Some SEOs see local search success as a long game, in which they have to first set up an online presence that gives a local business the best chance to rank, and then go on to work on the things that really make a competitive difference: the link building, the listing tests, the on-site SEO, the review generation.

Then there are marketers who only do the first part, and barely that. Those with a ‘set it and forget it’ mentality to local SEO aren’t going to provide long-term value to local business clients. Some even follow this up by offering a barebones service as a retainer, returning each month to say whatever the client wants to hear in order to keep them on the books.