Failing to show up on the first page of the search results on Google, Yahoo, or Bing is equivalent to not having a website at all. If your website, cannot come on the first page for any of your business related keywords, your potential customers might not even know that you exist. That’s a case when you own a Global business. If you own a local business, the challenges get amplified. You have to keep up with the global SEO, at the same time you have to ensure that local customers are also able to find you- local SEO.

Local SEO is a very different approach as compared to an average SEO campaign. local search results are more volatile and change frequently than the other. So, you have to be sure that your SEO service provider is capable of treating the divergent approach of local SEO services accordingly.

So, ask the following questions from your local SEO company before hiring:

• Could you provide me a list of your clients for local SEO?

Any reliable SEO company would never hesitate to share the list of their current or past clients. In fact, many of them showcase their clients on their portfolio as testimonials. By having an access to the list of their clients, you will be able to have a glimpse of how the local SEO is done in the company and the websites are performing after leveraging the local SEO services from the particular SEO or local SEO company.

Further, you might reach to the clients to know their feedback about the company. They may not give you the data for their local SEO services from the company, but at least they will be able to tell if they have seen any positive impact after hiring that local SEO company.

• How will you work to improve my local Search listing?

Be-aware of the SEO company that does not discuss their methods with the clients in detail. Any reputed SEO or local SEO company will never hide their strategies from the client. They should explain the strategies that they would use to drive you among the top search results in local search listings. Moreover, they should also give an estimate of the time they would take to achieve the local SEO goal you are hoping for.

• Do you follow the webmasters’ guidelines?

Even in the local SEO services, it is a must that we follow the guidelines laid by webmasters for any SEO practice. For example, Google has posted the Webmaster best practices, which is strictly a guideline to the webmaster, voiding which might even result in de-indexing from the Google’s local as well as global SERPs. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo keep updating the best practices for SEO consultants that they should follow. So, make sure that your local SEO company does not adhere to any of the rouge SEO practices for your website.

• So, It’s a guarantee that you will list by business on top of local search results?

If the SEO consultant says Yes, Beware!! No SEO company can guarantee a number-one position on any of the Search engines. There is no secret sauce to do that in a magical time duration. Any SEO or local SEO company claiming this is automatically adhering to an unethical SEO practice. That is, making a bogus claim. So, consider it as a signal that you have come to a wrong place for local SEO services.

• How would I know that your local SEO tactics are working for me?

To track the success of the local SEO campaign, you can track the traffic being received and from where it comes. The local SEO company should also mention how they will use the Google Analytics to track the advancements on the local SEO front. They should be able to explain how the use the links from local business listing websites in addition to your official website.

Moreover, the actual advancement of the local SEO services will be tracked through the reporting they will do from time to time. So, clarify how they are going to report you for the tasks they perform to improve your local SEO and how often the will report.

• How do you see our post contract relation?

When a contract between you and your SEO consultant expires, the ethic says that SEO company should let you still maintain the ownership of the tasks you paid for. It means Post contract period you are free to terminate the local SEO services. Moreover, the SEO company should not remove or change any of the content they added to improve your ranking during the contract period. So, you should always clarify the post contract relation and terms before hiring the local SEO services for your business.