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Search Engine Optimization - it’s always been a complicated dance, but local SEO is one with much more challenging moves. It can be so complex that it’s best to grab a partner for this one and hire a local SEO agency. 

Why Your Dance Partner Matters

Have you ever watched a dance competition? The scores are based on all dance components, how well both parties followed the routine together, the technicalities, and the finished product. Hiring an agency to help optimize your site for local means amping up your scores on the most technical side of that dance. 

After all, many factors go into local SEO, and it could take months for you to understand better what Google wants so you can rank right there with others for those near me searches. A local SEO agency, though, already understands those factors, and in many cases, they’ll even help you implement them so that you don’t have to worry about handling them on your own. 

Why bother doing the dance at all? These days, local search matters. Take a moment to imagine you’re out shopping and you need the closest restaurant. If you’re like most people, the first move you’ll make is to pull out your phone and do a “near me” search. Nearly everybody does today, and those kinds of searches are precisely why you want to optimize for local. 

If you do, Google is more likely to find your company when someone near me searches for a business like yours, significantly increasing the foot traffic to your company. Estimates suggest that people performing a local search from a smartphone are considerably more likely than anyone else to visit your business within 24 hours of performing that search. 

A good local SEO partner can help you take advantage of that. They can expand your online network—the search engines see-through networks of links. The stronger your network of links pointing to your website, the higher your website ranking will be, and a good local SEO company will be able to expand that network.

Your local SEO team will also understand exactly which keywords you need to access those local clients. Local keywords and general SEO keywords aren’t the same thing, and your team will help you better optimize for both. Your local SEO team may even be able to integrate your social media work with your SEO to help you stay present in customers’ minds. 

A Few Things to Keep In Mind About Local SEO Agencies

As you begin your search for a West Palm Beach SEO company, there are a few things you’ll want to know. First, just as in a dance competition, partners don’t become great overnight. There’s a lot of time and effort involved. You’ll want to keep that in mind as you begin the dance toward local SEO success. This will be a long-term relationship between the two of you. 

When you find the right agency to help, be honest about past mistakes you have made within Google’s guidelines, deliver what you promise on your end, clearly communicate your expectations, and expect changes to take place along the way.

Hiring the Right Dance Partner

Ready to get started? Look for references from others in your industry. Do a bit of research about companies that work within your vertical, too. You may also want to do some research about local SEO to precisely understand what’s going on. When you’re ready to talk to a few different agencies, be wary of those that cold contact you for your business. 

Be wary of agencies that offer to get you #1 rankings, too. Just as with traditional SEO, there are no guarantees when it comes to local SEO. 

You’ll also want to think about choosing an agency that meets your standards of accessibility. You want to be in continual communication with your team of local SEO specialists, so ask how often you can expect to be contacted. Regular reporting is just as necessary here as it is with any other form of SEO.

You may be wondering now, “how do I hire the best agency for local SEO?” It is best to hire a local SEO agency that meets your business needs. You can ask these questions to guide your search:

• Are your marketing practices consistent with all of Google’s guidelines?
• Based on what you already know about my business and my market, are the goals I have set realistic?
• Before you create a strategy for my business, how much time will you spend researching my current market?
• What expectations will you have of me?
• Do you have an anonymized client report I can see?
• Are you able to show me growth for the 3 clients that you are responsible for?
• What is your story? What kind of history and involvement do you have in my industry?

Once you have decided that you have found the best agency for local SEO, it is time to ask them to dance. Remember, it will take some time, communication from both parties, and patience, but in the long run, learning to dance with your local SEO agency will pay off in so many ways.