A strong online presence is vital for small and medium-sized business owners, and local SEO is one of the most important facets in gaining that presence. How much does local SEO cost, and how important is it for your specific business?
If you draw a good percentage of your business from your nearby area, then local SEO is essential to your success. The cost of local SEO varies depending on your unique needs. Learn more about local SEO pricing and what to expect below.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is a type of search engine optimization that focuses primarily on local searches. The higher your site ranks locally, the more local traffic you can receive, which helps people in your area find and visit your business page. Searches that end with “near me” or “nearby” as well as those that include a city name are considered local searches.
Local SEO differs from traditional SEO based on different types of users, the information being provided, and the tools used to deliver the information. While standard SEO draws people to your site by offering useful information about a topic or niche, local SEO focuses more on delivering hard information about your business – its location, phone number, directions, or business hours.
Purchase Intent
Statistically, more than half of “near me” searches and 90% of local searchers using a mobile phone contact a business within the first 24 hours after the search. When these individuals use that search phrase, they are displaying purchase intent. They are searching for a business with the intent of purchasing a product or service, which means less marketing is required. Being able to capitalize on this purchase intent makes the cost of local SEO worth it to most small and medium business owners.
Local SEO Pricing
There are three factors that will ultimately influence how much you spend on your company’s local SEO: the health of your website, the number of locations your business has, and your company’s overall reputation.
Site Health
Your local SEO efforts start with your site’s current rank. If your website is already fairly healthy – meaning it is already well-optimized for SEO – it won’t cost as much to make it local-SEO ready. Not only will you save money on local SEO, but every dollar you invest will lead to a better overall return. On the other hand, if your site is not already optimized, you can expect to spend more money on technical SEO, which will drive your local SEO efforts forward.
Number of Locations
If you have more than one brick-and-mortar store in your local area, you should create and manage content for each one. Doing so could give you a local SEO advantage, but at the same time, you will need a much larger budget.
Reputation
If your company has a significant number of online reviews and a good reputation, local SEO will be much simpler. Responding to and resolving negative reviews quickly is essential, and when these two criteria have been met, your local SEO will cost much less. However, if your business is new, or if you are coming back from a reputation hit, you should expect to spend more time and money to achieve your goals.
Scope of Services
Businesses can choose from local SEO software products or they can rely on agencies to handle their local SEO for them. These options come with different prices. How much does local SEO cost if you use software?The software may cost as little as $15 a month, but without a firm understanding of local SEO best practices, you may find that it doesn’t help much. An agency may charge anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred dollars a month depending on the amount of work they do for you.
Pricing Structures
Another way to determine the cost of local SEO involves choosing a pricing structure that works best for your needs. These include project-based pricing, hourly fees, and a monthly retainer.
- Project-based pricing offers you a fixed cost to achieve one specific goal. For example, website optimization or SEO content creation often comes with a project-based price, which is a specific dollar amount in exchange for the completion of a task or set of deliverables. This is not ideal for ongoing SEO, but it can come in handy for businesses in need of very specific results.
- Hourly rates are best for consulting and specific SEO strategies when you aren’t entirely sure exactly what you need to reach your goals. For ongoing SEO, hourly rates will almost always cost significantly more than a monthly retainer.
- Monthly retainers are almost always the best option for businesses in need of extensive or ongoing help with local SEO. For one set fee per month, an SEO agency offers up services and support that can help your business remain competitive. Local SEO is always an ongoing endeavor, so a monthly retainer is your best bet.
How Much Will Local SEO Cost?
The average cost of a monthly retainer for local SEO ranges from $200 and $3,000 per month depending on the size of your company, the scope and scale of your strategy, your existing SEO, and your local SEO goals. More experienced SEO experts charge more than their less-experienced counterparts. At the higher end of the spectrum, your monthly retainer should cover the following services:
- Local SEO audit
- Local citations
- On-page, off-page, and technical SEO optimization
- SEO reporting
- Local webpages
- Local links
- Content marketing
- Google My Business optimization and management
The more of these services your local SEO strategy calls for, the higher your monthly payment will be.
How much does local SEO cost, and is it worth it for your business? If most of your customers are nearby, and you rely on web searches to bring your customers in, local SEO can make or break your success. The best way to find the right services for your budget is to reach out to local SEO specialists for consultations and written quotes.
Contact JD SEO Consulting Today!
Want to take your business to the next level? Get in touch with JD SEO Consulting to help your local business thrive. Give us a call at 856-534-3230 or send us a message at jdseoconsulting@gmail.com. We can’t wait to work with you!