LETS TALK ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS 1300 891 181

Last updated: Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Authors

Blake Horton

Blake Horton

Anish Aryal

Anish Aryal

Ever wondered how your small business can go head-to-head against big brands in today’s market?

SEO (search engine optimisation) could just be what you need to grow your business and even the playing field. 

Gone are the days when the only way to improve brand visibility and sales was to pay for expensive prime-time television ad spots or drive-time radio ads. 

With organic search (nonpaid) marketing, you can raise brand awareness, attract potential customers, and scale your revenue.

As a small business owner in Australia, you may have already tried SEO and worked with several SEO agencies to boost your online presence. But, you still haven’t achieved your desired results.

You know SEO can work for your small business, but none of the marketing strategies you’ve tried have helped you target and capture a significant share of the local market.

You’ve already invested much of your time and money into SEO. Still, your ranking in the SERP (search engine results page) is nonexistent or subpar.

And let’s not forget, you’re competing against established brands with more resources than you. Maybe you just can’t commit to another long-term contract without assurance that you’ll finally achieve the results your small business needs to scale.

Is SEO for your small business worth another try? 

Enter Digital Spotlight. We’re different from run-of-the-mill SEO agencies because we have the in-depth expertise, extensive experience, and exclusive, cutting-edge tools necessary to deliver sustainable SEO results.

We start by analysing your local landscape and assessing your local SEO authority. Every small business faces unique challenges, and we tailor our approach to help you address those concerns and capitalise on the search and market trends in your niche.

Concerned about pouring more hard-earned dollars into a cookie-cutter SEO strategy that will unlikely work? 

With us, you don’t need to be. Before asking for any commitment, we’ll give you a clear plan to boost your small business’ online visibility so you can attract the clients you’ve been missing out on.

We like to keep things crystal clear. We won’t let you spend a cent on any of our SEO services if we haven’t defined your key objectives and given you a detailed breakdown of what it will take to achieve them.  

With 15+ years of experience, we’ve fine-tuned our process to deliver measurable and budget-efficient results. Before you commit, you’ll know exactly where your money is going and how it will help grow your local client base. 

The bottom line is that we don’t make promises we can’t keep. 

If SEO isn’t the right fit for your small business, we’ll tell you upfront. We won’t let you waste money on services that won’t help your local growth. 

Plus, we don’t believe in locking you into long-term agreements. You can walk away anytime if you’re unsatisfied with the results—no hard feelings. 

We stand behind our work and are confident we’ll be able to deliver excellent results—no need for lock-in contracts!

Whether you’re a start-up or a small business that needs a marketing revamp, we can help you reach your goals of dominating your niche through maths-based, algorithm-sensitive, results-oriented SEO.

Is SEO Good for Small Businesses? Does Your Small Business Need SEO Services?

Did you know? Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) comprise 98% of businesses in Australia and contribute nearly half of the country’s yearly output.

If you run a small business, more power to you. You’re the backbone of Australia’s economy.

That said, to extend your reach and client base, you must take your digital marketing strategy to the next level.   

Leveraging SEO, a cost-effective, non-PPC (pay-per-click) marketing option, can boost your search visibility and generate qualified nonpaid leads.

Over time, you attract and retain more local customers for less marketing costs. That’s why you’ll need us.

We’ve been an industry leader for over a decade, helping grow thousands of local businesses in major cities like Newcastle, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Need proof? Here’s our track record:  

  • 95.67% client retention rate
  • 63.4% client average monthly spend
  • 2,103+ client campaigns launched

How did we achieve these feats? We value what our SEO clients value, regardless if they’re a big, multi-national company or a small, family-run shop.

This approach drives us to help the business world’s underdogs take on their industry’s heavyweights.  

Thus, we don’t pitch. We listen, learn, recommend solutions (when appropriate), and demonstrate how our unique, results-focused, and research-driven SEO approach can give you impressive results you won’t get elsewhere.

You won’t be discussing with slick salespeople when you talk to us. We’ll tell you what’s real, not what we think you want to hear. 

For example, we’d love to partner with every business as a client. But if we think SEO isn’t for you (and it isn’t for everyone), we’d rather say no than have you spend a single dollar on a service you don’t need.

 

Many of our clients appreciate our upfront communication style. Here’s Philip K. Bonser of Goulburn Offroad Carts, a local distributor of off-road vehicles, detailing his experience with us:

“Everything you do is so professional, fast, and efficient that I would not deal with anyone else. [Digital Spotlight] staff has always provided me with updates on my rankings, improvement suggestions, and fast, friendly answers to any questions I have asked from day one.

In your industry, where many take your money and do very little for it, you are a breath of fresh air for small businesses like mine.

I have tried other companies and had real problems getting results like you have produced and even more problems getting replies to simple questions and have had to wait days or weeks.”

Philip K. Bonser | Goulburn Offroad Carts

SEO Tips for Your Small Businesses to Improve Online Presence

With 5.45 billion internet users worldwide and 25.31 million in Australia in 2024, establishing an online presence for your business is an excellent way to promote your products or services.

Unfortunately, as of June 2024, over 2.6 million businesses were actively trading in Australia, many of which use the digital space as a marketing avenue. Thus, standing out and reaching potential customers can be challenging.

So, what do you do? You make your business searchable.

Enter SEO, an online marketing strategy that aims to make your site content and web pages rank higher on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

In a nutshell, the higher your web page places in search engine rankings, the more visible your business offerings become. This increased visibility equates to more organic traffic and, by extension, more chances of converting curious searchers into paying customers.

Consider Local SEO: Understanding Local Search in Digital Marketing

Here’s what the big players in your industry want you to ignore: Local SEO traffic can be your most profitable. 

When people search for terms like “near me” or “best coffee shop in [insert city name],” they’re primed for real-life interactions and ready to make a purchase.

On Google, search for any product- or service-specific keywords related to your small business and add a location-based modifier to your search. 

What do you see? The results will likely display business listings and a map showing their physical addresses lifted from Google Maps.

This digital bulletin is called the local map pack or map pack. It appears at the topmost part of results for local searches.

Being included in that list is one of the best, if not the best, ways to boost your local online presence and possibly increase revenue.

Say a Sydney-based user asks Google where to buy electrical equipment. The results will display nearby electronics stores based on location.

After all, they did not search “electrical equipment near me” because they were simply curious. They likely searched for it because their broken appliance needs fixing.

In short, the searcher is likely looking for electronics stores in their neighbourhood to make a purchase. 

Google will give them the top suggestions for nearby locations through the local map pack.

Imagine running a small business, and your business website doesn’t show on Google’s top three local listings.

Whether you offer the best service or product in town will not matter much. Potential customers with high buying intent will not see your business first or, worse, know it even exists.

Our local SEO tactics may include optimising your NAP (name, address, and phone number) on every web page and maintaining an accurate Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).

Tell Google Where You Are

Suppose you rely on local customers and local traffic to generate revenue. In that case, you want Google to know how to surface your location in relevant queries by adding local business structured data to your site. You’ll also want to optimise your Google Business Profile.

Make a Contact Page

Aside from finding your business using search engines, your potential clients must also know how to contact you. You should always add your contact details where users expect to see them—for example, in your website footer and contact page.

Here’s how a contact form may look: 

Call us at [insert phone number] or email us at [insert email address]. You can also visit us at [insert physical address]. 

[Insert an online contact form with input fields for the customer’s name, email, phone number, city address, and message. We can also add input fields for uploading photos.]

Schedule a consultation today! 

Local Business Structured Data

Google Search works hard to grasp the content on your page. You can make it easier for the search engine by using structured data to give signals about the page’s purpose.

Structured data is a standardised way to provide information about a page and classify its content.

For small or local businesses, using this structured data is an excellent way to boost your online visibility in search engine results pages. 

By adding this data, you can share crucial business info, like your name, address, phone number, and hours of operation.

This step helps search engines understand your business better, making it easier for you to appear in relevant search results. Remember to follow the steps here to add Website structured data to your homepage.

Google Business Profile

You might need to set up a Google Business Profile (GBP) for your small business if you want to:

  • Establish your brand reputation through reviews
  • Improve your online search presence on Google
  • Manage your contact information

GBP is a free local listing that features basic business info, including:

  • Phone number
  • Service area
  • Photos
  • Product or service offers
  • Operating hours
  • Health and safety measures

We’ll help you create a GBP if you don’t have one. We’ll ensure it contains these essential info: 

  • Address
  • Language
  • Currency
  • Contact details
  • Links from local sites

GBP is vital to local search success today. Proving you’re a legitimate small business can increase your chances of securing a spot in Google’s local SERP sidebar.

Now, consistency is vital with GBP. Ensure the info you share on your profile matches those on your website, and keep your name, address, and phone number consistent.

If your GBP details align with your website and local citations, Google will likely consider your business legitimate.

Monitor Local Listings

Aside from managing your Google Business Profile, it’s crucial to ensure the accuracy of your local business data.

You want your NAP to be 100% consistent on all platforms, including your website, GMB profile, online directories, and local listing sites.

NAP citations help searchers find your small business online. They’re typically seen in directories, review sites, and social media profiles.

Let us handle your NAP audit and updates, ensuring your info stays accurate everywhere.

Fix Your Technical SEO Issues

Although each search engine’s algorithm works slightly differently from the other, they usually involve crawling. Crawling happens when a search engine like Google or Bing scours the internet for web pages relevant to the search query.

Unfortunately, if your site’s pages aren’t “crawlable” to search engines, they won’t appear on SERPs. Technical SEO solves this problem by fixing the technical elements of your business site.

Our technical SEO audit gathers data from various sources, including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Screaming Frog. 

We do so to understand each page on your site, optimise and, most importantly, group and prioritise pages for more in-depth analysis in the following deliverables:

  • Technical Audit Scorecard
      • Includes a “Summary” tab that mentions and highlights high-level issues
      • Has an “Audit Scorecard” tab featuring grades of “pass,” “fail,” or “not found” for each checked element
      • A separate tab for all identified issues showing the affected uniform resource locators (URLs)
  • Search Console audit
    • A standalone Google Search Console audit will uncover issues and suggestions. We’ll create an itemised checklist of issues and recommended actions using this information. 

We might also implement all the necessary changes, including (but not limited to):

  • Review schema (structured data that tells search engines, like Google, details about reviews and ratings for products, movies, and recipes)
  • Messages, issues, warnings
  • Sitemap check
  • Robots.txt review to prompt search engine crawlers on which URLs they can crawl or access on your site
  • Link penalty
  • Metadata for priority pages
  • Slide deck
    • Easy-to-understand visuals showcasing the analysis of specific issues, including straightforward descriptions and screenshot images of the problems (if applicable)
    • Recommends immediate action items
  • Internal link analysis for crawlability and architecture
  • Hands-on review and analysis of data from diverse crawling tools to unearth issues and pinpoint optimisation opportunities rooted in the technical aspect of your site

Optimise On-Page Elements

This SEO type—also known as on-site SEOoptimises your website or page to improve organic search rankings and traffic. 

On-page SEO optimises these factors to ensure your website has a high level of  authoritativeness, expertise, and credibility:

  • Headlines
  • HTML (hypertext markup language) tags, such as title, meta, and header
  • Images

Poor on-site features prevent Google from ranking your website’s user relevance and usefulness. Our full-scale on-page SEO health check examines every aspect of your website to pinpoint the problem accurately. We use the data we gather from this audit to recommend sound fixes.

Titles

The title tag is one of the most essential on-page SEO factors. That’s why it should include keywords.

Our optimisation technique only implements the best industry practices, such as finding the optimal title tag length, using relevant keywords, and removing uninformative title tags. 

  1. Pages should have title tags and use this format: <title>Add Title Tag Here</title>
  2. The title tag must be located inside a page’s <head> section.
  3. The title of a page must include the keywords that it is targeting.

As Google crawls and indexes the pages of a site, if it finds pages whose title tags do not follow Google’s best practices or guidelines, the search engine reports them in Google Search Console. We commonly refer to these groups of errors as HTML issues. These include:

  • Missing title tags
  • Duplicate title tags
  • Long title tags
  • Short title tags
  • Non-informative title tags

Meta Descriptions

When search engines try to find the most appropriate pages to respond to a user’s query, they need context on what to look for. While keywords play a significant role, so do meta tags.

Meta descriptions are snippets of text offering relevant but brief information about a web page. While they don’t necessarily increase your website rank, they can improve user experience and, by extension, click-throughs and conversions.

Think about it: if you’re a consumer, which website would you rather click on? One that tells you precisely what you’ll find in it or one that doesn’t? 

For this reason, our SEO approach includes adjusting on-page optimisation factors like meta tags. Here’s what we’ll do to optimise your meta descriptions:

  • Keep the description to a minimum of 100 characters but at most 160, including spaces and special characters. Ideally, the aim is for 150 characters to be seen entirely from the SERP.
  • Keep the meta description informative, appealing and descriptive of what that specific page is about (for example, the nature of the business or the product or service being offered).
  • Focus on making the meta description appeal to potential visitors instead of putting the keywords you want to rank for in there.
  • Keep the meta description in a logical sentence format.

Headers

Heading tags are used as headings for the content of a page. After the title tag, the heading tags (H1 and H2) are given much weight. Headings carry more significance than the body text, making it essential to align them with the page’s core keyword theme.

  Generally, the H1 tag is a post’s title or other emphasised text on the page and the largest text that stands out.  

Other heading tags with decreasing ranking power, such as H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6, are commonly used as subheadings.

A page’s H1 or H2 heading tags must include the keywords they are targeting. This step helps increase the page’s relevance to the targeted keywords and creates consistency between the off-page and on-page fixes.

Image Alt Text

We offer image optimisation (alt text). Image alt text explains the images on your site, giving your content more context. It also helps boost your ranking in image packs and search results.

Plus, it makes your website accessible—screen readers rely on those descriptions to convey what’s on the page.

For example, the alt text for the image below reads, “Small business storefront with customers browsing outside at night.” The alt text uses keywords relevant to the business, which helps it show up in the right searches.

Make a Good Website

Potential customers aren’t always stopping by small businesses to browse items. These days, they search and compare products online.

So, what happens if your site doesn’t show up at the top of the search results? Or worse, they click on it and find low-value content and a clunky site? You’d lose out on valuable customers.

That’s why it’s critical to create an excellent website. We don’t see your website as just another digital asset. We treat it like your digital storefront—a space to engage visitors and transform them into paying customers.

Create a Logical Website Structure

If you want your content (thus, your business) to rank high on search results, your site needs a sound structure and user-friendly interface.

Our agency works closely with a website development team to ensure proper implementation of our SEO adjustments. 

For instance, an eCommerce fashion retailer approached us because its organic web traffic had started declining despite growth in other marketing areas.

The change can be so impactful that our web development partners adjust their site development methods to capitalise on our findings. 

So, what’s our game plan? We collaborate extensively with our web development partners to help optimise your website for Google and other search engines.

Low-Budget Branding for Small Business SEO

Low-budget branding can effectively boost SEO for small businesses, allowing them to compete with established brands. 

While big brands often benefit from offline recognition and familiarity, small businesses can still compete by focusing on content quality and strategic targeting.

Google may favour well-known brands in local searches, but content relevance, credibility, and accuracy are equally important. This is where small businesses can excel, even with limited resources. By optimising for nonbranded search terms, you can reach an audience that isn’t tied to specific brands.

Many customers today are brand agnostic, searching for the best solution rather than the most popular name. Our SEO approach targets these users, giving your business a chance to stand out.

With advanced tools and data, we help you identify and reach your most profitable audience. You don’t need a huge budget to succeed—just a smart strategy that turns search traffic into loyal customers.

  As such, searchers typically use nonbranded terms to find what they want online. Our SEO strategy also targets this demographic.

We can identify your most profitable target audience using our state-of-the-art dataset that functions as a multidimensional GPS (global positioning system).

Review Your Site Structure

Your site structure is how your pages and content are organised. It affects how search engines and users navigate your website.

 This structure includes your header, footer, URLs, and how you link between pages. If your structure is weak, search engines may not rank your pages, and users will struggle to find them.

It’s terrible for SEO and business.

A strong site structure ensures users (and search engines) can access every page within four clicks or fewer.

To evaluate your current setup, put yourself in the user’s shoes. Can you easily locate the information you need? Is anything hard to find or misplaced?

If you notice issues, it may be time to restructure. While keyword research can guide you, keeping your site’s structure clear, logical, and easy to follow should be a top priority.

Add Schema Markup

Search engines understand content through the structured data entered into a webpage. This info is often referred to as “schema markup.”

We analyse the latest information regarding impressions and traffic and provide recommendations on effectively managing your page content moving forward, including:

  • Pruning, refreshing, or rewriting blog and resource content that no longer generates traffic
  • Building on existing resource content, especially web pages targeting brand terms
  • Improving interlinking, content structure, and delivery to ensure content credibility

Do Keyword Research and Implementation

We research the ideal keywords by focusing on these factors:

  • Quality: The likelihood of the searcher to buy
  • Quantity: The number of searchers
  • Competition: How quickly clients can get ranked

Our SEO specialists optimise campaigns based on a customised search and keyword strategy to ensure your local small business achieves the desired results.

We accomplish these tasks during the search planning phase:

  • Conduct keyword research
  • Finalise keyword queue
  • Draft the keyword suggestions template

We don’t offer templated solutions because we believe each client has unique needs and potential.

Our technical, content, and account management departments collaborate to develop a keyword plan tailored to your specific needs.

Relying on the outdated keyword research playbook will not work anymore. Google’s algorithm is way more intelligent now than in its early versions.

Our keyword analysis and in-house tools have helped generate highly targeted traffic for our clients. We follow a proprietary and thorough step-by-step keyword strategy. 

We’ll examine your products or services closely using your keyword suggestions and questionnaire. 

Through extensive research, we understood that focusing on a particular number of initial core keywords helps our SEO campaign get search engine traction for the first few weeks.  

This approach maintains our SEO efforts within Google’s natural, normalised optimisation range. Plus, it lays the solid groundwork for the months and years ahead.

Find Your Niche and Your Long-Tail Keywords

Users type highly specific or “long-tail” keywords into search engines to refine their queries.

For instance, if you search “kitchen supplies,” that’s a general keyword. On the other hand, “induction pan near Sydney” is an example of a long-tail keyword. 

Due to less competition, these precise key phrases are more likely to convert (lead to a purchase).

We can optimise your content for Google by strategically distributing location-modified, industry-specific keywords across your website’s URL, HTML tags (like headers, titles, and meta descriptions), and throughout the body.

Build Links

A backlink (“inbound link” or “incoming link”) is a digital bridge connecting two or more websites.

Think of these links as votes of confidence from one website to another. The more quality links your site has, the higher its online authority. 

So, instead of asking, “How can I get more links?” ask yourself, “What links should I pursue?”

Also, keep in mind that Google penalises sites for spammy, artificial, or low-quality links.

Now,  our link-building strategy targets quality links that boost your online authority. We research, reach out, and maximise link opportunities. Here’s how we do it:

  • Select the right sites, link types, and pages.
  • Always hunt for fresh links.
  • Build relationships from the first email to final placement.

We also write guest posts to help our clients gain high-quality links. We only write articles for blogs and sites that we know can improve our clients’ online authority. 

List Your Business on Related Directories

Directories often rank search results for local queries. When searchers click on these databases, they can drive organic traffic to your small business website. 

GBP is not the only online directory where you can display your business information. Consider listing your local business in Bing Places and other reputable online directories.

Submit Your Site to Local Listings

Submit your official site to local directories that are relevant to your business, but make sure they’re legitimate. Getting listed on shady or spammy sites will do more harm than good.

LinkedIn is a solid option for small businesses across all niches. It’s credible and has a strong domain rating. For example, Small Business A, a small business in Newcastle, Australia, has set up its profile on LinkedIn. It’s a smart move.

Place Your Link on All Your Profiles

Social media promotes your content and builds an audience that may link to you in the future. These platforms also attract quality links from credible sources. 

For example, social media channels allow you to share external links, including blogs and articles, to inform potential customers and drive traffic to your small business website.

You can also run surveys to understand your target audience better, establish a trust-based relationship with prospects through engagement, such as responding to comments, and demonstrate your unique selling proposition.

Your website can get more backlinks, positive reviews, and social mentions as you reach, engage, and add value to your target social media users, raising brand awareness.

Set Up Your Google Analytics and Google Search Console

Google Analytics is a Google freemium web analytics service that monitors and reports website traffic. We use it to track traffic changes, sales, leads and conversions from organic traffic.

As we develop your enterprise site, we gather increasingly accurate information about its performance. We create a report to learn what to adjust in our process and to extract better insights from your Google Analytics account.

Google Search Console: This freemium service lets us do the following:

  • Check whether Google can crawl your website.
  • Discover issues concerning your site’s indexability. 
  • View Google Search traffic information for your website.
  • Get alerts when Google finds spam, indexing, or other issues on your site.
  • See which sites link to your website.

Analyse SERP Competitors

If the search ranking competition feels challenging, expect it to become more intense as the SME market grows.

But don’t worry, all is not lost. We can help you survive, even thrive, in the cutthroat world of SEO for small businesses. 

Our keyword selection process involves comprehensive competitor analysis and market research. Do you want to beat competitors for their top-ranked keywords? We can help you take those coveted spots through these services.

Plus, you won’t have to fear getting overtaken by the same or another competitor in the future. 

We’ll also craft a ranking defence plan. With our math- and algorithm-informed strategy, you can sleep better at night knowing that current and future competitors won’t take your first-page rankings from you.

Create Content to Connect With Your Customers

Your content marketing efforts may underperform in SEO for various reasons. For instance, many marketers assume content marketing is just cramming as many keywords into a page as possible.

However, relevant and high-quality content is algorithm-sensitive and data-informed.

We have dedicated content developers who create original, engaging, rank-ready content. 

They work closely with content strategists and technical specialists who study a search engine’s first page, extrapolate word count trends, and identify subtopics for your target keywords.

Create Videos and Images for Competitive Keywords

Visual assets like images or videos are essential for your SEO strategy. They enhance your website and help showcase your services effectively.

Here are some ways to use videos and images to target competitive keywords and boost your SEO efforts:

  • Produce high-quality, engaging videos and images that align with your target keywords.
  • Optimise your visuals by adding relevant keywords to file names, titles, descriptions, and alt text.
  • Share your videos and images across social media and relevant platforms to boost visibility.
  • Track performance by monitoring views, engagement, and conversions, then adjust as needed.

Share Your Expertise and Reputation

Google trains search quality raters to resolve if your content has a strong E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness).

When your content answers search queries, you deliver real value to Google users, showing Google you’re an authority on the topic.

What does that mean for your site? Google ranks you at the top of its first page.

More people will see you as the leading brand, and more sites, especially high-authority ones, will link to your content, enhancing your overall domain rating.

For example, we helped Communicate Speech Pathology, a well-known speech and language therapy service provider servicing Sydney, Brisbane,  and Newcastle.

Our full-scale audits and customised solutions have helped improve the company’s domain rating (the relative strength of a backlink’s profile) by 200%proving Google’s trust in our client’s website. 

 Links From Related Sites

Getting relevant links from authoritative sources will help build your domain authority. 

Ideally, all clients should have a link-building strategy to maximise their SEO investment.

Suppose a link-building strategy does not align with the client’s budget. In that case, we will focus on priority pages, keywords, and content pages. 

Social Media

Most people use social media (approximately 62% of the world’s population). 

In Australia alone, there are 20.80 million active social media users, with Australians aged 16 to 64 spending about two hours on social media daily. 

These statistics may explain why many businesses dedicate much of their marketing money to social media marketing, sometimes at the expense of other initiatives, including SEO.

But instead of trading SEO for social media, you might want to find how these options can work together to boost your overall marketing returns. 

For instance, John Mueller, a webmaster trends analyst at Google, said that social signals do not directly affect organic rankings on Google.

However, he mentioned that social media content may appear on SERPs, which could drive traffic to your website. 

Additionally, Google’s search quality guidelines mention social media posts as a factor raters use to evaluate the credibility of web pages

Our social media team can share killer content developed by our content team (with the help of our content strategists and technical specialists) to drive organic traffic and engagement (all positive SEO signals).

Suppose you want to get the best of both worlds (SERPs and social media). In that case, your best bet is to work with an agency with outstanding credentials and expertise in social media marketing (not only in SEO).

Read how we revamped a losing Facebook ad campaign and drove $102,580.47 worth of extra sales in two months for free.

Ratings 

SEO helps improve your local search visibility. For example, localised organic search results depend on these three factors: 

  • Prominence: How well-known is your business offline? Do the ratings and reviews reflect its offline popularity? 
    • Distance: How far is your local business from the location-modified term a searcher used?
  • Relevance: Does your business profile match users’ queries?

Google has been increasingly optimising its search algorithm to facilitate local searches

The good news is that our SEO strategy focuses on location-modified targeting before general targeting to generate the highest returns for your business

One of the first things we’ll do for you is to verify if you’ve set up your website to target the right geographical location.

Encourage and Respond to Reviews

No one wants to be a guinea pig. That’s why potential buyers prefer to buy from businesses with excellent products or services. How do you assure prospects about your high-quality products or services? Get more reviews. 

The sheer volume matters because it subtly communicates that you’ve already sold many products or satisfied many clients with your services.

Here are some ways to get more customer reviews:

  • Show preferred review site icons at your physical location to prompt quick reviews.
  • Get feedback after every purchase and request satisfied clients to write a positive review. 
  • If you send out post-purchase thank-you emails, add review invites.

“Bad publicity is still publicity.” In other words, unfavourable reviews aren’t ideal, but they can still attract attention to your small business.

Suppose you don’t track what people say about you (both positive and negative). In that case, review sites can work against your enterprise. 

Fortunately, our digital marketing services include brand reputation management. We’ll highlight positive and neutral evaluations of your products or services and recommend PR (public relations) maneuvers to help drown out negative reviews.

Measure and Analyse Results

We value integrity. We gather data from our optimisation campaigns to measure and examine the effectiveness of your SEO campaigns.

Our SEO team tracks the results nonstop and sends reports to you within your first year with us.

We provide clients with a monthly account summary report. These briefs deliver key information to set expectations and track progress on their local SEO campaign.

Once the report is ready, we’ll send it to you through your preferred channel.

If you need updates or have questions, we can discuss them through Zoom meetings or phone calls.

Track Your Rankings

Google frequently updates its algorithms. Some are minor tweaks, but many are considered core updates. 

If your rankings change daily, you can ask our technical team to help you through our monitoring process. 

We’re always ready to explain what we’re doing with your existing SEO campaign and the status of your website. 

Mix Paid With Organic to Get Going

Paid advertising, or PPC (pay-per-click) platforms like Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords), manage and display ads on search engine results pages (SERPs). On the other hand, SEO services focus on driving organic traffic to your website.

PPC is a digital marketing product where advertisers pay a fixed amount every time someone clicks on their ad. PPC and SEO can complement each other effectively. Many of our clients use both strategies together.

Consider Communicate Speech Pathology, the client we’ve helped achieve high organic traffic (13,300% increase) and leads (66% increase).

The company also accessed our Adwords Elite service, improving its PPC conversion rate by 44.2% while reducing the cost per conversion (CPC) by 77.75%.

CPC shows what a business pays for each click to its site. Lowering this means progress. The institute is now spending less and seeing bigger, better returns.

Meanwhile, the conversion rate, shown as a percentage, is the average number of conversions per ad interaction.

 

Combining paid and organic marketing methods can boost your return on investment (ROI)—as long as you have experts crunching the numbers with advanced practices like proper segmentation, keyword intent analysis, and split testing to maximise sales.

Keep Your Online Information Up to Date

Double-check that essential information, such as opening hours and holidays, is accurate and up-to-date. 

Inaccurate data may not directly impact local rankings. However, when someone drives to your shop only to be greeted with a “Closed” sign, you can expect a negative review from an upset potential customer.

Nail Down What Problems You Solve for Customers

Before diving into SEO, you need to grasp how people search. Targeting the wrong audience or delivering the wrong message can quickly drain your budget.

It’s crucial to know who you’re aiming to reach and what problem you’re solving for them.

Start by asking yourself some key questions:

  • How, when, and where do customers realise they need your product or service?
  • Are they on the go, using their cell phones? Or are they at home on a desktop or tablet?
  • Is their need driven by personal desires, like craving good food or finding a great place to relax?
  • Or is it sparked by a disruptive event, like a home issue?

These questions will shape the language your customers use to find your business. 

This insight will guide your keyword research, content creation, and other important tasks.

Ask Your Business Associations and Suppliers to Link to Your Website

Lead-generating citations typically come from local sites. Local citations are highly relevant and boost your map pack or organic local search rankings.

We don’t just aim for random citations. We focus on link-building opportunities with optimal conversion rates.

Google Business Profile isn’t the only game in town for listing your business. Think about adding your info to Bing Places and other trusted local directories.

The aim is to get your small business listed in authoritative and localised directories, which will boost traffic, earn citations, and improve your local leads and sales.

We can help ensure that your NAP and website links are consistent across all listings.

Joining industry-specific directories can also give your business a nice boost. But steer clear of junk websites, and don’t buy directory listings just to snag a link.

Benefits of SEO for Small Business

Our SEO Enterprise package offers the following benefits:

✔️Higher visibility on top search engines via first-page rankings for high-demand key terms in the medium- to long-run

✔️Brand dominance in the digital marketplace by securing the top rankings in search engines

✔️Solid brand image as a market leader

✔️Increased quality traffic and customer visits to your website 

✔️Improved leads and sales

✔️Honest and helpful feedback on your site’s conversion quality and performance 

✔️Improved efficiency with minimal cost of lead generation

✔️Positive online reputation

Stay Focused on Growth

The principle of growth is a key driver behind many successful SEO efforts.

Strategies that follow a methodical process, where every step—even the small ones—adds to significant results, are more likely to outshine the competition.

In short, be prepared to play the long game. Many agencies rely on outdated solutions to tackle today’s challenges.

When they implement their strategies, Google’s algorithm has already moved on to the next phase.

Our specialists closely monitor Google’s changes to stay aligned with its updates. The insights they gather from their research help us create local SEO campaigns that deliver sustainable results for your small business.

Increase Awareness

Brand awareness is a qualitative factor that answers questions like “Are you getting more backlinks, positive reviews, and social mentions”?

That’s why typical branding tactics may focus on messaging, core values, brand personality, and positioning.

Our SEO solution supplements these efforts to bolster brand image by improving the search visibility of branded keywords, such as branded products and brand names. 

When done correctly, branding strategies and SEO mutually reinforce each other’s marketing impact.

Drive Traffic

If you’re a business owner who wants to promote your products or services to a specific target demographic, SEO can help.

Still, every business, regardless of size or industry, can use a little search engine optimisation. After all, working with an experienced SEO team with a tailored strategy can help you rank higher in search engines, increasing traffic and boosting leads and sales.

Achieve Success Quicker 

Our SEO approach follows the 80-20 rule. We concentrate on the 20% of ranking factors that drive 80% of the impact on your rankings.

You can significantly boost your chances of landing on Google’s first page by tackling these key on-page, off-page, and technical SEO factors.

For instance, ensuring that Google can crawl and index your site is a quick but real win for your SEO.

Understand Your Data

We’ll help you understand any metric you want to improve, such as organic traffic, conversions, and keyword ranking. 

SEO success can’t be defined by a one-size-fits-all label because it encompasses more than just numbers.

For instance, increased brand awareness, a qualitative factor, also highlights the ongoing value of SEO.

Aside from our proprietary tools, we leverage Google Analytics,  Semrush, and Ahrefs to track the progress of your local SEO campaign, helping you understand the data every step of the way.

Activate Your Marketing Flywheel

Since the 2000s, marketers have been developing flywheel models and incorporating them into their strategies. A flywheel is a mechanical device that leverages momentum to rotate. This process is called the flywheel effect.  

So, how does this apply to your business?

Activating your marketing flywheel keeps the customer at the centre of everything. Like the stages of inbound marketing—attract, engage, and delight—the flywheel constantly turns, with no clear beginning or end. This ongoing momentum drives your business growth well beyond the initial push.

Generate More Sales

Talking about how SEO works and what agencies can do is pointless if you don’t focus on what your business truly needs: more sales.

We can help you hit those targets by boosting organic traffic, enhancing your online authority, and building stronger brand awareness. 

But ultimately, we care about your bottom line. Rather than drowning you in flashy metrics, we deliver high-quality, sales-generating leads.

In the example we’ve mentioned—the one about the eCommerce fashion retailer whose organic traffic had started to decline—web traffic was the main issue.

When we stepped in, in under nine months, the company secured the #1 position for a highly profitable keyword, bringing in an additional $800,000 in sales.

Connect With Your Target Audience Early

A conversion funnel refers to the potential route the consumer takes leading to a purchase. 

The “top, middle, and bottom conversion funnel” is divided into three stages with different priorities:

    • Top of the funnel (TOFU): Raising awareness for your products or services 
    • Middle of the funnel (MOFU): Engaging prospects to nudge them to product or service consideration
  • Bottom of the funnel (BOFU): Validating your products or services to move them from consideration to conversion

We can put your business website before prospects whenever they search for your services or products, regardless of the buying stage they’re in. 

Still, we recommend engaging your market early in their buying stage so that your products or services become top of mind.

Gain Competitive Advantage

While SEO can scale your business in many ways, here are its key advantages:

  • Organic halo: When Google considers your brand the best match for a local query, searchers will view you as the top brand. 
  • Lock out your competition: What is the best place to hide a dead body? On page two of Google!

But no joke, if you rank high in organic search results, your target audience won’t even notice your nearby competitors.

  • Win today’s toughest niches: We only partner with businesses we know we can help grow. Our local SEO campaigns are thriving in the most challenging niches right now, and we have real-world examples.

Implement Cost-Effective, Targeted Marketing

Implementing cost-effective, targeted marketing starts with an SEO strategy focusing on your business’ most profitable areas. 

This approach builds a genuine connection with your market, helping you understand their needs, gain trust, and drive loyalty—all while filtering out unqualified traffic that wastes your time and money.

That’s why SEO (a medium-to-long-term marketing strategy) requires an ongoing effort that demands consistent attention to detail, optimisation, and technical solutions.

Unfortunately, many SEO agencies provide quick fixes and vanish when problems come back. Not us.

We focus on long-term outcomes. That’s why we’ve achieved a 95.67% client retention rate.

Partner with us to discover how we leverage search data and algorithms. You’ll achieve compounded returns at minimal cost.

Increase Credibility

PR (public relations) is crucial for promoting your brand, creating a solid brand reputation, and ultimately driving sales.

When you build quality relationships with the public, you achieve a high level of trustworthiness and gain the confidence of reporters, blogs, and other third-party outlets. 

Given PR’s significance in maximising high-impact ROIs, you likely want to know how we can help with your PR. 

Our SEO expertise empowers your PR by developing share-worthy content optimised for search engines. This effect attracts backlinks and boosts brand awareness. 

Do you want to get your company’s content on the top news and informational sites, like News.com.au and SMH.com.au?

Through our proprietary research and analysis approach, we can help you develop data-informed content that fuels your PR initiatives.

Ensure You’re Open 24/7

If you want to keep pace with the changes, your SEO platforms should be constantly available. 

Our highly technical SEO strategy ensures that your website is fully optimised and free of errors, downtime, and congestion.

Small Business SEO vs. Local SEO

Small business SEO and local SEO go hand in hand, but they aren’t identical. Local SEO can benefit any business (big or small) with a physical location. 

On the other hand, small business SEO specifically targets small businesses, regardless of whether they have a physical address.

Since many small businesses do have physical locations, we’ll dive into both topics in the tips below.

Local Search Ranking Factors and Small Business SEO

When search engines rank local search results, they focus on four key factors:

  • Is your website well-optimised?
  • Where’s your business located? Is it close to the person searching?
  • What do you offer, and does it match what the searcher is looking for?
  • Do you have a solid online reputation?

For small businesses, optimising for these factors is crucial for improving local search rankings and driving targeted, cost-effective traffic.

What Is SEO, and Why Do I Need to Know About It?

We could throw a bunch of jargon your way—terms like H-tags, 404s, meta descriptions, and canonical pages—to show off our SEO expertise.

But that’s not how we operate. While we have a solid grasp of SEO, we believe that tech talk isn’t necessary.

In simple terms, SEO helps improve your website’s organic (nonpaid) search ranking on SERPs.

That said, SEO is more intricate than what many self-proclaimed experts suggest. It goes beyond just cramming in keywords and pleading for links to climb the rankings, all in hopes of boosting traffic.

For us, effective SEO means diving deep into the work of Google’s engineers to pinpoint critical algorithm changes and using those insights to shape our marketing strategies.

Our SEO approach is grounded in observed patterns, Google guidelines, and industry knowledge.

How Search Engines Work: From Web Crawling to Indexing

Google Search operates in three stages, and not all pages pass through each stage:

  1. Crawling: Crawlers (automated programs) scan and download text, images, and videos from web pages.
  2. Indexing: Google analyses and organises that content into its database.
  3. Serving results: When users search, Google shows the most relevant info based on their query.

Every time a user searches for something online, search engines like Google trigger a billion calculations using thousands of variables. 

Math is the language of search engines. If you want to get the most out of your website, you should learn how to harness the power of numbers.

That means working with people who understand the math behind those computations.

Our agency focuses on search systems and algorithms, so we achieve results that often leave amateurs scratching their heads.

By the time the competition catches on, you’re already miles ahead.

The Importance of SEO

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) comprise a significant portion of all businesses and contribute a large share of Australia’s overall economic output. 

That said, elevating your marketing strategy is essential to growing your customer base and expanding your reach.

SEO, a cost-effective alternative to pay-per-click advertising, can enhance your search visibility and attract qualified leads without requiring you to spend on ads.

Over time, this approach will help you draw in and retain more local clients while lowering your marketing costs. 

Everyone in the tech and marketing world has opinions about the importance of SEO. Still, the bottom line is that despite the naysayers, SEO isn’t going anywhere.

SEO Is Different for Offline and Online Businesses

The primary difference between SEO for online and offline businesses is the focus.

Online businesses may aim for a global audience, optimising product pages and user experience to drive traffic and conversions. 

On the other hand, offline businesses concentrate on local SEO to attract nearby customers. This approach involves optimising local keywords, managing Google Business Profile listings, and encouraging customer reviews to build trust.

Every business requires tailored SEO strategies based on its specific goals. So, don’t just hire the first SEO agency you find to handle your campaigns.

Choose a reputable marketing agency like ours. We fully understand the best SEO practices to help you succeed.

SEO Is Not Just for Google

SEO is not just for Google—there are other channels to explore.

For instance, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo attract significant traffic with their unique algorithms. Local search engines like Yelp help small businesses connect with nearby customers.

Partner with us for precise analysis and exclusive resources, ensuring success across all these channels—not just Google.

SEO vs. Paid Search

SEO and paid advertising networks like Google Ads each have their strengths and weaknesses. Many businesses use both to maximise their ROI.

SEO is ideal if you don’t need immediate leads and are willing to invest for sustainable results over the medium to long term. 

While it may take time to achieve organic rankings, increased traffic, and qualified leads, the advantage is that you don’t pay for every click on your content. 

Your SEO budget remains consistent, and a solid, research-driven strategy can boost your rankings, traffic, and sales at lower acquisition costs over time.

On the other hand, paid ads or PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns are ideal for immediate leads and sales. However, you’ll be competing with industry giants, and if you don’t manage your budget carefully, costs can skyrocket.
For example, Google Ads opens the door to Google’s vast advertising network, offering four key products:

  • Google Search: This platform lets you feature your ads on the Google Search ad network or Google Search partners like Amazon, allowing you to market your business to searchers
  • Google Display: This Google product gives you access to the Google Display Network (GDN), which consists of over two million websites, apps, and videos. It allows you to reach over 90% of internet users.
  • Google Remarketing: This PPC avenue lets you target your promotional content to “tagged” visitors. In short, it’s a way to reengage past buyers to act.
  • Google Shopping: This product lets you showcase your brand, products, and essential information about your business to people actively searching for your offerings.

Google Ads boasts a range of products to target diverse audiences. However, navigating this diversity adds complexity to launching a successful campaign. 

Make the wrong choice, and your marketing budget could evaporate quickly. You can’t afford to take chances or hire an inexperienced PPC agency. 

As one of Google’s elite Premier Partners, we have direct access to top-level support teams, ensuring you get results that other agencies can’t match.

SEO Has Been Evolving: New Trends to Consider

SEO constantly evolves, and staying ahead means adapting to the latest trends. Ignoring these changes could leave your business behind. 

You need a research-driven, algorithm-informed agency to leverage these evolutions to boost your online presence. 

Here’s Anish, our CIO (chief innovation officer), sharing how our proprietary SEO strategy works: 

“By comparing real-world performance against our ever-evolving SEO models, our researchers are continuing to evolve our models to pattern what Google is ranking today. We do segment this analysis by niche, and even by sub-niche in some cases. We’re essentially looking out for small shifts (that go undetected to most agencies) that lead to long-term SEO results.”

Anish | CIO, Digital Spotlight

If you aim to dominate the local scene, you’d definitely want Anish and our team of experts to be on your side.

More Prominent Sites Get More Views

Search engines may use offline ranking factors such as brand familiarity or popularity. 

For example, Google ranks local search results based on prominence. More prominent sites may get more reviews, boosting their visibility. 

If your brand is recognised offline, Google may feature it in top local search results.

However, many businesses mistakenly lean too heavily on brand familiarity. Google now evaluates content quality more rigorously, making sure the information on your site is factual, relevant, and credible.

Offline popularity matters, but it’s just one of many factors Google uses to decide which pages rise to the top.

Core Web Vitals

Mobile-friendliness is a vital ranking factor for Google searches.

Mobile device optimisation is included in our SEO packages. We use cutting-edge tools like Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed Insights to ensure your web pages meet Google’s mobile usability and ranking standards.

Core Web Vitals measure user experience, focusing on interactivity, loading performance, and the page’s visual stability.

Upgrades for Search Intentions

Whether you offer a superior service or product in the market doesn’t carry much weight if your content doesn’t match searchers’ intent.

Prospective customers with buying intent won’t see your local business first or, worse, know it even exists.

Search engines rank pages based on content relevance and quality, domain authority, on-page elements, and other ranking factors.  

But how do search engines quickly assess hundreds or thousands of websites using these metrics? The answer: algorithms

 For example, when searchers “Google” something, its algorithm scans the index. Then, Google displays pages relevant to their query in organic results. 

Every year, Google makes thousands of core updates to its algorithm. These subtle and sometimes unexpected changes affect your website’s ranking prospects.

 Our SEO strategy can root out the slightest anomalies, indicating crucial shifts in Google’s search system.

Localisation Is Improving

Some estimates suggest local searches convert at around 28%. That means more than one in four customers using localised search intent will likely purchase.

While general keywords can drive decent traffic, the more generic the keyword, the lower the chances of converting leads into sales.

“Near me” searches are essential for businesses. Those using this phrase in their queries are typically potential customers.

A recent report noted a 900% surge in “near me” searches, with local search traffic increasing by 400% in recent years. What does this mean for your local business?

Imagine a family looking to buy a new barbecue grill. When they search for “barbecue grills near me,” Google displays local home improvement stores and outdoor retailers.

They likely typed in that phrase because they’re excited to host summer cookouts. They’re ready to make a purchase or at least seriously considering it.

Through the local pack, Google showcases the best nearby options.

Suppose you have a physical shop, but your business doesn’t appear in Google’s top three local listings. In that case, you’re missing out on a huge market opportunity.

Even if you offer a superior product or service locally, it won’t matter if online consumers with high buying intent can’t find you first—or worse, don’t even know you exist.

Improving SEO as an Online Business

We’ve helped thousands of clients secure the top position for a valuable keyword, significantly boosting their sales.

Many online brands don’t realise that SEO success hinges on the agency’s ability to collect data, conduct thorough research, and innovate.

With Google evolving rapidly, only a handful of agencies can keep up. We are proud to be one of those few.

Our unique maths- and research-driven SEO strategy has helped grow businesses as large as international organisations and as small as family-run shops.

Improving SEO as a Local Business

Consider these two facts emphasising SEO’s importance for local businesses:

  • Google Ads only captures 30% of searchers. 70% skip the ads to click an organic search result.
  • Around 40% of search queries use localised keywords. 76% of these searches show local buying intent.

These percentages demonstrate that local searches represent a significant market local businesses should not neglect. 

Examples of Good SEO

Here are more examples of businesses we helped scale using our maths-based SEO campaign strategy:

  • Bird Control Australia: We helped this bird and common pest solutions provider achieve these returns:
    • 337.39% improvement in traffic
    • 411.94% improvement in leads
    • 411.61% boost in the number of targeted keywords landing in Google’s Top 10
  • PropertyMe: We’ve worked with this property management provider for years. We’ve helped them achieve these results:
    • 406% boost in the number of targeted keywords landing in Google’s Top 10
    • 45% more leads
    • 882% increase in organic traffic
    • 471% boost in the number of targeted keywords ranked in Google’s Top Three 

Here’s what one client has to say about partnering with us:

“I have worked with [Digital Spotlight] for several years now and cannot speak more highly of them. Like most, I have experienced several other companies over time, but am sticking with these guys. Their response time is super fast, even if it is the smallest of questions. I used to micro-manage my accounts, but now I feel very confident in stepping back and letting [the] team do what is best. I honestly could not ask for more.”

Joe Bavaro | Director of Bird Control Australia

Essential Tools for SEO

Along with a logical and systematic SEO strategy, we also leverage advanced tools to enhance our campaigns. Here’s a look at some of the SEO tools we use, paired with our exclusive data models:

Ahrefs

We use Ahrefs to assess your website’s rank and domain rating.  Ahrefs’ rank tracker lets you monitor ranking progress for up to 10,000 keyword rankings in 216 locations.

For each keyword, Ahrefs show this information:

  • Search volume
  • Keyword difficulty
  • Ranking position
  • Projected organic traffic
  • Ranking URL

Semrush

We use this software to check if a Google Penguin hits your site.

The Google Penguin algorithm knows when you employ manipulative link-building practices. Poor-quality links will only harm your website’s performance in the long run. 

Semrush also lets us (digital marketers) do the following:

  • Access multiple local and national keywords.
  • Run a full-orbed technical SEO audit.
  • Track SERP rankings daily.
  • Analyse your domain’s backlink profile.

Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is a tool for optimising content for search engines. It examines top-ranking pages for your target keyword and offers actionable insights on keyword usage, ideal word count, and heading types. Use Surfer SEO to create content that meets search engine standards and drives more traffic.  

Why Hire an SEO Services Company?

An SEO agency is comprised of experts who can help you organically rank your website higher in search engine results pages.

Top SEO experts need to grasp the fundamentals of SEO inside and out. They know exactly how to adjust your site to align with search engine preferences.

You can manage your SEO campaigns. However, today’s digital marketing competition is much more challenging than you think.  

Do-it-yourself (DIY) SEO management probably won’t land your site on the first page of Google. Your business needs SEO specialists with specific skills and plenty of real-world experience to make that happen.

SEO Is Complex

Climbing to the top of Google’s organic rankings means navigating tricky algorithm challenges. It takes continuous tracking and testing to stay on top. 

That’s why our SEO specialists spend time analysing how Google’s algorithm operates, ensuring our clients’ campaigns thrive. It’s our daily focus as search experts.

SEO Requires Ongoing Work

Creating and optimising a website is an ongoing effort. It’s a medium- to long-term task that requires careful monitoring and numerous technical adjustments.

We keep up with keyword research and select key terms based on these factors:

  • Your business and what you offer
  • Monthly search volume data from Google
  • The level of competition for each key term
  • The customer’s stage in the buying cycle, as indicated by each key term

SEO Is a Moving Target

Google’s ranking algorithm shifts rapidly. What was effective yesterday may not hold up today.

Our team consists of seasoned SEO experts who thrived back when Google was still an uncharted territory of the digital world.

What sets us apart? You gain a partner who understands the ins and outs of this ever-changing landscape.

  Here’s what Avlaw Aviation Consulting, an Australian-based aviation consultancy, say about working with us:

We have been very pleased with our decision to engage Digital Spotlight to manage and and improve our SEO. [The] rest of their team are very responsive and know their stuff. After some bad experiences with other providers in this space, we’re not going anywhere.

Managing Director | Avlaw Aviation Consulting

Knowledge and Tools

As a digital marketing industry leader, we combine innovative tools and exclusive insights to improve campaigns and give you a competitive edge.  

For example, we leverage Semrush for in-depth keyword research and competitive analysis and Ahrefs to monitor backlinks and track performance metrics.

Additionally, we use Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio), a web-based data visualisation platform that helps us produce insightful monthly reports.

Looker Studio lets us create customisable reports and dashboards using data from various sources.

What Will an SEO Services Company Do?

SEO is a changing game. Its guidelines evolve with every tech advancement and shift in consumer habits. What was effective yesterday may not cut it today.

Reputable SEO service providers excel at adjusting campaigns to keep up with algorithm changes. They stay on top of the current SEO trends, techniques, and ranking factors.

As maths-adept people, Digital Spotlight’s SEO team is uniquely positioned to address those technical requirements. Our agency has invested millions of dollars to build accurate and dependable tools comparable to Google’s analysis.

If done correctly, SEO can significantly improve your website’s organic traffic and online visibility.

Investing in SEO can be a good marketing strategy that pays off over time. You can achieve substantial returns with the right team without emptying your wallet.

On-Page SEO

SEO offers a comprehensive strategy for on-page optimisation, including high-quality content creation and technical SEO.

Every web page has two parts, and both contain specific on-page factors:

  • The head section, which you can’t see:
    • Title tag
    • Meta description
  • The body section, which you can see:
    • Headings (with Heading 1 or H1 being the biggest heading, Heading 2 or H2 being the second biggest heading, and so on)
    • Text (the only thing Google can read)

In addition, when it comes to on-page SEO, there are some general rules to keep in mind that help communicate what your web page is all about, such as:

  1. The more important the keyword is, the closer it should be to the beginning of each section.
  2. Stuffing too many keywords on your page is a spammy method that can result in Google penalties.

We ensure the application of these fundamental rules when improving on-page elements by accomplishing the following tasks:

  • Perform deep keyword research.
  • Create well-researched content briefs that will guide our content specialists. 
  • Conduct regular technical inspections to help Google index and rank your site.
  • Formulate a data-backed content strategy.
  • Check the quality of links to your site.

Off-Page SEO

Strategic link-building aids in creating your relevancy and domain authority for specific topics, thereby helping you gain Google’s trust and drive traffic from relevant sites. 

Our outreach team searches for and chooses the best sites to link from.

Questions to Ask While on an SEO Service Consultation

Here are 10 questions you may ask during the SEO Service consultation:

  1. What recent technical updates have you made to keep up with Google’s rapid changes?
  2. How does your free technical audit work, and what kind of money-saving insights will I get from it?
  3. What’s your process for picking keywords to target first, and how do you decide when to move to a new set?
  4. How do you measure SEO success, and how often will we check in on the results?
  5. What will you do if SEO isn’t the right fit for my business?
  6. How will you improve my domain authority, and why does that matter for my rankings?
  7. How do you help me stay in the loop on the technical side of SEO without getting overwhelmed?
  8. How does your flat monthly fee stay the same while my rankings and results grow?
  9. Why should I trust your no-contract approach over agencies that lock clients in?
  10. How do you stay accountable and keep communication open without relying on a long-term contract?

We tackle SEO questions head-on. Whether it’s technical details or keyword strategies, we give you clear, no-nonsense answers. No smoke and mirrorsjust straight talk about how we’ll get you results. Ask away, and we’ll prove we’ve got the skills to deliver.

How We Can Help You Grow

“Growth” is a buzzword, isn’t it? Marketing firms love to brag about their growth-focused SEO strategies, but when you ask for proof, they struggle to deliver. Some might share one or two SEO wins from 5 or 10 years ago.

As an industry leader, we’re consistently adding new SEO success stories across major cities in Australia. Here’s what our clients say about our work with them:

“We have been working with the team at Digital Spotlight for over five years now. Their expertise, timeliness, and attention to detail have been instrumental to the success of our digital marketing. Most recently they worked closely with us on a complete website relaunch. With a project like this, you would generally expect to see a short-term drop in SEO due to the sheer number of changes, however not only did we not see a drop in our rankings, but they actually increased substantially! We cannot thank Digital Spotlight enough for their support and the care they took to ensure this project was a resounding success. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Digital Spotlight team over the years and I would highly recommend their digital services.”

Iris Lever | PropertyMe 

 

“Working with [Digital] Spotlight has been great, we took the time to figure out a realistic strategy which has helped our organic rankings immensely! We are now on the front page for so many head terms that were previously out of reach!”

Sean Hersee | SAGE Painting

Small Business SEO That Works for You

Before partnering with an SEO agency, you should determine whether the service will work for your small business.

Unlike other agencies, we don’t offer cookie-cutter solutions. We listen first. That’s why we offer a free, no-obligation technical audit to help you figure out if SEO is right for your business. Ready to start your SEO journey with us? Give our SEO experts a call at 1300 891 181.

You can also email us at [email protected] so we can learn more about your small business goals and expectations.

Get Found Online With Search Engine Optimisation

SEO can help ensure you get found online, providing unmatched staying power and incredible value for those who know the best industry practices.

So, partner with an SEO service provider that knows how to handle your campaigns. Work with a proven marketing agency like us. With our track record, we understand what it takes for businesses to dominate their niche.

Drive New Leads With Pay-per-Click Advertising

Aside from quality client support, you want seasoned pros on your side who can resolve issues efficiently and effectively. These SEO experts offer real-world solutions to your unique concerns, including complex situations.

With an industry leader like us, you’ll get these valuable insights. 

We’ll help you learn how to spend to hit your profit metrics. But we won’t just help you maximise your budget and generate leads and sales. We’ll also help you understand what we’re doing to improve your SEO and why. 

Engage Customers With Content Services

Through content optimisation, you enable search engines to determine what your content—and, by extension, your enterprise—is all about. 

Search engines use the data in the search results to determine whether to display your content for relevant keywords.

Our content creation service seeks high-value opportunities based on our keyword universe analysis. Then, we refresh or create additional content based on our deep SEO analysis.

Our content team writes articles based on our analysis of the top 20 results for your target term. This investigation helps us determine these factors:

  • Word count
  • Terms and frequency (minimum and maximum frequency to ensure natural language)
  • Questions searchers ask 
  • Search intent being satisfied for your target head terms  
  • Content type
  • Clear content to keyword match

Digital Spotlight Helps With Small Business SEO

We value what you value, regardless of your business size, type, and reach.  

 This principle drives us to empower the “Davids” of the business world to take on the “Goliaths” in their industries.

 

We don’t pitch; we listen first, evaluate your needs, and then suggest solutions to create a solid game plan. You get to decide if we’re the right long-term fit before making any commitment.

 

Online marketing gurus may claim their method is the only way to boost your rankings in Google, but as a battle-tested SEO agency, we know better. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for improving your rankings. Each business needs a tailored SEO strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust) are factors that Google uses to determine page quality (PQ) ratings. 

We can help you get a high level of E-E-A-T by focusing on each of these four components: 

  • Experience: Our content team can write articles for you highlighting your direct, first-hand experience with a particular topic. 

Say you run a small law firm. In that case, we can feature case studies, years of practice, and client testimonials to make your page more credible.  

After all, what would readers trust: a blog post from someone with no real-world experience of winning court cases or legal advice from someone who has won some lawsuits

  • Expertise: We’ll help demonstrate your subject matter expertise by emphasising your skills and unique understanding of the topic. 

Do you want readers to trust that you only publish professionally crafted and accurate content? 

Our content specialists can do so by citing authoritative sources and reputable studies. If you offer financial services, we’ll ensure that most data in your content are from recognised financial institutions or economic reports.

  • Authoritativeness: We understand that not every topic has a single authority. 

But when there is one, it’s the go-to source for trust and reliability. 

Think of a local business’s social media page for today’s deals or the government’s site for passport renewals—people go there for reliable information.

We’ll help position your content as a trusted authority in your industry, ensuring your brand becomes the reliable source your audience turns to.

  • Trust: We build trust by making sure your content is accurate, honest, and reliable. Your audience will know they can trust you every time they visit, and that’s how we can help you become their go-to source.

Trust is the most important factor. No matter how experienced, authoritative, and how much of an expert you are, if your page isn’t trustworthy, the other factors won’t help make you the go-to source.

  • How much SEO should I do?

How much SEO you’ll do depends on a few factors, like your budget and whether you’re in a niche or a highly competitive market.

Search engine optimisation isn’t a single process. Instead, it’s a digital marketing strategy that collectively uses a set of services to boost your website’s overall online visibility.

Depending on your business’ unique situation, this process may involve techniques like off-page optimisation, such as improving your local search presence, and on-site optimisation, such as content creation.

In short, an SEO package is several SEO services bundled together. The same is true for the SEO packages we offer. The primary difference between our basic SEO service collections is the number of targeted keywords.

  • Can you guarantee rankings?

There are no assurances in search engine optimisation. Anyone who guarantees you the top spot on SERPs is lying or uses frowned-upon techniques that lead to penalties.

When you team up with us, don’t expect flashy promises. Instead, we focus on metrics and use our technical expertise to help you identify your best business opportunities.

But isn’t getting your business pages and content to rank high on SERPs what an SEO package is meant to do? Yes. However, too many variables are in play to make guarantees in SEO.

What we can assure you is that we only work with companies we are 100% positive can benefit from our SEO packages. We won’t do what other agencies do–make promises they can’t keep. 

Everything we do and suggest will be implemented to fit your current budget, situation, and goals. 

  • How much does Google SEO cost for a small business?

The cost depends on your small business’ SEO needs. Our packages have different but fixed monthly rates. We’ll help you decide on the best SEO service for your business.

We won’t tie you with locked-in contracts, so you have 100% control over your budget.

We also won’t impose a performance bonus fee even if your lead acquisition costs drop as you climb the rankings.

  • How many keywords do you target?

We follow a logical and systematic keyword research and marketing approach as a research-driven agency. 

One of the first things our technical specialists ask when tackling a client’s campaign is this: “Is the solution within the client’s package scope?” Every package comes with its own set of services. What is the main difference between them? The number of core keywords we can target at once.

These packages have a different scope of service. The primary difference between them lies in the number of core keywords (keywords to target simultaneously at any time):

SEO Package General and City-based  Suburb-based and Model-specific
Initial Month 2 onwards Initial Month 2 onwards
SEO Entry 3 5 5
SEO Premium 6 10 8 14
SEO Corporate 9 15 12 20
SEO Corporate Plus 12 20 15 25
SEO Lite N/A 3 N/A 6
  • Do you have contracts?

We don’t oblige you to commit to a long-term contract. Our partnership is based on month-to-month agreements. If we do not deliver results, you’re free to leave (no hard feelings).

That’s how confident we are that we can generate a constant stream of leads from any of our digital marketing specialty areas (Google, Meta, SEO, and Bing).   

  • When can I expect results?

We aim to reach the top SERPs for a client’s keyword within four months. 

We can provide a more accurate timeline for our SEO process and results once we thoroughly understand your situation.

Ultimately, the timeframe depends on your goals and expectations. Anyone promising a quick first-page ranking is either dishonest or doesn’t understand SEO.

Even when you work with a reputable industry leader like us, SEO takes time. Building and optimising a website involves ongoing effort. 

It’s a medium- to long-term commitment that requires detailed monitoring and multiple technical adjustments.

  • Do you monitor algorithm changes?

SEO is a fast-changing game. The SEO playbook adapts to every shift in online consumer behaviour and advancements in search technology. What worked for you yesterday won’t likely work today. 

Legitimate agencies like Digital Spotlight specialise in adapting SEO campaigns to search systems and algorithm updates. We understand the latest SEO trends, techniques, and technologies.

Our agency is founded by a pair of data-loving maths pros. Over the last decade, we’ve grown a massive dataset with information collected from investing millions of dollars for thousands of businesses in various niches. 

We have a researcher who monitors internal data from the campaigns we run for clients. He then examines the campaigns’ performance against our data models’ predictions.

When a new pattern emerges, we gather the team to formulate a hypothesis and begin experimenting on our internal sites, which we build for this purpose.

We test and test again until we’ve found the change. If it’s significant, we start optimising our clients’ campaigns to capitalise on this finding. 

  • Do you send any work overseas?

We’re based in Australia, with offices in Newcastle and Sydney, but our team hails from all over the globe. We’ve got top-notch talent from Australia, the Philippines, the United States, and Germany.

While many agencies offer rock-bottom SEO packages, they often fail to deliver real value. They promise quick fixes, take your money, and vanish when results don’t come through.

We don’t “outsource” work to random freelancers with no real SEO expertise. Instead, we invest in our team. Our dedicated professionals are trained in-house, work full-time for us, and meet our strict qualifications.

  • How is the return on investment measured?

SEO KPIs (key performance indicators) are helpful metrics for evaluating the success and effectiveness of an SEO campaign.

To calculate actual ROI (a vital KPI metric), we can insert the data from our campaign into these formulas:

Revenue from organic conversions – SEO campaign costSEO campaign cost100

And,

Organic traffic increase % – cost % Cost% 100

These equations give you a feel for what ROI you’re getting.

But there’s no one way to measure SEO ROI because success isn’t just about numbers. For instance, increased brand awareness and keyword ranking also show the ongoing value of SEO.

  • Can I have a one-off campaign?

Yes. We’ll craft a custom digital marketing campaign that aligns with your goals. 

But here’s where many local businesses miss the mark: they think success in local SEO comes from a one-time victory. 

The truth is that staying on page one of Google is just as crucial as making it there in the first place. 

Our strategy isn’t just about winning a single SEO sprint—we focus on long-term gains to grow your business in the best way possible.

  • Do you offer your services Australia-wide?

Yes. Our headquarters are in Sydney and Newcastle. You might prefer working with us for geographical ease if you run a small business in these areas.

That said, as an industry leader for over a decade, we’ve helped scale thousands of businesses in other major cities like Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne.

Digital Spotlight gets what Australian businesses face because we’re homegrown. Whether you’re in Australia or anywhere else, partnering with us means you’ll see real results.

  • What type of clients do you work with?

We partner with a range of SEO clients, from small family-run businesses to global enterprises. 

With over 15 years in the SEO game, we’ve transformed 1,812 businesses across 355 niches into digital marketplace leaders. 

Whether you’re in the medical, home improvement, finance, or education industry, chances are we’ve tackled SEO for businesses just like yours. 

Contact us to see if we’ve worked with clients in your industry. We offer a free, no-pressure consultation to help pinpoint your SEO campaign needs.

  • Which SEO tools do you use?

Along with a logical and systematic SEO strategy, we leverage advanced tools to supercharge our campaigns. Check out some of the SEO tools we use with our exclusive data models:

  • Ahrefs: We leverage Ahrefs to track your website’s rank and domain rating. 

Ahrefs’ rank tracker helps you keep tabs on up to 10,000 keyword rankings for organic searches in specific locations. 

On the other hand, the website authority checker assesses both the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to a site.

  • Semrush: We use Semrush to check if Penguin updates hit your website. Semrush also lets digital marketers do the following:
  • Tap into local and national keywords.
  • Conduct a thorough technical SEO audit.
  • Monitor SERP rankings every day.
  • Evaluate the domain’s backlink profile.
  • How long have you been doing this?

Our years of experience make us the ideal choice for SEO services. You can count on over 15 years of industry experience and unique analytics-based marketing solutions when you work with us. 

We have awards, case studies, and testimonials that show we can deliver your hoped-for results (you can read them in various sections of this article).

  • Can I do SEO on my own?

Investing in real SEO experts is essential for dominating your local market. Cheap SEO agencies or DIY approaches just won’t cut it.

SEO is always evolving. What worked before may not work now due to shifts in consumer behaviour and technology. You need an SEO provider who can adapt your campaigns to align with Google’s latest guidelines.

Qualified SEO consultants specialise in adjusting campaigns to keep up with changing search algorithms. They know the ins and outs of SEO and how to optimise your site to meet search engine preferences.

Sure, you can try managing your own SEO, but today’s digital landscape is fiercely competitive. DIY SEO won’t help you get to the first page of Google.

Your business needs consultants with specialised skills and real-world experience. Our SEO team excels in understanding the latest trends, techniques, and ranking factors to help you succeed.

  • Can I do SEO without paying?

Some SEO tasks don’t cost anything—like developing web content, optimising meta tags, and building backlinks through outreach. 

You can even use free keyword research tools, such as Google Keyword Planner. But if you want more reliable and advanced strategies, investing in paid tools or expert services, like what we offer at Digital Spotlight, is worth it.

  • What kind of time commitment should I expect to do my own SEO?

SEO takes time, even when you work with a trusted industry leader like us. Building and optimising a website is an ongoing effort. It’s a medium- to long-term commitment that needs constant monitoring and several technical tweaks.

As a small business owner handling your own SEO, you may need to dedicate 1 to 10 hours a week, depending on how much content you want to create. 

In the beginning, expect to spend 8 to 10 hours weekly establishing your strategy and updating your website and listings. 

After that, you’ll likely only need an hour or two each week to generate new reviews and links. 

As you can see, SEO is time-consuming and requires consistent effort, making it ideal for small businesses to partner with an agency like Digital Spotlight. 

We handle all the technical SEO details so you can focus on what you do best—running your business.

We don’t pitch; we listen. Want to figure out if you need SEO services and ways to get ahead of your competition? Book a consultation with our experts.

You can email us at [email protected] or call us at 1300 891 181.

You can also visit us at Suite 1, Suite 1, 28 Donald St, Hamilton NSW 2303, Australia, or Suite 1B, Level 16 56 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, to discuss how our SEO services can help you win the local market.


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