Affordable local SEO services that still get great results

Why affordable local SEO services are in high demand

With economic crises forcing digital marketing departments and small businesses to tighten their budgets, affordable local SEO services have become a real asset. 
Ranking in Google’s local pack (also known as the Google 3-Pack) is one of the best ways to gain visibility for your local business with minimal marketing spend. 
Access to affordable local SEO services is making it simpler than ever to reach the coveted top position in local search, so there’s no need to let a limited SEO budget get in the way of driving more local people to your business.

The kind of Google real estate you can expect to earn with affordable local SEO services

Even an affordable local SEO solution can really lighten the workload and help you run a well-oiled local SEO machine that gets results.

What an affordable local SEO solution can do for your business

Ignoring local SEO in an attempt to save money on your marketing spend is a risky bet. 
When you consider that 76% of locals end up visiting a business within 24 hours of searching for it online, you’re likely leaving money on the table by not making an effort to get your business in front of them. 
Just search for “best cocktail bars in Manhattan” and you’ll see that the top results have likely encouraged their clientele to leave a review and upload images of their locations and products.

Google local pack result for “best cocktail bars in Manhattan

But cocktail bars in Manhattan are an incredibly competitive market. For most small businesses, standing out against your competitors isn't anywhere near as difficult and even covering the local SEO basics can seriously boost your position. Affordable SEO services for small businesses can help you rank neck-and-neck with the big local players and increase the number of customers coming through your door.

What to look for in an affordable local SEO service

To keep costs down, look for an all-in-one local SEO service to give you the best possible value for money and biggest return on investment. 
The first thing you’re going to want to check for in an affordable SEO service is the quality of the service’s listing distribution, including the number of directories it submits to and which ones. 
Building citations helps grow your business’ online prominence, which is an important local ranking factor (Google says so itself ). Citations get your business’ NAP (name, address, phone number) data out there and allow search engines like Google to verify that your data is accurate and consistent.

An online listing audit conducted by Semrush’s Listing Management tool

You might have noticed that a lot of top-ranking local businesses have a good number of positive reviews. If you're to take your local SEO seriously, you’ll need a strategy for reaching out to customers and asking them to leave you a review on Google. 
And unless you've got a lot of time on your hands and impeccable organization skills, a tool that will help you manage reviews across multiple platforms should be on the essentials checklist too. 
Duplicate listings can easily appear, whether they’re created by past employees, directories or Google itself. Multiple directory listings or Google Business Profiles are harmful to your local SEO and are simply a headache you don’t need. Shortlist affordable local SEO services that can seek them out for you and help you eliminate them with minimal effort.

How much do small business SEO services cost?

Depending on the level of service you're looking for, there’s a wide range of price points for affordable small business SEO services. 
However, it pays to shop around and focus on value for money; the most expensive option isn’t necessarily going to get you the best results. 
Large businesses with deep pockets might invest in a dedicated local SEO agency or in-house team, throwing as much money as possible at the problem in hopes of being number one in an unrealistic time frame.

Google results for “best hair salon in Los Angeles

However, Google doesn’t simply favor businesses that can attract thousands of reviews and hire a team of writers to pack their websites full of optimized content. 
Small businesses can still compete with a more affordable local SEO service, as long as they commit to best practices and don’t cut corners. 
Semrush’s Local has a range of local SEO pricing options for all budgets, and can even get you started for free! 
Begin with a free citation audit (limited to five locations per day), which shows you which directories already have a listing for your business, as well as your average review ratings. 
Step up to a Basic Location package for just $20/month and Semrush’s Listing Management tool will distribute your citation to 70+ directories, alert you to duplicates and allow you to suppress them easily, take action on user suggestions, track local rankings, manage your reviews, and optimize your listing for voice search. 
That’s more than enough features to get your local SEO moving, but for the perfectionist, $40/month gets you a Premium Location, which gives you access to the Map Rank Tracker tool so you can visualise positions at a granular level. You can also reply to Google reviews directly in the Semrush interface as well as monitor others from popular platforms. How’s that for an affordable local SEO service?

Bonus tip: Semrush´s Listing Management tool jump-starts your local SEO with comprehensive citation distribution, review management, duplicate listing suppression, and local rank tracking.

Don’t forget! All that local SEO work needs to be measurable, so you can be sure it’s doing its job and moving your business up the local rankings. Choose an affordable local SEO service that includes a reliable ranking tracker.