Industry Survey: 37% Of Local SEOs Saw Less Than $30,000 In Revenue Turnover Since Last Year

According to an industry survey by local search firm BrightLocal, a majority of local SEOs experienced less than $30,000 in revenue turnover during the last twelve months, with the average revenue-per-client ranging from $500 to $1,000 for the largest percentage of survey respondents.

BrightLocal polled more than 1,700 SEOs, with 31 percent of the survey respondents representing local or regional SEO firms, while 27 percent were freelancers. The remaining respondents were made up of web designers and SEOs from national agencies or in-house teams. The survey covered a number of industry-specific topics, including agency size and turnover, clients, services and future outlooks.

Survey results revealed 37 percent of participants claimed they or their agencies experienced less than $30,000 in revenue turnover, up four-percent from last year’s survey. Ten percent saw more than $500,000.

BrightLocal noted its concern over the turnover numbers, claiming, “This is an alarming trend for the industry which should command higher fees and income given the complexity of the work and the potential impact it can have for local business when done well.”

Fortunately, 93 percent of the survey respondents said they expected their agency to grow over the following twelve months, with 70 percent of the agencies planning to recruit more staff before next year.

When asked about services offered, on-site SEO was the most frequent service requested by customers, followed by Google+ optimization and website development.

No one reported being asked to conduct affiliate marketing services.

When looking at individual services, 34 percent said link building was the most time-consuming and tedious task of all the services they offered.

Interestingly, ten percent of respondents claimed they would like to do more link-building, second only to wanting to do more new business development.

The full survey results along with analysis can be found on BrightLocal’s site: Local SEO Industry Survey 2014.

Postscript: This article’s title has been updated to clarify that it was “Local” SEOs who had reported less than $30,000 in revenue turnover.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.