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Best local SEO agencies

Our team’s picks for the top local SEO companies include:

Agency Best for Strengths Weaknesses
WebFX Revenue generation
  • ROI
  • Strategies
  • Innovation
  • Pricing
Peal Lemon Ecommerce
  • Communication
  • Quality
  • Business size
Outsmart Labs Brand building
  • Strategies
  • Communication
  • Innovation
  • Research
Flamingo Agency Small businesses
  • Communication
  • Talent
  • Communication
WillShall Consulting Consulting
  • Pricing
  • Strategies
  • Innovation

Note: For more information on how we selected these agencies, view our methodology

1.     WebFX

Best for: Revenue generation

Services: Local SEO, SEO, content marketing, website design

Starting price: $3,000+ / month

Get a local search partner that focuses on leadership’s most important metrics, like revenue and qualified leads, with WebFX. In the past five years, WebFX has helped its clients capture more than $10 billion in revenue from the web.

2.     Peal Lemon

Best for: Ecommerce

Services: Local SEO, Platform-specific SEO, SEO recovery

Starting price: $1,000+ / project

Streamline search engine optimization for platforms like Webnode, Joomla, BigCommerce, and more with Pearl Lemon, a U.K.-based local search engine optimization company. In addition, Pearl Lemon provides support for resolving Google penalties.

3.     Outsmart Labs

Best for: Brand building

Services: Local SEO, influencer marketing, branding

Starting price: $5,000+ / project

Launch a new brand or redefine an existing one with Outsmart Labs, which provides local SEO services, plus influencer marketing, social media, and branding support to companies looking to break into the market.

4.     Flamingo Agency

Best for: Small business

Services: Local SEO, website design, SEO

Starting price: $1,000+ / project

Access the support small businesses need with Flamingo Agency, which specializes in website design and development, plus local SEO. The agency serves companies across the Chicago, IL, area and beyond.

5.     WillShall Consulting

Best for: Consulting

Services: Local SEO, social media, web development

Starting price: $1,000+ / project

Optimize costs with WillShall Consulting, a local SEO consulting company based in India that provides SEO, digital marketing, and web development support. The agency also offers ongoing search engine optimization support.

Methodology

Local SEO is more than rankings and traffic — it’s reputation and revenue. You put significant trust into a local SEO service provider to manage and grow your business’s reputation and revenue. That’s why our team developed a multi-pronged approach for evaluating local SEO agencies:

Factor Considerations
Performance
  • Preferred metrics
  • Consistency
  • Agency’s own local SEO
Experience
  • Years of experience
  • Industry-specific experience
  • Average employee experience
Business size
  • Client-to-team ratio
  • Business growth since start
Reviews (client and employee)
  • Average rating
  • Average rating over the past 12 months
  • Review trends
Recognition
  • Number of awards
  • Type of awards
  • Awarding organizations
  • Agency and team certifications
Technology
  • Local listing solutions
  • Data ownership
  • Use of white-label or proprietary technology
Innovation
  • Strategies
  • Tactics
  • Adaptation to shifts

 

Buyer’s guide

Learn more about partnering with a local SEO marketing company in our buyer’s guide:

Getting started

Get answers to the most common questions about outsourcing local search engine optimization:

What is a local SEO agency?

A local SEO agency provides one-time or ongoing services to businesses serving specific areas, like HVAC companies, healthcare centers, and recreational venues, to improve the company’s visibility in localized organic search results.

What do local SEO companies do?

Local SEO companies provide full- or partial-service solutions for helping businesses reach users in their service areas via organic search. These solutions can range from on-call consulting to complete management of the business’s local search engine optimization efforts.

How much do local SEO services cost?

Local SEO services cost $300 to $2000 per month, $100 to $300 per hour, or $1500 to $3000 per project. How much businesses pay for local SEO services depends on the number of locations, agency experience, and strategy aggressiveness.

What do local SEO services include?

Local SEO services from the top local SEO firms will include the following:

  • Dedicated team
  • Custom local search strategy
  • Local listing management
  • Review management
  • Keyword research and targeting
  • SEO content creation
  • Ongoing reporting

Most local SEO companies do not publish their pricing or plans online (WebFX is the exception). You’ll need to request a proposal for the most accurate listing of what an agency’s services will include and how much those services will cost.

What is the difference between local SEO services and SEO services?

The difference between local SEO services and SEO services is the focus. Local SEO focuses on organic visibility in localized search results, like ‘hotels las vegas nv,’ while SEO focuses on organic visibility in non-localized search results, ‘weekend trip ideas’.

When should I hire a local SEO firm?

From our decades of experience, we’ve seen businesses benefit most from partnering with a local SEO firm when resources are limited, whether the resource is time, budget, or skillset. Poor or plateaued performance can also signal potential value in hiring a local SEO expert.

Are local SEO companies worth it?

Whether local SEO companies are worth it (or not) depends on whether they meet your goals. Agencies that fail to meet expectations can make it feel like outsourcing wasn’t worth it. However, agencies that deliver make local SEO services feel like a fantastic decision.

That’s why it’s critical to learn how to hire an agency (and spot the best ones).

Hiring a local SEO company

Learn how to hire a top local SEO company now:

1.      Determine budget

First, determine how much budget is available for local SEO services. Remember, the biggest cost factor local SEO service pricing is the number of locations, so businesses with more locations often pay more than businesses with fewer locations.

If requesting budget from leadership, prepare to create the necessary resources to explain:

  • Benefits of local search (including for the bottom-line)
  • Benefits of outsourcing local SEO efforts

There are plenty of case studies across industries that can help explain the value of SEO.

Plan for at least a six-month commitment when budgeting for a local SEO package. Most SEO companies require a six-month contract because of how long SEO takes to work — three to six months.

2.      Outline goals

Next, outline your SEO goals. Most SEO goals focus on the following metrics:

  • Visibility
  • Traffic
  • Store visits
  • Leads
  • Sales

For the best results, create goals tied to business objectives, like:

  • Increase online bookings by X% in X quarter
  • Improve organic lead generation by X% in X months

Focusing on objectives that matter to leadership helps demonstrate local search engine optimization’s value, which can lead to a bigger marketing budget, scaled strategies, promotions, and more.

3.      Set requirements

You’ve got a budget and some goals. Now, determine any additional agency requirements, like:

  • Location
  • Years of experience
  • Specific deliverables (like taking care of SEO content)
  • Industry-specific experience

Speak with stakeholders to gather any additional requirements. In some cases, leadership will even have recommendations, like an agency partner from a previous role or recommended by their network.

4.      Create a shortlist

Next, create a shortlist of local SEO firms using:

  • Professional network recommendations
  • Review websites, like Clutch and G2
  • Google Search

Since most agencies do not publish their pricing online, excluding companies based on this critical factor is difficult. What businesses can do, though, is browse the agency’s case studies which often showcase the company’s ideal or preferred client.

5.      Research top local SEO agencies

Now, dig into this list of top local SEO agencies by reviewing:

  • Case studies
  • Average ratings
  • Reviews
  • Plans and/or pricing (if available)

No firm is perfect, so consider what’s most important to your team. If an agency gets positive feedback on its performance, but not its communication, think about how much that matters to your business and team.

6.      Get proposals

With a trimmed list of potential local SEO companies, it’s time to contact them.

Most agencies will request an initial meeting with your team to discuss the following:

  • Goals
  • Budget
  • Existing efforts

This meeting allows you (and the agency) to determine if the partnership is a good fit. If it isn’t, the best local SEO firms will say so and provide recommendations for alternative, but reputable SEO companies.

If the partnership seems like a good fit, though, the agency will develop a proposal that includes:

  • Deliverables
  • Pricing
  • Roadmap

During these communications, remember to ask questions like:

  • How much experience do you have in my industry?
  • How much time will you require from my company on an ongoing basis?
  • Do you require a contract? If so, for how long?

You can make an informed decision with these questions and the agency’s answers.

7.      Hire an agency

Finally, choose a local SEO service provider!

Your provider will share the next steps for finalizing the agreement and what happens afterward!

Update internal stakeholders (for the best results, keep stakeholders informed throughout the process) about the decision and when the services will start. You can also share an expected date for initial performance updates.

8.      Start onboarding

Once hired, the agency will begin the onboarding process, which includes:

  • Assigning a dedicated local SEO team
  • Receiving site and local listing access
  • Getting brand guidelines documentation
  • Meeting day-to-day point-of-contacts

Initially, agencies will require more time from your team, but this will lessen after onboarding.

Create revenue growth with the #1 local SEO company

Streamline local search engine optimization — and turn it into a revenue engine — with WebFX, the #1 local SEO company. With our innovative strategies, technology, and team, our clients have generated more than $10 billion in revenue over the past five years via strategies like local SEO.

Start creating revenue growth for your business by contacting us online today for a proposal!

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