Search Engine Optimization
Small business SEO that gets you found close to home.
Our SEO services help small businesses show up when people nearby search for what they sell. We start with local SEO, because most of your customers live a short drive away, and they're searching on their phones.
How local search works
Google picks the map results on three things.
Search for a plumber or a bakery and Google shows a map with a few businesses before any websites. That box is called the map pack. Google says it chooses who goes in it based on relevance, distance and prominence.
Relevance
How well your listing and website match what the person typed. Clear categories, service pages and the words your customers use.
Distance
How far you are from the person searching. Nobody can move your shop, so we don't pretend to.
Prominence
How well known and trusted you look online. Reviews, mentions on other sites, and how consistent your details are everywhere.
You can't change where you are. You can change the other two, and that's where every hour of our SEO work goes.
What SEO work includes
Local, technical and content SEO, in the right order.
Most SEO problems fall into one of three buckets. The free audit shows which one is holding you back, so we start there instead of doing everything at once.
Local SEO: get into the map results
Local SEO is the work that connects your business to a place. It matters most if you serve a town or an area: trades, clinics, salons, shops, trainers. Most of it happens outside your website, on your Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows on Google Maps.
- Set up or tidy your Business Profile: categories, services, hours, photos and description.
- Make your name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear online.
- Build pages for the services you offer and the areas you actually cover.
- Set up a simple routine for asking happy customers to leave a review.
New to this? Start with our guide to local SEO basics for small businesses.
Technical SEO: make your site easy to read
Technical SEO is the plumbing. If Google can't load, read or understand your pages, the best words in the world won't rank. Visitors notice the same problems: slow pages, broken links, a menu that doesn't work on a phone.
- Test speed on real phones and fix what slows your pages down.
- Find broken links, missing pages and duplicate content.
- Set up Google Search Console, Google's free tool that shows how your site appears in search.
- Add structured data: small bits of code that tell Google your hours, location and services.
If the foundations are too far gone, patching them can cost more than starting fresh. That's when we'd suggest a custom website design with SEO built in.
Content: answer what customers ask
People search in questions. "How much does a new water heater cost?" "Do I need a permit for a fence?" A page that answers the question well, in plain words, is a page Google wants to show and a visitor wants to read.
- Find what your customers actually search for, in their own words.
- Rewrite page titles and headings so each page has one clear job.
- Write or improve service pages and helpful articles.
- Link your pages together so visitors and Google find the next step.
We write for people first. If a sentence only exists to fit a keyword in, it doesn't make the cut.
Your first three months
What the first 90 days look like.
Google takes time to notice and trust changes, so SEO is slow by nature. Here's how we spend the first three months, so you always know what you're paying for. We'll describe the work. We won't promise rankings.
Fix the foundations
We turn your free audit into a plan, then fix technical problems first: speed, broken pages, pages Google can't find. We set up Search Console and tidy your Business Profile, so we measure from a clean start.
Build local relevance
We correct your details on directory sites (these listings are called citations), sharpen your service pages and add area pages where they make sense. Your review routine starts here.
Answer real questions
We publish content built around what your customers search for, tighten the links between pages, and look closely at which searches you're starting to appear for.
A report you can actually read
What we did, what moved, what didn't, and what we'd do next. Then you decide whether to carry on.
Honest SEO
What we won't do.
Some SEO shortcuts work for a few weeks, then get a site pushed down or a listing suspended. You won't get any of these from us.
Guarantee you the #1 spot
Google decides rankings, not us. Anyone promising a position is guessing, or plans to show you a search nobody actually makes.
Buy links by the thousand
Cheap link packages put your site next to spam, and Google is good at spotting them. We'd rather earn a few real mentions from local sites that matter.
Stuff keywords into every sentence
Pages written for robots read badly to people, and people are the ones who pick up the phone.
Fake reviews or fake addresses
Made-up reviews and virtual office addresses break Google's rules and can get your Business Profile suspended. It's never worth the risk.
Hide the work behind jargon
Every report says what we did and why, in words you'd use yourself. If a term needs explaining, we explain it.
Pricing
How SEO is priced.
We don't publish an SEO price, because a brand-new landscaper and an established home builder with a slow website need very different work. Instead, we start with a free audit to custom fit your goals and needs. You get a short list of what's holding your site back, then a fixed quote for the work we'd recommend. No hidden fees, and no long lock-in contract.
If the website itself is the problem, we'll say so. Our Bloom website package includes on-page SEO for every page, and Rare Find adds local SEO setup from day one.
Questions
SEO questions, answered plainly.
How long does SEO take to work?
Longer than ads. Technical fixes can be picked up by Google within weeks, but steady growth in local searches usually builds over several months. We report on what's changing from the first month, so you're never waiting in the dark.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is the part of SEO that helps you appear when people search for something near them, like a dentist or a dog groomer. It covers your Google Business Profile, your details on other sites, reviews and pages about the areas you serve.
Can you guarantee a first-page ranking?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Google decides rankings and changes how it does so all the time. What we can promise is honest, careful work and a clear report of what we did and what changed.
Do I need a new website before starting SEO?
Not always. Many sites only need fixes. If yours is very slow, hard to update or built on a heavy template, we'll tell you in the audit, because SEO on a weak site is money spent fighting the foundations.
How much do your SEO services cost?
SEO is quoted after a free audit, because the work depends on your site, your market and your goals. You get a fixed quote with no hidden fees before anything starts.
Am I locked in to a long-term contract?
No, we don't use long lock-in contracts. However, good SEO that follows Google's best practices takes time to show results, so we recommend sticking with us for at least 6 to 12 months to see the best results.
Find out what's keeping you off the map.
Start with a free SEO audit. We'll check how you show up in local searches today, what's broken on your site, and what we'd fix first. No obligation.