How Much Does Local SEO Cost and What Services to Expect?

Wondering how much will local SEO cost you? Well, this is a quite controversial question because every local SEO pricing model is unique and is stronger than the others in certain aspects. It’s like asking “How much does a car cost?”. The answer will always depend on what you want from the company you’re looking for and what fixes are crucial for your specific case. 

Most SEO agencies I’ve researched charge between $1,500 and $3,000 monthly. Oftentimes you might be able to find much cheaper prices for the same services. This is because the local SEO cost directly depends on the years of industry experience the company has. 

What Local SEO Company Pricing Includes? 

Before I dive into what services you can expect from hiring an SEO company, I have to stress that the price will most often depend on a number of factors like:

– Location. The bigger the area you want to optimize your content for, the more expensive it will be because the more resources and platforms will be used 

– Competition. The more competitive niche you are in, the harder and longer it will be to increase your local SEO rankings

– Your business needs. You will have to define how quickly you’d like to improve your local SEO and at what scale.  

And now, let’s go back to services that you can expect from hiring professional SEO agencies and how much it will cost you.

1. Local SEO Audit

Can cost you from $250 paid once separately or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

It is crucial to identify how your business performs in local search before actually changing anything. SEO audit will determine your local landing pages, URLs, local SEO positions, what keywords you’re already ranking for, and in what location you perform.

Also, your current Google My Business listing will be thoroughly examined to analyze reviews and competitors’ benchmarks. This information will help your consultant build a local SEO strategy to determine what actionable steps should be taken in order to bring your business where you want to get. 

2. On-page SEO

Can cost you from $100 to even $5,000 paid one-time separately or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

It is highly important to make sure your website is highly optimized for a specific location. This is because if you ignore proper on-page optimization, you won’t be able to rank for queries that will bring you, potential customers, afterward.

Local on-site SEO will take care of your homepage optimization, include geo-specific keywords to your titles and meta descriptions, improve your URLs, set up local schema to your pages to signal search engines what services or products your business offers and in what location.

Local SEO agencies might create service, city, and industry pages and even work on improving the general user experience on your website. It can include working on your site speed, mobile-friendliness, fixing code, adding buttons (or replacing existing ones), and even restructuring your website as a whole. 

You can use a free tool called On-Page SEO Checker that will help you identify issues with your on-site SEO for a specific URL and keyword. Furthermore, you’ll even get a piece of advice on how to fix the most critical issues.

3. Content Management 

Can cost you from $50 to $2,500 monthly, oftentimes is included in a package 

Local SEO content includes your blog, product or service pages, guest posting, and all the written parts of your website. An SEO firm is supposed to optimize your existing content and create an efficient strategy to increase your rankings while taking care of the content for you. 

Well-written blog posts with incorporated SEO keywords can improve your reputation while generating the most relevant traffic to your website. If your blog is optimized for a local search, visitors will come across it when they will be searching for products or services. Good content optimization will increase your local SEO cost but will ensure your high Google rankings so more people will come across your posts when searching for things you write about. 

High-quality content can potentially earn you backlinks that your rankings will only benefit from. This is because the more unique and expertise content you share, the more other businesses and people will be using it as a reference by including a precious link to the source, your page. 

Keep in mind that the quality and scope of work you will get from a local SEO agency directly depend on how much you’re ready to pay. If you’re ready to learn and create SEO blog posts yourself, you will save a tremendous amount of money. This way you can hire a professional local SEO firm to audit what you already have in order to come up with an efficient local strategy, but define that content creation will be on you. 

Here, keep in mind that in this case, it’s crucial to start using a local rank tracker. It will monitor all the changes happening to your SEO positions, will notify you so you could react faster, and tweak your strategy accordingly if it’s not performing well. I have a separate blog post where you can read about why local rank tracking is so important and how to set it up in a few clicks. 

4. Google My Business Optimization

Can cost you from $200 to $500 monthly or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

Google My Business is key for local SEO optimization. It provides all the information about your brand while signaling search engines what is your target location. The job of a Local SEO specialist is to audit the current state of your Google My Business listing and analyze what can be improved in order to beat the competitors. 

In order to set up or bring your existing Google My Business profile to the next level, local SEO professionals have to create posts once a month, add and optimize images, add special offers (if applicable), and work on increasing your local SEO positions. 

5. Local Citation and Link Building Management

Local citation can cost you from $150 a month if maintained separately or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package. Link Building can cost you $150-200 for a link, but can also be added into packages. 

Local citations are a very crucial instrument to use when optimizing your website for a local search. These are the places where you can include your business, explain what services you provide, and in what areas in order to get references from them on their websites. Major business directories include Wase, Angie’s List, TripAdvisor, MojoPages, Yelp, Yellowpages, and others. You have to keep in mind that each location may have smaller niche directories that people trust.

When another website is leaving a link on yours it signals search engines that your site is trustworthy and authoritative. Having backlinks to your site will significantly improve your SEO rankings. Because your business isn’t nationwide, link building is one of the most affordable local SEO services. 

Some local SEO agencies will manage your citations manually, but the majority now uses an automated service called Yext to distribute your website across all the directories your business is relevant for. There is nothing bad about Yext – it ensures that the information about you is evenly distributed across the web to make sure you won’t miss any potential client online. 

6. Reviews and Online Reputation Management

Can cost you from $25 to $250 monthly or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

Managing reviews is crucial for local internet marketing. It is because more than 80% of people trust online reviews when making a purchase. Moreover, Google Maps takes your review rating into account before making a final decision about what local results to put first. That’s why reviews can increase or drop your reputation in minutes. 

Implementing reviews management can often be called online reputation management. This part of local SEO is definitely among the most crucial ones. If you opt for packaged services make sure local SEO price includes reviews management. Some local SEO companies include creating a strategy to increase the number of fresh reviews sometimes by automating feedback generation after each purchase. 

Other agencies may provide a more efficient approach like implementing email marketing or involving social media channels in order to persuade your customers to be more active and motivate them to leave a review by creating giveaways or providing freebies. Local SEO agencies can even incorporate account managers whose job will be to reply to any type of reviews as soon as they come up and improve your brand credibility online. 

7. Social Media Management 

Can cost you from $100 to $1000 monthly or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

Implementing social media marketing to your local SEO strategy can become a game-changer for you. This is because social media can tremendously increase engagement with your potential customers. This is because social platforms help you share offers, upcoming events, and your achievements in the most interactive and easy way. 

Of course, the number of potential platforms is huge and it can increase local SEO services cost for your business, but the spectrum can vary. A local SEO agency can do its minimum by creating a couple of relevant social media accounts for you that the majority of your customers use. After the accounts are live, managers can distribute content across those platforms. Although this scenario is cheaper and won’t be implementing ads to boost your visibility, you will keep a sustainable online presence.

Another option that SEO professionals can provide you with will increase your local SEO cost but will be more effective accordingly. Managers will create an SMM strategy based on market analysis and will not only start creating unique and valuable content especially for your target audience but will also promote your business using ads. It will allow your posts to get seen by a greater number of people. 

8. Reporting

Can cost you from $80 per month or from $1,000 to $2,500 monthly when included in a package

Local SEO reporting will keep you aware of the overall performance. Tracking metrics and data will help you see a big picture of what has been done and what outcomes it has led to. Monthly reporting is always included in local SEO services cost. This is a perfect way for you to see where your money goes and whether or not you’re getting what you’ve been promised or needed to opt for more affordable SEO services.

Final Thoughts

Implementing local SEO is crucial if you have a business that operates in a certain area. Yes, the local SEO pricing can vary depending on your business location, the density in competition, and your business needs, but investing in it will bring your visibility and conversion to the next level. 

I hope I managed to give you the answer you needed. Read my recent blog post about 18 benefits of local SEO you didn’t know about if you’re still doubting whether or not diving into local SEO.