Local SEO cost varies dramatically between agency and area. So, how much should you expect to pay for your local SEO campaign?
Local search engine optimisation is one of the most powerful routes to increase the visibility of a website, enhance the online presence of a company, and connect businesses with their local consumers.
Today, your online visibility is more critical than ever. The latest search statistics reveal that 97% of consumers research a company via the internet. As a business, you can make it easy for your target market to learn about your company by offering up information about your company and your story through your website. Local SEO is the key to driving that information directly into the lap of the target audience nearby.
Whether you’re an online business, a service-based company, or a brick and mortar location with physical stores, having your information consistently visible online is paramount to substantial business growth. By implementing local SEO, businesses can significantly boost the visibility of this valuable information for their local area and stand out against their competition.
So, how much does Local SEO cost?
Unfortunately, the answer is not nearly as straight forward as the question.
We know how frustrating these vague responses can be – but hear us out.
Local SEO prices are a lot like the prices of a house. Your price will match your needs. Every home will come at a different rate, and every local SEO campaign will vary in costs.
If a marketer is providing you with a concrete local SEO price without a full website audit, they are not going to provide you with a reliable local SEO solution that will fit your business. The reason we refuse to give a simple answer to that question is that we are committed to providing a tailored and personalised structure for each client; each campaign will come at a different price.
The price of Local SEO services varies significantly based on the required work and the desired outcomes. Local SEO is a location tailored approach to boosting online visibility and presence. Local SEO costs will largely depend on the factors of the business, the area, the industry, and the competition.
However, we understand that businesses may need a general price bracket to work within marketing budgets. For the purpose of providing a broad price bracket: Local SEO services from a legitimate SEO agency like Safari Digital start at $1,000 per month and can cost up to $3,000 per month.
It’s essential to keep in mind that these prices only approximations, and the cost of each local SEO campaign will vary depending on a myriad of elements.
Ultimately, the amount that you pay for local online search marketing will depend on the direction you choose and the long-term value you intend to get out of the service. Local SEO prices can fluctuate hugely, depending on how much money business owners plan to invest in their website and business.
Factors Influencing the Cost of Local SEO in Australia
Several factors will determine the amount charged for local SEO services. These circumstances include:
1. Number of Locations That You Service
If your business operates in multiple locations, you can expect more work put in to optimising location pages and attempting to rank well for each suburb. Companies with numerous physical locations will require extra work as each store will have its address and phone number. These contact details will have to be consistent throughout each web page, Google My Business listings and any directory citations.
If a business has multiple areas that they service, an SEO specialist will spend more time creating pages that rank for each of these target locations with relevant key terms. This way, when someone is searching for a service in a specific area, the relevant pages for the website will display in the search results.
For example, an electrician’s website that operates in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney may have specific location pages created for this very reason. This way, rather than targeting larger regional areas with “Electrician Sydney”, when a homeowner searches for “Electrician Bondi” the website will show in SERPs with the relevant Bondi page.
Targeting local areas for service-based businesses is a great way to extend reach and find customers that are ready to purchase. Ranking for “Bondi” rather than “Sydney”, will be much easier, as the competition is low and more specific. Not to mention, users searching for services in their local area are likely to convert to a paying customer. In other words, these key terms + location are low competition and high conversion.
2. Your Competition
The nature of the competition a business faces will be the main factor for determining the costs of local SEO. The more competitive the industry is, the more work there will be required to make an impact on SERPs. With higher amounts of SEO work required to beat the competition, businesses can expect to pay more for local SEO.
Businesses operating in a reasonably saturated market will be up against competition that is likely to have already engaged in local SEO tactics. If you want to keep up with your adversaries, local SEO is imperative to getting your business to stand out.
To outrank your competition, you will need to invest more money in local SEO to see results. An SEO expert will require more time to assess the competition, before creating pages, content and domain authority for your website that is both more relevant and more valuable than theirs.
3. Products & Services
Another element to consider is how many products or services you’d like to promote with your website through local SEO. If your intentions are to rank for each product and service, an SEO will need to implement local SEO strategies for each product and service.
Consolidating product and service pages is not helpful for search engines, customers, and it doesn’t aid SEO efforts. To accurately apply product/service schema to each of the services that your website offers, they require separate pages.
Basic local SEO for each product or service will involve the creation of individual pages for each of the services that are offered. Each product will have its own set of appropriate keywords that your competitors are likely already ranking for. After creating each page, the SEO specialist will need to optimise each page with the relevant key terms for the product. On-page optimisation will increase the chances of the product pages ranking in search for the key terms users are searching to find the product.
The more products and services your business offers, the more work will be required to create and appropriately optimise pages. If your company sells or delivers on a large number of products or services, you can expect to pay more for local SEO services.
Cookie Cutter Local SEO Campaigns
When it comes to Local SEO costs, the fundamental point to consider is that every business is entirely different, and therefore, every local SEO campaign will be unique. If your company only services a single location, it will require less work than a business with multiple stores. If your business only has a few products or services, the amount of work expected for each product page will differ from companies with thousands of products.
SEO, in general, does not allow for one-size-fits-all strategies and campaigns. For local SEO to be successful, the campaign must be moulded around the business requirements, goals, budget, and industry. Cheap local SEO services that are lacking tailored methods for each website will not provide a solid local SEO foundation for your business.
Local SEO is an Investment
Why rent advertising real-estate with PPC marketing when you can own page 1 with local SEO?
The question Australian business owners need to be asking themselves is not how much local SEO costs, but how much local SEO can benefit their business. While many people are often surprised by the high prices of quality local SEO services, when you take into account the return on investment, the initial price point is very reasonable.
Local SEO allows for consistent business growth, increased online brand awareness, and the opportunity for businesses to connect with their local customers. When executed well, local SEO can be the primary difference between you and your competitors. To learn more about how your business can benefit from local SEO, get in touch with our team at Safari Digital for a consultation.
Interested in Local SEO Services for your business? Get in touch below to discuss your business with an SEO specialist.
