Local SEO is optimizing your website to show up in search results when people in your area search for your services. When someone googles "plumber in Sydney" or "nail salon near me," local SEO determines which businesses appear. You need it because that's how customers find service providers now, not the Yellow Pages, not newspaper ads, but Google searches. If you're not showing up in those searches, you're invisible to potential customers who are actively looking for exactly what you offer. Your competitors who do show up are getting those calls and bookings instead of you.

Honestly? SEO isn't instant. Typical timeline is 2-4 months to start seeing noticeable improvement, with continued gains over 6-12 months as Google recognizes your site as authoritative and relevant. This is slower than running paid ads, but the results last longer and cost less over time. Think of it like this: paid ads are renting traffic; SEO is building equity. Once you rank well, you get ongoing free traffic without paying per click. We start seeing your site appear for local searches within the first month or two, and rankings continue improving as long as we maintain the optimization.

Regular SEO tries to rank nationally or globally. Local SEO focuses on ranking for searches in your specific geographic area. For service businesses, local SEO is what matters because you serve a specific region, you don't care if someone in Sydney finds you when you only operate in Brisbane. Local SEO optimizes for "[service] near me" and "[service] in [city]" searches, integrates with Google Business Profile, and targets the customers who can actually use your services because they're in your service area.

On-page SEO is everything we optimize directly on your website to improve rankings. This includes: title tags (what shows up in search results), meta descriptions (the preview text under your title), header tags that structure your content, keyword optimization throughout your pages, image alt text, internal linking between pages, URL structure, page loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and schema markup that tells Google what your business does. Basically, making sure every element of every page is optimized to rank well for relevant searches. We handle all of this during your website build and maintain it ongoing.

We can't guarantee #1 rankings, nobody can, and anyone who promises that is lying. Google's algorithm considers hundreds of factors, and your competitors are also working on their SEO. What we CAN do is optimize your site properly, target the right keywords, and give you the best possible chance to rank well. Most of our clients rank on page one for their primary local searches within a few months. Page one is what matters, studies show 75% of people never look at page two. Whether you're position #1 or #5 on page one, you're getting clicks and calls.

The technical SEO is completely done-for-you, we handle all the optimization during your website build and maintain it ongoing. However, SEO works better with fresh, relevant content. If you can occasionally add content (new service offerings, blog posts, customer success stories), that helps. But it's not required. The core on-page optimization we do will get you ranking even if you never touch the site after launch. Additional content just accelerates results.

We target keywords your actual customers use when searching. For example, if you're a plumber in Brisbane, we optimize for searches like "plumber Brisbane," "emergency plumber near me," "blocked drain Brisbane," "hot water repair Brisbane," etc. We research what people in your area actually search for and optimize your site for those specific terms. Not generic corporate jargon that sounds good but nobody searches, real phrases that drive real traffic. We discuss target keywords with you during setup to make sure we're focusing on the services you want to be found for.

Your website is built mobile-responsive from day one, meaning it automatically adapts to look perfect on phones and tablets. Google heavily prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search rankings because most searches now happen on mobile devices. We also optimize loading speed on mobile, make buttons easy to tap, ensure text is readable without zooming, and structure the site so mobile users can quickly find what they need and book appointments. A site that works poorly on mobile doesn't rank well and doesn't convert visitors, we make sure yours excels at both.

Schema markup is code that tells search engines exactly what your business does in a language they understand. It specifies your business type, services offered, service areas, hours, contact info, and more. This helps Google show your business for relevant searches and can enable rich results (like star ratings or business hours showing directly in search results). Think of it like translating your website into "Google speak" so search engines can accurately categorize and rank you. We implement schema markup on every website, it's part of proper SEO optimization.

Your website SEO and Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) work together. When someone searches for your services locally, Google often shows a map with local businesses, that's the "local pack." Your Google Business Profile gets you into that map pack, and your website SEO gets you into the organic search results below it. Ideally, you dominate both: appearing in the map pack AND in the organic results. We optimize your website to complement your Google Business Profile so you're visible in multiple places on the search results page.

Good, that means there's proven demand for local searches in your industry. We analyze what your competitors are doing right and build a strategy to compete. Often, competitors rank well simply because they have a website and you don't, or their site is optimized and yours isn't. Proper SEO levels the playing field. You might not immediately outrank a competitor who's been optimized for years, but you can absolutely compete for visibility and capture your share of local searches. There's usually room for multiple businesses on page one.

SEO is ongoing because Google's algorithm evolves and competitors are constantly trying to rank better. However, once you achieve good rankings, maintaining them is easier and cheaper than building them from scratch. Your $247/month website subscription includes ongoing SEO maintenance, we keep your site optimized, update things as needed, and monitor performance. If you stopped all SEO work entirely, your rankings would gradually decline as competitors outpace you and Google's algorithm changes. Think of it like regular maintenance on a car, you need it to keep running well.

Yes. We provide access to analytics showing your website traffic, which keywords are driving visitors, and where your traffic comes from. You'll see your search rankings improve over time (tools can track your position for specific keywords). More importantly, you'll see it in real business results, more phone calls, more online bookings, more inquiries from people who found you on Google. The data is available if you want to dig into it, but the most obvious indicator is simply getting more customer inquiries than you did before.

Google reviews are technically separate from website SEO, but they work together. Reviews are managed through your Google Business Profile and influence your local pack rankings. More reviews (especially positive ones) help your business show up in the map pack. We help you get more reviews through automated review request campaigns that go out after appointments. Better reviews + better website SEO = maximum local visibility. They're different parts of the same strategy: getting you found and chosen by local customers.

They serve different purposes. Google Ads delivers immediate traffic but costs money per click forever. SEO takes longer to build but delivers free organic traffic that compounds over time. Most successful businesses use both: SEO for long-term sustainable traffic, and ads for immediate results or to supplement SEO while it's building momentum. Your website includes SEO optimization; ads are a separate marketing expense you can choose to add or not. For most service businesses, strong SEO eventually outperforms ads in ROI because you're not paying per click.

Bad SEO is worse than no SEO. If whoever did your previous SEO may have used outdated tactics, targeted wrong keywords, or built a slow/poorly structured site, that may explain why it failed. Our approach is built specifically for local service businesses, we optimize for the searches that actually drive bookings in your area, not generic keywords that bring useless traffic. We also build fast, mobile-friendly sites that Google rewards. If your previous SEO was done by a cheap offshore service or an agency that didn't understand local business, yeah, it probably didn't work. This is different because we specialize in service businesses and know what actually moves the needle.

Technically yes, but practically no. SEO requires understanding Google's algorithm, technical website optimization, keyword research, ongoing content strategy, and staying current with constant algorithm updates. Most business owners who try DIY SEO either give up because it's overwhelming or do it wrong and hurt their rankings. Your time is worth money, if you spent 10 hours trying to figure out SEO and did mediocre work, that's 10 billable hours lost plus poor results. We do this daily for hundreds of businesses and know what works. Let us handle SEO while you handle your actual business.

Local SEO actually favors small businesses. Big national companies can't optimize for every local market the way a local business can. When someone searches "plumber near me" in your suburb, Google wants to show local results, not a national chain's corporate website. Your advantage is being genuinely local, knowing your service area, and optimizing specifically for your community. We leverage that advantage. You're not competing with national brands; you're competing with other local service providers, and proper SEO puts you on equal footing regardless of company size.

Let's do simple math. If good SEO brings you 5 extra qualified leads per month (people who found you on Google and are ready to book), and you close even 2 of those at an average job value of $300, that's $600 in monthly revenue directly from organic search. Over a year, that's $7,200 in revenue that costs you nothing beyond your standard website subscription (which includes SEO). Unlike paid ads where you pay for every click forever, SEO keeps delivering traffic month after month without additional cost. Most businesses see significantly more than 5 monthly leads from good local SEO, so the ROI is usually much higher. And it compounds, the longer your SEO runs, the better your rankings, the more traffic, the more revenue.

You'll typically start seeing increased traffic within 4-8 weeks as Google recognizes the optimizations we've made. Actual customer calls and bookings usually pick up noticeably around the 2-3 month mark. It's not instant like paid ads, but the trajectory is steady upward growth. Month 1: Google indexes your optimized site. Month 2: You start appearing in more searches. Month 3: Rankings improve and calls increase. Month 6: You're consistently showing up and getting regular leads from organic search. Month 12: SEO is a major driver of your business growth. The patience pays off because these results last and improve over time, unlike ads that stop the moment you stop paying.