Guides

Guide: Consultants

How to use LocalSEOData as a freelance SEO consultant or independent marketer.

Why This Works for Consultants

Traditional SEO tools charge $50-200/month per seat. As a consultant, you might only need data a few times per client per month. LocalSEOData's pay-per-use model means you pay only when you're doing billable work.

A full client audit costs ~$0.25-$0.80. Monthly monitoring costs ~$0.35/client. Compare that to $99/month for BrightLocal.

Your Consulting Workflow

Discovery Call Prep (5 minutes, ~$0.30) Before your first call with a prospect:

  1. Run a Local Audit ($0.25) — instant credibility when you can cite their exact health score
  2. Run a Profile Health check ($0.01) — spot quick wins you can mention on the call
  3. Check their Competitor Gap ($0.05) — "You have 156 reviews but #1 competitor has 312"

Proposal Phase (~$0.52) Build a compelling proposal by adding:

  • Geogrid Scan ($0.25) — show a visual map of where they rank
  • Citation Audit ($0.25) — "I found 4 directories with wrong phone numbers"
  • Keyword Opportunities ($0.02) — "There are 3 keywords you're not ranking for that your competitors are"

Monthly Deliverables (~$0.36/client) Each month, run:

  • Local Authority Score ($0.05) — track the single number over time
  • Review Velocity ($0.03) — show review progress
  • Geogrid Scan ($0.25) — show ranking improvements geographically
  • Local Pack Rankings ($0.005) — track position changes
  • Keyword Opportunities ($0.02) — find new keywords to work on

Pricing Your Services Your data cost per client is typically $0.35-$0.80/month. Price your consulting services at $500-2,000/month — the data cost is negligible compared to your billable rate.

Using Claude as Your Assistant Connect Claude via MCP and delegate the heavy lifting:

  • "Audit [client] and write a findings summary"
  • "What are the top 3 things this client should fix this month?"
  • "Compare [client] to [competitor] and create a client-ready comparison"
  • "Draft a monthly progress report for [client]"

Building Recurring Revenue The best consulting model is monthly retainers with regular reporting. LocalSEOData makes this easy:

  1. Set up automated monthly data pulls
  2. Use Claude to draft reports
  3. Review, personalize, and send to clients
  4. Total time per client: 30-60 minutes/month