Is it worth it to do SEO Locally?

I have been doing the same with my wife's cake business.. I am only doing the basics and do more for advertising on facebook and anything else that is town related. There is not much worth advertising country wide as there is no point selling a cake 100s of miles away

My wife's facebook page is actually doing very well, so just saying she has a website will bring  good traffic ... I hope, as I'm still building it but pictures are the hardest thing to get hold of.

This is a laymans guide to SEO written ages ago and last amended in 2020. You'll even see a reply from ArchieDavidson

SEO fundamentals haven't really changed that much. But taking shortcuts and hiring ropey SEO bods has always been the best way to upset the Google god and throw money down the drain.

I could easily write a full article in reply to this thread - but I'll keep it brief :

Consider what SEO means - search engine optimisation .... therefore if you don't optimise your website for search engines it doesn't matter how great a site it is - if it's not optimised it won't be found. So investing some time if not money is very important. There are many ways to optimise a site too - text and images, meta tags and descriptions, and a variety of markup languges.  (Social media can be an excellent complimentary digital marketing tool too, when 'used' effectively)   

It's really worth understanding the 'process' of SEO - what contributes to making a website 'optimised' for search engines to find  - rank it - for the appropriate search terms (and location/s, if relevant).

It's worth mentioning that many small businesses can rank quickly for their business name, however this leads many small startups to misperceive that there is no need to invest in SEO - BUT unless someone knows your business name, how are they going to find you? If your business name contains keywords related to your business product/services, you could be onto a good headstart however ... 

Most business owners have an idea of how they see potential clients finding their website online, but the simple fact is that you need to understand what search terms are actually being searched for that are relevant to your business and include these words and relevant content  / pages on your website. 

I have a variety of articles and resource links, as  well as the capability for any business  to run a free local SEO report of their website via my own business website.

Do please swing by and take a look, and I'd be happy to chat more to anyone who would like more information or assistance in helping develop their business online.  

Steve Drury I Director

web-aviso 

Digital Marketing I SEO I Print Design I Publishing 

Local SEO is definately worth it.

Yes, I run a marketing business that specialises in lead gen through SEO, paid ads etc specifically for local service businesses but if I didn't generate results for businesses through local SEO then I wouldnt have a business.

For local businesses, service or otherwise local SEO incorporates a lot more than just website content.

It also doesn't have to cost a fortune.

One of the most important pieces is having a correctly optimised Google Business Profile. If you don't know how to set one up pay someone who does - it is the most important thing you can do in terms of long term lead and customer generation for a local business.

Then learn how to use it, update posts, reviews etc.

For those who don't know what a Google Business Profile is, it used to be called Google My Business. These are the first organic results ( the map pack or 3 pack as they are known ) displayed on the results page of a Google search for local businesses, accompanied by a map.

The reach and potential customer generation of this asset is MASSIVE for local businesses.

In terms of SEO relevant to a website, there are several considerations.

Firstly local SEO is NOT the same as national SEO. It is more location focused and the structure of the website needs to be specific in order to maximise this. Blog posts etc for local SEO should also be location and service / product focused while being specific to their topic and customer query.

The biggest issue I see is that most websites are NOT conversion focused. This means that regardless of the amount of traffic they receive from SEO or other means, the actual website does not generate contact from the visitor.

Because of this, many businesses who invest in SEO blame the agency when they do not see an increase in customer uptake. The agency is partly to blame for not recognising the lack of conversion optimisation on the website BUT a lot of agencies do not understand conversion optimisation or what a GOOD website actually is. Their job is simply to generate visitors so if the stats show more website traffic, technically they have done their job.

There are multiple pieces of the puzzle to generate new custom and SEO is a major part for local business, but it is not the full solution.

In terms of Facebook and social media, it works but has its downside. Social media is not indexed by Google and is only relevant at the time of the post being produced. Organic reach on FB is unbelievably restricted these days as FB or Meta as it now is, prioritises its own own paid ads service.

Even if you have 1000's of followers, less than 2% get to see your posts on a regular basis.

It is necessary to post on social media at a very high rate in order to create and maintain engagement. Something most small business owners cannot do.

SEO has the advantage of being a permanent resource that Google will serve up relevant to any query through its search engine for years to come. It is one of the best investments a local business can make in terms of marketing

Eric Deaville

Linked In profile

Founder of Leads For Services

Hi Steve, thanks for the input.

I agree with what you're saying, the problem is the industry is awash with low-value characters and sharks, whilst new business owners can be guilty of being gullible, having unrealistic expectations, or are just lambs ready for the outsourced Indian SEO slaughter.

I don't understand these days why there is still such an obsession for bolt on quick fix SEO. I think the lack of understanding and unrealistic expectations are partly to blame on the customer side. But I suspect the majority of blame lies with budget web designers.

Anyone engaging a web designer / developer for any site, from a straightforward brochure, to something a little complex should be factoring in and baking in SEO standard practices as part of the project. I'd even expect a basic marketing package for a newbie business like creating and branding a GMB page and a relevant social media presence, based on industry. This is such a low cost activity, offers a nice value add for a web designer, and gives a customer genuine value.

If your client is setting up a new local pie shop, then this is probably enough to get them ranking quite quickly. A pretty site, SEO friendly, a few obvious search terms and a basic marketing presence, backed up by a local flyer campaign. 

If your client is setting up a Taxi company to compete with the other 20 local cabbies, then they need an expectation conversation, a realistic and comprehensive SEO plan, costed with a realistic timeframe to see results. 

Instead, in 2022 you still see loads of low new sites with zero optimisation cast off into the Google backwaters, offering very limited if any value, and has already eaten into a hard pressed budget a new start-up has.

If a newbie business insists on a freebie web platform, or knocks something up with some schoolboy WordPress skills, then they get what they pay for and shouldn't be surprised by a lack of results. 

But if I was paying for a new website, I'd expect that web designer to have a fundamental knowledge of SEO, include this as part of the site design, and be advising me on my new journey. 

People like yourself that offer useful resources and can advise and assist customers as they establish themselves is the way forward, but I suspect this isn't the norm. Or at least from the horror stories and client sites I see on a daily basis.

Just noticed you are also a magician, so maybe SEO really is a black art

Hi Steve,

Probably you are right in most of points you made, however, I wouldn't dismiss the local SEO. In terms of budget, obviously what you pay for is what you get and I would for sure stay away of agencies/freelancers/so called SEO gurus when they promise you that you will rank on page 1 by x amount of time.

SEO is a long-term strategy and usually, any effort will be seen after 3 to 6 months. And I would say, probably the most cost-effective tactic is content marketing, writing your own articles guided by an article brief (are some quite good out here,  if any good SEO agency/professional would provide that when you hire them for their SEO services). Also, are some many other which are selling so-called SEO packages, and I ve seen these on small marketing agencies, or business growth trainers. All these are doing is to bring a bad reputation to the table as the efforts put in these are really low and the output will be low (as expected).

Anyway, dont dismiss the local SEO if is done with some guidance and having a strategy in place.

Actually Local SEO can be implemented for a fee of around £250 - and sensibly maintained by revisiting on a quarterly basis - it really depends how competitive the local business in your area is.

SEO is a much larger beast and investment in this is best calculated at 10% of your marketing budget... I would always advise starting anything like this with an extensive, customised Audit - and by someone who is capable of reading the digital competition as well as the real-business closest competitors.

You will probably find this page useful - regular updates and posts (when time permits!)

https://www.annieveale.com/WP/development_and_audits/

Hello Steve,

I have been doing local SEO for around 5 years, and I started doing this as the MD of a company with a £2.8m turnover. Mostly out of frustration at the high operational cost of sending fire and security engineers to West London from Essex. I can honestly say that the results were remarkable, and we cleaned up and beat the local competition, which enabled us to increase turnover to circa £5m in three years.

The problem is there are so many SEO and marketing companies out there, and quite a few are terrible; they can't even rank locally for their own business and bombard social media, saying they can get results for you.

One of my local clients had his best business day ever two weeks before Christmas with £6,700.00 in orders directly from being number 1 locally and beating the competition for all his business keywords. However, the process takes time, and some clients want instant results. Realistically you can make real progress in as little as 3 months with the right local SEO strategy. What I will say, though, is that the actual local SEO work is not overly complex, and you should not be charged vast amounts of money for this service.

Michael Vincent

Managing Director

Strategic Goal Management Consulting 

Linkedin profile

you need to check the traffic and online buying intent of people in your local area. Check the results of your competitors on SERP and see how much traffic they are getting through their online presence. The website offers many options when they buy online, They can see a menu from the website. If it's a small area, ranking on google will help you to expand in the local area and then going other areas. Small areas also have competitions if competition is low then you need at least 3 months or more to put some pages on SERP.  Building googles my business Profile will also help you to rank in the local area. On google my business you rank by reviews. <link removed> thanks