AI-search pricing is inconsistent because agencies are bundling very different services under one new label. One quote may be a crawler check and report; another may include technical fixes, content, reputation work, outreach and monthly measurement.
Compare inputs and outputs, not package names. A cheap report that produces no implementable work is expensive. A larger retainer without a baseline or change log is worse.
One-off audits
A small-business audit should include prompt research, competitor sampling, citation evidence, technical access, entity consistency, content gaps and a prioritised action plan. Taprave’s published one-off audit price is £450 plus VAT.
Ask how many prompts and platforms are tested, whether screenshots and cited URLs are supplied, and whether the provider distinguishes branded from non-branded discovery.
Foundation retainers
Lower-cost monthly plans normally cover monitoring, structured data, key-page improvements and business-information consistency. Taprave’s Index plan starts at £295 per month plus VAT.
This level suits a company with a functional website that needs measurement and focused corrections. It is not enough for a site requiring a rebuild or a competitive market needing sustained content and PR.
Content and authority retainers
Mid-range and higher plans add commercial answer pages, competitor analysis, review programmes, digital PR and more frequent strategy. Taprave currently publishes Cite at £550 and Dominate at £950 per month plus VAT.
Those prices are Taprave’s offer, not an industry benchmark. Compare the actual work, senior involvement, evidence standards and notice terms between providers.
Costs that may sit outside the retainer
Website development, photography, specialist research, paid distribution, directory membership and substantial technical remediation may be separate. Ask whether outreach placement fees are included and whether the provider marks sponsored coverage honestly.
If the current site cannot support strong service and evidence pages, spending indefinitely on monitoring is the wrong order. Fix the asset first.
Red flags
Walk away from guaranteed ChatGPT rankings, permanent citation promises, secret schema, fabricated case studies and dashboards that cannot show the prompts or sources behind a score.
A provider should explain which outcomes it controls: research, implementation, publishing, outreach and reporting. It does not control another company’s generated answer.
The takeaway
Buy a defined process, not the phrase ‘AI SEO’. For most small UK businesses, start with a real audit, fix foundations, then fund recurring content and authority work only where the baseline shows commercial opportunity.
Questions people ask
It can identify and prioritise gaps. Ongoing work is needed when the findings include content production, reputation, outreach and repeated measurement.
The scope may range from simple monitoring to technical implementation, content, digital PR and multi-market tracking. Compare deliverables line by line.
It should at least coordinate with technical and content SEO. Running contradictory strategies wastes budget and can create duplicate pages.
Performance models are possible, but citation variability and attribution need precise definitions. Never accept a fee tied to screenshots the provider can selectively choose.
Taprave’s published AI-search plans are rolling monthly from the start with 14 days’ notice. Confirm the current written terms before purchase.