How to get local SEO clients

If you run a web design agency or a marketing consultancy, you already have the best source of local SEO clients right in front of you. Your existing and past clients are the easiest people to sell local SEO to, because they already trust you.

Many agencies struggle to sell SEO because they try to pitch it as a technical service. They talk about backlinks, schema markup, and algorithm updates. Local business owners do not care about any of that. They care about the phone ringing.

Pitch the outcome, not the process

When you speak to a plumber, a dentist, or a roofer, your pitch should be incredibly simple. Ask them what happens when someone in their town searches for their primary service.

Show them the Google map pack. If they are not in the top three spots, point out exactly who is getting those phone calls instead of them. Then, ask them if they are being recommended by AI assistants like ChatGPT when people ask for local recommendations.

The conversation shifts from "Do you want to buy SEO?" to "Do you want to win those jobs instead of your competitor?"

The web design upsell

If you build websites, local SEO is the most natural upsell in the world. A beautiful website that nobody can find is just a digital business card.

During the final stages of a website build, introduce the concept of a launch campaign. Explain that the website is the foundation, but local SEO is the engine that drives traffic to it. Present it as an ongoing partnership rather than a one off transaction.

How to deliver the work

Winning the client is only half the battle. Delivering consistent, high quality local SEO every month requires resources, processes, and expertise. If your agency is already at capacity, taking on SEO retainers can quickly become a headache.

This is where partnering with a specialist makes sense. Rather than hiring an in house SEO team or trying to learn the discipline yourself, you can use a white label local SEO service.

We act as your silent partner. We do the heavy lifting, the technical optimisation, and the content creation. We provide you with completely unbranded, plain English reports every month. You add your logo, send it to your client, and maintain the relationship while making a healthy margin.

Ready to add local SEO to your agency?

Book a partner call to see our unbranded reporting and discuss how we can help your agency grow.