One of the best ways service business owners can get more leads is through search engines.
People are searching for services online every day, things like “Solicitor in Stevenage” or “SEO agency in Swansea“, so if you are one of the top choices available in these search results, you know the lead coming to your site, or calling you through your Google Business Profile, is going to be “warm” and ready to buy.
Many business owners will try SEO themselves, but there comes a point – when they run out of time, or the market is too competitive – when working with a professional local SEO agency is going to give you a much better return on your investment.
But when you hire an SEO agency, what will they actually do for your service business?
Brandspace is an SEO partnership for local service businesses. We target the commercial terms buyers already use, look after your Google Business Profile, and build you a website that can convert the traffic. We work with numerous local service businesses and in this post we’re going to run through some of the work we do for them when delivering local SEO.
A breakdown of SEO work for service businesses
This is the stack that actually books jobs for service businesses. We’ll run through each of the elements we provide in a typical SEO campaign.
Onboarding
The first thing we do with all new clients is run through our onboarding process so that we can fully understand your business, marketing objectives, and wider marketing setup. We have a simple onboarding form for you to fill out, and we hop on a quick call to run through questions…you’ll get a lot at this stage! At the end of this stage, you’ll be set up and familiar with our client portal, where we manage tasks, and have a fully written-up brief to sign off.
Strategy
Once you’re onboarded and the brief is signed, we’ll develop your SEO strategy. We keep this simple and stick to one page (or less). Supporting this is an activity plan that breaks down everything we’re going to do. We work in three-month “sprints”, but things can change as work progresses each month.
Commercial search terms
We almost always start with your “money pages” and the commercial terms people are using. We follow with broader topical activity once the high commercial intent keywords are being targeted. We pick the high-value searches people already type: the service plus the place, and the jobs you actually want. A new boiler in Swansea. Commercial painting in Neath. A property solicitor in South Wales. The plan is built around those money terms, not a pile of vanity articles.
Google Business Profile
Once the research is done, we start our activity with your Google Business Profile; it’s the cornerstone of all good local SEO. We optimise every aspect by filling out your profile, updating images, ensuring the right category, getting name and address details sorted, plus many other things. We then manage this on a monthly basis, helping you collect reviews (or nagging you to ask your customers!), adding more photos, and posting updates. Struggling with your GBP? Take a look at our article here for some helpful tips: Why am I not in Google Maps.
Money pages on the website
So we mentioned money pages earlier in this article, but what are these? For local service businesses, these are the pages promoting your services, typically split into two sections: service pages and service area pages. You can keep service pages a bit broader, then target service x location with service area pages. The key is to ensure topical relevance that matches search intent, and make sure they aren’t thin duplicates created solely for SEO and bringing little value for customers. All our plans feature the creation and optimisation of these pages.
Citations to build your NAP profile
The central element to local SEO is ticking three boxes:
- Identity – is it obvious and easy to verify you are who you say you are?
- Proximity – are you close to the person searching for the services in that area?
- Relevant – are you a good (the best) match for the services they are searching for?
Your NAP (name address, phone) profile is an important element in answering these questions. And citations are how you get results here. Basically, citations are a way of repeating this information on trusted sources across the internet, things like relevant local business directories, social media profiles, and other websites. Getting this right ticks box one, and lines you up for the other two…are you close and relevant.
Name, address, and phone need to match across the web. We run a local citation round in month one from the link budget, then put remaining spend into links. Directories are part of the SEO engagement, not a separate product.
Links and ongoing off-site work
After citations, the remaining budget goes to relevant links and entity support so the site can compete. Citations are the starter, but links are the lifeblood of any SEO work. They are strong signals of quality and trust, so as with citations, relevance and trust matter. Any good SEO agency will work hard to build you high quality links. It’s easy to bulk buy low-quality links; at best they will do nothing, at worst they will end up getting you flagged for spam with Google and getting a search penalty. And nobody wants that! So transparency from your agency is super important here.
Tracking and a monthly rhythm
With a solid, maintainable, and budget-relevant (more budget allows for more content and links, so things work more quickly), plan in place, your agency should be able to monitor and report on what’s being done and the impact it’s having. You should start to see soft results (think more impressions and small traffic increases) within a couple of months. Leads should also be tracked and suggestions made on how you can keep growing traffic and ensure that traffic turns into results. All good agencies will then review the plan as results start coming in and be able to make suggestions on whether you should hold the line or make some adjustments. Patience is key in SEO and it’s tempting to keep tweaking things, but it takes time for changes to be re-crawled and indexed so it’s better to work at a steady cadence rather than in sporadic bursts.
How this looks on Brandspace plans
Core to our way of working is transparency and clarity. With that in mind, you can view our suggested plans on our website: partnership plans. The plans are monthly ranges, and we agree the mix of SEO, ads, and web on a call. Ad spend is extra.
- Starter, £500 to £1,000 a month. One main service in one area, using the site you already have. Small ad budgets are managed inside that fee. Ad spend is extra.
- Growth, £1,000 to £2,500 a month. More services in more competitive markets, with a full website plus SEO and ads working together. Ad spend is extra.
- PRO, £2,500 a month and up. Faster growth or tougher markets, with a full website plus the SEO and ads to outpace established rivals. Ad spend is extra.
If you want to cover the SEO yourself or have somebody already running it we also offer just website plans. You can start on Website as a Service alone at £199/mo if you want the site looked after before you buy search. Or our Service Site covers everything in a one-off web design project. Most owners who want more of the right enquiries agree the mix on a call, using Starter, Growth, or PRO.
FAQs
Is this the same as a website designer who “does a bit of SEO”?
No. The product is monthly search work for local service businesses, with a converting website inside the retainer. Design still happens. It serves the commercial terms.
Do you guarantee rankings or a number of leads?
No. Competition, your starting point, and how quickly you can take on work all change the pace. We put the right work in every month and report on enquiries, not vanity positions.
Can I keep my current website?
Often yes. We already have a website. Can you still run the SEO? provides more info on this.
Do you only work in Swansea?
No. South Wales is where we’re based, but we work across the UK. Exclusive territory still applies: one provider per industry per location.
Is ecommerce included?
No. Service businesses only.
I’m a marketer based in Wales, UK. I love working with ambitious small businesses and helping them unlock the full potential of proper marketing. I created Brandspace as the starting point for doing this, and while we focus on websites and search, I can provide full strategic marketing support for your business.