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What if you could get more leads for your local business without spending more on advertising?
We did that for our client in the competitive local fitness industry.
The results?
We delivered a 50.33% increase in new client inquiries (key events):
…and gave them a 21.33% increase in monthly engaged sessions:
How did we do that?
Google’s people-first approach is firmly embedded within its algorithm.
As you’re about to find out, how you structure key pieces of information on your most important pages is a crucial step in achieving this.
Want to see how you can do the same for your business? Let’s dive in…
A Closer Look At The Case Study
Our client is a fitness service provider based in the United States, but focusing on optimising their website for a single state.
Before joining Search Logistics, the client lacked visibility for important service-related search queries.
Therefore, the main objective here was to grow the visibility for these keywords that would convert organic visitors into potential leads and customers.
The Biggest Challenges We Had to Overcome
The most pressing challenges that we overcame during the course of this campaign were:
- Overhauling the service pages with user-first content
- Optimising of their Google Business Profile
- Growing domain authority through link building
Create a Plan of Attack
After pinpointing the main challenges hindering the site’s performance, we developed a detailed strategy to drive growth for our client’s website.
Below is a step-by-step outline of the actions we took to optimise and enhance our client’s visibility in Google search.
If your website faces similar issues, you can follow the same approach.
Step #1: Service Page Optimisation
An effective service page balances high-quality, user-focused content with SEO best practices.
Our client had several service pages, but they were written more like blog posts. As a result, they struggled to entice users to get in touch and hire them.
The services pages needed to be optimised to align with what users were looking for.
This involves:
Adding an Engaging Headline
Write a captivating headline and subheadline that addresses your target audience’s main goal or pain point.
A good question to ask yourself, is what will the visitor achieve by hiring us?
Then, include an engaging call to action that is engaging, uses action and urgency phrases like:
-
- “book now”
- “get in touch today”
- “book your free consultation”
Describing Your Service
Identify the key pain points that users will have and clearly demonstrate how your services can help address them.
For example:
If you’re a nutritionist that offers a subscription service for meal preps, you could include information about how the subscription service works and what users can expect from it.
Break these key pieces down into simple, easy to understand and follow nuggets of content that will catch the user’s attention – like in the example below.
Highlighting The Benefits
Detail the benefits of choosing your services as opposed to choosing a competitor.
Again, make sure that these are provided in a way that is clear and easy for the user to understand.
Avoid large blocks of text that users will struggle to read.
Adding Customer Reviews & Testimonials
Add testimonials and reviews from happy customers to build trust and relevance.
A popular way to provide this is via a sliding carousel that users can flick through. This doesn’t take up a lot of room on the web page but allows you to add lots of reviews.
Showcasing Your Services With Imagery
Add high quality images and video content to break up text and show your audience why they should hire you.
Doing so helps users visualise what they can expect from you and demonstrates your professionalism.
Answering Frequently Asked Questions
Add answers to common questions that users may have about what you offer.
This will help provide a smoother experience as they won’t need to call or email you to answer basic questions, and so it’ll allow them to quickly understand whether you’re a good fit.
Adding Relevant Internal Links
Remember to add internal links between related service pages as well as any other relevant supporting pages on your website (this includes adding links to and from related blog posts as well as your main menu).
Finishing With Another CTA
End the page with another strong call to action to encourage users to enquire.
This is a great place to add a more in-depth CTA such as a form.
At this point, users will have digested all of the above and should be more inclined to provide a more detailed enquiry.
Following this structure across your service (and landing) pages will ensure that you capture users who are ready to hire you.
Step #2: Google Business Profile Optimisation
A Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business) is a free tool that allows businesses to manage how they appear in:
-
- Google Search
- Google Maps
Here’s what GBP looks like:
It includes essential business information like your name, address, phone number, website, operating hours, and much more.
For local businesses, a well-optimised GBP can be the difference between showing up in front of potential customers or being overlooked.
Why is it important to optimise your Google Business Profile for SEO?
- Boost Credibility: A complete and professional profile builds trust with potential customers, showing that your business is legitimate and reliable.
- Drive More Traffic: An optimised profile encourages users to visit your website, call your business, or visit your location.
- Improve Search Rankings: Google favours businesses with well-maintained and accurate profiles, giving you an edge over competitors with incomplete listings.
- Enhance Customer Engagement: Features like reviews, posts, and photos provide more opportunities for customers to interact with your business.
- Capture Mobile Searchers: With mobile users dominating Google search, a well-optimised GBP ensures that you’re visible to users searching on the go, particularly through Google Maps.
- Increase Local Visibility: Helps your business appear in local search results (e.g., “bakery near me”), making it easier for nearby customers to find you.
Here’s a link to help you create and manage your Google Business Profile.
Now, let’s dive into the best practices for optimising your profile to ensure you’re capturing as many leads as possible.
Complete Every Section of Your Profile
Ensuring every section is filled out correctly not only improves your ranking but also builds customer trust.
✅ Business Name:
Enter your business name as it appears to customers in the real world.
✅ Business Category:
Add the most relevant category to your business (i.e. Marketing agency, Law firm, Clothes Shop etc.).
✅ Description:
Describe your business in 750 characters or less. This is your chance to tell customers exactly what it is you do or offer in some detail.
✅ Address:
If customers visit your business, add an address and adjust the pin on the map to its location. You can also choose whether or not your address is displayed to customers.
✅ Service Areas:
There’s an option to list which area your business provides deliveries or services to.
✅ Contact Information:
Enter any important contact information such as primary and secondary phone numbers.
✅ Website:
Enter your business website.
✅ Social Profiles:
Add links to your social media accounts (Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), allowing users to follow and/or contact you.
✅ Opening Hours:
This is where you can let customers know your operating hours.
Importantly, this is one property that you’ll want to keep up to date regularly.
For example, you can add “Special hours” to let your customers know about your opening hours for festive periods etc.
Ensure NAP Consistency
NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistency is vital for SEO.
The details on your Google Business Profile should exactly match the details on your website, social media profiles, and other local directories.
Inconsistent information can confuse Google and customers, leading to lower rankings, but also a poor customer experience.
Upload High Quality Images and Videos
Uploading high quality images and videos to your GBP are a critical factor in customer engagement.
Google allows you to add photos based on your business category.
For example, restaurants can add photos of their menu and specific dishes.
You want to show off your business in the best light, so make sure that you add:
✅ Profile Photo:
This must be 250 x 250 px. Most businesses upload their logo as their profile photo.
A Cover Photo: This is the photo that Google will display as the main image for your GBP, it should be 1080 x 608 px.
Make sure it highlights the best or most important part of your business.
For example, the restaurant below has included a photo of their storefront.
As it’s a physical location, including this photo makes it easy for users to easily identify the restaurant when they visit.
✅ Interior And Exterior Photos:
Showcase your business environment to give customers a sense of what to expect.
✅ Product And Team Photos:
Highlight your offerings, and add photos of your team to humanise your brand. If you provide a service, include photos of your team doing the service.
Here are a few other things to consider:
-
- Add photos regularly to show Google and your users that you’re actively updating your profile.
- Make sure that they’re between 10 KB and 5 MB.
- Upload short, engaging videos (under 30 seconds) that introduce your business or feature key services.
Optimise For Keywords
While your GBP is less text-heavy than your website, you can still integrate relevant keywords and use this opportunity to target important search terms that reflect how customers are searching.
✅ Business Description:
Include primary keywords related to your industry.
Good Example:
“At Joe’s Italian Bakery, we specialise in authentic Italian bread and pastries, offering gluten-free options and delivery throughout Springfield.”
Bad Example:
“We sell bread and pastries.”
✅ Review Responses:
Naturally include relevant keywords when responding to customer reviews.
Good Example:
- Customer Review: “I love the gluten-free bread at Joe’s Italian Bakery! It’s the best in town.”
- Response: “Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re delighted that you enjoyed our gluten-free bread—we take pride in offering a wide variety of options, including authentic Italian pastries. We hope to see you again soon at our Springfield bakery!”
Bad Example:
- Customer Review: “I love the gluten-free bread at Joe’s Italian Bakery! It’s the best in town.”
- Response: “Thanks! Glad you liked it.”
The good example naturally includes relevant keywords like gluten-free bread, Italian pastries, and Springfield bakery, which can help improve your profile’s visibility for those search terms.
The bad example misses the opportunity to reinforce key services and location, limiting SEO benefits.
Encourage Customer Reviews
Customer reviews are a powerful factor for both ranking and trust-building.
The more reviews you collect, the more appealing your business will be for Google to rank, and customers to choose you over competitors.
Here’s how to approach reviews:
✅ Ask for Reviews:
After a positive interaction, request a review through follow-up emails or in-person.
Click on “Ask for Reviews” in your profile and Google will allow you to share a review link with your audience.
Just remember, it’s against Google’s terms and conditions to offer incentives for customer reviews.
✅ Respond to Reviews:
Thank customers for positive feedback and professionally address negative reviews. Quick responses (especially to negative reviews) show that you value customer opinions.
When responding, remember to integrate keywords naturally to emphasise key services or products your business offers.
Add Questions and Answers
Share key information upfront by posting answers to frequently asked questions directly on your profile.
You can also allow customers to submit their own questions.
Here’s how they appear on your profile:
Customers also have the option to ask their own questions, so be sure to periodically check your profile and provide a swift response.
Note that there are additional elements that you can optimise your GBP with such as “Bookings” and “Products”, but the items listed above are relevant to any website.
Following the above steps will help ensure that your Google Business Profile is optimised for both the search engines and your target audience.
Step #3: Brand Mention Link Building Strategy
Securing backlinks from brand mentions is one of the most effective ways to boost your site’s authority, enhance your SEO efforts, and increase referral traffic.
Whether your brand is being mentioned positively, negatively, or neutrally, each mention represents a potential backlink opportunity since the writer is already aware of your brand.
Let’s take a look at how you can leverage mentions of your brand on the web, and turn them into valuable backlinks.
Finding Unlinked Brand Mentions
There are two ways I’ll show you how to find unlinked mentions of your brand:
Method #1: Google Alerts
To set up Google Alerts, simply enter your brand in quotation marks and hit ‘Create Alert.’
You can customise the alert by choosing the:
-
- Frequency
- Source
- Language
- Region
… and the number of results you’d like to receive.
You have the option to get the results sent directly to your email or through an RSS feed.
Here’s an example of what the alert looks like once it’s set up:
Remember to also create a separate alert for any relevant variations of your brand name too.
You’ll now automatically get an alert whenever another website mentions your brand on their pages.
Method #2: Ahrefs Content Explorer
Google Alerts is useful for catching new unlinked mentions. But you’ll also want to find existing mentions of your brand that don’t yet link back to your site.
This is where Ahrefs’ Content Explorer comes into play.
Search for your brand or product name in quotes.
Then, select ‘Highlight unlinked’ and input your domain. This will display results where your brand is mentioned without a backlink.
Use the ‘One page per domain’ filter to eliminate duplicate results, making it easier to manage your list.
You can refine the results further by sorting based on estimated page traffic, prioritising backlinks from high-traffic pages.
You can either export the results or manually review them in Content Explorer. If exporting, be sure to select the option for ‘Only pages with highlighted domains.’
When deciding which websites to approach for a backlink to your site, keep the following factors in mind:
- Domain Relevance – Does the website align with your industry? For instance, if your site focuses on fitness, it’s best to target backlinks from other fitness-related (or fitness adjacent) websites.
- Context – Review the tone of the mention, whether it’s positive, neutral, or negative. Positive mentions are generally easier to turn into links, whereas negative ones may require a more careful and strategic outreach.
Craft Outreach Emails
There are several tactics that you can use to increase your chances of securing a backlink from your prospect.
Here are some outreach emails that you can use:
Tactic #1: Propose an “Expert Quote” Contribution
If your brand has been mentioned in a related article, offer to contribute an expert quote or a brief insight from someone at your company.
This can add credibility to the content and naturally allow for a backlink.
Subject: Expert Insight for Your Article
Hi [Recipient’s Name],
I came across your article “[Article Title]” on [Website Name], and I really appreciate the mention of [Brand Name].
If you’re open to it, I’d love to contribute a quick expert insight or quote from our team that could complement the piece. It might help give your readers some additional context, and in return, a link to our site ([Your Website URL]) would be appreciated.
Let me know if this sounds interesting!
Best,
[Your Name]
Tactic #2: Request to Be Added to a Resource Page or List
If you notice that the site that mentioned you also has a resource page or a “recommendation” list, you can request to be included on those pages with a backlink.
Subject: Add [Brand/Product Name] to Your Resources Page?
Hi [Recipient’s Name],
I came across your mention of [Brand Name] in your article “[Article Title]” and really appreciate the shout-out!
I also noticed that you have a resource page where you list [related resources]. Since our [tool/product/service] fits well within that category, would you consider adding us to the list with a link to [Your Website URL]?
It could be a great resource for your readers, and I’d be happy to provide any additional information.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
Tactic #3: Create a Custom Infographic or Visual
Consider offering a custom infographic or other visual content that would enrich the article.
This can increase the appeal of the content and provide a backlink opportunity.
Subject: Custom Infographic for Your [Article Title]
Hi [Recipient’s Name],
I came across your article “[Article Title]” where you mentioned [Brand Name]. We appreciate the mention!
To make the content even more engaging for your readers, we’d love to design a custom infographic that summarises key points from the article. Would you be interested in embedding it along with a link to our website ([Your Website URL])?
Let me know if you think this could be a good fit!
Best,
[Your Name]
Tactic #4: Suggest Repurposing Their Content
Older articles that mention your brand but don’t link to your site can be refreshed with new content that can also include:
-
- Infographics
- Videos
- Or updated text
This gives the content a fresh appeal and presents an opportunity to request a backlink.
Subject: Repurpose Your [Article Title] + Quick Idea
Hi [Recipient’s Name],
I came across your article “[Article Title]” on [Website Name] and saw that you mentioned [Brand Name]. Thanks for including us!
I thought your article could be updated with more to date content and perhaps even an infographic or video to make it more engaging. I’d love to help with resources, and if you’re interested, you could also link back to our site ([Your Website URL]) for additional details.
Let me know if this sounds like something you’d be open to!
Best,
[Your Name]
Keep track of how successful your outreach efforts are and adjust your pitches as needed to increase your chances of receiving responses and securing backlinks from these mentions.
Results
Here’s the key takeaway.
Even in a competitive local market, a solid SEO strategy that balances technical optimisation with great user focused content can deliver big results.
To recap, what results did we see?
Comparing year-on-year, the client’s monthly organic traffic increased by 21.33%, from 6.5k to 7.9k monthly users.
The engagement also increased with the number of key events increasing from 453 to 681 enquiries per month.
This was achieved with three simple strategies:
- Service page content overhaul
- Google Business Profile optimisation
- Brand mention link building
Whether you’re a fitness provider, a law firm or an e-commerce store, these can be applied to your business.
👉 Are you struggling with SEO?
Here are 4 ways that we can help you:
And if you have any questions…
… please feel free to leave a comment below!
