Web Design Agencies in Wellington
Web design engagements build or rebuild the pages a business uses to explain an offer and collect an enquiry. When SEO is part of the same engagement, templates also need indexable copy, sensible internal links and a structure that can be crawled. Agencies here publish web design or website design. Compare what is delivered at launch and who owns the templates afterwards.
This page compares 6 agencies with a Wellington location.
Grow My Business
Grow My Business is a family-run website agency based at Level 2, 182 Vivian Street in Te Aro, central Wellington. It began in 2015 when founder Iona Elwood-Smith started her own business consultancy after more than 20 years of growing businesses, and the team has since grown into its own office while making a point of employing locally and upskilling young people. The agency designs and builds custom WordPress websites with speed, usability and search visibility built in, and also rescues broken or underperforming sites so they load faster and convert better. Its SEO service starts with SEO Foundations, a one-off package from $3,000 plus GST that makes a site technically sound, optimises it for the keywords that bring in money, prepares it for AI search and ends with a prioritised 12-month plan. Ongoing monthly retainers start from $499 plus GST and cover new content, optimising existing pages, reviews, Google Business Profile work and links. It also offers AI search optimisation so businesses can be quoted by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, plus care plans, managed hosting, ecommerce, accessibility and membership websites. It has dedicated services for associations, property managers, real estate and plumbers, and its clients include Wellington City Mission.
MOGGED
MOGGED is a small, New Zealand owned web design and SEO studio based at 262 Thorndon Quay in Thorndon, Wellington. It builds websites, runs SEO and manages ads for small businesses that have no marketing department, and keeps all design, writing and code in New Zealand rather than sending work offshore. About a third of its clients are outside the capital and are served by phone, video and screen-share, and the studio says it has worked with more than 100 New Zealand businesses. Its local SEO plan is a fixed monthly fee, month to month after the first three months, covering Google Business Profile setup and optimisation, local landing pages and on-site fixes, reviews and citations, readiness for AI search and a one-page monthly report. A Growth SEO plan for multi-location, national and online stores adds a content programme of guides and service pages, authority and link building, conversion and call tracking and a monthly strategy call. Technical work covers speed, structure, page titles, schema markup and internal links. The team also offers combined website and SEO builds, with a free homepage preview before any payment. Clients include Pulse Health, Frosty Boy, Koru Kids Early Learning Centre, Matthew Palmer Construction and Kickflip Pizza.
Nexaii
Nexaii is a Wellington-based digital marketing agency founded by Trent Pinet that works with trade and service businesses across the Wellington region, including Wellington CBD, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua and the Kapiti Coast. Its clients include plumbers, electricians, builders, landscapers, cleaners and professional service firms, and the agency is deliberately small, so clients deal directly with the founder rather than an account manager. Its SEO service follows a four-stage monthly process. It starts with keyword research into the high-intent local searches customers use, mapped to the services and suburbs that matter most, then moves to on-page and technical work on page titles, headings, internal links, site speed and mobile performance. Google Business Profile and map pack optimisation covers categories, service areas, photos, posts, citation cleanup and a review strategy, and the service also includes link building plus a plain-English monthly report and call. SEO is priced at a published $950 a month with no lock-in contracts. Alongside SEO, Nexaii runs Google Ads campaigns with conversion tracking, builds fast mobile-first websites, and offers AI automation such as database reactivation campaigns, AI voice agents for calls and automated follow-up sequences. New clients start with a free digital audit.
SimplySEO
SimplySEO is a Wellington SEO and Google Ads agency run by managing director Jackson Ertel, who has worked in Google Ads and website optimisation since 2003. The business began when former clients asked Jackson to keep looking after their marketing, and it still works on the same principles of honest advice, transparent pricing and recommendations without jargon. The team does not outsource work overseas or rely on automated SEO audits, preferring to review each client's online presence directly and give best-practice recommendations. Its SEO work is packaged as a Basic SEO Audit covering 5 to 10 pages from $999 plus GST, a Large SEO Audit for sites of 10 or more pages from $1,999 plus GST with keyword mapping and content recommendations, and a Full SEO Package, priced after investigation, that adds link analysis and link generation for competitive industries. Alongside search, SimplySEO manages Google Ads campaigns and Google Ad Grants, and builds and hosts websites, with a senior web developer handling site builds. It also provides white-label SEO and Google Ads services to marketing agencies around New Zealand, covering SEO audits, keyword and ranking investigation, Google Business Profile optimisation and white-labelled reporting. New clients start with a free discovery call.
SlateSEO
SlateSEO is a Wellington-based studio focused on local SEO and conversion-ready websites for trades and service businesses across Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua, including plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers and painters. Its aim is to win local search in both Google Maps and organic results, turn that visibility into enquiries, and add paid advertising only once tracking is in place and the return is clear. The work covers technical SEO such as crawl and indexation problems, page speed, schema and internal linking, fast service pages with tracking on every form and phone tap, and Google Business Profile management covering categories, services, posts and reviews, plus consistent business details across New Zealand citation sites and curated backlinks. Instead of a monthly PDF, clients get a live report link showing weekly keyword positions, site health and the work completed each month, with Google performance read from Search Console. Packages are month to month in NZD, from the Get Found plan at $249 a month through Local Launch, Growth and Scale, with optional Google Ads and Meta Ads management and one-off SEO audits. Published work includes a 112 percent lift in organic leads over 90 days for Window Maintenance, plus sites for Aroha Apothecary and Scendent Mental Health. Contact is hello@slateseo.co.nz or 021 638 205.
Somar Digital
Somar Digital is a Wellington digital agency based at Level 6, 56 Victoria Street, working with organisations across New Zealand. It focuses on public organisations, charities and not-for-profits, with clients including the Cancer Society, Citizens Advice Bureau, Greater Wellington Regional Council, the Ministry of Social Development, Mountain Safety Council, Plunket and Health New Zealand. Its SEO service starts with a detailed audit and a tailored strategy, then covers technical SEO, on-page optimisation, content improvements, local SEO and link building, with ongoing tracking and adjustments, plus work to prepare sites for AI-powered search. Somar Digital combines SEO with search engine marketing and Google Ads, user experience design, web design, website development, Silverstripe development, AWS website hosting and ongoing support and maintenance, so search work and the website itself are handled by one team. It also helps nonprofits access the Google Ad Grant. A published case study describes SEO improvements to the Plan My Walk site that led to a 170% increase in organic traffic for Mountain Safety Council. Pricing is quoted per project after a free initial consultation rather than through fixed packages.
What to ask a Web design agency
- Is the engagement design only, or design plus SEO implementation?
- Who owns the templates after launch, and how are they handed over?
- How are page speed, indexable content and internal links treated in the design?
- What content do you need from us before build starts?
- How are revisions and post-launch changes priced?