We’ve all pulled up our favorite search engine to find something we’re looking for, and your customers are doing the same thing to find you. But, if you’re not showing up at the top, your customer may not be clicking to find you. Research shows that if you show up in the first, second, or third positions, the average click-through rate (or CTR) is 39.8%, 18.7% and 10.2% respectively. The practice of optimizing your website to improve its chances of showing up in search engine results is referred to as search engine optimization (SEO). The challenge with SEO, however, is that how you approach it is constantly changing (thanks, algorithms).

To help you get more customers, we talked to some local SEO experts to get the latest about ranking for keywords, navigating an AI-powered internet, and why SEO is such an important tool in your MarComm toolbox.

Anne-Stuart Teter, a senior director at Addison Clark

Chris Fawcett, president of Third Marble Marketing

Emily Gittings, founder and COO of Spur Pond Marketing

Ryan Steward, president of Ace Strategies

The Core Pillars of Local SEO

It’s hard to synthesize the core pillars of local SEO into one list, but if you take away nothing else, here are the five things you need to understand.

• Keywords: You can’t create content or rank on search results pages if you don’t know the terms people search for. Be sure you’re including the right keywords in page titles, headlines and body copy. Google has keyword planning tools, and there are several other third-party tools that help analyze keywords, too. Anne-Stuart Teter, a senior director at Addison Clark, recommends that when choosing keywords, businesses should stick with layman’s terms. “Listen to your consumers. Often, when you are in an industry, you get stuck in ‘industry speak’ and forget how a potential customer would actually talk about your product or business. Keep it simple and straightforward.”
• On-Page Basics: Be sure you leverage basics like having keywords in meta titles and meta descriptions, and having keywords in the right <h1> tags (these are usually styled as the largest, boldest headlines on your page. “Learn how to use title tags and meta descriptions, and have them match the Google Business Profile categories, if possible,” said Chris Fawcett, president of Third Marble Marketing. If meta descriptions or tags sound too complicated, many website builders now include built-in SEO tools or plugins that simplify optimization and help improve search rankings without requiring technical skills.
• Content: Having the right content on your website is critical. “Create content/blogs that are authentic and unique, while also creating content/blogs that answer questions,” said Emily Gittings, founder and COO of Spur Pond Marketing. Fawcett echoes this and emphasizes the importance of expanding the content and infrastructure on your website. “Create landing pages for each of your services/products,” he said. “A one-page list of your services will not work.”
• Links & Citations: Getting mentioned on other sites/directories, like Yelp and Angie’s list. One easy thing you can do is link to your listing in Find Local, which helps create some strong backlinks and referral traffic opportunities.
• Google Business Profile & Reviews: With 90% of users choosing Google as their preferred search engine, it’s network is your biggest local ranking factor and it’s critical you pay attention to your Google Business Profile. “Complete your Google Business Profile. 100%,” Fawcett said. “Add photos, logos, Q&A and anything else that will help someone decide to contact you.”

How AI Is Changing Search (But the Basics Still Win)

SEO and AI are BFFs. With an increasing number of AI Overviews appearing on SEO searches, today, your website needs to work with search crawlers and AI tools like ChatGPT.

“First, SEO is the basis of how AI Assistants get their information,” said Fawcett. “Staying relevant to Google and its traditional search results is critical.  87% of all mentions in ChatGPT and other AI Assistants are also found on page one of Google.  So not having good, traditional SEO is a huge mistake.”

While this space is constantly changing, creating valuable, conversational, and helpful content is going to help capture the attention of your audience and AI-driven tools.

“Produce good content intended for the user, but also by provide lots of FAQs about your product or service,” said Ryan Steward, president of Ace Strategies. “Be sure to include keywords around your product or service as well as geographic modifiers to stand out in a local market.”

“AI is overwhelming and at the end of the day, good SEO, regardless of AI, is about creating something that is helpful to your users,” added Gittings.

SEO Quick Start Action List

We love a to-do list, and we’re giving you one for SEO:

1. Claim/optimize your Google Business Profile. Especially when you’re talking about local SEO, filling out your business profile helps keep your company accurate across Google products, including search and maps.
2. Benchmark where you are. Depending on your skill level, you may need to seek outside support. “Get an audit,” suggest Gittings. “It doesn’t have to be expensive, many companies such as mine offer free mini audits. I have seen folks jump right into content creation for months and nothing happens because there is something foundationally wrong with the site that they did not know about.”
3. Get backlinks and reviews. Gittings, Fawcett and Steward emphasize getting on list roundups in your industry, collecting reviews from your customers, and winning awards that help build links and credibility towards your company.

SEO is a Long Game

If you’re looking for a quick fix, SEO is not it. All of our local SEO experts say one of the biggest misconceptions they work to correct with clients is the speed in which you’ll see results.

“It takes time – it is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Fawcett. “Poor User Experience (UX) causes back button clicks. Make your site sticky.  When Google sees someone stays on the site for a long time, they know that you found what you’re looking for and rewards you with higher rankings.”

A keyword that ranks today may not rank next month, but it may come back around in a few months. That’s why SEO isn’t just a one-time activity.

“SEO is a moving target. You can’t set it and forget it,” said Teter. “You have to stay on top of what consumers are searching, what your competition is doing, new algorithm changes, etc.”

Because technologies and consumer behaviors constantly evolve, search engine optimization does as well. 

Key Takeaways

• Strong local SEO starts with the fundamentals. Understanding keywords, optimizing on-page elements, building content-rich pages, and maintaining consistent backlinks and citations are essential for showing up in search results.
• Your Google Business Profile is your most powerful local tool. A fully completed and optimized profile can significantly improve your visibility and credibility.
• AI is reshaping search, but quality content still wins. As AI tools pull from top-ranking websites, focusing on conversational, helpful, and question-driven content keeps your site relevant to both users and algorithms.
• SEO takes patience and consistency. It’s a long-term strategy that rewards useful, user-friendly websites over time. Invest in regular audits, content creation, and link-building for lasting impact.