Local SEO Secret Revealed

A local SEO industry survey, managed by SEO software company Brightlocal, revealed that the most in-demand SEO services are on-site SEO and Google+ optimization. Conducted between January 20 and February 20 of this year, the survey evaluated the health and nature of the local SEO industry by focusing on five key areas: agency size and turnover, clients and industries, marketing and sales, services and tasks, and future outlooks. The majority of survey respondents included freelancers, small digital agencies and web designers, with a total of 1,409 respondents. 

On-site SEO and Google+ optimization were the most in-demand services, out-ranking web development, link building, PPC, content creation and optimization, and social media marketing. Less than five percent of customers requested affiliate marketing. BrightLocal noted that services most often requested by customers reflected the services mostly likely offered by SEO agencies, “In the local arena, digital marketing is driven by the supply side because knowledge resides firmly in the minds of SEOs and digital marketing professionals.”

When it comes to marketing their own business, 91 percent of survey respondents said word-of-mouth was the most successful tool for gaining new clients, while only 46 percent gave credit to SEO, which ranked second. Of all the social networks, Linkedin was the most popular for finding leads with 18 percent of respondents favoring the professional networking site over Facebook and Twitter.