Outsourcing local SEO: what to hand off, what to keep, and a monthly checklist

What to outsource and what to keep

The monthly local SEO checklist

Google Business Profile

• Primary and secondary categories still match the services the client wants to rank for.
• Services, products, hours, and holiday hours are current.
• At least one post a week (offers, updates, or recent work).
• New photos of real work, staff, and premises.
• Questions and answers reviewed, with unanswered questions handled.

Citations and NAP consistency

• Name, address, and phone match exactly across the main directories and data aggregators.
• Duplicate listings found and suppressed.
• New industry and city directories added where they're relevant.

Reviews

• Review requests sent after every completed job or visit.
• Every review answered, and negative reviews escalated to you before anyone replies.
• Rating and review velocity tracked against the top three competitors.

Website

• One genuinely useful page per location or service area, not a template with the city swapped.
• LocalBusiness schema with the same NAP as the profile.
• Click-to-call and directions working on mobile.

Tracking and reporting

• Map pack positions tracked on a geo-grid, not from one point in the city center.
• Calls, direction requests, and website clicks from the profile.
• A monthly report with a work log. Here's what a good report includes.

Access rules that protect your client

Your partner should be added to the client's Google Business Profile as a manager. Ownership stays with the client, or with your agency if that's what your contract says. Never let a partner create a profile under its own account, and never transfer primary ownership to a vendor. The same goes for Search Console, analytics, and the website. If you part ways, nothing should need to be recovered.

Multi-location clients

Each location needs its own profile, its own landing page, and its own tracking. Consistency matters more as the count grows: one naming convention, one set of categories per service line, one review process. Budget per location. Most plans, ours included, price additional locations separately.

Red flags in a local SEO partner

• Keyword-stuffed business names("Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Denver"). They break Google's guidelines and can get a profile suspended.
• Fake or incentivized reviews. These risk suspension, and in many markets, regulatory trouble.
• Virtual offices or co-working addresses used to fake a location.
• Taking ownership of the profile instead of requesting manager access.
• Hundreds of low-quality citations sold as a selling point. Accuracy on the main directories beats volume.

What it costs

Local SEO is usually priced per location per month. Ours runs $149 (Starter), $349 (Growth), and $649 (Pro, up to three locations). Paid directory submissions and third-party listing subscriptions are billed at cost and are not included. Additional locations beyond Pro are $199/location/month. For how that compares across the market, see our white label SEO pricing guide.