Why Your Gold Coast Business Needs Local SEO, Not General SEO
You know that feeling when you’re paying someone good money for SEO, and your site is “ranking better” but your phone still isn’t ringing?
You check the reports. Traffic is up. You’re on page one for something. The agency sends you screenshots and graphs every month. But when you look at your actual enquiries, nothing has changed.
Here’s the thing. You might be paying for the wrong type of SEO entirely.
Not All SEO Is Created Equal
Let me explain what’s really happening here.
There are three completely different types of SEO. And most Gold Coast business owners have no idea which one they actually need.
There’s ecommerce SEO. There’s national or general SEO. And there’s local SEO.
They’re not the same thing. They don’t work the same way. And they definitely don’t cost the same.
Ecommerce SEO: Selling Products to Everyone
Ecommerce SEO is what online stores need. Think about a business selling phone cases or supplements or clothing across Australia or the world.
Their goal is simple. Rank for product searches. “Best leather phone case.” “Buy protein powder online.” That kind of thing.
They’re competing nationally or internationally. They need thousands of product pages optimized. They’re fighting against Amazon and other massive retailers.
This is expensive. We’re talking $3,000 to $10,000 per month, sometimes more. Because you’re competing with huge companies that have massive SEO budgets.
If you run a painting business on the Gold Coast, this is not what you need.
National SEO: The Broad Approach
National SEO is what businesses need when they serve customers across Australia but don’t sell physical products online.
Maybe you’re a software company. A national franchise. A consulting firm that works with clients remotely anywhere in the country.
You want to rank for broad terms like “business coaching Australia” or “accounting software.” You’re not targeting a specific suburb or city. You want the whole country to find you.
This also costs serious money. Usually $2,000 to $5,000 per month or more. You’re competing against every other business in Australia going after the same customers.
Again, if you’re a tradie or service business working on the Gold Coast, this isn’t you either.
Local SEO: Getting Found in Your Area
Local SEO is completely different.
This is for businesses that serve customers in a specific geographic area. Plumbers, electricians, hairdressers, dentists, lawyers, painters, landscapers. Any business where the customer needs to be near you or you need to be near them.
Your customers aren’t searching for “best plumber Australia.” They’re searching for “emergency plumber Burleigh Heads” or “hairdresser near me” or “house painter Southport.”
Local SEO focuses on three main things.
First, your Google Business Profile. That map listing that shows up when someone searches for your service in your area. This is gold for local businesses. A properly optimized profile can bring you more leads than your entire website.
Second, local content and citations. Making sure your business name, address and phone number are consistent everywhere online. Getting listed in local directories. Creating content that mentions Gold Coast suburbs and local landmarks.
Third, reviews and reputation. Google loves businesses with lots of recent, genuine reviews. Your star rating directly affects whether you show up in those map results.
Here’s Where Businesses Waste Money
Most SEO agencies sell one thing. National SEO.
They’ll talk about “ranking you on page one.” They’ll show you keyword research. They’ll promise to improve your domain authority and build backlinks.
And they’ll charge you $1,500 to $3,000 per month for it.
But here’s what they won’t tell you. None of that matters if your Google Business Profile isn’t even verified.
I’ve seen it dozens of times. Gold Coast businesses paying $2,000 a month for SEO. Their website ranks okay for broad terms that nobody in their area is searching for. But their Google Business Profile is a mess. No reviews. Wrong opening hours. No service area set up properly.
Meanwhile, their competitor down the road hasn’t touched their website in five years. But they’ve got 47 five-star reviews and a properly optimized Google Business Profile. And they show up in the map pack for every local search.
Guess who gets more phone calls?
The Real Cost Difference
Let’s be brutally honest about what these different SEO types should cost.
Ecommerce SEO for a proper online store? You’re looking at $3,000 to $10,000 per month minimum. Because you’re optimizing hundreds or thousands of products and competing nationally.
National SEO for broader service businesses? Around $2,000 to $5,000 per month. You’re going after competitive terms across the whole country.
Local SEO for Gold Coast service businesses? This should be $500 to $1,500 per month max. You’re focusing on a specific geographic area. The competition is local businesses, not national brands.
Some agencies will try to charge you national SEO prices for local SEO work. That’s the scam.
What Local SEO Actually Involves
Good local SEO for a Gold Coast business isn’t complicated. It’s just specific.
Claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile properly. Adding your services, service areas, opening hours. Uploading photos regularly. Posting updates.
Building consistent citations across local directories. Making sure your NAP (name, address, phone) is identical everywhere. Google cares about this more than most people realize.
Getting genuine reviews from real customers. Creating a system to ask for them. Responding to every review, good and bad.
Creating location-specific content on your website. Pages for each suburb you serve. Blog posts about local projects or local issues.
Building local backlinks from Gold Coast businesses, chambers of commerce, local news sites, community organizations.
That’s it. It’s not rocket science. But it’s also not the same as trying to rank nationally for competitive terms.
How to Tell If You Need Local SEO
Ask yourself three questions.
Do your customers need to be near you, or do you need to be near them? If yes, you need local SEO.
Do most of your customers come from within 50 kilometers of your business? If yes, you need local SEO.
When someone searches for your service, do they usually add a location to their search? If yes, you need local SEO.
If you answered yes to any of these, you don’t need ecommerce SEO or national SEO. You need local SEO. And you shouldn’t be paying $3,000 a month for it.
The Map Pack Is Where the Money Is
Here’s what nobody tells you about local SEO.
The map pack, that section with three businesses that shows up at the top of Google when you search for a local service, gets more clicks than anything else on the page.
More than the first organic result below it. More than Google Ads in many cases.
If you’re a Gold Coast electrician and you show up in the map pack for “electrician Southport,” you’ll get more calls than if you rank number one organically for “best electrician Australia.”
Why? Because the person searching “electrician Southport” needs an electrician now. They’re ready to call. The person searching “best electrician Australia” is probably just researching.
Local intent equals buying intent. That’s the whole game.
What You Should Actually Be Paying For
If you’re a local Gold Coast business, here’s what proper local SEO looks like.
Someone who actually manages your Google Business Profile. Posts weekly. Adds photos. Responds to reviews. Updates your information.
Someone who builds and maintains local citations. Gets you listed properly in relevant directories. Fixes any inconsistent information across the web.
Someone who has a system to get you more reviews. Not fake ones. Real reviews from real customers.
Someone who creates location-specific content for your website. Pages for each area you serve. Blog posts about local projects or local topics.
Someone who builds genuine local backlinks. From other Gold Coast businesses, local organizations, community sites.
That’s the work. It’s ongoing but it’s focused. It’s not thousands of hours building backlinks from random websites trying to rank you for terms nobody in your area searches for.
The Questions to Ask Your SEO Provider
If you’re currently paying for SEO, ask these questions.
Are you working on my Google Business Profile or just my website? If they say just the website, that’s a red flag for local businesses.
How many reviews have I gotten since you started? If they’re not helping with reviews, they’re missing the biggest ranking factor for local.
Can you show me my rankings in the map pack for local searches? Not page rankings. Map pack rankings for searches with Gold Coast suburbs in them.
What local citations have you built for me? They should be able to show you a list of directories where you’re listed.
How much of your work is local-specific versus general SEO? If most of their work is general link building and national keyword targeting, you’re paying for the wrong service.
These questions will tell you pretty quickly if you’re getting local SEO or if someone is charging you local SEO prices for work that doesn’t match what you actually need.
The Bottom Line
If you run a business that serves customers in a specific area on the Gold Coast, you need local SEO.
Not ecommerce SEO. Not national SEO. Local SEO.
And you shouldn’t be paying $3,000 a month for it. You should be paying for someone who understands the difference and focuses on what actually brings you customers in your area.
Your Google Business Profile matters more than your website ranking for most local searches. Your reviews matter more than your domain authority. Your local citations matter more than backlinks from random blogs.
If your current SEO provider can’t explain the difference between local SEO and national SEO, or if they’re charging you national prices for local work, you’re paying for the wrong thing.
You can keep paying for SEO that makes your reports look good. Or you can pay for local SEO that makes your phone ring.
Your choice.