The Signal retainer measures whether the work after an audit is working. Each month the same prompts run again across the AI engines, technical health is watched for regressions, schema and llms.txt are kept current, and search and AI referral traffic are reported against the audit baseline, for $1,200 a month + GST.
Key takeaways
- 01Signal is $1,200 a month + GST for measurement, monitoring, maintenance and reporting, with the same 15 prompts run every month against the audit baseline.
- 02Every month the prompts run on four engines, three times each, so citation rate and share of voice are comparable month to month and with the audit.
- 03Content production and link building are excluded. That exclusion is what makes the price honest.
- 04The audit comes first and is not credited. The initial term is three months, then month to month, and you own every account and asset.
What you receive
- 01Monthly AI visibility run of 15 prompts on four engines, three runs each, logged as structured data
- 02Citation rate and share of voice reported monthly against the audit baseline
- 03Technical health monitoring with regression alerts on crawl, indexation and Core Web Vitals
- 04Search Console and GA4 report including AI referral traffic
- 05Schema and llms.txt maintenance as engines and templates change
- 06Local pack position tracking for your service suburbs
- 0730-minute monthly review call
- Service type
- SEO and AI visibility monitoring retainer
- Area served
- Australia
Who the Signal retainer is for
Signal is for the business that took the audit roadmap, did the work, and now wants an answer to one question: did it work? Most audits end with a report that is never re-measured. The roadmap ships, the developer closes the tickets, and six months later nobody can say whether the citation rate moved or whether a template change quietly broke the schema. Signal closes that loop at a price that reflects what it is: measurement and maintenance, not production. It also fits a business that does its own content and development but has no way to see what the AI engines say about it from month to month.
What happens each month
| Work | What you see |
|---|---|
| The 15 prompts from your audit run again on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, three fresh sessions each | Citation rate per engine and blended, and share of voice, plotted against the audit baseline and every month since |
| A crawl connected to Search Console checks status codes, canonicals, robots, the sitemap, orphans and Core Web Vitals | An alert in the month something regresses, with the fix described so your developer can act on it |
| Structured data and llms.txt are kept current as engines and your templates change | Schema that stays valid after deploys and plugin updates, without a ticket from you |
| Local pack position is checked in every service suburb named in the audit | A per-suburb position table, month on month |
| Search Console and GA4 are reported with AI referral traffic separated from conventional organic | Whether the engines that cite you are sending anyone, in one page |
| A 30-minute review call | The numbers explained and what, if anything, needs doing, with the log and the report delivered as files |
Because the prompt set and the method are held constant, a change in the number is a change in your visibility rather than a change in how it was measured. We run the same measurement on our own site and publish it monthly on the progress page, so you can see what the report looks like before you buy it. The technical SEO guide explains why the crawl layer is watched first.
What you can expect
| Expectation | Signal |
|---|---|
| Before starting | A Standard or Extended audit, which sets the baseline. Its fee is not credited. |
| Initial term | Three months, then month to month |
| Leaving | The end of any month after the initial term, with no cancellation fee |
| Delivered monthly | The AI visibility log, the report, the local pack table, alerts as they happen |
| Calls | 30 minutes, monthly |
| Not included | Content production and link building |
| Third-party fees | Named in the quote; who pays is agreed in writing first |
| Ownership | Search Console, GA4, Google Business Profile, the content, the schema, every log and every report, all in your name |
Add-on blocks
Add-on blocks extend a retainer without changing its tier:
- Content block: four additional pages a month, $1,400 a month + GST.
- Additional location or entity: $450 a month + GST, with a discount from the third onward.
- Digital PR or link campaign: from $2,500 per campaign + GST.
- Migration support: from $3,000 + GST, priced as a project.
If you find yourself attaching a content block to Signal every month, the Growth retainer is usually the better structure. Scale is built for multi-location, ecommerce and multi-service-line sites.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Signal retainer cost?
Signal is $1,200 a month + GST. The price covers the monthly AI visibility run, technical health monitoring with alerts, schema and llms.txt maintenance, local pack tracking, the monthly report and a 30-minute review call. It does not cover writing pages or building links, which is why it sits well below an execution retainer. Third-party platform or API fees are named in the quote, and who pays them is settled in writing before work starts.
What is excluded from the Signal retainer?
Content production and link building. Signal measures and maintains; it does not create. If the monthly report shows a gap that needs new pages or new citation sources, we say so, and you can have it done by your own team, by a content add-on block, or by moving to the Growth retainer, which includes four pages a month and ongoing technical implementation.
Do I need an audit before starting Signal?
Yes. Every retainer starts with either the Standard or the Extended SEO & AI Readiness Audit, because the retainer measures change against the audit baseline and there is nothing to compare against without one. The audit fee is not credited against the retainer. It is a complete deliverable in its own right, with a roadmap you can act on whether or not you continue with us.
What is the minimum term?
Three months, then month to month. Nothing meaningful shows in AI visibility or rankings inside three months, so a shorter term would report noise. After the initial term you can stop at the end of any month. There are no cancellation fees.
Who owns the accounts and the data?
You do. Google Search Console, GA4, Google Business Profile, the content and the schema are all in your name and stay in your name. We work with access you grant and can revoke. The monthly AI visibility log and every report are delivered to you as files, so the history leaves with you if you leave.
Who is the Signal retainer for?
A business that has implemented the audit roadmap, usually with its own developer or content team, and wants to know whether it worked without paying for execution it does not need. It also suits a business that implements in bursts and wants the measurement to continue between them, so a regression or a lost citation is noticed in the month it happens rather than a year later.
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