Why Most SEO Advice Is Terrible for Local Businesses

This post was written as if the year was 2010 - by a human. AI was only used for proofreading.

As good as search engines are at giving you personalized information, there is one thing that they absolutely suck at - giving you good SEO advice.

Sure, they can give you a good local SEO company (if you ask). They will also give you local SEO advice, if you ask (even more explicitly). But if you are a beginner and ask for SEO advice, it’s likely going to give you a list of articles that don’t necessarily apply to you or your business.

Let me explain.

SEO Advice - But Not Super Helpful

Let’s talk to the local business owners out there. When I first started in digital marketing, I went through the books and the online training. There was a mess of technical items that you needed to do to help your website rank, but then there was a slew of other tasks that were recommended to help you show up in search engines.

Blog…get backlinks…focus on topic clusters…

I’m not saying these are incorrect, but the training all made it seem like these were Tier 1 problems. I believed them.

Years later, I upgraded from a freelancer to an actual local business owner, and I realized there was a pretty big gap between what the experts told you to focus on vs. what really matters for local businesses. Even though local business websites can (and sometimes should) focus on blogs, backlinks, and clustering, there is a far bigger reward for focusing on other SEO tactics.

I was walking the walk as a local business owner, trying to win online, and every time I followed the checklist given to me by some SEO expert, I found myself asking, do I really need to do this?

The more and more I blogged, the more and more I started to realize that maybe I should spend a few of those hours optimizing my Google Business Profile.

I would chase down potential partners to let me guest blog, but then I started to wonder, shouldn’t I just sign up for some local chambers?

Again, the advice that all of the big-time SEO experts were spewing seemed to make less of an impact for a small business with a niche audience.

I soon realized that not all websites were created equal when it came to SEO advice.

Local Websites vs. Global Websites - The Goal

“You don't have to outrun the bear; you just have to outrun the person next to you.”

You don't have to be the best (insert your industry) website; you just have to be the best in your area. It's that simple. And if your area is a 5-mile radius, you certainly don't need to employ every SEO tactic known to man… unless, of course, your neighbor is also doing the same thing and doing it very well.

So a small business in Wheeling, West Virginia has a clear advantage when it comes to marketing spend vs. the same type of small business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you don't have a ton of competition, you don't have to work so hard to win. The best part is that most local queries on Google and Bing will only give you results for nearby locations. Depending on your industry and how savvy your competition is, you might just build a quick website and be done for the next several years.

Many SEO companies don't want to tell you that… but it's certainly possible.

But that's for local businesses. If you are a business that relies on loads of website traffic, you are competing with everyone (not just your neighbor down the street). If you want to win this battle, you better tick off every little SEO tactic and trick in the book. This is no longer a race against a bear; this is the Boston Marathon, and every top runner is fighting for the finish line.

And that's the biggest difference between a local website and a global website - the goal. The local website owner needs one solid user to find their site, pick up the phone, and call. The global website needs volume, and they don't necessarily care what location that traffic comes from.

How the SERPs React to Local Searches

We are going to forget about global websites for now. Go find some SEO tip guide online, and they will fill in the blanks for you. This is made for my small business friends and local brands. Before you can optimize, you should probably understand how the search engine results pages work for you.

You are hungry and ready for some dinner. Unsure of where you want to go, you do the simple task of heading to Google and typing “restaurants near me.” This is a time before AI Overviews have really impacted local searches, so the first thing you see is a three-pack list of restaurants and a giant map to the right (assuming you are on a desktop and not mobile). The three restaurants all seem to have pretty good star ratings, and you notice they are all relatively close.

You continue to scroll and see the top results are Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable.

You scroll some more and then notice a few actual restaurants - but they aren't your standard mom-and-pop shops. Applebee’s and Denny’s…

You do the unthinkable and click to page two. Finally, you see some local dining establishments.

You weren't happy with the results, so you decided to get a wee bit more specific. You type “restaurants near Wheeling, WV.” Hey - there's that three-pack and a map again. This time you lost Yelp and gained a few local shows. I see Generations, Avenue Eats, and The Alpha Tavern. There's even a Reddit post for “Best restaurant in Wheeling.” I like these results a bit more.

…and this is your standard search and standard results.

As a restaurant owner, if you listened to the SEO expert tips and blogged like a madman for a year, that first search (“restaurant near me”), you still never had a chance. Google was never going to rank a local business in the top ten. The only way you would have been considered is if you were focusing on your Google Business Profile and trying to get listed on Yelp, TripAdvisor, or OpenTable.

But once you get super local (adding the term Wheeling, WV), you have every shot to win.

Many SEO companies and online tools would have you chasing the term “restaurant near me” because it’s searched millions and millions of times each month. Instead, you should be chasing the term that is searched 1,000 times but actually provides local results.

What Small Businesses Should Actually Do to Improve Ranking

Not all SEO tip blogs are wrong. Most of them are just targeting a large audience and picking simple, well-known elements that work for larger websites. In order to give real guidance, you have to better understand each person’s goals and surroundings. That's not something most marketing experts can do at scale. Instead of doing a generic search for “SEO tips” or “SEO checklist,” be more specific.

Refined Searches for Better Tips

If you are an attorney, search for “SEO tips for attorneys.” The results will be far better (just like when we searched for “restaurants Wheeling, WV”). It's very possible that someone in your niche has figured out the best practices, and they are willing to share.

Search Like Your Customer

It's fascinating to think most business owners don't ever try to search like their customer. Go through the simple process of typing in your industry and see what shows up. Then type in your industry and the city and see what shows up. If you aren't seeing any local results, Google might not want to show local businesses. This happened a while ago for banks and web designers (yes, not much I could do).

If you notice the top results being Yelp or another directory, quit worrying about your site and get your business listed there.

Better Information on Your Website

I preached about this in a previous article, but it's 100% true. Quit focusing on rankings and focus on the content on your website. What can you do in writing (or media) to showcase that you are the best at what you do? Do you have answers to all of the questions most customers ask? Is your process easy to understand? Can someone realistically purchase from you just by reading the content on your site?

Network Locally

Coming from an introvert, I hate this advice… but it works. Talking to real people at real events will do wonders for your website. When you post a blog on social, the people you actually interact with will read it. When you need a Google review, your network will help. If you want a backlink, guest blog on a fellow business owner’s site. You might actually get more business through word-of-mouth referrals than you get from boosting your website rank, but we will gladly take both.

Stay Visible Everywhere You Can

This is a tricky one. We don't have endless budgets or time, so you will want to pick and choose. But if you can be active on LinkedIn, be active. If you can create some TikTok videos, create some. Comment on Reddit. Post on Instagram. Start a podcast on Spotify. All of these things help - it’s just about finding the time.

You Don’t Need to Win Google - You Just Need to Win Locally

The biggest mistake small businesses make with SEO isn’t doing it wrong - it’s doing too much of the wrong stuff. Generic SEO advice isn’t malicious; it’s just designed for scale, not reality. Local businesses don’t need to win the internet; they need to win their block, their town, or their county. When you stop chasing massive search volumes and start focusing on how real people actually search in your area, SEO becomes simpler, cheaper, and far more effective. The goal isn’t to follow every checklist you find online. The goal is to be visible where it actually matters.