Local SEO for small business · Australia
Local SEO for small businesses: affordable because it is sized right, not cut short.
A sole trader in Dubbo does not need what a franchise in Sydney needs. We size the work to your town: a page for each service, real pages for the areas you serve, a fast site, listings with your details identical everywhere, and one report a month you can read in ten minutes. From AU$297 a month.
No set-up fee. Starter has a 3-month minimum; Regional has none. GST not applicable.
AU$297/month, from
Towns up to about 50,000 people: Dubbo, Mildura, Gladstone, Busselton, Devonport…
- 1 main service
- Service page + 3 suburb or region pages
- Technical fixes and schema
- 1 article a month
- Directory listings (citations)
- Monthly report
No link campaign, no media outreach. 3-month minimum.
AU$997/month, from
Regional cities: Geelong, Newcastle, Wollongong, Toowoomba, Cairns, Townsville, Ballarat, Bendigo…
- 1 main service, whole city in phases
- New suburb pages every month
- Articles that answer real questions
- Local links and citations
- Monthly report
No minimum term.
In one paragraph
What local SEO for a small business should include
For a small business, local SEO means being found by the people in your town who search for what you do: “electrician Ballarat”, “dog groomer near me”, “accountant Toowoomba”. The work that earns that is smaller than agencies make it sound: a page for each service, a real page for each area you serve, answers on those pages to the questions customers ask before they call, a site that loads fast on a phone, and your name, address and phone identical across Google and the directories. Your Google Business Profile completes the picture; it stays yours, with a checklist from us. That is the whole Starter plan, and it is often all a town of 30,000 people needs.
Good for: sole traders and tradies, clinics and allied health, salons and studios, cafés and shops, accountants, conveyancers and other local practices, anyone serving one town or one region.
The honest split
Eight things a small business needs for local search: what you do, what we do
Some of it only you can do, and it is free. Some of it is skilled work that takes hours every month. The table says which is which, so you don't pay for what you can do in an afternoon.
| Task | What it means | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Claim and complete your Google Business Profile | Categories, services, hours, service areas, photos. Only you can verify it. Our checklist walks through it. | You |
| Make your name, address and phone identical everywhere | Website, Google, Facebook, the directories you are already in. One version of the phone number. | You, or us (in every plan) |
| Give each service its own page | Not one “Services” page. A page that says what the service is, what it costs, what to expect. | Us |
| Write the page titles properly | “Blocked drains Parramatta | Your Plumbing Co.”, not “Home”. | Us |
| Answer the questions customers ask before they call | How much, how long, what to do first. On the page, in plain English, with FAQ structured data. | Us |
| Make the site fast on a phone | Compress photos, drop the heavy page builder. Under three seconds. | Us |
| Get listed where Google checks | The Australian directories that matter, with the same details everywhere. | Us (in every plan) |
| Read one report a month | Positions by suburb, clicks, enquiries. Ten minutes, no jargon. | Us; you read it |
The “You” items come with a written checklist in your first week, whichever plan you choose. If you add us as a manager on your Google profile, we review the text for you.
Interactive
Is your small business ready for local search? Tick what is true today.
Eight questions, no email required. Every unticked line is either a free fix you can do this week or a job in your first month with us.
Most small businesses we audit start between 2 and 4.
Get the full audit, freeYour options
Do it yourself, a cheap package, or a plan sized to your town
| Do it yourself | Cheap “SEO package” | Starter or Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Your evenings and weekends | Low hundreds a month | AU$297 or AU$997 a month |
| What you get | The profile and listings done; the website usually stays as it is | Listings, a few generic pages, often bought links | Service and suburb pages written for your town, technical fixes, listings, a report |
| Risk | Low, but slow and easy to abandon | Copied pages and bought links get sites filtered | Low: nothing is done that Google's guidelines don't allow |
| Best when | You enjoy it and have the time | Rarely | You want the work done properly and sized to the job |
Full pricing for every city size, and how paying works: Local SEO pricing.
Questions small businesses ask
Straight answers
What is the best SEO for a small business?
Local SEO on your own website: a page for each service, real pages for the suburbs you serve, answers to the questions customers ask, a fast site, and listings with your details identical everywhere. It is the work with the best return for a small business because the people searching are nearby and ready to buy. Paid ads work from day one but stop when you stop paying; general “SEO packages” that promise national rankings are the wrong tool for a business that serves one town.
How much should a small business spend on SEO?
Enough to cover the work your town needs and no more. On this site a small town is AU$297 a month (one service, a few suburb pages, the basics) and a regional city is AU$997 a month (whole city in phases, links and articles). As a rule of thumb, if one extra job a month pays the fee, the plan is the right size. The free audit tells you which one fits before you spend anything.
Do small businesses need local SEO?
If customers search for what you do and where you are (“electrician Ballarat”, “physio near me”), yes. If your work comes entirely from referrals and you don't want more, no. Most small businesses sit in between: they get some work from Google by accident and would get more on purpose.
Can I do local SEO myself?
Part of it, and we show you which part. Your Google Business Profile, your details across directories and asking customers for reviews are yours to do, with our checklist. Building the service and suburb pages, the technical work and the links takes time and know-how that most owners would rather buy. The table above splits it.
Do I need a website for local SEO?
Yes, for the website side of it. A profile alone can appear in the map pack, but every search beyond “near me” is won by a page. If you don't have a site, we build a small, fast one first (see Website design) and the SEO plan starts on it.
How long until a small business sees results?
In a small town, first page-one positions usually appear within 6–10 weeks; in a regional city, 2–3 months. Technical fixes and the first pages are live in the first month. You see the positions in every report, including the months when they are not moving yet.
Why not buy a cheap SEO package?
Because of what the cheap price buys: copied suburb pages, bought links and a promise of a map position nobody controls. Those are what gets a small site filtered, and the saving disappears with the rankings. Our Starter plan is small on purpose, not cheap by shortcuts: fewer pages, done properly.
What does a small business get in the monthly report?
Which suburbs are covered and which are next, where you rank for your main searches in each, how many clicks and enquiries came from Google, and what we did that month. One page, plain English.
Free local audit
Find out what your town actually needs, before you spend anything.
Tell us your trade and your town. Within two business days you get a written audit, the checklist of what you can do yourself, the plan that fits and the quote. No sales calls.
- Where you rank today for your top five searches
- The pages you are missing, against the businesses above you
- Website speed on a phone, and the fixes
- The free checklist for your Google profile and listings
- Which plan fits your town, with the quote