01
Tracking that shows real inquiries
Google Analytics 4 and Search Console in your name, with forms, website calls and booking clicks counted. Without this, nobody can tell you whether SEO pays for itself.
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United States: small business
SEO for US small businesses, in the right order
When the budget is small, the order of the work matters more than the amount of it. We start with what decides whether search brings you calls at all: tracking that works, a complete Google profile, and the few pages that sell what you do. Then we tell you plainly what can wait. The work is done remotely by a UK-registered company, with video calls in your working hours.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.
- A short list of fixes ranked by what they are worth
- Plain advice on what to skip, so the budget goes further
- Video calls in your working hours, Eastern to Pacific
- “I was impressed by their ability to deliver unparalleled quality at an extremely fast pace and for great value.”ClutchAngelos BougasManaging Director, Ocley Group
- “Shahrukh did an excellent job creating a fully customized portal for my car auction business…FiverrMichael JonUnited Kingdom
- “I absolutely love the way Shahrukh works! He is a pro at handling React and Django features…UpworkJohnson C.React / Django feature build
- “The team responded to comments immediately, and corrected the mistakes exactly as I provided the comments.”ClutchGiorgi MumladzeFounder/CEO, Club Confide
Free
Audit first, findings yours
1,000+
Clients served since 2020
ET to PT
Calls in your working hours
USD
Invoicing
Quick answer
What does small business SEO actually involve?
Small business SEO is the work of getting people who search for what you sell, usually near where you sell it, to find you and get in touch. For most small businesses that means a few things done properly: a complete Google Business Profile, a fast website Google can read, one clear page per service, a steady flow of reviews, and tracking that shows which calls and forms came from search.
What separates it from SEO for a large company is the budget, and therefore the order. A small business cannot run technical work, content and link building all at once, so the useful question is which job brings the most inquiries for the least spend. Much of the money wasted on search engine optimization services for small business goes on work done in the wrong order, such as blog posts written before the service pages exist.
SpiderHunts is a software company that does SEO, registered in the United Kingdom with a remote team and no US office or staff. We work with US small businesses over video calls in your working hours, inside your own Google accounts, and we make the fixes rather than handing over a report you have no time to act on.
What we do
What our SEO services for small business cover
Six pieces of work. Few small businesses need all of them at once, and the audit decides which come first.
02
Google Business Profile and local basics
The right primary category, services, hours, photos and service area, plus consistent listings on Bing Places and Apple Business Connect. For a business serving customers locally, this is often the best-value fix of all.
03
Service pages that sell
One clear page for each service you want more of, written around the questions customers ask before they call: what it costs, how it works, how soon you can come, and where you serve.
04
Technical fixes that block everything else
Pages Google cannot index, a site that is slow on phones, broken redirects after a rebuild, duplicate pages. We fix what matters on a small site and ignore the cosmetic.
05
Reviews you can keep asking for
A simple routine for asking happy customers for a Google review at the right moment, and replying to every review, good or bad. Unglamorous, and the part most businesses let slip.
06
AI assistant basics
Helping ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews read your site and describe your business accurately: plain facts on the page, consistent details across the web, and AI crawlers not blocked by mistake.
Priorities
What to do first when the budget is small
The order we follow for most small businesses that serve customers locally. A business selling online nationwide would swap the second step for product and category pages.
- Priority 01
Measure inquiries
Search Console and Google Analytics 4 in your own name, counting calls, forms and bookings. The tools are free, and every later decision depends on them.
- Priority 02
Complete your Google profile
Primary category, services, hours, service area, photos and a plain description. Searches with a place in them often show the map results first, and the profile is what appears there.
- Priority 03
Fix what stops Google reading the site
Pages accidentally set to noindex, a site that is painfully slow on a phone, old URLs that lead nowhere. Often quick to fix, and the pages affected cannot rank until they are.
- Priority 04
Write one strong page per main service
Most small sites list everything on one services page. Separate pages for the three or four most profitable services give Google and customers something specific to find.
- Priority 05
Build a steady flow of reviews
Ask when the customer is happiest, make it one tap, and reply to every review. Reviews feed the map results and a new customer's confidence.
- Priority 06
Only then, content and links
Guides that answer real customer questions, and mentions from local organizations and associations you genuinely belong to. Useful, but rarely the first dollar.
What to skip
What a small business can skip, or leave until later
A small budget goes further when you turn down work that will not pay back. These are the things we most often advise against.
Bought links and link packages. A set number of backlinks a month is cheap for a reason. Most sit on sites built only to sell links, and Google's spam policies name link schemes specifically. At best they do nothing; at worst you pay later to clean them up.
A page for every nearby town. Fifty pages that differ only in the town name rarely rank and make the site look thin. Add a page for a place only when you have something real to say about working there.
Blog posts to a schedule. A post is useful when it answers a question customers actually ask. Posting weekly for its own sake, especially unchecked AI-written posts, uses budget that would do more on your service pages.
Broad national searches. A roofer in Ohio does not need to rank for the word roofing. Searches that name a service and a place, or describe a specific problem, are fewer but far more likely to become a job.
Paid tools you will not open. Search Console, Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Business Profile are free and cover most of what a small business needs to see.
Choosing
Doing it yourself, hiring help, or a mix
There is no single right answer. It depends on your time, your site and how crowded your market is.
Plenty of small business owners do their own SEO well. The profile, reviews and service page copy are things you know better than anyone, and they need time more than skill. Outside help earns its fee on the technical side, the tracking and the judgment about what to do first, where mistakes are hardest to spot yourself.
A mix often works best: a one-off project to fix the foundations, then a simple monthly routine you keep up yourself. A full agency retainer makes sense when search is a main source of work and the budget supports it.
Good seo marketing for small business is less about the volume of activity and more about choosing the few jobs that move inquiries. Whoever you hire, ask what they will do first, why, and how you will see whether it worked.
Where budgets leak
Why small businesses pay for SEO and see nothing
Usually SEO did not fail. The money went on the wrong jobs, or on jobs nobody could measure.
Where the money often goes
- A monthly fee for blog posts, while the main service pages are thin or missing
- No call or form tracking, so nobody can tell whether search brings any work
- A Google Business Profile with the wrong primary category and old opening hours
- Dozens of near-identical town pages, the pattern Google's spam policies describe as doorway pages
What we change
- One strong page for each service you actually want more of
- Calls and form submissions from search counted in your own analytics
- A complete, accurate profile that matches the website
- Pages only for the places you genuinely serve, each with something real to say
Not sure where your first dollar should go?
That is what the free check settles. We look at your profile, your site and what you rank for, then tell you the two or three jobs worth paying for now, and which of them you could do yourself.
Examples
Situations US small businesses bring to us
Typical situations and the work that addresses them. Illustrative examples, not client results.
A monthly SEO fee with nothing to show for it
For example, a landscaping company in Boise, Idaho might have paid a low-cost monthly SEO package for a year and received ranking reports, but have no idea whether a single call came from search. The first jobs would be tracking, checking what the package actually did, and removing any bought links.
Aim: knowing what the budget actually buys
An owner who did the basics and then got stuck
A physical therapy clinic in Tucson, Arizona might have a complete profile and good reviews that the owner built up herself, but a website on a template that buries every service on one page. A one-off foundations project could fix the site and the service pages, then hand the monthly routine back to the clinic.
Aim: a one-off fix, then back to doing it in-house
One page trying to sell everything
A CPA firm in Raleigh, North Carolina might have one page covering tax returns, bookkeeping and payroll. Separate pages, each answering what clients ask about that service, would give each one a chance to be found.
Aim: being found for each service, not only the firm name
How we work
Check, prioritize, fix, then hand over
Short stages, each with something you can see, and nothing changed on your site without your approval.
1. Free check
We review your Google Business Profile, crawl the site, and check what Google has indexed, what you rank for and what AI assistants say about you. The written findings are yours to keep.
2. A short priority list
Each finding gets a plain view of what fixing it is worth and costs, marked as something you can do yourself or something that needs us.
3. Fix the foundations
We make the agreed changes: tracking, profile, technical fixes and the main service pages. You approve every change to a live page first.
4. Hand over or keep going
You get a simple monthly routine for the profile and reviews. If you want us to carry on, we check in monthly with a short note on inquiries.
Clear scope · Regular demos · Full handover
Honest fit
When we are the right choice for a small business
Some small businesses are better served by a local consultant or by doing it themselves, and we will say so. Our guide to choosing an SEO company in the US lists the questions worth asking anyone you talk to.
A good fit when…
- You want a clear list of what to fix first, and the fixes made
- You are happy to do some of the work yourself with guidance
- Your site has technical problems you cannot diagnose on your own
- You want to know whether search brings in work, not just rankings
- Video calls and shared documents suit the way you work
Not the right fit when…
- You want someone to visit your premises or meet in person
- You want a fixed ranking position or a set number of leads promised
- Your main need is paid ads or social media management
- You want hundreds of pages or links produced each month
Cost
What it costs to get started
Three ways in, from free to ongoing. The free check comes first either way, so you see what the work involves before you spend anything.
Free SEO check
Free
Before you commit
Your profile, site, indexing and AI assistant answers reviewed, with a short written list of fixes ranked by value. Yours whether or not you hire us.
Get a quote →Foundations fix
Written quote
After a free call
Tracking, profile, technical fixes and your main service pages, done once and handed over with a routine you can keep up. Scope and exclusions agreed before anything starts.
Get a quote →Get Found in AI Search
From £1,500 a month
Monthly, after the audit
Our retainer for businesses where search is a main source of work: technical SEO, AEO and GEO, with a monthly note on what changed.
Get a quote →Prices are quoted in pounds and invoiced in US dollars. If the website itself needs replacing, our Website + Care Plan package starts from £3,000 for the site, with a care plan from £150 a month. Every price is confirmed in a written quote after a free call. See all packages and prices.
Who it suits
Small businesses where SEO tends to pay
Search earns its keep where people look for a service when they need it and one customer is worth a fair amount. That is usually true for these kinds of small business.
Home servicesPlumbers, electricians, HVAC, roofers and cleaners
Dental and healthDental offices, physical therapists, chiropractors and clinics
Law firmsFamily, injury, immigration and estate planning practices
Professional servicesCPAs, bookkeepers, insurance agents and consultants
Salons and spasHair, beauty, nails and wellness
FAQ
Small business SEO in the US: FAQs
What owners of small US businesses ask before they spend anything on search.
Still have a question?
Ask us directly. A senior engineer reads every question.
Ask about your projectIs SEO worth it for a small business?
Often, but not always. It tends to pay when people search for your service when they need it and a customer is worth a fair amount, such as a plumber, a dentist or a law firm. It pays less when work mostly comes from referrals or walk-ins. The free check is partly there to answer this honestly before you spend anything.
What should we ask SEO companies for small business before signing?
Ask what they will do in the first month and why it comes first, who will actually do the work, whether the Google accounts and content stay in your name, how they will show whether search brings inquiries, and what the minimum term is. Be wary of anyone who promises a ranking position, sells a set number of links a month, or cannot explain their work in plain English.
How much should a small business spend on SEO?
Start from what a new customer is worth to you over a year, not from a price list. If one new client is worth thousands of dollars, a few extra inquiries a month can justify steady spend; if customers are worth little and come once, keep to the free basics and a one-off fix. Our check is free, one-off fixes are priced in a written quote after a free call, and our Get Found in AI Search retainer starts from £1,500 a month. For many small businesses that retainer is more than the first year needs, and we will say so.
How soon will we know whether the spend is working?
Sooner than you will see the full effect. Once tracking is in place you can see month by month whether search brings calls, forms and bookings, and whether the pages fixed first are being found. Ranking new pages in a crowded market takes longer, and nobody can honestly promise a date. Agree up front what you will look at, and when, so you can stop spending if nothing is moving.
Are cheap monthly SEO packages worth it?
Rarely as sold. A low flat fee usually buys a fixed bundle, such as a few links, a blog post and a ranking report, whatever your site actually needs. If that money went instead on a one-off fix of tracking, your profile and your main service pages, it would often do more for a small business. If you already pay for a package, ask for a list of every link and change it made, in writing.
Is the Google Business Profile part of this, or a separate service?
It is part of it, and usually one of the first fixes for a business serving customers locally. If map results are your main concern, or you have several locations, see our local SEO services.
Should a small business worry about ChatGPT and AI Overviews?
Worth checking, not worth panicking about. AI assistants build answers from sites and listings they can read, so the basics that help in Google help there too. We check what they say about you and fix wrong details; deeper work is covered on our AEO agency page.
Can you work with Wix, Squarespace, WordPress or Shopify?
Yes. Most small business sites run on one of those, and each limits what can be changed. We work within your platform where we can, and tell you plainly if the platform itself is the problem.
Do you have a US office, and who do we contract with?
We have no US office, entity or staff. You contract with SpiderHunts Technologies Ltd, registered at Companies House under number 16718403, with a registered office in London and a remote team. Calls are booked in your US working hours, and work is invoiced in US dollars.
Do we have to sign a long contract?
No. The free check carries no commitment, and a one-off fix project ends when the agreed work is done. For the monthly retainer, notice and contract terms are set out in your written quote before you commit.
Start here
Find out what to fix first
Tell us your website, what you sell and where your customers are. A senior engineer will look at your profile, site and rankings, then send the short list of fixes worth paying for and the ones you can do yourself. Calls are booked in your US working hours.
- You tell us what you needTwo minutes on the form, or a message on WhatsApp.
- A senior engineer reviews itAnd comes back with questions, a realistic range and an honest view on fit.
- Free 30-minute scoping callWe talk through scope, options and a realistic estimate, with no obligation.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.