A quality local SEO campaign can skyrocket your organic rankings and blow your competition out of the water. Find out exactly how much a quality SEO agency will cost for a local SEO campaign.
Local SEO is quickly becoming one of the best ways for small businesses to reach their ideal local customers. Our local SEO statistics reveal that 98% of Google users search online to find local businesses. This is a clear sign that local SEO is the best way for businesses to reach their ideal local customers.
It doesn’t matter if you are a brick and mortar store, a local service based business or a a business who offers physical products, local SEO is one of the best ways to dramatically increase your businesses visibility. In this post you will find out exactly how much local SEO will cost your business and the specific elements that will go into any SEO campaigns budget.
So, how much does Local SEO cost in Australia?
Most SEO agencies in Australia won’t give you a clear answer on this, and this is something that really grinds our gears at Australian Web Experts. As with all things SEO the answer is that “it depends on a variety of factors”, however we clearly outline our local SEO pricing here.
As you can see by our upfront pricing, the total cost of local SEO starts at $500 + GST per month and can go all the way up to $10,000 + GST per month.
The total cost of your local SEO campaign will depend on your businesses goals, industry and current position in the search engines. It will also depend on the level of involvement you require your SEO agency to have in your campaign and other factors.
However, we believe in transparent local SEO pricing and local SEO prices, which is why we advertise our local SEO pricing upfront. This provides local businesses with the information they need to figure out the SEO budget their business needs. While the local SEO package that you undertake will be up to you, our typical local SEO client budget is around $1,000 + GST per month.
With the average budget for local SEO being $1,000 per month, this allows Australian Web Experts to dramatically increase your local businesses search rankings and push the needle forward across your aspects of your local SEO campaign.
What Goes Into The Cost Of A Local SEO Campaign?
There are a number of factors that go into the cost a local SEO campaign. If you would like a comprehensive rundown of these different factors, check out our local SEO ranking factors guide.
We will discuss some of the most budget heavy aspects of your local SEO campaign here and where most of your SEO budget should be allocated. These local SEO budget factors are just a few examples of what might go into the overall budget of your SEO campaign. Every businesses local SEO campaign will look different and have different requirements.
With that out of the way, let’s jump right in.
#1. The Number Of Areas Your Business Services
When it comes to optimising a business for local SEO, there are a number of factors that will come into play. One of the most important is the number of areas that the business services and whether or not your business services multiple locations.
The more areas that a business services, the more expensive the SEO campaign will be. This is because it will be necessary to optimise Google My Business and Google Maps to cover all of the relevant areas properly, particularly if your business services multiple locations.
In addition, the SEO agency that you work with will need to carry out more research in order to identify the most effective keywords for each area. In saying this, businesses should not be put off by the higher local SEO cost associated with servicing multiple areas.
The benefits of local SEO are well worth the investment, and businesses that take advantage of it will see a significant increase in website traffic and enquiries.
#2. Your Businesses Current Position In Google
For any business looking at undertaking a SEO campaign, the current positioning of your business in the organic search results will play an important role. Local SEO is no different. A business’s current position in Google will factor into the level of work and budget required for their local SEO campaign.
The SEO work that has already been completed on the website will be taken into account. If a website has good quality content and is well-optimised, it will require less work to get it ranking highly in Google. On the other hand, if a website is poorly optimised or has low-quality content, it will require more work to get it ranking highly.
When we commence a local SEO audit for businesses, we take into account your current Google Maps positioning, local map pack rankings and other integral local SEO factors to see where your SEO budget should be allocated.
For example, if your business already has a good-standing in the organic search results, we are able to allocate local SEO resources to higher impact local SEO ranking elements. However, if your website has had no prior local SEO work completed, we will need to allocate SEO resources to the core foundational aspects of your local SEO campaign.
#3. Your Competitors
For businesses who want to increase their local SEO rankings, they need to be aware of their competition and what they’ve been doing in terms of optimising their site for better visibility. This is because the level of work required to rank highly in local search results can vary depending on the amount of competition.
If there are a lot of businesses competing for the same keywords, then it’s likely that more work will be required in order to rank above them.
On the other hand, if there isn’t much competition, then it may not take as much work to achieve top local SEO ranking positions. In either case, it’s important to research the level of competition before embarking on a local SEO campaign. Otherwise, you may end up spending more time and effort than necessary to achieve your desired results.
The level of work your competitors have completed and the overall competitiveness of your industry will be a large determining factor for the total cost of your local SEO campaign.
#4. Your Local Backlink Profile
Your businesses existing local backlink profile will play a major role in your overall local SEO campaign. Tying back into your competitor analysis, if your business doesn’t have many authority backlinks from local websites, however your competitors do – you will have trouble outranking them in the local search results.
Beyond this, Google and search engines require a websites overall trust to be at a certain level for that website to appear properly in the organic search results. This is a critical factor for your local SEO campaign. As a general rule, the level of local backlinks that you need to obtain for your local SEO campaign will be an important budget factor.
Obtaining high-quality local backlinks can be a time consuming task for any business owner or SEO agency, and as your backlink profile is an integral local SEO factor, this element needs to be considered when deciding which SEO package to undertake.
A healthy, natural backlink profile is a key trust signal to Google and should not be skipped when considering the overall cost for your local SEO campaign.
Local SEO Packages vs DIY SEO
Like any business owner, it is important consider where your marketing budget should be allocated. You might be wondering if local SEO is something that you can manage yourself, or if it is integral to hire a local SEO company to manage your local SEO for you.
The harsh reality is that if you are not a local SEO expert or a SEO professional, it is unlikely that you will be able to effectively achieve your desired local SEO results. Local search engine optimisation is a highly competitive space and any SEO agency worth their weight will know the exact local SEO tactics to use and to deploy on your website.
If you are a local business that is looking to manage your local SEO yourself, we have a number of different SEO resources that can put you in the right direction. While it is definitely possible for a local business to manage and execute their own local SEO strategy, a SEO agency that hires local SEO professionals will be your best bet to increase your local rankings and local presence.
Am I Being Overcharged For Local SEO?
If you are already engaging a local SEO agency and paying thousands per month, with no results, you may be wondering if you are being overcharged for local SEO services. Local SEO services cost a substantial amount of money; particularly if they aren’t increasing your local presence or local rankings.
It is quite common for a SEO company with limited local SEO experience to overcharge for local SEO services. They simply do not understand what goes into managing a local SEO strategy and this can be detrimental for a local business owner.
As a general rule, if you are a local business paying above $2,000 per month and not seeing an increase across your online visibility, it may be time to audit what your chosen SEO agency is completing on a monthly basis.
Australian business owners often think that a high monthly budget will mean increased organic traffic and local leads, however this sometimes isn’t the case. If you are working with an inexperienced local SEO professional, they can sometimes be doing more harm than good.
This isn’t to say you should look for a cheap SEO agency, as oftentimes cheap SEO agencies will also not have the experience required to achieve local SEO marketing strategies.
Cheap SEO teams will often implement bad SEO or use black hat SEO strategies that harm your website. These black hat SEO techniques can penalise your entire website, so we never recommend hiring a cheap SEO agency that offers bargain basement SEO.
The deciding factor on whether or not you are being overcharged for SEO is if your business is busier or not. If you are not experiencing a higher influx of leads, phone calls, website traffic and ultimately, increased profit – you are overpaying for local SEO.
And most importantly, you need to question if the influx of customers coming from your local area is outweighing the cost of your local SEO campaign.
Why Local SEO Services Are Worth The Investment
There’s no denying that local SEO is an incredible way for businesses to dramatically increase their website traffic and overall customers. It is one of the best ways to connect with your ideal local customers and can have a giant affect on your businesses health, and importantly, profit.
With an overwhelming majority of Google consumers using the search engine to research, engage with and hire local businesses, there is no reason why your business shouldn’t be harnessing the power of local SEO. Local SEO forms an important part of your digital marketing strategy and should be allocated budget.
Google has gone above and beyond to level the playing field for local businesses looking to compete in the organic search results and local SEO shouldn’t be skipped by any serious business owner.
Partner With An Australian Local SEO Company
Local SEO is now a critical element to any businesses digital marketing and SEO strategy. It is important to consider the overall costs and level of work that needs to go into your local SEO campaign, as this will have an impact on the overall results you garner and how quickly your business will achieve its’ digital marketing goals.
At Australian Web Experts, our SEO experts love working on local SEO campaigns since they can change a business owners life and livelihood for the better.
With upfront local SEO pricing and a key focus on return on investment for each of our clients, our local SEO services are one of the best ways that Australian businesses can connect with their ideal local customers.
If you would like to speak to one of our local SEO experts, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team.