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Your local SEO career kit: How to develop expertise, decide where to work, and develop your professional profile

Updated: Feb 18

Author: Miriam Ellis

An image of local SEO expert Miriam Ellis. The text on the image reads "your local SEO career kit"

One of the greatest things about a career in local SEO is that it doesn’t require a degree, making it accessible to just about anyone with a passion for the trade and an interest in educating themselves. A ‘textbook’ knowledge of local search optimization, however, is just the beginning. 


You’ll need a game plan—covering ongoing education, the type of business you want to work for, and everything in between—if you want to enjoy the benefits and day-to-day duties that a successful career in local SEO affords you.


Consider this your starter kit to understanding this role and career path. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a much clearer idea of whether a career in local search marketing is right for you, as well as a set of steps to follow to kickstart your development.


Table of contents:




Local SEO expertise: Master the craft


Because major players like Google and Apple continuously evolve their local business platforms, expect to do a lot of learning on a regular basis to keep up with the changes. 


Bookmark platform guidelines (the first-party documents on how to achieve visibility within an ecosystem) and local SEO guides written by established practitioners, and schedule time for ongoing professional development by keeping up-to-date with industry news and developments.


First-party guidelines for local SEOs

Create a bookmarks folder so that you can easily access these essential references:



Local SEO guides written by experts

While the major local platforms will tell you what rules to follow, they don’t provide an overview of local SEO as a whole and won’t necessarily tell you about all the ways you can optimize your clients’ online presence—this is where local SEO guides by experienced practitioners come in to fill the gaps and give you a career kickstart.


Purple background with a smartphone displaying local SEO info, including business reviews and map. Text: "An introduction to local SEO."

There is no shortage of guides for local SEO (and more get published or updated every year). Here are my top recommendations:




If you put in the time to read all of these, you’ll build up your familiarity with core local SEO best practices very quickly. In particular, your clients will expect a mastery of:



Resources for ongoing local SEO career development

Once you establish your base of local SEO fundamentals, you’ll need to regularly monitor industry news and trends to deliver results for your clients. 


Below is a short list to which you should add your own preferred publishers as you progress in your career. Each of these resources feature different local SEO experts and industry leaders, most of whom you can find and follow on X/Twitter or LinkedIn. 



Many of the companies above also feature newsletters that deliver local SEO developments right to your email inbox. Some of these entities also host in-person and virtual conferences and workshops that you can attend to further your education and meet industry peers (which can also be vital for your local SEO journey). 


Find the right work environment for your local SEO career


Cityscape with colorful buildings, trees, and four location pins in red, blue, green, yellow. Orange sky with clouds. Urban and lively.

As a local search specialist, there are five main scenarios in which you can work:


  • Work for yourself (e.g., a consultancy, freelancing,)

  • Work at a major local business brand

  • Work at a small local business brand

  • Work at a marketing agency

  • Work at a local SaaS company


Let’s look at each of these and cover the key pros and cons of each work environment. 


Work for yourself (e.g., consultancy, freelancing)

You can start your own consultancy, agency, or software business. For example, you can launch a business that serves small-to-enterprise-level local business clients. Or, you can even offer your services to existing agencies that have their own clients. 


Pros of starting your own local SEO business

Cons

  • All the work you do goes towards building up your own reputation and authority as a local search professional

  • Direct control over how you want to serve clients and grow your business

  • Set your own schedule, your own fees, and be the decision maker in your own career

  • Gain tons of hands-on experience working directly with clients and, if your company is successful, you will get to decide whom you wish to hire to expand

  • Working for yourself is the only true ‘job security’

  • Responsibility for your success rests entirely on your shoulders

  • No guaranteed paycheck when you work for yourself

  • Likely to face heavy taxes as an independent contractor

  • Pay for healthcare out of your own pocket

  • Home loans may be harder to secure since the mortgage industry is prejudiced against self-employed professionals

  • May struggle with work/life balance

  • Sole proprietors sometimes suffer from a sense of isolation


If you enjoy working independently and can manage your time well, starting your own local SEO business can be very fulfilling. To evaluate whether this might be right for you, monitor how other consultants market and talk about their businesses. A few examples include:



Work at a major local business brand

You can seek employment in the marketing department of a large brick-and-mortar or home services brand with hundreds or thousands of locations/service areas. Think businesses like U-Haul, BestBuy, Roto-Rooter, REI, etc.


Pros of working as a local SEO for major local brands

Cons

  • Experience how local search works at scale, gaining insights into enterprise-level operations

  • Work with a team (rather than alone)

  • On-the-job training

  • Get acquainted with enterprise-level tools, software, and techniques.

  • If the brand is engaged in publishing, you can begin building your reputation by blogging or podcasting for them


  • You can gain depth of expertise by focusing on local SEO for one niche/business (rather than various client businesses)

  • A regular paycheck and benefits

  • The quality of your work life depends on how well the employer manages operations and treats employees


  • Career growth depends largely on the employer’s decisions (i.e., periodic review process that determines whether your salary grows, etc.)

  • Employment can be terminated at any time, regardless of your contributions, if the employer instigates a layoff, merger, or acquisition

  • Larger businesses tend to have more layers of decision making, which can bog down your work


After working at an agency, it’s common for local SEOs to move to major local brands. While they no longer have to juggle multiple client priorities and generally enjoy more stability, it’s worth noting that these enterprise environments tend to vary greatly, with some lacking resources or led by management that does not value SEO.


Work at a small local business brand

Instead of seeking employment within a department of a big brand, you might prefer to become one of just a few members of a marketing team (or even the only member) for a smaller local business. For example, there might be a small restaurant chain, a boutique hotel, a non-profit organization, or a winery near you that needs your skills. 


Pros of working as a local SEO for a small local business

Cons

  • Your contributions may be more easily seen and appreciated when you work within a smaller organization (i.e., easier to prove the value you bring)

  • You can become indispensable to a small brand more easily than within a larger one

  • More opportunities to branch into other marketing disciplines (social media, PPC, etc.)

  • If the employer is too small, you may struggle with adequate compensation

  • Benefits are unlikely to be competitive with major brands


  • Small employers frequently need to be sold on the value of marketing services (instead of automatically understanding the value as larger employers tend to). This means your career growth may be limited by the smaller scope of the business

In this scenario, you carry more of the responsibility for the brand’s success. You may also have to wear more marketing hats, which can add to your skills but can also detract from the core local SEO work you wish to focus on. These are both pros and cons, depending on your outlook.


Work at a marketing agency

You can seek employment as the local SEO for a marketing agency that offers a variety of digital services, such as consulting, copywriting, link building, SEO, etc. 


Pros of working as a local SEO for a marketing agency

Cons

  • Reputable agencies recognize the value local SEOs provide and offer competitive compensation

  • Working across a range of clients can help you learn many useful skills in less time

  • You may enjoy teaming up with talented co-workers to deliver success for the agency’s clients

  • Agency work can provide valuable first-hand experience with all of the components that are involved in professional marketing campaigns

  • A regular paycheck and benefits

  • When poorly managed, agencies can suffer from an over-emphasis on meetings and an under-emphasis on work-life balance for employees and delivering results for clients


  • Work load can vary greatly—even between teams within the same agency

  • Algorithm updates and other widescale Google changes can generate significant workloads overnight (especially if many clients that are affected)


Your satisfaction here largely depends on how well the agency is structured and managed. Some local SEOs spend their entire careers working at agencies because they enjoy the challenge and variety of client work, which can be very useful if you want to position yourself as an expert.


Work at a local SaaS company

You could go to work for a software-as-a-service brand that sells tools to its local business customers. For example, a SaaS company might offer review management or citation building software. 


Pros of working at a local SaaS company

Cons

  • A wider variety of potential positions (e.g., guiding product development, evangelizing the product via a variety of marketing campaigns, client services) can allow you to try something new or make a lateral career move


  • SaaS companies often need to engage in more B2B marketing activities, which could mean opportunities to represent the brand (and build your personal profile) at conferences, on webinars and podcasts, etc.


  • A regular paycheck and benefits

  • Depending on the nature of your work, you may be less hands-on with SEO implementation


  • If it’s a newer SaaS company, funding and revenue issues may result in periods of instability

  • Many SEO and marketing agencies offer a SaaS tool as a secondary line of business. This can cause an identity crisis within the organization, where the services side is at odds with the SaaS side


  • The goal of many software brands is to get acquired by larger brands, eventually leading to acquisitions and mergers which can result in the original staff being replaced


Some popular local SaaS companies include:



Before we move on to how you can set yourself apart in a crowded industry, take a second to acknowledge that no job is without its pros and cons, and there’s a good chance you’ll work in a variety of situations over your career. If you become dissatisfied with a scenario, look for ways to either improve it from the inside or move on to a better opportunity. 


How to set yourself apart in the local SEO industry

Yellow location pin with chat icons and arrows, symbolizing communication in a blue cityscape background.

Whether you plan to work for yourself or for an employer, you should do all you can to accrue relevant experience—this is important for both career longevity and prosperity. While you can take a trial-and-error approach by taking on as much work as possible, it’s better to start by listening and studying what’s already out there, as local SEO expert Claire Carlile advises:


“Immerse yourself so that you can understand what exists—what is done well and by whom—and where exists the ‘need’ or ‘requirement’ ... Being part of the local SEO community has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of my work, so if you want to contribute at a community level, remember to LISTEN for a while, and then perhaps reach out to someone in that space that could be a useful sounding board to help you identify, shape, and refine the nature of your contributions.” — Claire Carlile, Local Search Marketing Advocate at Jepto

To take your local SEO career to the next level, you’ll need to consistently demonstrate your expertise—and what better place to do that than where local SEOs and local business owners congregate, as Colan Nielsen of Sterling Sky suggests:


“Seek out the places where local SEOs and business owners are active online and insert yourself into conversations, providing as much value as you can. At first, you will observe more than you participate, but as your confidence and knowledge grows, you become more vocal.” — Colan Nielsen, Vice President at Sterling Sky

In addition to this excellent advice, each of the following steps will assist your career development:


  • Get your hands on at least one local business to optimize — If you’re just starting out, actively seek an opportunity to market a small local business. You may charge a very low rate (or even work for free) for a short time because the experience you’ll gain is invaluable. Good options include a business owned by a friend or relative. If no one in your circle owns something like a bakery, a food truck, or a landscaping service, other options could include a local place of worship or a community center that has little or no marketing budget. Be transparent that you are a novice and will abide by the guidelines of the platforms you experiment with, and thank the business owner for helping you earn skills. 


  • Share the results of your work — Get yourself some dedicated social media accounts to promote your work. LinkedIn and X are good bets in the SEO industry, but if you enjoy video, don’t overlook TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. As you work on your first client’s local SEO, document what you do and your results. For example, if you teach a client how to earn their first ten Google Business Profile reviews and their business moves up in the rankings, make a social post about this small success. Little by little, you’ll learn from your experiments and if you generously share what you learn with others, you’ll attract followers and industry connections. 

    Don’t be intimidated by more experienced practitioners that know more than you do. There are always people at every level of learning on the internet. Be transparent that you are a beginner, admit when you make mistakes, and maintain your commitment to ongoing learning. Nearly everyone in the local search industry, regardless of seniority, shares this commitment. 


  • Build your professional profile — As you take on paying clients or secure employment with a brand, find ways to grow your online profile. This could include:


  • Building your own website and blog

  • Creating a podcast or Substack

  • Speaking at (or hosting) workshops, webinars, or conferences

  • Being a guest on someone else’s podcast

  • Contributing articles to a variety of industry publications

  • Developing free and paid training materials

  • Developing your own tools or software Pay attention to what interests you most about local search marketing and work hard to build a reputation for knowledge in a particular area. Some local SEOs specialize in technical aspects, like audits, structured data, or troubleshooting. Others specialize in an industry, such as hospitality, realty, or legal. 

    Make time to explore things that fascinate you, because you can bring a level of energy to certain topics that will help you stand out in the industry and to prospective clients and employers.


  • Develop a local search marketing philosophy — Over time, your experience will likely culminate in a philosophy from which you operate in the local search marketing industry. Your stance on how you approach work will not only help you make decisions in a variety of scenarios, but will also be felt by others with whom you work and communicate. 

    Some local SEOs emphasize volunteerism, devoting hours of their time to helping business owners for free on forums like the Google Business Profile Community. Some have a socio-economic stance that inspires them to work only with independently-owned small businesses because they believe in the benefits of the Buy Local movement or hold environmental beliefs that inspire them to take Clean Creatives’ pledge not to work with fossil fuel businesses. Alternatively, you might work only with large enterprises in hopes of localizing their messaging so that it’s more useful to communities. Some bring healthy skepticism to the job, investing time in helping others to navigate some of the less pleasant aspects of local search, like review fraud, while others continuously publish studies that shed light on confusing aspects of working within Google’s system. 

    You can be a very pro-Google local SEO, have feelings of ambivalence about aspects of their operations, or vigorously challenge their messaging and positions. It’s all up to you, and as long as you’re coming from an authentic position, your voice can be of service to your peers and clients.


  • Build authority over time — The more you contribute to both clients and the industry, the more authority you will build as a professional local search marketer. In the process, respected peers and publications will hopefully begin to cite and link to your work, request quotes and articles from you, and invite you to speak at events. As you become better-known and liked, you may even begin creating your own events at which others would be proud to participate. You may author e-books or try your hand at traditional publishing. Some local SEOs have ended up in online and television news pieces, providing commentary on aspects of local search that intrigue or baffle the public. 


Where to get help with your local SEO career


Google Business Profile Help page with a search bar. Tabs for "Help Center" and "Community" are visible. Text reads "Browse the Google Business Profile Community."

It’s part-and-parcel of working in local search marketing to continuously run into problems you’ve never seen before. This is, in part, because so many different scenarios and problems exist, but also because new ones always crop up. This is what makes participating in the larger industry invaluable, because there’s a good chance that if you’re not sure how to respond to an emerging issue, a peer will already have ‘been there and done that’! 


Bookmark these excellent resources for when you inevitably come across an issue that you need help with:


  • The Sterling Sky Local Search Forum is a public forum you can join for free. Members are welcome to ask questions and engage with posts from others.

  • When experiencing serious technical issues with Google listings, the Google Business Profile Community is where you can post full details of a problem in hopes of receiving advice from volunteer Product Experts—when an issue is severe, these volunteers have the ability to escalate a report to Google.

  • Grow your career by attending the on-going in-person or online LocalU events, where you will be taught by some of the most respected experts in the local search industry. Always be on the lookout for interesting webinars that focus on growing your agency or career.

  • The larger SEO industry has multiple traditional conferences throughout the year and some (but not all) feature sessions on local search marketing. It’s always important to remember that everything about organic SEO plays a big role in local SEO, so studying the former is still critical to doing a good job with the latter.


In addition to these public spaces and events, you may find private local search groups on Slack channels, Discord servers, or via email chains. You may even start your own group one day and invite others to join. 


A career in local SEO: Online communities, local values


One of the aspects of the local SEO industry that I’ve found most appealing for 20 years running is that it is a genuinely friendly, shared work environment where openness, generosity, and humility are core values. 


None of the best local SEOs claims they ‘know it all’. Respected practitioners understand that we are always all learning together and trying to help one another adapt to the continuous changes in search marketing that impact us and our clients. 


Being amiable and down-to-earth is a good attitude to bring to this large, global community of local search specialists. Best of luck as you further explore this career path!


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Miriam Ellis

Miriam Ellis is a local SEO columnist and consultant. She has been cited as one of the top five most prolific women writers in the SEO industry. Miriam is also an award-winning fine artist and her work can be seen at MiriamEllis.com. Twitter | Linkedin 

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