K365 is the 12-month recruitment SEO and AI programme that replaced our retainers. One fixed price of £34,950 plus VAT buys a defined year of pages, monthly authority clusters, 45+ link placements, a full AI citation programme and quarterly strategy resets, with every milestone evidenced in your own Search Console.
Key Takeaways
- K365 is a fixed-scope 12-month programme at £34,950 plus VAT, paid upfront as standard, or 12 payments of £3,450 totalling £41,400.
- The programme ships a new authority cluster every month, builds on 10+ rebuilt money pages, and runs quarterly strategy resets led by Dan Jones directly.
- The authority programme delivers 45+ DR20 to DR30+ placements across the year, worth more than £13,500 at component rates.
- Twelve months of AI citation work cover Reddit, national PR distribution, listicle placements, forum presence and citation monitoring across 4 AI platforms.
- Each quarter we take a scoped set of your commercial keywords to page 1 or 2 of Google, measured in your own Search Console 28 days after that quarter closes. Miss one and we keep working it at no extra cost until it lands.
We retired the retainer
The open-ended monthly retainer rewarded retention over results, so we replaced it. K365 keeps everything a retainer did well, compounding work over 12 months, and removes everything it did badly: undefined scope, drifting priorities and a fee that continued whether or not rankings moved. The whole year is scoped, priced and milestone-guaranteed before you pay.
What happened to Kaizen SEO's retainers?
We withdrew the Core, Pro and Elite retainers in October 2026 and rebuilt them as K365, a single 12-month programme with fixed scope and quarterly milestones. The work that made retainers effective survived in full. The open-ended billing model did not, because an agency should buy a defined outcome, and recruitment SEO retainers fail when nobody defines one.
What K365 builds across 12 months
K365 opens with the full K90 build, then compounds it for 9 further months. Year one delivers 10+ rebuilt money pages, a new authority cluster with gated spoke pages shipping every month, a 3-month link ramp followed by sustained monthly placements, 12 months of AI citation work, named competitor displacement targets and 4 quarterly strategy resets against your Search Console data. That stack is the Kaizen Method at full depth, the same method K60 and K90 run shallower.
- Monthly cluster shipping adds a pillar and spoke set every month, so by month 12 your site answers the long-tail and AI queries your market asks at a depth no competitor matches.
- The authority programme ramps hard for 3 months, 4 DR30+ placements and 3 DR20+ niche edits monthly, then sustains at 4 placements a month through month 12.
- The AI citation programme runs every month, placing your agency in the Reddit threads, national press, listicles and forums the answer engines read, with citations monitored across 4 AI platforms.
- Quarterly resets re-aim the whole programme at whatever your Search Console and AI citation data say is working, the way ranking progress reads in Search Console on any honest engagement.
How does monthly cluster shipping compound?
Each cluster targets a tight query set and interlinks into every cluster before it, so topical authority stacks month on month rather than resetting per campaign. Google and the AI engines read the growing, interlinked body of work as sustained subject expertise, which lifts the money pages those clusters point at. By month 12 the site carries 12 clusters pulling in one direction.
The maths a recruiter can check
Four permanent placements at 20% of a £45,000 salary earn £36,000 against a £34,950 programme, and one retained search mandate can clear most of it alone. The authority programme is worth more than £13,500 at our published component rates before a single page, cluster or strategy reset is counted, and how much a recruitment agency should spend on SEO looks very different once the spend buys a defined year.
Isn't £34,950 a lot for SEO?
Not against what it replaces. The old Elite retainer ran £3,495 a month, £41,940 a year, with no fixed scope and no milestone guarantee. K365 costs £34,950 with the whole year scoped, 45+ placements committed, and quarterly milestones we keep working free if we miss. The right agency looks at that number next to one retained fee and asks why it's so low.
How the programme runs
K365 runs in four quarters, each closed with a strategy reset and a milestone review you can verify.
- Quarter 1, Build and ramp. The full K90 scope lands: baseline, technical fixes, analytics and conversion tracking, 10 money pages, the first clusters and the 3-month link ramp.
- Quarter 2, Compound. Monthly clusters and sustained placements continue, competitor displacement targets get pressed, and the first reset re-aims priorities.
- Quarter 3, Expand. The programme pushes into the next tier of money terms and locations your data says are winnable, with AI citations now feeding inbound.
- Quarter 4, Consolidate and hand over. Final placements land, every milestone is evidenced in your own Search Console, and you take the renewal decision with 12 months of your own data in front of you.
Who K365 is for
K365 suits specialist agencies with £15,000+ placement fees competing for retained work in markets where visibility decides who gets the brief. It's the right buy when the cost of staying invisible exceeds the programme several times over. Agencies that want proof first should start with K60, step up through the sprint route rather than a retainer, and graduate into the programme. Firms still building their first search presence should start with our work on SEO for recruitment agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is K365 a retainer under another name?
No. A retainer bills monthly against undefined work and continues on inertia. K365 is a fixed-scope programme: the year's deliverables, 45+ placements, monthly clusters and quarterly milestones are contracted before you pay. Spreading the cost over 12 payments changes the cashflow, never the scope, and the programme ends at month 12 unless you renew.
What is the difference between K90 and K365?
K90 is a 90-day sprint at £9,950 with one link block and 2 months of AI citation work. K365 opens with the K90 build, then compounds for 9 further months: monthly clusters, sustained placements to 45+ across the year, 12 months of AI citation work and 4 quarterly strategy resets at £34,950.
Can the cost be spread monthly?
Yes. Upfront at £34,950 is the standard and the quoted price. A 12-payment option at £3,450 a month totals £41,400. There is no minimum term and no commitment period to sign: spreading changes when you pay, never whether it is owed. Agencies choosing the spread get identical scope and milestones; the premium pays for the financing, never for extra work.
What does K365 guarantee?
Four quarterly milestones. Each quarter we scope a set of your commercial keywords, minimum five, and take them to page 1 or 2 of Google, measured in your own Search Console 28 days after that quarter closes. Miss one and those targets go to the front of the next quarter's queue, ahead of new work, and that quarter's own new set is still scoped in full alongside them. You also choose where the rest of that quarter points. Miss the final quarter and we work past month twelve at no charge until it lands.
What do you need from us?
Approvals inside 5 working days, specified technical changes shipped inside 15, and continuous access to Search Console, analytics and the CMS. Where a miss actually holds up the work, the milestone clock pauses from the day we tell you in writing, never from an earlier date, and a lapse you put right within two business days does not pause anything. That notice always says what is outstanding and what unblocks it.
What happens if we stop after year one?
You keep everything. The clusters, pages, links, schema and the forward roadmap are yours, and the compounding you've built keeps working without us. Most clients renew, move to a quarterly graduate programme, or hold position with Overwatch at £490 a month. Nothing is held hostage, which is exactly why the retainer had to go.
See what 12 months changes in 15 minutes
Book a K365 walkthrough and we'll screen-share where your market's rankings and AI citations sit today, which competitors hold them, and what a scoped year takes back. No obligation either way.
