HOW MUCH DOES LOCAL SEO COST?
At Conqueror Capital, local SEO starts with our Launch plan: $297 a month in the US, with no contract. It covers the groundwork local search is built on: your website, built and live in about 48 hours, a second local guide site that sends you visitors, help showing up on Google Maps, and ongoing updates. Elsewhere, local SEO is usually sold as a monthly retainer, a one-time project or by the hour, and the price depends mostly on how many locations you have, how much needs fixing and how crowded your trade is in your area.
HOW LOCAL SEO IS PRICED
We describe these in plain words instead of quoting other companies' prices. Those prices change often, differ from city to city, and many of the figures published online come from companies that sell the service.
| Way to pay | What you usually get | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | Ongoing work on your Business Profile, website, listings and reviews, plus a report | Businesses that want steady work done for them | Minimum terms, and reports that show views instead of calls |
| One-time project | An audit, a setup or a clean-up, such as fixing duplicate listings | A specific problem with a clear finish line | Nothing keeps the profile current once the project ends |
| Hourly consulting | Advice and a plan; you or your staff do the work | Owners with time and a helper in-house | Hours add up when nobody owns the to-do list |
| Do it yourself | Free Google tools and your own time | One location, a quiet market, an owner with spare time | Your time is the cost, and mistakes can get a profile suspended |
| Conqueror Capital Launch plan | Website, local guide site, Google Maps setup and updates | Shops with no website, or one nobody finds | It is a monthly plan, not a one-time purchase |
Need more than the basics? Our larger plans add work such as monthly posts and help getting more reviews; see all plans. Pricing for Canadian businesses is different from the US price, so ask us for it.
WHAT DRIVES THE PRICE
- Locations. Each storefront has its own Business Profile, its own reviews and its own competitors, so every extra location adds work.
- Service area. A plumber who covers six towns needs pages and proof for each of them, not just the town on the sign.
- Where you start. An unverified profile, a wrong main category, duplicate listings or a site with no service pages all take setup work before anything else helps.
- Your local competition. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence.1 If the businesses near you have strong websites and many reviews, closing the gap takes longer.
- Your website. If the site is slow, has no page per service or doesn't show your city and phone number in text, it has to be fixed or rebuilt. See what a small business website costs.
- Reviews and listings. A steady, rule-following review request routine and consistent listings on Google, Apple and Bing are ongoing work, not a one-off.
- Reporting. Tracking calls, form fills and direction requests costs a little setup, and it is how you tell whether the money works.
- Ads on top. Some quotes bundle Google or Meta ads. Ask which part is the fee and which part is ad budget paid to the platform.
WHAT YOU SHOULD GET FOR THE MONEY
Whoever you hire, these are the parts of local SEO you should be able to see and check yourself:
- A complete Business Profile: the right main category, services, hours, photos and a link to your website. Our Business Profile guide lists every field.
- A website with one page per main service, your city and phone number in plain text, and LocalBusiness schema.
- Matching name, address and phone on the main listing sites.
- A way to ask customers for reviews that follows Google's rules, plus replies to the reviews you get. See how to get more Google reviews.
- A short monthly report that shows calls, forms and direction requests, not only views.
- Your own accounts. You should be the primary owner of your Business Profile, with the agency added as a manager,2 and the domain should be registered in your business name.
Want to check your own setup first? Work through our local SEO checklist.
WHEN A LOW PRICE COSTS MORE
- A promised spot on the map. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.1 Anyone who promises a set position is guessing.
- Bought or rewarded reviews. Google treats reviews given in exchange for freebies or discounts as fake and misleading content, and prohibits them.4
- Keyword-stuffed business names. Google says adding unneeded information to your business name isn't permitted and can get the profile suspended.3
- They own your accounts. If the agency is the owner of your profile or domain, leaving them gets hard.
- No exit date. Read the term length and notice period before you sign. Our guide to choosing a local SEO agency has the questions to ask.
QUESTIONS OWNERS ASK
What does $297 a month get me at Conqueror Capital?
The Launch plan: your website, built and live in about 48 hours, a second local guide site that sends you visitors, help showing up on Google Maps, and ongoing updates. No contract; you can cancel any time. Details are on our local SEO page and in our plans.
Is cheap local SEO worth it?
It can be, if you can see what was done: profile fixes, pages, listings and a report you can read. A low price with no list of work, or a promised ranking, usually is not.
Can I do local SEO myself for free?
Yes, much of it. Google Business Profile and Search Console are free. The cost is your time and keeping it up every month. Start with the checklist and see Search Console for local businesses.
How long before local SEO pays off?
Google doesn't publish a timeline, and it depends on where you start and who you compete with. Fixing a broken or missing profile can matter quickly; building reviews and pages is gradual. Nobody can honestly promise a date or a position.
Is local SEO cheaper than Google Ads?
They are paid for differently. With ads you pay per click for as long as the ads run; local SEO is work on your profile and site that you don't pay per click for. Many businesses use both. See local SEO vs Google Ads.
Does local SEO cost the same in Canada?
The work is the same, since Google's local ranking factors are the same in both countries.1 Our price for Canadian businesses is different from the US price; contact us for it. We work with businesses across the USA and Canada.
SOURCES
- Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.
- Google Business Profile Help, Manage owners and managers of your Business Profile.
- Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google.
- Google Business Profile Help, Tips to get more reviews.
KEEP READING
Websites and local SEO by trade: plumbers · electricians · roofers · HVAC · handymen · landscapers · general contractors · all industries
BOOK A STRATEGY CALL
Not sure what your business needs? Tell us your business name, town and main service, and we will look at your profile and website with you, then tell you what we would fix first and what it costs.