There are several affordable local SEO services for San Diego and the California region, offering results in 7, 10, or even 30 days. The truth is: you cannot guarantee extremely fast results in the area of Search Engine Optimization.
Whoever does that is probably using techniques disapproved by Google (blackhat) and, in the future, this can harm your business (your business will be subject to penalties). Companies that do this are lying to you.
Unlike these agencies, I promise to follow all best practices so that Google ranks your site and also your Google My Business profile on the platform, but that does not mean the ranking will happen overnight.
With more than 10 years of practice working with local rankings, I have never promised fast ranking, because SEO is ongoing work and you will reap the benefits gradually.
I have worked on local projects where I managed to rank the client’s site and profile in less than a month, but I have also worked on other local projects where the client only had their first results after 3 months.
So the truth is: does a good local SEO strategy deliver results? Yes, of course! However, it is not instantaneous as promised by thousands of agencies.
You must keep in mind that Google’s algorithm (and not only Google’s) takes several days to understand that we optimized a page, made technical improvements in its code, and also improvements in the company’s profile on the platform.
Real tips for local ranking in San Diego, CA
San Diego has more than 300,000 local businesses, 96% of which are small and medium-sized (up to 20 employees) – data from Neilsberg.com. The best way to guarantee local ranking in this area is to follow Google’s guidelines and SEO best practices (any attempt to cut corners can cost you dearly in the future).
Ok Rafael, let’s get straight to the point, what are these best practices?
- Have a website focused on local SEO, with good content targeted to San Diego neighborhoods and regions
- Interlink the website with the Google My Business profile
- Implement Schema markup on the website
- Optimize internal linking
- Obtain external links from trusted sites
- Have images, videos, customer testimonials from local clients in the content
- Optimized management of reviews and comments on the Google profile
- Post on social media and Google My Business
If you have a Japanese restaurant in the Convoy District region, for example, start by creating your Google My Business profile. Add your business name, mark your category (this is very important), describe what it does, display opening hours—in short, answer all the items Google asks for in the creation of the profile.
Website focused on local SEO for services in San Diego CA
After that, create a website! A website is important for two reasons: first, because it will also be an entry point for customers who perform local searches, and second, because it also strengthens your Google profile!
When someone searches for a surf shop in Encinitas, they will likely find Google My Business profiles of businesses established in that region. However, websites will also appear in the results. So, if your profile is not appearing for that specific search for some reason, your website still has the opportunity to show up there.
And that’s not all: if your website is optimized for that local search (if you have a page about it), it will help Google understand that you provide services in that region, boosting your profile and possibly making it rank.
It’s not just SEO. Providing good service/support also helps.
These are basic points, but here I will give away some gold based on my experience: it’s no use hiring the best Local SEO consultant in the world if your own business is poor! Didn’t get it? I’ll explain.
Once I optimized a client’s website, Google My Business profile, and social networks—it was all perfect. Logically, after a while, they started ranking. However, the company complained that they were not getting conversions (customers found the company in searches but, for some reason, did not call, did not visit, did not send messages, etc.).
I started trying to understand what was happening and eventually discovered: the local company’s customer service was terrible. They failed to deliver services on time, did not answer client calls, etc. What started to happen? Bad reviews on Google and, consequently, the client’s profile dropped!
So keep in mind that it is not enough to have good SEO service; your local business must also provide good service!
Finally, these were some tips to help you rank your local business in San Diego, CA. If you are interested in hiring my services and understanding how my work functions, get in touch now through the form available on the website. Within a few minutes I will reply, and we can schedule a video call to discuss your project.