert humans and rank with engines.
Content creation & authority
Blog posts, service pages, location pages, FAQ content. Written in your voice, structured the way AI engines like to read it. Published on a cadence that signals freshness.
AI search optimisation
Schema markup, FAQPage structured data, clear topical authority, answer-engine-friendly content. So when someone asks ChatGPT for the best business in Melbourne, you’re the answer.
Real, white-hat link building
Links from sites your customers actually trust. No private blog networks. No bulk junk. No “1,000 backlinks for $99” nonsense that gets you penalised.
Monthly reporting in plain English
What we did, what moved, what’s next. No keyword graphs that don’t mean anything. Just the metrics that tie back to your business.
SEO is methodical.
Not magical.
Anyone promising overnight rankings is either lying or about to get you penalised. Here’s the actual process we use, refined over 15 years of work.
Audit and discovery
Full technical audit, keyword opportunity mapping, competitor analysis, Google Business Profile review. You get a written report and a 60-minute walkthrough call.
Strategy and roadmap
The audit turned into a 90-day plan. Which keywords to target, in which order, on which pages. What content needs creating. What technical fixes come first. Approved before we touch anything.
Technical foundation
Fix what’s broken. Page speed, mobile experience, broken links, duplicate content, schema markup, sitemap, robots, indexing. The unglamorous work that makes everything else possible.
Local SEO and trust signals
Google Business Profile optimisation, NAP cleanup across the web, local citation building, review strategy. The signals that prove you’re a real business in a real place.
Content and authority
Published content on the cadence your industry needs. Service pages, location pages, blog posts, FAQ content. Written for humans, structured for engines, optimised for both Google and AI engine citations.
Measure, refine, compound
Every month, a plain-English report. What ranked, what didn’t, what we’re doing about it next. The work compounds. Month 3 looks better than month 1. Month 12 looks dramatically better than month 6.
Search is splitting into three.
We get you found in all of them.
Five years ago, Google was the whole game. Now your customers are also asking ChatGPT, getting AI Overview answers, and jumping between platforms. Hayz SEO is built for all of it.
Google search
Page 1 rankings for the high-intent local searches your customers actually make.
AI Overviews & ChatGPT
Cited as the answer when buyers ask an AI engine for the “best [X] near me.”
Maps & local pack
Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, NAP consistency. The trust signals.
Most Melbourne SEO agencies still optimise for just one of those three. We cover all three from day one.
What most Melbourne SEO agencies do
vs. what we do.
15 years in this game, you see a lot of bad SEO. Here’s the pattern we keep running into, and the pattern we built Hayz to break.
Where the money quietly leaks.
- Promise top 10 rankings, deliver weak ones for keywords nobody searches
- Hide what they’re actually working on every month
- Buy junk backlinks that get your site penalised
- Charge $300/month for templated work nobody reviews
- Disappear after onboarding
- Lock you into 12-month contracts with cancellation fees
- Treat AI search like a fad they’ll deal with later
Where the customers start showing up.
- Measure success in customers and revenue, not rankings
- Weekly Friday updates in plain English, full transparency
- Build authority through real content and legitimate partnerships
- Transparent pricing and scope before any work starts
- Direct access to the team doing the work
- Month-to-month, no lock-ins. If we’re not earning it, you can walk.
- Optimised for Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity from day one
5.0 stars on Google.
Every one of them earned.
Pulled verbatim from our Google reviews. You can read them all on our Google Business Profile.
“I wish I had found Azam & Hayz earlier. They listened to what I wanted, did what they said were going to do & did it in the time frame they committed to. Azam is a very clear communicator & highly responsive. I highly recommend Azam & Hayz for stress free, timely & good value web site development.”
“Hayz did a website for my cleaning business. The team designed a website beyond my expectations. I am very happy with it and I am seeing an increase in customer inquiries through my website.”
“The Hayz team have been looking after our website and related technicalities since our inception. Responsive, friendly and very knowledgeable.”
“I have contacted Azam from Hayz Web Design a few times in the past 3 years. I found him to be professional and very willing to help with my web design and other associated concerns. Based on my experiences I would be happy to recommend.”
SEO that fits your business.
Priced upfront.
Other agencies make you book a call just to find out what they charge. We don’t. Every engagement is month-to-month with no lock-ins.
For single-location local businesses.
- Local SEO + Google Business Profile
- Track up to 20 keywords driving real traffic
- 1 to 2 content pieces per month
- Technical SEO foundation
- Monthly plain-English report
- Month-to-month, no lock-in
For businesses ready to dominate their suburb.
- Everything in Starter
- Track up to 50 keywords driving real traffic
- 3 to 4 content pieces per month
- Link building and authority work
- AI search optimisation (FAQ schema, answer engines)
- Weekly performance check-ins
- Month-to-month, no lock-in
For multi-location or competitive markets.
- Everything in Growth
- Track up to 100 keywords driving real traffic
- 6+ content pieces per month
- Multi-suburb or national keyword strategy
- Advanced technical work (multi-site, e-commerce, migrations)
- Dedicated strategist + weekly calls
- Month-to-month, no lock-in
- Free SEO audit first. We won’t recommend a tier until we’ve seen your site, your competitors, and what realistic outcomes look like for your business.
SEO that knows
your industry.
SEO for a dental practice looks different from SEO for an electrician or a florist. Search intent, competitor sets, ranking factors, and customer behaviour all vary. We’ve worked deeply in these verticals.
Dental SEO
SEO for dental practices across Melbourne, Canberra, and Australia. We know what new patients search for, how they choose a clinic, and what makes Google trust a dental site. Single-chair practices to multi-location groups.
Trades & Electrician SEO
Local trade SEO that gets you found by people who need help today, not next week. We’ve ranked sparkies, plumbers, handymen, and HVAC techs across Melbourne and surrounding suburbs.
Florist & Retail SEO
Local retail and florist SEO built around foot traffic, same-day delivery, and seasonal intent. We know how to rank for “florist near me” and “[suburb] florist” in the right moments.
Don’t see your industry?
We also do SEO for car detailers, dental supply businesses, workshop equipment retailers, and more.
Same SEO discipline.
Sharpened for your suburb.
Hyper-local SEO is a discipline of its own. Different competitors, different search behaviour, different ranking factors in different parts of Melbourne. We’ve built dedicated SEO pages for each suburb we serve.
Stuff
everyone asks about SEO.
Straight answers, no jargon. Anything missing, just ask on the call.
How much does SEO cost in Melbourne?
Melbourne SEO typically runs $1,000 to $5,000 per month depending on your industry, location, and how competitive your space is. At Hayz, SEO starts at $1,500/month and scales based on scope. Be wary of agencies promising results for under $500/month. At that price you’re getting templates, not strategy.
How long does SEO take to work in Melbourne?
Local SEO usually moves the needle in 6 to 12 weeks. National terms take 6 to 12 months. We’ll be honest about timelines after the audit. Google Ads can fill the gap while SEO compounds.
What's the difference between local SEO and national SEO?
Local SEO targets searches with geographic intent (think “dentist in Narre Warren” or “florist near me”). National SEO targets searches without a location qualifier (think “best CRM software”). For most local service businesses, local SEO is what moves the needle. Different keywords, different ranking factors, different competitors.
Will I rank #1 for everything I want?
No, and any agency that promises that is lying. We aim for the rankings that actually drive customers, not vanity terms. A position 3 ranking for a high-intent keyword that brings in customers beats a position 1 ranking for a keyword nobody searches.
What happens if I stop SEO?
The rankings you’ve earned don’t disappear overnight. SEO compounds, so the work you’ve done keeps paying off for months. But the longer you go without ongoing work, the more your rankings drift down as competitors keep moving. SEO is an asset that needs maintenance, not a switch you flip.
How do I know if my SEO is working?
Three things. First, are your target keywords moving up in rankings? Second, is your organic traffic growing? Third, and most important, are you getting more leads, calls, or bookings from organic search? We track all three in your monthly report. Rankings without revenue is just trivia.
Is SEO still worth it now that AI search exists?
Yes, more than ever. Search is fragmenting across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews, but they all rely on the same underlying signals. Good content, real authority, strong local trust. The agencies still doing 2019-era SEO are the ones who’ll lose. We’re not one of them. The SEO we do today is built to make you visible across all of these surfaces, not just Google’s blue links.
What's the difference between SEO and Google Ads?
Google Ads buys you visibility instantly but disappears the moment you stop paying. SEO earns you visibility that compounds over time and keeps working even when you scale back spending. Most local businesses use both. Ads for short-term traffic and SEO for the long-term asset. We do both, and we’ll honestly tell you which is right for your stage.
Can I just do SEO myself?
Yes, in theory. The information is all out there. In practice, most business owners either don’t have 15 hours a week to learn and execute, or they make mistakes that take months to undo. We’re not pushy about it. If you want a list of what to learn and where, we’ll send it. If you’d rather hand it off to someone who’s done this for 15 years, that’s what we’re here for.
What if I've been burned by an SEO agency before?
You’re not alone. The Melbourne SEO market is full of agencies that overpromise and underdeliver. The free audit we offer is partly to give you a benchmark of what good actually looks like, so you can see whether what your previous agency told you holds up. No obligation, no pitch, just an honest look at where your site stands.
Melbourne SEO Services
Hayz is a Melbourne-based SEO agency that’s been ranking local service businesses on Google for over 15 years. Based in Narre Warren and working across Melbourne metro and surrounding suburbs, we specialise in the kind of SEO that actually translates into more customers, more bookings, and more revenue. Not just rankings on a screenshot.
Our SEO work covers technical SEO, local SEO, content authority, and the new front of AI search optimisation. We work with dental practices, electricians, tradies, florists, retailers, and a handful of other industries where we’ve built deep vertical expertise.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is the practice of optimising a business to be found in geographic-specific searches. When someone in Melbourne searches “electrician in Berwick” or “florist near me,” local SEO is what decides whether your business shows up or your competitor does. It’s a different discipline from general SEO. The ranking factors weight differently. Google Business Profile matters more than backlinks. Reviews matter more than meta tags. NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone across the web) matters more than keyword density.
For most Melbourne small businesses, local SEO is where the real customer-acquisition leverage lives. The good news: most of your competitors are doing it badly. The space is winnable.
How long does SEO take to work in Melbourne?
The honest answer is “it depends.” For a local business in a moderately competitive Melbourne suburb, we typically see meaningful ranking improvements within 6 to 12 weeks, and measurable lead growth within 3 to 6 months. National terms take longer, sometimes 12 months or more. Competitive metro Melbourne terms sit in between.
The factor that matters most isn’t time. It’s consistency. SEO that gets dropped after month three never works. SEO that compounds for 18 months almost always works. Our retainers are built around that compounding curve.
How much does SEO cost in Melbourne?
Quality Melbourne SEO typically costs between $1,000 and $5,000 per month, depending on your industry, location, and competitive landscape. Anything under $500/month is almost certainly templated work that won’t move the needle. Anything over $10,000/month should be reserved for businesses in genuinely competitive national markets, not local Melbourne service businesses.
Our SEO retainers start at $1,500/month for single-location local businesses and scale to $4,000/month for multi-location or competitive markets. We give you a fixed scope and a clear deliverable list every month. No surprise invoices.
Why Melbourne SEO is different
Melbourne is a competitive city, but it’s not as cutthroat as the big agencies want you to believe. Most local businesses are competing against 20 to 50 other local businesses, not against the entire internet. The major SEO budgets in Melbourne sit with national brands and major service industries (real estate, legal, finance). For a Melbourne dentist, florist, electrician, or local retailer, the path to page 1 is winnable with the right strategy and consistent execution.
What makes Melbourne SEO different from other Australian cities? The suburb structure matters enormously. Customers think in suburbs (Narre Warren, Berwick, Endeavour Hills, Cranbourne) more than in postcodes or LGAs. Geographic keyword intent runs deep. The businesses that win Melbourne local SEO are the ones that build genuine authority at the suburb level, not just the metro level.
SEO in the age of AI search
Search is changing faster than at any point in the last decade. Google AI Overviews appear above traditional results for an increasing share of queries. ChatGPT and Perplexity are eating into Google’s market share for “best [X] near me” type questions. Apple Intelligence is rolling out across iPhones with built-in AI search. The businesses that will dominate Melbourne local search in 2027 are the ones investing in AI search readiness today.
The good news is the underlying signals haven’t changed as much as the hype suggests. AI engines still trust real authority, real content, real reviews, and real local presence. What’s changed is how that authority gets surfaced. We optimise for schema markup, FAQ structured data, clear topical authority, and the kind of content AI engines preferentially cite. So when someone asks an AI engine for the best business in your category in your suburb, you’re the answer.
SEO for local service businesses in Melbourne
Our deepest SEO expertise sits in local service businesses. Dental practices, electricians and trades, florists and retail, car detailing, dental supply, and HVAC. We’ve built and ranked sites in each of these verticals for years, which means we know what works before we start. Specific keyword patterns, common technical issues, suburb-level competitive dynamics, what kinds of content actually convert in each industry.
If your business is in one of these industries, we’ve likely already learned what works for your specific market.
Ready to rank
where it matters?
A 30-minute call. We’ll look at where your site stands, where the easy wins are, and what realistic SEO outcomes look like for your business. No pitch deck, no pressure. Worst case, you walk away with a few free ideas you can use yourself.
- We reply within 4 business hours · Mon to Fri 9 to 6 AEST
- Or call us, the old-fashioned way · 03 4427 9333
- Free SEO audit · No lock-ins
- Suite 375, Level 2/66 Victor Cres · Narre Warren, VIC