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At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming online searches, SEO can be a more competitive game. Local SEO service providers know how to navigate the new digital landscape, helping you achieve visibility and adopt your current strategy with the emergence of new AI-run search tools, such as Google’s Search Generative Experience and Bing Chat. Discover 10 service providers you can partner with for your local SEO requirements with our listicle below.
Best Agencies to Hire for Local SEO Services
The volume of local searches has recovered in Q2 2023 after dipping in the first quarter. Rio SEO’s report attributed the decline to post-pandemic behavior and changes in Google's "views" metrics. Starting February 2023, the search engine measures views according to unique visits. So if someone goes to your Google Business Profile or GBP (formerly Google My Business) more than once to check on your company details, Google counts it as one view only.
In light of these developments, getting local SEO expert support is crucial to stay ahead of your game. Here are 10 agencies that can help.
1. Sociallyin
Although Sociallyin primarily specializes in social media, it also offers SEO services. Its SEO experts once belonged to Webology, which rebranded to its current name when it became a division of the Sociallyin family in 2022, after years of collaboration.
SEO Focus
SEO by Sociallyin’s local SEO strategy includes claiming your GBP and listing on Yelp, Apple Maps, and other business directories, optimization in these listings, searching and applying “near me” and other hyper-local terms, and building “suburb pages” for each of your business locations so you can rank higher organically.
SEO by Sociallyin emphasizes that having skilled office staff is vital to solidifying the gains from SEO campaigns. For instance, the agency’s listing of Associated Derm on business directories and ranking for less competitive keywords for specific services increased bookings by 10 to 15 per month. It says the clinic wouldn’t have these figures to speak of without prompt and efficient receptionists who responded to chats and calls.
Pros:
- AI-assisted backlink acquisition
- Smart keyword research
- Technical SEO
- Responsive website design
- Google penalty removal
Cons:
- No mention of review management
Sociallyin
SociallyIn offers creative content tailored to each business, offering influencer marketing, social media solutions, social media advertising & more.
Best for:
Businesses of all sizes
Sociallyin
SociallyIn offers creative content tailored to each business, offering influencer marketing, social media solutions, social media advertising & more.
2. Disruptive Advertising
Disruptive Advertising is a full-service digital marketing agency whose SEO scope spans every digital asset, from your website and landing pages to your online messages, videos, and ads.
SEO Focus
As early as 2016, Disruptive has been promoting the importance of optimizing for mobile to win the local search war. The agency, a Google Premier Partner, also believes that efforts to boost organic traffic should be coupled with pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and the application of business directory features, such as Promoted Pins on Google Maps.
Pros:
- Disruptive limits its client count to ensure that its partnership will bring the highest chances of success for the customer and its team.
- Expertise in email marketing
- Text/SMS systems
- Chatbots
Cons:
- No mention of long-form/blog-writing services
Disruptive Advertising
Most marketing leaders struggle to find a proactive, strategic agency partner with the expertise, services, & vision to drive long-term results online.
Best for:
Businesses of all sizes
Disruptive Advertising
Most marketing leaders struggle to find a proactive, strategic agency partner with the expertise, services, & vision to drive long-term results online.
3. SmartSites
SmartSites boasts of generating a 200% growth in their clients’ traffic within the first six months of its SEO campaign rollout. The agency has over 30 case studies attesting to its local SEO achievements.
SEO Focus
SmartSites’ customized local SEO strategy involves profile listing on top online business directories, citations on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, and location-centric keyword application in various content types, including your social channels. The agency also believes in running both organic and paid SEO campaigns.
Pros:
- Link building expertise
- Technical SEO audit
- Mobile SEO
- SEO consulting, analysis, copywriting (including blogging)
Cons:
- Doesn’t clarify if SEO service includes social messaging content, not just social comments
SmartSites
Outsmart the competition with best-in-class digital marketing services. With over 1,000 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews online, SmartSites ? is America's #1 rated digital marketing agency. Get more traffic. Acquire more customers. Sell more stuff. SmartSites...
Best for:
Small and Medium Size Businesses
SmartSites
Outsmart the competition with best-in-class digital marketing services. With over 1,000 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews online, SmartSites ? is America's #1 rated digital marketing agency. Get more traffic. Acquire more customers. Sell more stuff. SmartSites...
4. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
Thrive sees SEO as one of the primary “roots” of every company’s money tree. The agency has brought over 60 URLs to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) and over 33,800 business pages to the first Google SERPs in its nearly two decades of operations.
SEO Focus
Thrive’s SEO team gives equal weight to auditing your website for responsive design and checking your content for SEO performance. Moreover, the agency develops a deep understanding of your target market, their pain points, and reading preferences to formulate a plan to raise your search volume, leads, traffic, and conversions.
Pros:
- Keyword and content optimization expertise
- Search engine marketing
- Link-building
- Social media management
- Branding and reputation management
- Analytics
Cons:
- Doesn’t clarify if SEO service covers content for social messaging systems
Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
Thrive is an online marketing agency with a passion to use the power of the Internet to grow your business. Thrive was founded on the conviction that businesses can successfully outshine their competitors with a strong website and an effective onl...
Best for:
Enterprises, Large and Small brands
Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
Thrive is an online marketing agency with a passion to use the power of the Internet to grow your business. Thrive was founded on the conviction that businesses can successfully outshine their competitors with a strong website and an effective onl...
5. Blue Corona
Blue Corona’s inbound web marketing solutions target the B2C service industry—particularly the home service sector, helping contractors and franchises harness SEO, PPC, and web design to connect with local audiences.
SEO Focus
Blue Corona helps boost your local online visibility mainly by getting you on Google’s Local Pack and claiming your listing on the web’s leading map and business directories. The agency surveys your industry’s landscape and applies Google Analytics tracking on its campaigns, which also includes continuous keyword research to optimize landing pages, reviews, and other web content.
SEO proved to be a lifesaver for Metro DC Moving. Blue Corona combined website optimization with email and social advertising to increase leads by 240% during the slow months.
Pros:
- Competitor analysis and campaign tracking
- Local citations building and tracking
- Localized website content publication and optimization
- GBP optimization
Cons:
- Doesn’t handle eCommerce and other companies not in trades
6. Straight North
Popular for its inbound lead-generating campaigns, Straight North has over 100 full-time team members from various US locations and caters to multi-sector B2B and B2C entities.
SEO Focus
Its SEO techniques aim to boost your rankings in local search queries and improve your online business listings. When you partner with the agency, its proprietary GoNorth! Reporting platform allows you to view your campaign status and progress.
Pros:
- GBP and Local Pack optimization
- Content asset creation
- Link acquisition
- Paid and organic social content
- Google penalty recovery services
- Free tools (header check and bulk hosting check tools)
Cons:
- Doesn’t clarify if SEO service includes social messaging content
7. Wiideman
Wiideman is a digital marketing veteran agency that has been tapped by brick-and-mortar businesses for their multi-location and franchise SEO strategies. The agency believes in “hands-off guidance,” providing you with service options to third-party tools like Moz Local and Whitespark for tracking Wiideman’s business listing work and benchmarking.
SEO focus
Wiideman offers city and store or office template optimization and local or regional and industry citation research so businesses with physical establishments can thrive online. The agency recommends platforms for database inclusion and data syndication, which they train you to use independently.
Pros:
- SEO audit
- Authoritative content research and recommendations
- Local and industry business directory listing
- Website and local landing page optimization
- Technical audit and action list for improving crawl and indexing
Cons:
- No listing of specialization areas (industry types)
8. Rank by Monday
Rank by Monday is an SEO-focused agency that generates qualified leads through customized brand reputation, content writing, PPC, and social media solutions.
SEO Focus
Rank by Monday begins every project by analyzing your website to determine where it stands concerning keyword and conversion rate optimization. Mobile-friendliness and business directory presence are the other factors it considers in mapping out a growth-focused SEO strategy for your brand.
Pros:
- Supports the SEO needs of various industries, from marketing firms that need a white-label SEO provider to enterprises whose marketing divisions require expert assistance
- GBP listing expertise
- International SEO (multi-lingual website optimization)
- Transparent pricing
Cons:
- GBP listing excluded in lowest plan
9. Coalition Technologies
With over 300 SEO projects handled to date, Coalition Technologies combines its expertise with AI-powered tools to support revenue growth of up to 600% higher than average marketing firms.
SEO Focus
Coalition Technologies strives to raise your geographic relevance by ensuring NAP (name, address, phone number) consistency. The agency has a Marketing Pricing Estimator tool, which site visitors can access for free to get an estimate of their SEO fees.
Struggling to recover after the pandemic lockdowns, Tlapazola turned to Coalition to promote its LA-based party rental service. The agency wrote optimized copy with select keywords targeting the southern California market, obtained online PR links, and added “Add to Cart” buttons. In the first five months alone, Tlapazola recorded a 220% increase in new site visitors and a 194% rise in organic goal completions.
Pros:
- Creation and optimization of GBP and other local listings
- Competitor and opportunity analysis
- Local rank-tracking
- Keyword research and content development
- Review management
- Local citation and link-building
- UX and technical SEO
- Mobile SEO
Cons:
- Gaming and blockchain aren’t listed among the industries served
10. Funnel Boost Media
Funnel Boost Media optimizes the websites of small to medium enterprises in the home services, legal, healthcare, and financial sectors into lead generation tools. The agency claims that its SEO and CRO strategies have helped its clients generate 50% more leads.
SEO Focus
Funnel Boost works with various firms across America, but most of the businesses it has helped with their local SEO efforts are from the southern US, particularly Texas (Austin, Houston, and San Antonio), New Mexico (Albuquerque, Roswell, and Santa Fe), and Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans).
Pros:
- Citation management in over 70 local business directories
- Online content optimization
- Personalized SEO reports
- Branding (strategy and visual identity: design, email, social media content)
Cons:
- Limited eCommerce-related portfolio
Local SEO Success Metrics to Track
An awareness of the typical key performance indicators (KPIs) for local SEO success will help you determine whether you've made a worthy investment in your chosen partner agency. Here are some of the metrics to expect in your agency's reports:
1. Overall traffic
"Traffic" refers to the number of visits your website receives from desktop and mobile users. Google Analytics offers data for these numbers, including pages per session—which indicates whether your pages and content are appealing enough for the public to take the time to browse several pages. The tool also has information on new and returning visitors.
Also, check your mobile audience traffic to determine if you need to make your site more mobile-friendly. If you hired your agency for PPC, you should get stats for "branded" traffic or visits from clicked ads.
2. Backlinks and referring domains
Analytics data is also available for referral traffic or visits that started from another website or a social channel. Findings from a Backlinko study showed that websites mentioned first in Google search results have 3.8 times more backlinks than sites that rank second and below.
3. Bounce rate
Bounce rate refers to how many people visit just one page on your website and then leave without taking action. If your percentage is high, find out where your searchers came from, whether your keyword ranking for the page matches its content, and what possible UX issues might be present.
4. Local search ranking
Tracking your website's position in the SERPs of Google and other portals helps you determine your search visibility and what keywords to rank for if you're aiming to improve your standing in search results. Our rank tracking guide suggests several tools if you're interested in self-monitoring.
5. Local listing optimization
An optimized profile on Google and other business directories helps improve your SERP rankings, inevitably motivating users to click on your website. Yext and LocalFX are among the popular tools for updating and managing local listings.
6. Average webpage load time
Your webpage's average load time is among Google's core web vitals that should immediately improve due to SEO. Conversions decline by 7% for every second your visitor waits for your website to load.
7. Phone calls
Google Business Profile Insights and call tracking tools can provide data on how many times site visitors clicked on your call button within a timeframe.
8. Conversions and profit
SEO should also increase other conversion events, including "Contact Us" form submissions, whitepaper downloads, and newsletter signups.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Like most return-on-investment (ROI) formulas, you determine your gains by subtracting your SEO expenses from the total value of conversions, dividing the difference by your investment costs, and multiplying the quotient by 100 to get the ROI percentage. Let's break down every element in the equation:
-
SEO expenses
These costs cover the fees charged by your local SEO partner—which could be a monthly retainer or yearly plan, subscription to SEO software plus content distribution and link-building payments that agencies may factor into their fees, as well as time and effort spent by your in-house team on SEO tasks, which you can convert to a dollar amount according to an hourly rate.
-
Value of conversions
If you run an eCommerce business, your conversions would be your revenues from sales. But for service providers, you must assign dollar values to conversion actions completed, such as phone calls, contact form submissions, or free quote requests.
Let’s say you determined that your SEO campaign generated $300,000 after calculating your total conversion value or revenues. Meanwhile, you invested $75,000 into the project. Your formula should look like this:
Succeed in Local SEO through Self-Education and the Right Agency
Although traditional marketing tactics like billboards and leaflet distribution continue as part of community engagement, local SEO does the job faster and more strategically with the help of professionals. Achieving local SEO success starts with clarifying your goals and imbibing the metrics and ROI information we shared above before searching for a suitable agency partner.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best service providers that can improve my brand's local SEO?
We recommend the following agencies for your local SEO needs:
- SEO by Sociallyin
- Disruptive Advertising
- SmartSites
- Thrive
- Blue Corona
- Straight North
- Wiideman
- Rank by Monday
- Coalition Technologies
- Funnel Boost Media
How do I choose a local SEO company?
When outsourcing local SEO work, find a reputable company known for its expertise in your industry or niche. Study their portfolio and case studies to determine if they have provided solutions—consistently positive results—to companies who share your goals or problems. Examine their service suite and processes, ensuring they have a highly-trained team that adheres to white hat strategies and methods. Also, choose an agency with good communication—one that shows you its campaign work schedule, regularly shares performance updates, and proactively tells you if anything went wrong and how they'll prevent the mishap from happening again. Most importantly, check the pricing and ensure the agency offers a good value for its scope of services.
How much should I pay for local SEO?
Local SEO firms in America can charge an average of $300 to $2,000 monthly (with hourly services ranging from $100 to $300)—although fees can go as high as $7,000+, depending on your business needs, geographic location, and your competition.
