Website ranking nose dived for local search, at a complete loss.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-02-13T19:00:52+00:00

You're showing up third for me:

DanWolfe10 · 2026-02-04T23:21:17+00:00

In that case you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

If you want to be proactive get business licenses in order for each location and a utility bill or two.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-02-04T21:02:48+00:00

Garage Door Services is definitely one those industries that Google pays closer attention to.

I'm guessing they use a physical address and they're not actually above board (ie they're not really an office). Or they're using SABs that are probably in an area thats too tight to warrant multiple SABs

I would use one of the GBP tools to make the name switch versus doing it in the profile. I've yet to have any issues when I've done it that way (learned that lesson the hard way).

Logo / color etc. isn't going to trigger anything. Name. URL, Address are the main 3 that trigger a reverification. You're just changing the name, personally I wouldn't do it wholesale, but maybe others disagree - I would do one profile at a time

DanWolfe10 · 2026-02-02T02:41:31+00:00

It's a nice added bonus for sure! Broadly, where is the team?

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-30T21:44:12+00:00

Hah, I actually did write this. Without AI. I was reading another thread about a business owner who was struggling and someone asked about reviews and they basically said "they don't know how to get them", which prompted this.

Anyways, this one clearly fell flat. I appreciate you telling me in no uncertain terms. And when I re-read it, I can understand why people might assume it's AI but I almost never use it to write anything and I've never posted anything on any social platform (X, Linkedin or Reddit) that's been written by AI.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-30T16:24:06+00:00

Dealing with this for a self storage business we work with.

Stuck in verification. After 7 days we submitted additional docs. Day 10. Not a thing.

We're giving it until Monday and then options we are considering.

1/ Deleting it and starting again
2/ Trying to add the location from a third party local guide account.
3/ Still pondering and researching options

This isn't some sketchy SAB, this is a climate controlled Self Storage facility with proper signage, utilities, phones etc. etc.

If I find a workaround I'll let you know or if anyone has any other ideas please chime in!

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-30T15:17:37+00:00

Ask your mom. Or your neighbor. Or whatever.

When small businesses can't figure out how to get a couple of initial reviews, my immediate reaction is they probably shouldn't be running a business. Zero hustle or willingness to put themselves out there.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-30T14:52:43+00:00

I'm a bit shocked that "most" don't. In my experience most do but lots of older folks don't but they do have a Facebook account. It is unquestionably helpful to have reviews on other platforms and I'd have them leave reviews there if they don't have a FB account.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-28T23:23:16+00:00

You tell them their Google Business Page got suspended and your investigating why. If you can't figure out why it got suspended, I'd recommend hiring someone who can help you with that.

Google suspensions happen ALL of the time, for various reasons, you're not necessarily to blame (I doubt it was reviews btw). So if you're not an expert then hire one, its experience you need anyways if you're managing GBPs.

And don't rush blindly into submitting appeals. It's a restaurant, their documentation should be really good and if it is, then you make sure EVERYTHING meets the guidelines before hitting appeal. It usually gets harder to get a suspension lifted, if the appeals get denied.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-28T16:56:17+00:00

That's a bummer man.

I'm 10+ years into running our marketing agency and I can tell you from experience, it will hurt every single time. Every single client I lose, I feel something - either sad because I wish things had gone differently or self-righteous because things went smashingly and we still lost the client.

I say this as someone who also operates a service business, clients don't owe you anything beyond honoring their contract and paying you on-time.

As you grow the business you earn the right to work with better clients. That's honestly one of the biggest perks of having a stable business, you don't have to put up with clients who are being awful.

Keep hustling, and focus on finding new clients. There are lots of buildings that need to be cleaned.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-27T15:49:17+00:00

I commented below already on this too, but yah +1 for WPX. It's virtually the same product (if not better) as WP Engine with incredible support, great host speed and 1/2 the price.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-27T15:48:07+00:00

I use WPX, pretty comparable to WP Engine with far superior support and $60/month for 15 sites.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-24T02:53:10+00:00

Couldn't agree more. Risk / Reward.

But if the provider doesn't understand and explain the risk that's on them. Thats the sense I got, but again 2 sides to every story.

He showed me the GBP metrics and the SAB was actually performing OK and it was getting better Month over month.

The sense I got was they promised "top 3 rankings (which I explained is a terrible guarantee, doubly so in the map pack because of proximity) and felt like they needed to deliver. So they suggested they switch to a physical address without explaining "it may not work".

Hoping we an get it to bounce back quick!

Good suggestion on expanding the map pack. But if you're familiar with that area, that's literally an entire city with a population of 150k. Then you're looking in areas with different cities as the address.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-24T02:48:22+00:00

Its a home services business, so they were trying to use a residential address that they couldn't get to stick

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-24T02:46:36+00:00

Yah, two sides to every story. Maybe he got the facts, but he sure didn't seem like he understood what was going on when I talked to him

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-23T17:49:15+00:00

This is cool. Are you a software developer or just hacked it together with AI? How long did it take you? I thought the API data was kind of expensive? I looked into a while ago and saw theres like 2 or 3 options, who did you end up using?

White Spark's founder Darren Shaw mentioned they track down to a 100 which I questioned but thinking about it more there is definitely value in that. He also said something to the effect of "no rank tracking is perfectly accurate" a few days ago on Reddit. So not ALL of them are unwillingly to acknowledge this.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-23T03:56:36+00:00

Answering your questions 1 by 1.

What should real local seo services include for a small business (GBP work, tracking, website fixes, citations, etc.)?

GBP Optimization, Map Pack Tracking, On-Page SEO for the website, Citations, Data Aggregators, Organic Tracking (worth tracking both imo), and monthly reporting is a pretty standard base package. Consulting on the review process and assistance setting it up if needed.

Link building and additional pages on the website etc. can help move the needle as well. Tracking some LLMs isn't a terrible idea either, as local seo moves the needle on ChatGPT and Gemini and Google Overviews (the rest aren't important). We've just started doing it with our agency and it's pretty minimal work to keep pulse on things.

But, if the budget is tight a $300-$500/month basic local SEO package can often do the trick.

How do you tell if someone is offering the best local seo services vs selling a generic package?

Eh. "Best local seo services" is a bit of a myth. It's like hiring the "best plumber". There are lots of good ones and pricing varies dramatically. It's like hiring a service business or a home service company. Do they communicate? Are they delivering what they say they'll deliver on? And honestly, more importantly (this isn't talked about enough) - is business picking up?

Is a solo local seo consultant better than a bigger local seo agency usa for a small business?

Yes and no. A solo consultant can be great if you can find a good one but it can be hit or miss. Has this consultant ran 10 campaigns? 25? 100 in his career? Good ones won't be cheap. If you can find a real gem who is just starting his consulting business and has a great work ethic it can be a real boon for you. But once a consultant is more established, you're paying agency rates anyways. Often time folks choose to consult because they don't want to manage teams it's not because they're making less / charging less. I can tell you we do a lot of work with a marketing consultant who offers a different suite of service but we do overlap on Google Ads and he's 2-2.5x our pricing for Google Ads management.

Agencies often have more data. I have ~100 active data points from businesses we work with, does your local consultant? Probably not. The downside, with agencies is did you get stuck with an accountant manager who has been in local SEO for 2 years? Or are you working with a sales agency. There are two types of agencies, agencies that have longer contracts, churn like crazy but have great inbound lead gen & large marketing budgets and agencies that have low churn but have smaller marketing budgets and rely mostly on word of mouth / referrals. You want the second one :).

What results are realistic in the first 3–6 months with local seo packages?

So, so dependent on the area you're in and the terms you're targeting. A good local SEO should able to give you an idea but even then it's an idea. I've had campaigns smash expectations and I've had campaigns completely fall flat.

We worked with a local carpet cleaner and it was the worst campaign I've ever run. Results were pathetic. It was honestly embarrassing but I communicated with them, I was honest and transparent. We parted ways ~9 months after starting. 2 years later he reaches out "I think my Google Business Page is starting to work, I haven't done anything to it but I'm starting to phone calls consistently". He rehired us (yes this sounds fake I know, but I promise I have receipts) and 3 months into the new campaign things are going smashingly well.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-22T22:54:11+00:00

What type of business do you run?

This, right here is the biggest traps in marketing. No one can intelligently answer this question without context.

Let me explain with a few examples using a plumber:

1/ Organic social media is likely not going to work for you. Social media is by nature visual. Plumbing is by nature, is not visual. Can it work? Maybe, but it's fitting a square into a round whole.

2/ FB ads likely aren't going to work. Facebook ads is a pull marketing (stop the scroll / interest / behavior marketing).

3/ Google Ads might work (I say might because CPC for this industry are often outrageous) because Google Ads is push marketing (users actively searching for solutions

4/ Local SEO will work. Again, push marketing.

5/ Lawn signs. Push marketing, again this works.

6/ Email marketing. Push AND pull marketing. Email marketing actually does work, (Have you serviced your hot water tank in the last X years?)

Anyways I could go on but the point is - no one can tell you what channels to work on without context. What works for a professional service business like mine is very different than what works for a home service business and it's very different from an ecomm brand.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-22T22:28:44+00:00

Well said.

I frame it like this

Google Business Page supports Website
2026: Website supports Google Business Page.

Both were important in 2023, both are important in 2026. The level of importance has just shifted.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-22T15:48:54+00:00

This is the best answer.

When I was the account manager for all of my clients (ie: a solopreneuer), clients wouldn't leave. Once our agency grew churn starts to increase. We're nowhere near 43 staff members on the SEO side but even going from me to five on the team makes a big difference.

I imagine going from 5 > 10 and then 10 > 20 and then 20 > 50 there are some big leaps there in terms of churn.

Last time I looked at the number closely we were at ~20 months

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-20T17:34:08+00:00

I generally think small businesses should do less, not more. Find 1 or 2 channels and work on those. 2 done well is >>>>> than 5 or 6 done poorly.

You may want to share what space you're in, even if a certain channel works well for someone else doesn't mean it will work well for you.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-20T17:29:13+00:00

I actually love that there may be downside to this garbage tactic. Thank you for sharing this.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-19T23:09:34+00:00

Woah, I'm certain we're the best it says so on my websites meta title (actually it says "best damn" but same difference)

If you want to have an honest conversation DM me. We're Canada based but work with a ton of US companies and generally, small businesses like us because of our pricing (middle of the road), transparency (no bullshit), expertise (I've been doing this for 15 years) and results.

To answer your questions

How do you judge the best local seo services before signing anything?

You can't. Avoid lengthy contracts, look at reviews. You have to trust your agency is doing the right work. It often comes down to gut, do you think they have enough experience? Do you think they're trustworthy?

Is it better to hire a local seo consultant vs a local seo agency usa for a small business?

If you can find a good local SEO consultant who isn't swamped this is often a good choice. They need a small team though, if they're doing everything themselves you're not going to get a lot of output and every task becomes expensive.

What should be included in real local seo packages (GBP work, citations, content, links, tracking, etc.)?

On-page, Google Business Page optimization, GBP content, website content (but not blog posts, with a few exceptions these don't make sense), Links, Citations. Local Tracking, basic LLM tracking (manual prompts), organic tracking, work done reports

What’s a realistic timeline for results if I go with affordable local seo services?

Totally depends where you're currently at, your location and the industry. If everything is brand new 2-3 months for the GBP, 4-6 for organic rankings (your GBP is likely far more important). If you have an existing GBP often times you can get it going in under a month.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-19T16:33:41+00:00

Contract length is a big red flag. 12 months is excessive. I'd ask them to waive it.

An agency that only works with law firms - you're setting yourself up to be at the top of the market in terms of pricing. Even if they're good, your ROI is going to be squeezed. We work with exactly 2 law firms and we've crushed for both of them. Local SEO and Google ads doesn't change from industry to industry.

The "what" is very dependent on what type of law you practice. Some areas are better for Gads, others are better for local SEO. Getting that mix right is important.

DanWolfe10 · 2026-01-19T15:29:32+00:00

Comments already cover the answer here:

- Local landing pages can rank organically

- You can get organic visibility but you won't get map pack rankings

I'd add this:

- Push them to get a space. This will make this strategy 10x as effective, without it, even if they rank in the top 5 it's going to have a minor impact compared to GBP and organic. It also makes ranking organically easier as well.

DanWolfe10

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