More Local SEOs Earning Less Than $30,000 [Study]
Local SEO tools and search engine marketing service BrightLocal has released the results of its 2014 Local SEO Industry Survey.
The survey included nearly 1,800 SEOs.
According to BrightLocal, the majority of respondents were from local/regional agencies (31 percent) or were freelance SEOs (27 percent) and 84 percent said they have five or fewer SEOs in their company.
This means the majority of those working in local search do so as solo operations or as part of smaller agencies working in local towns, BrightLocal says.
In addition, 37 percent of respondents said their turnover was less than $30,000. That's up slightly from 33 percent in 2013. In fact, BrightLocal says one of the most dramatic figures in this survey is the rise in the percentage of SEOs earning less than $30,000, which it says marks "an alarming trend" for the industry as a whole. In other words, BrightLocal says SEOs should command higher fees and income "given the complexity of the work and the potential impact it can have for a local business when done well."
A majority of respondents say they personally handle between two and 10 clients and BrightLocal says the average number for 2014 is actually nine, which is down from 11 last year.
In addition, 60 percent of respondents say they serve many different industries, which is down from 67 percent in 2013.
However, BrightLocal says there appears to be an increase in the number of SEOs targeting their efforts on clients in specific sets of industries and notes, "With staunch competition in the local search service market, it certainly helps to have a specialism that allows a consultant/agency to demonstrate deeper understanding of a specific client's business, industry and their own customers."
The majority of respondents say they charge less than $1,000 per month and the arithmetic mean charge is down $65 from 2013, which BrightLocal says is another troubling indication of the devaluing of SEO by customers or price competitiveness driving down charges.
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More Local SEOs Earning Less Than $30,000 [Study]