Why Do I Do Local SEO?
I get asked this question from time to time – Why do I do Local SEO? My answer is fairly simple and can be summed up in four points.
- Local SEO is challenging
- Opportunity to help small business owners
- I love #winning
- Opportunity to dominate Page 1 of the SERP
Why I Enjoy Local SEO
First, Local SEO is damn hard. The algorithm changes often, spam can often win, there are new areas to focus on daily, and there are only 3 spots where a business can be seen – as opposed to the traditional 10 blue links in Organic. If you want to rank a business in Local, you have to not only know what you are doing, but you have to be on top of it daily. Why you ask? These are some of the questions I think about on a daily basis:
- Did the algorithm change again?
- Is a competitor spamming the Local Pack with shitty business names?
- Oh damn, are there ads in the Pack now?
- Google just changed the snippet length again!?
- Are Local Service Ads coming to this niche?
- How do I stay in the Pack now that I’m there?
- Does anything I’m doing even matter if proximity to the business is the biggest factor?
- What’s new with Google My Business listings?
Secondly, I really enjoy helping small business owners. Most of the time, the clients I am helping are not businesses with 5-10 employees who can assist in tasks, etc. They are mom and pop shops, true entrepreneurs, who are working like hell to make a living and provide for their family. They are not only the CEO’s of their business, but also the sales, marketing, accounting, janitor, office assistant. I like being able to help out the small business owner. That’s how I started back in 2005, so I know what these people are going through, the struggles, the ups and downs. It’s nerve wracking and amazing at the same time. If I can help them earn more money, take a vacation, hire other people, and grow their business, that makes me feel great.
Thirdly, I fucking love winning. As stated above, Local SEO is hard and there is minimal space to work with. Give me the challenge to get your business in the Pack and you won’t regret it. I’ll put your business in the Pack and that means I’m pushing someone else out. Whether that is another Local SEO company, a solo SEO, or someone in-house at the business, I’m going to win. It won’t happen overnight obviously, but I’ll get you there, and then you will stay. The SEO community is a tight group, but this is business. We can hang and drink whiskey after hours, but I’m going to push your client out of the Pack when it’s go time.
The last reason essentially summarizes the other 3 reasons – there is an opportunity to completely dominate the top fold of the SERPs. For desktop, this is great. For mobile, it’s absolutely dominating. You can dominate an entire page with a branded search and half a page with a local result. On mobile, no one is going to scroll much further than the Knowledge Panel. All of that real estate is yours. It’s glorious.
Check out the desktop results for one of my clients below. He owns the first Organic results, has other spots of reviews and also has the Knowledge Panel. This search doesn’t provide a Local Pack because he dominates his own area and G sees him as the authority, so no need to show competitors.
Similar result for mobile. This time we get PPC ads, his KP, 2 national websites and then his business. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Get In Touch
Want me to help you crush your local marketing? Hit me up and we can chat about how I can help.