Pricing8 November 20265 min read

SEO packages in Dubai: what the tiers really buy

Packages sell keyword counts and page counts, which aren't outcomes. The package lines to question first, and how to compare two of them line by line.

The short answer

An SEO package in Dubai prices a list of countable work, such as keywords, pages and links, while the outcome you want, enquiries from search, appears nowhere in it. Compare two packages line by line: ask what each count means, add the lines they omit, and ask for named people and dated first-90-day steps. Magnetic Keys' SEO starts from AED 12,000 a month, excluding VAT.

An SEO package is a list of work priced as if the list were the result. Keyword counts, page counts and link counts sit in the brochure because they're easy to count, and the thing you want, enquiries from search, appears nowhere in the package. The line items are still the best place to start, because every one of them can be questioned.

What are SEO packages in Dubai really selling?

They sell countable inputs. Here is a made-up package, written as a list of counts.

Keyword research for 20 keywords
Four blog posts a month
Ten backlinks a month
On-page work on 10 pages
Technical SEO audit and site speed optimisation
Monthly ranking report

Every line is a count, and none says who does the work, in which language, to what standard, or what happens if the count is hit and nothing improves. A count is easy to deliver and easy to report, which is why counts are what get sold. What decides whether SEO pays is judgement: which pages deserve to exist, which fixes come first and which terms are winnable. None of that has a number in the brochure.

Eight package lines to question first

Eight lines are worth questioning before any others, and each has a question that shows what's behind it.

Eight common package lines, what each can hide, and the question that exposes it
Package line	What it can hide	What to ask
20 keywords	Keywords picked by search volume rather than by whether your buyers use them, with the Arabic versions missing.	Which 20, chosen how, and how many are Arabic?
4 blog posts a month	Posts written to fill a count instead of answering a search. Google's spam policies treat many pages made mainly to manipulate rankings as scaled content abuse, and the test is purpose and value, not page count.	Who writes them, from what brief, in which language, and who edits?
10 backlinks a month	Links placed because they're cheap to place, on sites nobody in your market reads.	Can I see the list of linking sites before I pay?
Technical audit and site speed	A report with no budget for the fixes, and no target for speed. Google's web.dev gives three: Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.	Who builds the fixes, and which of the three Core Web Vitals will you hit, on which pages?
Monthly ranking report	Positions for the keywords the agency chose, which can rise while enquiries fall.	Can the report show enquiries from organic search, by landing page?
E-E-A-T optimisation	A label with no task behind it. Google says E-E-A-T is not itself a specific ranking factor.	What will change on the page, and what does it do for a reader?
FAQ schema for rich results	A feature Google has limited since August 2023 to well-known government and health websites.	If it won't produce a rich result, what is the markup for?
llms.txt file	A proposed file that Google says Search doesn't use. Nothing we could find shows OpenAI confirming use either.	What does it change in Google, and why is it priced?

The last three lines describe work that's quick to do and that Google's own documentation doesn't present as a ranking lever. If a package charges for them as extras, ask for them to come out.

How do you compare two SEO packages line by line?

01Put both packages in one table with the tasks down the side and the packages across the top, so a missing line shows up as an empty cell.
02Ask what the unit is in every count: what counts as a page, a keyword or a link, in which language, and written or edited by whom.
03Add the lines neither package has but your site needs: Arabic research and writing, fixes built by a developer, local listings if you have branches, and reporting that reaches enquiries.
04Ask for names and hours. The hours arithmetic in the SEO cost guide turns a fee into specialist time, and a package that can't state its hours can't be compared on price.
05Compare the first 90 days as dated steps. A package that says what happens in week two and week six is planning. One that lists what it includes is selling.
06Check the exit: the notice period, who holds the Search Console and analytics access, and what you keep if you leave.

A higher tier usually means bigger counts, not better judgement

Most tier ladders multiply the counts and leave the judgement alone. Say 10 keywords becomes 25 and then 50, and the price climbs with them, while the thing that decides results, a senior person choosing what to work on, doesn't triple.

So read a ladder by asking what changes besides the counts. If the answer is who works on the account, how often they report and how fast fixes ship, the step up may be worth it. If the answer is just more, you're paying for volume you haven't shown you need.

What should come before any package

Diagnosis comes first. If you don't yet know what's wrong with the site, buy the diagnosis before the package. The Growth Audit Sprint is AED 18,000 and is credited in full against any engagement started within 60 days.

Our SEO retainers begin at AED 12,000 a month before VAT, and the scope follows site size, language count and content volume. The first two weeks produce a written 90-day priority list with the effort and impact of each item beside it, and that list, not a count of keywords, is what a retainer should be compared against.

Our timing is the same for every site. Most see movement in 3 to 4 months and competitive terms take 6 to 12, so a package promising page-one rankings in its first month is promising something no agency controls. The post on ranking guarantees covers what such a promise usually means.

Ask your sales team which of last quarter's enquiries came from search. If nobody can say, set up conversion tracking first, because no package can be judged without it.

Questions people ask

01What's included in an SEO package in Dubai?

Usually a list of counts: keywords researched, pages optimised, articles written, links built and a monthly report. Ask for each count's unit, the language, the named person doing it and whether technical fixes and Arabic are included. The outcome you want, enquiries from search, has to be asked for separately.

02How much do SEO packages cost in Dubai?

No single market range is worth quoting, because the price follows site size, languages and content volume. Magnetic Keys' SEO starts from AED 12,000 a month excluding VAT. Compare any package by asking for the hours and people behind its counts, then check what it leaves out.

03Is a monthly SEO package better than a one-off audit?

Buy the audit first if you don't know what's wrong. A one-off diagnosis shows which fixes and content matter, and a monthly package then pays for the ongoing work. Magnetic Keys' Growth Audit Sprint costs AED 18,000 excluding VAT and is credited in full against any engagement that starts within 60 days.

04Can an SEO package guarantee first-page rankings?

No agency controls Google's results, so a guaranteed position is a promise nobody can keep. A fair guarantee covers work and reporting: what will be fixed and published by which date, and what you'll be shown. Most sites see movement in 3 to 4 months and competitive terms take 6 to 12.

05Do SEO packages include Arabic SEO?

Only if the package says so, so ask. Arabic search needs its own keyword research and native writing, so it's extra work rather than a translation step. A bilingual site whose package has no Arabic line is missing half the job.