Frequently Asked Questions

I’ll try and answer any common questions about Local SEO that normally come up. If you don’t see your question answered below, please give me a shout HERE and I’ll get you an answer – pronto!

Q. What exactly is Local SEO?

A. Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an organic search system based on keywords (your business niche, products and services), good reviews from happy customers around the internet and relevance for (and in) your local market. Not to be confused with paid search advertising (Google Adwords, for example), Local SEO takes advantage of Google’s great local business promotion model that, if used correctly, can position that business in front of their respective customers in a very effective way. In other words, successful Local SEO can make or break a local business.

successful local seo

For more details on Local SEO, please see this page.

Q. How long does the Local SEO System take to work?

A. Since NOBODY has an “exclusive” relationship with the search engines (and by search engines I pretty much mean Google since they are about 80% of the market. Love Google or hate Google, they’re THE major player and we need them. ‘Nuff said), we don’t have any control over how long our system takes to work.

Realistically speaking, there is an outside chance that our efforts will never be successful although, knock on wood, I’ve never had a total flop – yet. Experience helping many local clients reveals that results vary greatly. I’ve seen nice results in a month. I’ve also waited, and waited for results to happen for over 6 months. And we did see really nice results after the wait – consistent first page ranking for a really competitive business niche (water damage). But we had to work for it – and we had to wait for it.

Many factors affect the ability to rank a local business successfully – here are just a few of the major factors that can make Local SEO a sometimes difficult process.

  • The number of different phone numbers and addresses the business has had over the years.
  • The business’s local reputation.
  • The competition in the particular business niche.